Rush is a Band Blog: Rush Sector box sets release open thread

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Monday, November 21, 2011

Rush Sector box sets release open thread

10:48AM EST | comments (26) |

Rush releases a set of 3, 6-disc Sector box sets today. The sets span Rush's entire 15-album Mercury Records recording career, with each set containing five of their 15 Mercury albums in chronological order, all transferred to high resolution 96kHz/24-bit along with one album from each set in 5.1; Sector 1 contains Fly By Night in 5.1, Sector 2 has A Farewell to Kings in 5.1, and Sector 3 includes Signals in 5.1. Each album is packaged in a replica vinyl mini-jacket of the original album release. Each set also includes an exclusive booklet packed with unpublished photos, original album lyrics and credits with all three box sets forming a Rush CD road case. You can read the official press release at this link and Rush.com posted a 1.5-minute preview video of the box set last week which you can check out below.
You can order all 3 Sector box sets now at this link. If anyone has received the sets yet, please share your first impressions/reviews in the comments.

COMMENTS

#1 - Posted 11/21/11 @10:51AM by robertkincaid96 [contact]

First!!

#2 - Posted 11/21/11 @11:08AM by jupeguyowensound [contact]

should I get this or not???Hmmmm...

#3 - Posted 11/21/11 @11:17AM by John E. [contact]

This is nothing but a money grab by Mercury and may fill a previous contractual obligation by the band.

In the past, the guys haven't been real big fans of box sets or best of's. They stay connected on the creative side and for the CD covers but that's about it.

The sound will be cool for the 5.1 but I don't think the rest of the stuff will be a huge improvement. I'll be saving my $$ for concert seats - Rush and Roger Waters in 2012.

If you don't already own the Rush catalog then this will be a fantastic buy.

#4 - Posted 11/21/11 @11:59AM by robertrobyn [contact]

Got mine this am. WOW a very nice set. Can't wait to listen tonight.

#5 - Posted 11/21/11 @12:14PM by Frpadilla

I'd be interested to hear samples so I can compare to the CD's that were released about 10 years ago to these. I'm not going to fork over the cash if the difference isn't much.

#6 - Posted 11/21/11 @12:56PM by Jimbo [contact]

FYI - Sector 3 is on Gold Box special at Amazon for $45.06 (listed in the Quick Picks section, so I'm not sure if everyone sees that). Not much of a discount, but a tiny bit cheaper.

#7 - Posted 11/21/11 @1:45PM by dcd2112 [contact]

I got mine and the first thing I noticed is the packaging. It is nicely done. Each disc is housed in a plastic anti-static sleeve. I wish all discs housed in cardboard mini LP sleeves would be encased in a little plastic sleeve. Very nice! The booklets do have some nice photos and lyrics, but there is some inconsistency. Fly By Night, because there are two discs (CD and DVD), is in a gatefold, and the middle of the gatefold is a reprint of the original album inner sleeve - Neil's handwritten lyrics, spread out over a mixing desk and photos of their technicians interspersed. The lyrics are pretty hard to read. For Caress of Steel, 2112, Farewell, and Hemispheres, those lyrics were all printed on the original gatefolds of those albums, and of course these new discs are housed in replica album jackets, but they reprinted the lyrics in the accompanying booklet. I don't know why they chose to not reprint Fly By Night's lyrics in the booklet as well, but probably a cost saving measure. For the sake of completeness, it would have been nice to have all the lyrics in the booklets including those from the debut album. As for the sound, it is definitely punchier and a bit louder than the 1997 remasters. I haven't had a chance to look at waveforms, but from what I can tell, they did not brickwall. I'm not too into 5.1 so I've spent most of my time listening to the stereo hi-res tracks and you can certainly hear the difference between 96K/24 bit and the CD counterparts. You can really hear it in the cymbals and the in top end of the sound. It's a little chopped on the CD's. But there is an interesting question. On The CD version of Anthem, there is a drop out at 2:02. It sounds very much like a tape drop out, but the drop out does not exist on the stereo hi-res track. So did they use the original 2 track master for the CD and create a new stereo 2 track master for the hi-res, or did they use a safety copy of the master for the stereo hi-res? All in all, it's not a bad product, but like everyone else, instead of nickel and diming us, I just wish they would have done the right thing by having 2 discs for each album.

#8 - Posted 11/21/11 @2:48PM by skkaleck [contact]

Signals sounds great in 5.1. Hearing guitar and keyboard parts I have not heard beforein the 30 years I have been listening to the album....just heard the bell toll for the first time in Losing It.

#9 - Posted 11/21/11 @3:12PM by redtide89 [contact]

Hello dcd2112,

Could you please check your Fly By Night disc for the following dropouts listed? There is nothing wrong with the disc itself, no scratches etc...but I am hearing the following:

1:36 - Best I Can
1:10 Fly By Night
1:26 In The End

#10 - Posted 11/21/11 @3:50PM by dcd2112 [contact]

Hi Redtide89,

I did not hear the dropout in Best I Can, but most definitely in Fly By Night and In The End. It's not surprising. I remember one of the reasons why MOFI said they would not be doing any more Rush albums was because Anthem said the tapes were not in good shape. Stands to reason - there was some bad tape in the 70's. So I would guess that the hi res stereo on the DVD's is coming from a new master mix of the multi tracks because there are no dropouts. In which case, Rich Chycki did a very nice job duplicating the original mixes.

#11 - Posted 11/21/11 @4:28PM by redtide89 [contact]

Thanks dcd2112!
That would explain it. My Fly By Night cover is bent pretty good. The other sectors are perfect. I'm thinking I should return to Best Buy and hopefully get another box since I'm picky about that stuff.

#12 - Posted 11/21/11 @8:45PM by 427RUSH [contact]

Picked up the Sectors on the way home from work today...the quality of the packaging is so-so in my opinion, but I'm a big fan of the 5.1 remix. I have 1,000 watts of 5.1 goodness in my hotrod and the mix really brings it to life. So, if you like the 5.1 I would suggest you go for it.

#13 - Posted 11/22/11 @12:11PM by kideternal [contact]

I was disappointed to discover that the discs are not SACD or 24bit/96Khz audio. They are just regular "redbook" CD audio at 16bit/44Khz. They may have been remastered in the studio at 24/96 as the marketing claims, but were then down-sampled to 16/44 for burning onto regular CD.

They do sound good, but are essentially just re-mix/re-masters.

#14 - Posted 11/22/11 @2:19PM by cabalaska [contact]

What was the cost at Best Buy?

#15 - Posted 11/22/11 @2:59PM by Buzz [contact]

#14 - I just picked up sectors 1, 2, and 3 at Best Buy for $49.99 each. A nice update to the collection, replacing my vinyl, cassettes, and various downloads.

#16 - Posted 11/23/11 @4:13AM by starscreamsrevenge [contact]

Hi,

Does anyone who has these know if the 5.1 DVDs are region encoded? I'm from the UK, and have been asking this question in various different places, but no one can tell me!!! Obviously don't want to spend all that money for one DVD (Farewell to Kings) that doesn't work!!!

For anyone whose heard it, does Xanadu sound as immense in 5.1 as I'm imagining it will?!

Thanks a lot

#17 - Posted 11/23/11 @11:46AM by skl183

Oh these are teasers for the 5.1 versions. One per box set. Guess Mercury saving the rest for a 40th anniversary year or something.

#18 - Posted 11/23/11 @1:34PM by drazzeldew [contact]

Feel ass raped for spending 145 bucks for dumbed down 24/96. That was ot so clear on the description. It will be a long time before I ever buy another RUSH product. I should have known this was too good to be true. Thanks for the lesson RUSH, wont happened again.

#19 - Posted 11/23/11 @6:45PM by sndtatro [contact]

Don't blame the guys in Rush for thier former labels greed. They really don't have any say in what is or isn't put out.

#20 - Posted 11/23/11 @11:51PM by yeti [contact]

Howdy-

I was wondering if anyone else was hearing the dropouts besides me! Here are the ones I have heard so far...

Anthem 2:01
Beneath, Between And Behind 0.06
Fly By Night 1:10
In The End 1:26

These problems dont seem to exist on the high res DVD version
either in stereo or 5.1. I hope this is the only bad CD of the 3 sets. Mercury needs to get their act together and offer a replacement for these bad discs. The overall sound is very good, but these dropouts are ruining it.

#21 - Posted 11/24/11 @11:50PM by What-A-Rush

I find all the mixed fan "reviews" of the $ector series rather interesting. I still think a better "deal" would be 3 DVD's of full concert TOURS of Fly By Night, A Farewell To Kings,and Signals INSTEAD of the "surround sound" discs. Clearly this "project" was overseen MOSTLY by Mercury (Universal) but Rush certainly had to give some sort of approval to an extent. It would be dishonest,at best,to say that they didn't,and delusional at worst! Either way,as I write this,I'm listening to my OUTDATED AND STILL OUTSTANDING SOUNDING Permanent Waves ALBUM! If anyone is interested,please read the excerpt from 'And Party Every Day' from last week's wrap-up thread (11-18-11). I sent that to Ed because I feel that the circumstances (no pun intended) of that particular story could easily apply to the $ector series in terms of the wrong business decisions,or rather,not truly appreciating an artist until it's TOO LATE! Frankly, it's no accident that this box set release came hot off the heels of their new deal with Roadrunner. I simply don't accept this as merely coincidental! Anyway, I feel bad for the fans who ended up disappointed. I look forward to reading more opinions on this,both pro and con. Thanks RIAB.

#22 - Posted 11/29/11 @6:13PM by sammy2112 [contact]

I recently discovered an error on the Sector 2 box and more specifically the Farewell to Kings DVD. The 96/24 stereo version of Closer to the Heart is not the original stereo mix. Instead it appears to be the left and right front channels from the 5.1 mix instead. During the intro to the song, Neil's percussion is completely missing. The CD version does have the original mix intact.

#23 - Posted 11/29/11 @8:43PM by yeti [contact]

Hey! Sammy2112 is absolutely right in post #22...Neil's cymbals(bells?)are completely missing from the stereo DVD intro of Closer to The Heart! First the Fly By Night CD glitches and now this! What other surprises are we going to get?

#24 - Posted 11/30/11 @12:13PM by sammy2112 [contact]

I have not yet confirmed this for myself, but apparently some of the tracks on Hold Your Fire have different bits and pieces that do not appear on the original mixes...

#25 - Posted 2/20/12 @11:08PM by On the Fence [contact]

Been a fan since the late 70's and I am not believing this 5.1 garbage. Between that and Neil recently taking down his website articles to release them as a book is all adding up to a real bad taste in my mouth. This is not good and not easy for me to swallow either. This is my take and review of Sectors:

The DVD-A and CD formats are dead (for at least this type of release anyway). These Sector 1, 2 and 3 releases are just not worth it. Taking sources of 192k 24 bit and then dumping them back down to 44.1k 16 bit leaves a better than original master but why? It will still never be as good as a 24 bit 192k release. And these masters are subjective to the original masters that were destined for vinyl to begin with. The 5.1 mixes are a complete train wreck. They sound plainly and lazily mixed with many effects such as reverb that were in the original mix absent or altered for the worst. Tempo changes performed in the original mastering process are missing all over the place in Signals (lay the stereo mix on top of the 6 channel mix for Countdown or Digital Man in an editing machine and you will see what I mean). The alternate takes are great as a sideline only. We need Terry Brown back in the fold (with his ideals that made these albums what they were in the first place) for a real mixdown to 7.1 24 bit 96kHz LPCM on Blu-ray with the 24 bit 192kHz stereo tracks as a secondary audio selection (which are superior to the prior remasters so far). For instance, check out the 5.1 of Cygnus X-1 Book 1 (A Farewell to Kings) at 00:03:14.389 (beat 4 of the 7/4 measure), there is a splice revealed by a crash cymbal from either another take or simply just an editing goof while spreading out the signals in the surround fields. There are other issues revealed in this same manner. As a novelty these 5.1 mixes are OK I suppose but thats where it ends - NOVELTY.

#26 - Posted 2/21/12 @12:37AM by On the Fence [contact]

7.1 LPCM 24 bit 96kHz - 7.1 LPCM 24 bit 96kHz - 7.1 LPCM 24 bit 96kHz

@ POST 10: Rich Chycki did no such thing - this is absurd - it was a simple transfer by Andy VanDette. What Chycki did to Moving Pictures 5.1 is simply sacrilege. If he had ever even come close to what Terry Brown and Paul Northfield did on Moving Pictures the clean guitar side chain compressor from the bass drum would not be missing at the beginning of Red Barchetta. I like what he does for the newer albums alongside Nick Raskulinecz but you are mistaken, the stereo mixes do not belong to Chycki, they belong to Terry Brown and Paul Northfield (alongside Bob Ludwigs mastering for the original/vinyl reease anyway).

And then we have the Moving Pictures Blu-ray (at least somewhat better than the Sectors 5.1 mixes). I remember back in the early 80's when a friend of mines sister said "The Trees is the only good song on that album" as I listened to Exit...Stage Left. A fan that was turning away like many did AFTER Moving Pictures or Permanent Waves (although I could never wrap my head around her sharpness with Red Barchetta playing at the time - she must not have read into that song enough?).

- My review of Moving Pictures Blu-Ray:

My expectations were very high with this release (I saw the Exit...Stage Left show in Lakeland FL back in the day!) and while I was disappointed in some aspects of the 5.1 treatment (the Stereo mix has the original elements by the
way and sounds great) there were enough surprises to make up for this to at least some degree.

Disappointments:
1 Red Barchetta is missing the side chain compressor on the intro of the guitars (that beautiful stereo chorused breathing as the drums start kicking in and triggering the clean guitar comp - this very distinct & important heebee geebee factor is just gone)
2 Vocals needed to be narrower (more centered) in spots or entire songs (some play in it maybe etc...)
3 Not enough reverb for the vocals as in the original (The Camera Eye is just to dry and wide)
4 The double/triple tracked drums are mostly missing in Witch Hunt (losing strength as a result - Toms)
5 The intro drum sequence in Witch Hunt is simply trashed - it had to have been edited (missing notes!)
6 Instrumentation in surround channels (other than drums already there etc...) should have been ramped in more so
(Red Barchetta synth pads etc... - too abrupt)
7 Not enough LFE, most of the bass is in the front speakers (on a calibrated system anyway)
8 The entire Tom Sawyer demo version please? (check out the specials of Classic Albums: 2112 / Moving Pictures)
9 5.1? Blu-ray? Come on man - do it the right way - (24 bit 96kHz) 7.1 LPCM - period. Hmph.
10 No consultation with Terry Brown who originally helped make the album what it was to begin with?

Surprises:
1 Bass guitar is just beautiful sounding esp. on Red Barchetta
2 Extra (or louder anyway) harmony vocals in Limelight
3 Clean guitars in Limelight are modernised
4 The Camera Eye detail in the sound effects
5 Synth padding is very pristine
6 Cymbals are very pristine as well as Toms in the surround field
7 Good frequency balance (with a little raise to the LFE)
8 Extra (or louder anyway) vocals in Witch Hunt
9 Vital Signs has really nice & subtle surround effects
10 Video for Vital Signs as I remember it from the heyday of MTV

7.1 LPCM 24 bit 96kHz - 7.1 LPCM 24 bit 96kHz - 7.1 LPCM 24 bit 96kHz