Gentle Giant Free Hand Wilson Mix

I compared the SW mix to the drt 35th Anniversary Edition CD since I don't have the horrid One Way Records CD anymore. I am not an audiophile nor am I a audio engineer, these are just my thoughts. 

For the stereo mix, the drt CD has more high end on most songs and more overall compression. The exception to the high end is - the SW mix of "His Last Voyage" has more high end and reverb, especially noted during the acoustic portions of the song, than the drt mix. The placement of the instruments and voices in the stereo field seems to be the same. Overall, I think I'm more accustomed to the drt mix and I prefer it to the SW mix.

The Blu-ray has the following mixes. Dolby Atmos, 5.1 DTS, stereo, instrumental mix, original album mix, and original quad mix. The stereo mixes are in 96/24 LPCM. I don't have an Atmos set-up so I could not listen to that. The 5.1 DTS mix sounds great. Sound fills the room with good beefy tones. Each song comes with an animated video. Three of these videos were directed and animated by Noah Shulman, Derek's son. These videos are available for all the different mixes on the Blu-ray. 

So, is it worth buying Freehand again? If you have a decent surround set-up I would say definitely yes. The videos alone are super cool and worth seeing. If you want to replace your One Way Record CD, it's no brainer hearty yes. If you only want to replace the drt CD stereo mix, I'm not sure it would be necessary. I have no clue if the vinyl remix is better than the original, so if someone knows please chime in.

Anyway, I hope I'm not just yakin' to myself and hope this thread can turn into a discussion about this remix. After all, Freehand  has aged well and is one of the best prog albums of all time, imo. 

Thanks for this detailed assessment, Will. I for one am interested as Free Hand is, for me, my favorite and considered "best" of GG's discography (other than the amazing Playing the Fool)--which leads me to my second point which is that all of the post-Phil albums have always seemed to lack something in the engineering/sound department that I felt could be improved upon--they just sound a bit too cool and distant, lack the warmth and inviting feel of GG, Acquiring the Taste, Three Friends, and Octopus (at least, to my ears.) For instance, when I listen to versions of studio album songs as rendered live on Playing the Fool or from video footage from concerts "Sight and Sound," "Long Beach 1975," "Brussels," etc.) there just seems to be more life and warmth than some of the album versions--despite the fact that I LOVE the studio albums. So, thank you: I am interested in hearing re-mastered or re-mixed versions of this GREAT album!

 

I believe you mean post-Phil.

YES! Brain fart! Thanks for catching that. I'll correct it tout suite!

 

Not to fret! I read this knowing you meant Phil, and even read it as Phil and didn't realize you said Derek by mistake until someone else quoted you LOL .

GG Rules!