Happy Christmas from me on behalf of John & Yoko

Happy Christmas to all my readers...


WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) from Yoko Ono on Vimeo.

Bjork (___Surrounded) - Acquired !!

Well, it took me long enough to indulge myself but I now finally have the Bjork (___Surrounded) box set ! :o)

To hear all of her work in multi-channel is simply stunning. Her voice is now even more stunning with the 5.1 remasters allowing us to hear the nuances that normally get lost in other recordings. It's really hard to describe but it sounds like she really is there, in front of you, belting the songs out. I guess that's helped by the 96KHz/24bit recordings which give added headroom and reinstate many of the frequencies that get lost when mastering for CD @ 44.1KHz/16bit.

I also bought her most recent album, "Volta", also in the 5.1 format, so now the collection is complete.



My only gripe with "Volta" is the slightly strange and overtly "artistic" nature of the cover.



There is an outer folder, whose flaps are kept closed by a flimsy metalised sticker of Bjork in the "chicken outfit". Then, inside, there is a russion doll style arrangement of sleeves and a small booklet. Whilst I appreciate the uniqueness of this, it really doesn't look like something that could stand the test of time. For a while, I thought there might be a purpose to it, like some kind of clever construction, but if there is, i can't figure it out ! Still, the musical contents are typically superb.

Diatonis - Ambient Music in Stereo & 5.1 Surround

Just stumbled across this artist who creates ambient music in both stereo & 5.1.

Diatonis Homepage

The blurb says:

"Based in Los Angeles California, Diatonis' music consists of an eclectic mix of ambient, electronic, and world styles. The music ranges from being very dreamlike and ethereal to dark and foreboding and gives you a sense of sanctuary. Powerful, Hypnotic, and Dreamlike. Diatonis also works in 5.1 surround and has a DVD-Audio disc available from his website."

As well as his commercial releases, he (I'm assuming it's a he !) has some free DTS, AC-3 and WMA 5.1 downloads. These should give you a good idea before commiting to a purchase.

I've had a listen and if Ambient is your thing, you will probably like this :o)

Slave To The Rhythm - A Brief Review

At long last, Trevor Horn's 2004 concert in celebration of his 25 years in the industry, and in aid of The Prince's Trust, is finally available in the UK on DVD. Having been previously available only in Japan (I'm guessing for copyright issues), there is now a Region 0 release and mine arrived today.



I have to say, I'm blown away !!

Ok, so I'm biased inasmuch as I'm a huge fan of Trevor already, and also of many of the artists featured in this concert (Pet Shop Boys, Seal, Grace Jones, Propaganda, Yes, Art Of Noise, Frankie Goes To Hollywood) but the quality of production is outstanding. It certainly adheres to Trevor's quality mark, that's for sure. Allegedly, this was filmed in HD by the BBC (their first proper attempt at doing this) and it's clearly an excellent picture throughout. The concert is also in Dolby Digital 5.1 and on my secondary system, sounds superb. I have great expectations for this on my primary home theatre set up.

Bonus features include a documentary on the concert, featuring many of the artists and Trevor himself, as well as a Jukebox facility that allows you to select the tracks to play in any order you like. There is also a documentary on the reforming of Frankie Goes To Hollywood too.

Here's a couple of tasters found on YouTube (the Grace Jones clip is in B&W, not so on the DVD)...





An absolute steal at £10.99.

Get it.

Get it NOW.

Yazoo - InYour Room

Arrived today and what a bundle of spartan synth goodness it is !!

Each album is on it's own CD with the third case containing both the remixes/b-sides CD and the DVD that contains the Dolby & DTS 5.1 mixes, promo videos, documentary and BBC footage. The discs and booklet are housed in the box, pictured at the top. The booklet (pictured at the bottom) is quite chunky and full of info, bio and pics.

The remastering is superb, both in stereo and 5.1. The work was carried out by Simon Heyworth (remastering) and Kevin Paul (5.1 mix) who were both responsible for the Depeche Mode Remasters and the quality and execution is just as stunning as those works.

The sparse, arpeggiated nature of Yazoo's music is given some room to breathe and their work sounds as fresh today as it did 25 years ago. Alison has never sounded so good :o)

Add to that the fantastic documentary, promos and clips from the BBC and that wonderful book that goes with it, it's a great package.

Arriving this week.... I hope !

As mentioned in an earlier post, Yazoo's "In Your Room" was released today. I pre ordered my copy some weeks ago from Mute's own store, MuteBank, with the hope that I might also get one of the limited 50 copies that have been signed by Alison and Vince.

Sadly, all of us impatient pre-orderers got this email from MuteBank last week...

Dear Customer,
Thank you for placing a pre-order for Yazoo : In Your Room - 4 disc Remastered Box Set, which is scheduled for release next Monday.
Unfortunately, due to a slight delay from our supplier, we may not receive stock until early next week. This delay is also affecting all the other UK shops. As soon as we receive our stock we will rush your order out as soon as possible.
Please rest assured that this delay will not affect your chance of receiving 1 of 50 copies signed by Vince and Alison – good luck!
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience that this may have caused.

So, it won't be with me tomorrow morning as I'd hoped, ready for a few days away on business, but hopefully it'll be something for me to look forward to coming home to (as well as my darling family ;o) !!)

Here's the final confirmed tracklist...

Disc 1 (CD): Upstairs at Eric's (Remastered)

1. Don't Go
2. Too Pieces
3. Bad Connection
4. I Before E Except After C
5. Midnight
6. In My Room
7. Only You
8. Goodbye '70s
9. Tuesday
10. Winter Kills
11. Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)

Disc 2 (CD): You And Me Both (Remastered)

1. Nobody's Diary
2. Softly Over
3. Sweet Thing
4. Mr Blue
5. Good Times
6. Walk Away From Love
7. Ode To Boy
8. Unmarked
9. Anyone
10. Happy People
11. And On

Disc 3 (CD): B-Sides and Remixes

1. Situation
2. Situation (Extended Version)
3. Don't Go (Re-mix)
4. Don't Go (Re-re-mix)
5. Situation (US 12" Mix)
6. Situation (US 12" Dub)
7. The Other Side Of Love
8. The Other Side Of Love (12" Remix)
9. State Farm
10. Nobody's Diary (Extended)
11. State Farm (Extended)
12. Situation (Re-recorded)

Disc 4 (DVD): 2 albums, 4 singles and that was it... (NTSC - Region Free)

A short film featuring new interviews with Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet, and exclusive archive footage.

Promotional Videos

1. Don't Go
2. The Other Side Of Love
3. Nobody's Diary
4. Situation (1990)
5. Situation - Alternative Version (1990)
6. Only You (1999)

Yazoo At The BBC

1. Only You (Top Of The Pops) 29 Apr 1982
2. Only You (Cheggers Plays Pop) 24 May 1982
3. Don't Go (Top Of The Pops) 15 Jul 1982
4. Don't Go (Saturday Live) 24 Jul 1982
5. Don't Go (Top Of The Pops) 12 Aug 1982
6. The Other Side Of Love (Top Of The Pops) 25 Nov 1982
7. The Other Side Of Love (Top Of The Pops) 09 Dec 1982
8. Nobody's Diary (Top Of The Pops) 19 May 1983
9. Nobody's Diary (Top Of The Pops) 02 Jun 1983

5:1 And Stereo Mixes (Presumably Dolby Digital and DTS - No mention of an SACD)

1. Upstairs At Erics
2. You and Me Both

Bjork - Surrounded

I have always liked Bjork. For one, she's cute. Secondly, and most importantly, she is an incredible talent. Her music, her performances, her personality, are all so incredibly unique. Her music spans so many emotions and genres, evoking a myriad emotions and requiring in depth listening and a level of intelligence not normally required in pop music.

She is also no stranger to the world of 5.1, having released Vespertine, Medulla and Volta in various surround formats. Vespertine & Medulla were released in DVD-A & SACD as well as featuring Dolby/DTS mixes. Volta was just Dolby/DTS mixes. It would appear that Bjork has also seen the impending demise of DVD-A & SACD and tailored her output accordingly.

However, it is only these three albums so far that have received 5.1 mixes, until now. Surrounded is a luscious and sumptuous box set that contains her first seven studio albums, all featuring the original CD masters on one side of a DualDisc, with the other side containing remastered 5.1 versions in Dolby & DTS 96/24 along with all the accompanying promo videos for the singles. So now we can enjoy not only Vespertine and Medulla, but also Debut, Post, Homogenic, SelmaSongs and Drawing Restraint 9 in our favoured format (Volta is not included as this box set pre dates its release).



This box set has been out for some while but slipped under my radar. You can pick it up for as little as £49.99 from places like Play.Com.

I'm saving already :)