It’s pointless to do a review of an album that is almost 35 years old, as any dyed-in-the-wool Chicago fan already knows this entire double album front to back. The new twist is that this is a DVD-Audio release, and as it is currently out of print, you’d best pick it up now if you ever want to own it. There is a good reason to buy this recording, and surprisingly it’s not for the surround mix!
The big revelation here, for me, is how much better this album sounds now that it has been remixed from the original multitrack tapes. The surround mix is good, but not great–it does a nice job of spreading the instruments around the room, which makes it easier to hear different details in the mix. But even in stereo, this DVD-A smokes all of the existing two-channel versions, even an early-pressing LP. Back in the day it was originally mixed, for whatever reason, there was almost nothing above 5kHz. It sounded just a little better than an AM radio in sound quality. It always had a dark, dull sound to it. Even the hits that were put on later compilations suffered from this sound.
With this new remix, we now have a lot of solid information out to about 10-12kHz, with a bit of activity out at 15kHz. In other words, it now sounds like it was recorded in the 70s…on decent equipment! Music sounds like music; the vocals sound like voices, not a bad reproduction. I’m not that familiar with the original LP or CD versions of this album, but from what I’m told, other than a few minor things, the new stereo mix is pretty darned close to the original in terms of balance. The new mix just opens everything up substantially. In fact, to be honest, I never could listen to much of the original mix since it was so nasty–the poor sound quality made it sound too dated and it never grabbed my attention.
I can’t say that this album still makes a big impression on me–at times it’s lyrically a bit pretentious, and it does sound dated, but it is a product of its time and was quite the norm back when it was recorded. Still, you can’t fault the musicianship, and with the improved sound, you can finally hear all the fine work in the horn section, and all the other parts are much clearer to appreciate.
Just given its rarity, I would recommend buying it. But since the sound quality is such an appreciable improvement over the existing LP and CD versions, I would not hesistate recommending it to anyone who has the equipment to play it back on. The stereo mix is at DVD-A’s highest resolution of 192kHz/24 bit, so it isn’t going to get much better than this! Keep in mind that DVD-A also has Dolby Digital program that allows any DVD player to play back the surround portion. Even though Dolby Digital is compressed audio, you will still be able to hear the improved sound quality. Don’t hesitate to run out and grab this one!