[BmWr75]

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I think GFD is a solid record, that sounds excellent, but for me it's not as compelling musically as I had hoped it would be, even after repeat listens. There isn't a single song on GFD I find as strong as many of the songs from The Incident (note that unlike many, I thought The Incident was a very strong PT record musically). Nothing on GFD stands up to Time Flies, Blind House, Drawing the Line...again, I actually LIKE GFD quite a bit, and it is better than Insurgentes, but it's still musically below pretty much every Porcupine Tree record since Signify, IMO. I think maybe Steven benefits from a little collaboration, even if he is doing most of the heavy lifting.

I'm with Skylab on this one.  It's a pretty album, but there are no memorable songs for me.  
 
My last two purchases have not been up to expectations, the other being Opeth - Heritage (which I doubt any past fan of Opeth likes, either the VOX albums or Watershed which used the singer's natural voice).

 

[sonci]

The satanic voice was becoming ridiculous for a serious band, but anyway I`m not an Opeth fan,
IMO Heritage is one of the best record of 2011,
 
ps: finally someone liked The Incident
 
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I'm with Skylab on this one.  It's a pretty album, but there are no memorable songs for me.  
 
My last two purchases have not been up to expectations, the other being Opeth - Heritage (which I doubt any past fan of Opeth likes, either the VOX albums or Watershed which used the singer's natural voice).

 

 

[ldtboyl]

Anybody else think "deform to form a star" is such a great song?

 

[IPodPJ]

Well it looks like Burning Shed took my advice and is now offering his music in high-res, lossless download format on their new Burning Shed 24 store.
 
http://www.burningshed.com/store/24/

 

[Skylab]

Nice.  Thanks Phil.  I've been enjoying the record more and more, might need to get it in hires.

 

[IPodPJ]

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Nice.  Thanks Phil.  I've been enjoying the record more and more, might need to get it in hires.

I'll probably purchase it too.  It certainly beats buying a Blu-Ray player for my PC, extracting one giant WAV file and cutting it into its proper parts.
 
If you wind up purchasing it first, let me know what you think and if it's worth purchasing or not.  I already spent money on the Deluxe Edition and am not anxious to spend any more on it.  This should be a free download to those who purchased the deluxe edition and/or blu-ray version.  In fact, I'm going to inquire into that.

 

[hiddenninja]

Bought both 2CD and Blu Ray together from Amazon, just arrived. Now I'm listening and giving it a try.

 

[IPodPJ]

Well I gave in and spent the $13.55 to buy the 24/48 FLAC versions from the Burning Shed 24 store.  They wouldn't give me them for "free" even though I had already paid for this music in multiple formats via the Deluxe Edition.
 
Anyway, yes, there are extra levels of transparency and dimension to these files over the 16/44.1 redbook version.  Depending on the capabilities of your system and headphones you may or may not notice the differences but for anyone with a good reference system and good ears it's easily discernable.  I have compared both versions in their entirety so I say this with absolute confidence.  If you like the music on Grace For Drowning and have a system that does justice to high-res audio you will surely want to purchase this.  I don't own a Blu-Ray drive for my PC or Mac so I was unable to extract the audio myself, thus this was a much cheaper and faster option.
 
As previously discussed, the sound quality of this album is quite good.  Dynamics are very good but they are often contrived, and by that I mean that they were purposely mastered that way; not in a natural sense as if the music was building up or softening down as part of the inherent qualities of the album and musicianship, but rather forced through editing to simulate dynamics.  Sure, it's better than having a brickwalled album but when the dynamics are contrived it's harder to pay attention to the content and cohesiveness of the arrangement and you find yourself paying more attention to the mastering job.  This applies to both redbook and high-res versions.
 
Another interesting thing of note is that you can tell that certain parts of songs were recorded on different gear in different settings (or that some were mastered poorly) than other parts of the same song, as some have a wide, expansive soundstage that sounds natural and beautiful whereas others sound closed in and thin by comparison, and lack a full-bodied tone.
 
If listening with headphones, the HD800 are a fantastic choice for GFD.  There is no piercing treble on the 24/48 version that I can tell (perhaps with the exception of "Raider II" in some parts), rather it's quite smooth and pleasing and as such sound superb on the HD800.

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

I am the sucker this recording was made for. I have the Blu-Ray, vinyl and now the hi-rez (from HDTracks). I do listen to the 24/48 more often out of convenience and find it to sound quite good. It's a WA2/T1 listen for me.
 
I learned too late that buying the Blu-Ray from Burning Shed enabled one to a free digital download. Don't know if it was the high-rez or not, since I'd already received by discs from Amazon.

 

[IPodPJ]

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I am the sucker this recording was made for. I have the Blu-Ray, vinyl and now the hi-rez (from HDTracks). I do listen to the 24/48 more often out of convenience and find it to sound quite good. It's a WA2/T1 listen for me.
 
I learned too late that buying the Blu-Ray from Burning Shed enabled one to a free digital download. Don't know if it was the high-rez or not, since I'd already received by discs from Amazon.

The download that comes with the Blu-Ray is not for the high-res version as I understand it.
 
Why would you pay $17.98 for it from HD Tracks when you could have bought it from the Burning Shed 24 store for $13.55?
 

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

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Why would you pay $17.98 for it from HD Tracks when you could have bought it from the Burning Shed 24 store for $13.55?
 

HDTracks had it two weeks before Burning Shed 24 went live. Had I known...
 

 

[IPodPJ]

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HDTracks had it two weeks before Burning Shed 24 went live. Had I known...
 

Oh, I did not know that.