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Topic: Discovery, The Killing Fields remasters released< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Olivier Offline




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Posted: Jan. 30 2016, 02:15

Mercury Records has released the 2015 remasters of Discovery and The Killing Fields, as well as The Suite 1984:

Discovery
1. To France
2. Poison Arrows
3. Crystal Gazing
4. Tricks of the Light
5. Discovery
6. Talk About Your Life
7. Saved by a Bell
8. The Lake
9. To France (Extended version) (bonus track)
10. In the Pool (bonus track)
11. Bones (bonus track)
12. Afghan (bonus track)
13. Tricks of the Light (Instrumental) (bonus track)

The Killing Fields
1. Pran's Theme
2. Requiem for a City
3. Evacuation
4. Pran's Theme 2
5. Capture
6. Execution
7. Bad News
8. Pran's Departure
9. Worksite
10. The Year Zero
11. Blood Sucking
12. The Year Zero 2
13. Pran's Escape / The Killing Fields
14. The Trek
15. The Boy's Burial / Pran Sees the Red Cross
16. Good News
17. Étude
18. Evacuation (Single Edit) (Bonus Track)
19. Étude (Single Edit) (Bonus Track)

The Suite 1984
1. To France
2. The Lake
3. The Killing Fields (Main Theme)
4. Étude
5. The Royal Mile (Re-discovered track)
6. Zombies (Halloween Special)
7. Discovery
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spark Offline




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Posted: Feb. 01 2016, 11:24

To say that Im disapointed is a understatement .
All the fuss about the 1984 suite is just a joke.
Zombies we already know ,The Royal Mile is a remix of Afghan , Killing Fields is a cleaned up remix of The Boys Buriel from from the original album , and the rest ?
Well sorry , for me it was a total CON and I dont think the 5.1 mix is that great either .
And I bought the vinyl version as well as the cd .
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larstangmark Offline




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Posted: Feb. 01 2016, 11:45

Sounds like the suite 1984 version of "discovery" (the track) has a second drum track different from the original. To me it sounds like it was added on top of the original mix and that there are now two drum tracks on top of eachother.
If this is the case, it is a bit like Shiva - just the original track with added content.


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olaf Offline




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Posted: Feb. 01 2016, 16:56

It's not only the drum track. Mike excavated the bass line from the track. It's exactly the bass line he published via Facebook two years ago. However, I really like this alternative mix. And I think in contrast to many comments that it makes the Lake track completely different. Now there are two lakes :-)
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crises1980 Offline




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Posted: Feb. 02 2016, 08:48

I don't like at all the production of the new mixes. The stylish production of 1984 just became more aggressive and even unpolished. Guitar, bass guitar and drums sound louder while the other arrangements seem to vanish. Even the orchestral arrangement by David Bedford on 'The Killing Fields Theme' becomes a mere background sound. Maybe 'The 1984 Suite' was focused on the 5.1 mix and everything sounds better there, but I' afraid I only have a stereo player.

Then, some people noticed their copies of TKF, both on CD and LP, had a text variant on the front cover sentence. The final word of the bottom line 'live' now seems to be 'love', something that totally changes the idea of the film. Weird.
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equinoxe Offline




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Posted: Feb. 03 2016, 10:43

I like the newely mixed version of "The Lake" (from suite 1984). Despite of a bit strange reverbs and echoes used in some places, the instruments sounds very crisp and so real and detailed, that i must say, i realize even more, how briliant this track is. It's a real gem of this release to me.

Etude (from suite 1984) is another highlight of the release, with classical guitar part added into the mix. The track sounds more natural and beautiful.

I'am also glad, that i have the singles like Afghan and In The Pool gathered together in one place in digital quality.
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Marky Offline




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Posted: Feb. 04 2016, 07:46

This is the only time I've felt disappointed since I became a fan of Mike's which was, ironically, in 1984.

What I had hoped for, almost expected, was a masterful mixing together of the disparate pieces of the Killing Fields into a 'suite' that tied them up thematically. Now that would have been amazing, and in effect been a whole new piece of music.

What has held that album back is that it is segmented and obviously has to reflect scenes in the movie. But its overall quality is incredibly high and its very creative, so any piece bringing together the best bits or the most compatible pieces would be worth listening to. But he hardly mustered the energy to listen to TKF.

I like his re-touching of the Lake, but honestly, this isn't an album's worth of material and I feel conned for the first time in my life by a Mike Oldfield album. Not worthy of Mike, and a bum note in the deluxe sets.
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equinoxe Offline




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Posted: Feb. 04 2016, 10:58

I hope, the next Islands-Earth Moving deluxe edition release will be much better, because Islands is my favourite album from the "pop-rock era".
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Marky Offline




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Posted: Feb. 04 2016, 13:04

I had thought these were both on one release. That's partly why I'm disappointed to find I have to now buy a separate one to hear TKF which is separate but not, according to Amazon, packaged as 'deluxe'. I'd have preferred to have bought TKF but now, having heard how little Mike has done with Discovery, for the first time in my life, I will not be buying his second album. A big missed opportunity in more than one way.
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iwaniuch Offline




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Posted: Feb. 05 2016, 08:28

The worst edition of all deluxe sets so far...
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falk Offline




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Posted: Feb. 08 2016, 11:35

ok, got discovery so far, and the record itself still is far better than most realeased in 1984, even if Mike could do better. Afghan i had forgot how good was, and the royal mile is up there too. But that is it, a big dissapointment. If only the suite was a real suite with the songs connecting right, and zombies were not there, but that is not the case. pardon me mike, but a record, that never really stood up too, what i know you can do, has got got any better
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MikeArnold Offline




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Posted: Feb. 08 2016, 17:55

My feeling about the Discovery Deluxe Edition is it is aimed much more at the casual listener, and if they come upon this for the first time, wow is this ever a fantastic buy for them.  But for the die hard M.O. fan, it is a collection of what has gone before.
Didn't get released on iTunes Canada yet, so took a listen to some highlights via the UK store.
Really interested in getting "To France (Extended)", also "The Royal Mile" and "Discovery" from The Suite.  "Zombies" sounds a lot better than on the video, but no, sorry, I just can't go there.
The re-working of "The Killing Fields" seems to have a much richer sound to it, and I think this had the greater potential for the "Deluxe" treatment.  There are some segments from the movie that never made it, and still haven't made it, to disc, such as the dark room scene, where they were desperately trying to develop a photo for Pran's fake passport.  
Also, it was reported that Mike had originally put the score together using modern instruments, but the movie team decided they wanted a full orchestral score.  It would have been interesting to have seen elements of these versions re-worked into a seamless suite.  Even so, "The Killing Fields" is the more likely of the two albums I will purchase in full.
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First_Excursion Offline




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Posted: Feb. 09 2016, 02:05

Quote (MikeArnold @ Feb. 08 2016, 17:55)
The re-working of "The Killing Fields" seems to have a much richer sound to it, and I think this had the greater potential for the "Deluxe" treatment.  There are some segments from the movie that never made it, and still haven't made it, to disc, such as the dark room scene, where they were desperately trying to develop a photo for Pran's fake passport.  
Also, it was reported that Mike had originally put the score together using modern instruments, but the movie team decided they wanted a full orchestral score.  It would have been interesting to have seen elements of these versions re-worked into a seamless suite.


^ This.
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JTI Offline




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Posted: Feb. 13 2016, 17:03

MikeArnold - I have a feeling you're going to be waiting a long time to see these two remasters on iTunes up where you are. I live in the US, and Universal STILL has not made Five Miles Out 2013 available for downloading or streaming here. They are only offering the 2000 remasters for FMO as well as Discovery and Killing Fields via downloading and streaming. This is true for both US and CA from what I found on iTunes, Amazon and 7Digital.

I think us Norte Americanos might have to go the physical CD/DVD route from Amazon to get them.....UDISCOVER (owned by Universal) also offers them, and they will sell to US & CA (priced in USD), but they ship from the UK, so not sure how banged up they would get in the mail....  :(
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falk Offline




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Posted: Feb. 17 2016, 08:08

finally i got hold of The killing fields. seemed to last forver, but boy, what a record
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MikeArnold Offline




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Posted: Feb. 19 2016, 01:38

Hey JTI, check your USA store, we just got Discovery Deluxe Edition and the remastered Killing Fields up here on iTunes in the great white North.
Good luck!  :)
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Argiers Offline




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Posted: Feb. 19 2016, 15:25

Yup. Massive disappointment. I'm just glad I realised that 1984 Suite (Suite meaning a rehash) was to be part of the cd issue. Saved myself £20 right there. Some nice touches here and there remix wise. Though The Lake loses its dynamics and punch in the finale. It kind of apologises its way to an end. Mike seems to have fallen out of love with reverb. A trait that seemed to start with Guilty. Dry and lacklustre.

So. Apart from some half hearted remixing, I have everything here and have done since 1993. Zombies should have been Poison Arrows instrumental. Royal Mile? Please... And why has Mike been sloppy with his remixed endings?

Killing Fields had SO much potential for a proper reworking. Is he getting bored with his reissue programme? Things started off so brilliantly and have gone downhill since, with FMO and Crises being a tiny light on the Horizon.

So disappointed.... Discovery's an album close to my heart. Glad I still have the original vinyl.


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stpaul Offline




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Posted: Feb. 20 2016, 05:44

Quote (Argiers @ Feb. 19 2016, 15:25)
Mike seems to have fallen out of love with reverb. A trait that seemed to start with Guilty. Dry and lacklustre.

--- that's it ! Although all new mixes since Guilty are clean and transparent most of the special effects that made the original mixes big and dense have been lost.
Just compare Zombies (at 2:03) and Poison Arrows (at 2:11):
While in Poison Arrows the guitar rises to extrem heights it stops suddenly in Zombies.
Another example is the new mix of Crises if you listen to the final guitar notes.
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Argiers Offline




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Posted: Feb. 20 2016, 20:01

You are so right stpaul.

There's absolutely no attention to detail. When did he lose that?


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JTI Offline




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Posted: Feb. 21 2016, 18:12

Thanks for the heads up MikeArnold!

So they did release here in NA after all. Good to see that. I was afraid after they didn't bother with FMO 2013 that we wouldn't see these.

I see it is available here in US on both iTunes (Discovery is in Deluxe version only) as well as 7Digital (Discovery is in both standard and Deluxe editions). 7Digital also offers all in 16-bit/44.1KHz FLAC (at 35% premium over MP3/M4A), and they are still selling the 2000 versions too (not sure how long they'll keep them available - I noticed iTunes stopped selling them).


For giggles, I wound up doing side-by-side comparisons of the original version of both albums versus the 2016 release (in my case using samples on 7Digital with 2000 in one IE tab and 2016 in the other, with both put at same volume).

Discovery - 2000 seems to be somewhat louder than the 2016 version.

Killing Fields - The opposite. 2016 seems louder than 2000.

When one version is louder than the other, it feels to have more detail than the other, but from what I could tell it appears to be a function of volume and not much else, because when I boost the softer one, they were indistinguishable. This is true of both Discovery and KF. 

This comparison is based on 30-second samples, so beware, it may not be best way to compare these.

I had actually given up on the 2016s coming out here a few weeks ago - I waited a week or two and then bought the 2000s as I didn't already have them. But even with that done, I'm glad they came out with the 2016, I'll now be able to get the bonus tracks on Discovery (skipping most of the 1984 suite though) as they are good to have.
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