In Absentia is brilliant (1 Viewer)

[Andrew Bunk]

I was able to capture the audio from playing the 2.0 track. I did this in a program called Total Recorder, which is kind of like a beefed-up Windows Sound Recorder.

Great to finally hear these bonus tracks...

 

[ElevSkyMovie]

Andrew,

It's not that hard. PM or email me and I'll send you some pointers.

Kyle

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Kyle,

Thanks for the offer. I was able to get it done. For some reason I wasn't able to capture audio from a DVD as a wav file on my old PC, but I did this on another PC yesterday and it worked fine.

 

[ChrisDixon]

The DTS IA is not hard to find at all online. I got mine on amazon.com for about $17. Stupid Dream and Ligtbulb Sun will be re-released soon, so there is no use paying high import prices. If you can't wait, there are sealed CDs on ebay for under $15, but I guess that wouldn't really support the band, and I'm really pulling for them. Like DaveDickey said, I find myself spreading the word about PT more than any other band.

If you can find it, Recordings is great too. It's a collection of b-sides and extras from SD and LS sessions. Like "The Who", they're a band that holds back material that is just as good as what goes on the CDs. As previously mentioned, the bonus tracks on DTS IA are great as well. Drown With Me is amazing!

Chris

 

[AricB]

Best buy's have the dvd-a for 14.99 usually , just have to check some different ones, they dont all sotck the same titles, but ive seen it at a bunch.

 

[Darryl]

Brian,

Best Buy on Eubank in Albuquerque has it in stock. Saw it there on Friday.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Just got Signify-I love this record. Probably my second favorite of the latter four release (IA being first.) I may look for Recordings now. Can't get enough of these guys-the bonus tracks on the DVD-A are fantastic.

 

[Brian L]

Thanks Darryl, but it is on the way from CD Universe (along with the SACD of Roxy Music's Avalon. Thanks to whom ever mentioned that site!).

I have been by BB recently, and it looked to me like the hi-rez section had not been stocked for a bit. And not to derail the thread, but I find searching for stuff (and hi-rez disc in particular) on Best Buy's web site to be without question a most frustrating experience. Their web site is crap. Period. A totally piss-poor search engine. At least CC has all the hi-rez stuff grouped together.

But back on point, and looking forward to this disc showing up in the mailbox. I sampled the tracks on iTunes, and liked just about everything I heard.

Interesting comments by Neil Peart. When I listened to the samples, I thought there were at least 2 tracks that sounded a lot like mid-period Rush. And thats not a bad thing!

BGL

 

[Jean D]

the resolution for In Absentia on the DVD-A track and the DTS track is the same. It has something to do with the resolution in which the record was recorded; I saw this on annother thread on here somewhere. Plus if you look on the back of the case it tells you the resolution of each track, and it shows the same for the DTS and the DVD-A. So no, there is no difference. Funny isnt it, how the DTS track from one of the best DVD-A's out could be "backed up" and sound just as good as the DVD-A track. Now tell me that isnt a marketing mistake. Or is it?

As far as getting your copy. Best Buy sometimes carries it, but doesnt stock it. it sells fast. I had to order my copy from www.dvdempire.com

 

[Darryl]

I picked this up yesterday after reading all the great reviews here. Brian, I know it's too late, but BB on Eubank had 3 copies, and a copy of Avalon...

Anyway, I loved it up until I started paying closer attention to the lyrics and I watched the videos. Way too morbid for me. When did Jeffrey Dalmer start writing music? I hope I can forget what the music is about so I can enjoy it again...


There is a difference between 24 bits of DTS and 24 bits of DVD-A. Here's my layman's explanation of the difference (I hope I'm not too far off from reality - I'm just repeating what I've read elsewhere). Assuming the source tape is 48kHz/24 bits, the DVD-A track is exactly the same as the source tape. The DTS track isn't really 24 bits. It's something like 18 bits plus some algorithms to guess what the other 6 bits ought to be. The resulting 24 bits are closer to the source tape than just using the 18 bits we had before guessing, but the last 6 bits aren't going to match up exactly with the source tape. That's what people mean by lossless vs lossy compression. DVD-A uses lossless compression, which means you get the exact 24 bits; DTS uses lossy compression, which means you get 24 bits, but not the exact 24 bits you started with.

 

[ChrisDixon]

That's one of the things I love about PT. The melodies and vocal arrangements are beautiful, but there is an underlying sadness or edginess that creates a fascinating contrast. According to interviews that I've read, Steven Wilson is not a dark, depressed person. In fact, he is pretty happy overall, but finds writing melancholy music to be a catharsis. I've always felt that darker, edgier music is more powerful and more rewarding. But as you found out before reading the lyrics, you can enjoy IA as "just a great musical/vocal album".

Chris

 

[LanceJ]

I hate to sound like a hypocrite after praising this album myself after I bought it, but I have to agree with Darryl's comment. The music itself is really cool & not very somber but many of the lyrics are just too dark for me (the powerful music and the surround mix distracted me at first I guess) and too close to what I see on the news channels. I recently sold the disc for $5 to a guy a couple doors down from me who likes Tool.

 

[Brian L]

You hosers!

If this thing gives me nightmares (once it arrives), I am going to hunt you down and kick your dog!

BGL

 

[mackie]

No nightmares... They're just songs about the darker side of the human condition. I personally find the lyrics much more interesting than the stupid love song thats been re-written a million times. Even worse are the same party songs rewritten a million times. I personally enjoy music that challenges me as a listener and makes me examine the meaning of the song. Cookie cutter, I love you ... you love me songs bore me to tears. This disk rocks... Another good album that's a bit brighter is Spocks Beard - Snow. It has some dark parts but is a wonderful story. Go listen...

 

[Mike Broadman]

IA is no more "dark" than Radiohead or Tool or Incubus or any current rock band. And I agree with mackie- anything is better than the fake romance and bad puns of most "classic" rock.

 

[AricB]

if your the kind of guy to kick a dog, you will be fine with the lyrics, brian.

brian is it true that Albuquerque is the death metal capital of the world? I heard that when I lived in Phoenix...

 

[Brian L]

Actually, I like dogs. Now, if you had a cat.....

Death Metal capital of the world, huh?

Well, I wish I could answer that, but I truly have NFI! I have been here for 11 years (a transplanted Masshole) but never really got into the local music scene, so I can't really say. And I am not much of a Death Metal kind of guy, so two strikes against me!

Then again, some say that living here tends to make one suicidal, so who knows?

The last band of any note than came from here was/is The Shins, and I didn't know they were from here until they were already gone to Seattle or Portland or wherever they are. And they sure aren't Death Metal.

Now, one thing that I think we ARE the capital of the world on and thats Mexican Food; or make that New Mexican Food. But thats open to some debate, I suppose.

As you may know, the official state question is "Red or Green?" referring to what color of ridiculously hot chile sauce you want slathered all over your meal.

BGL

 

[AricB]

me neither, i just thought it was funny?

 

[Bob Turnbull]

I'd have to say that my fave PT release is still the first one I bought from them - The Sky Moves Sideways. It's much more atmospheric, psychedelic and progressive than later releases (that's not why I prefer it, just a comment). Very much in the style of Pink Floyd filtered through Ozric Tentacles. I dig Up The Downstair as well and an EP they released called Staircase Infinities. Though I haven't heard the entire Voyage 34 disc, I've heard the 12 minute edit of it and it's pretty great (not like some of the silly psych stuff of their first album On The Sunday Of Life)

Many prog fans have soured on the band since they have moved into a more straight ahead "rock" style, but I have no problems with that...Sure I'd love to hear more stuff in the vein of the fabulous instrumentals "Moonloop" and "Wire The Drum" from The Sky Moves Sideways, but if they want to give me extremely well crafted rock tunes, I'm all for that.

Both "Blackest Eyes" and "Trains" from In Absentia deserve classic rock rotation and it's a shame they haven't received any. But that all depends on how much the record companies want to pay to get on radio playlists...uh, I mean, how much they want to spend on marketing and promotion...

I might have to say that the last song of the disc, "Collapse The Light Into Earth", is my fave. Whenever I hear it, I can't help but visualize how I would work it into a film...If I ever make a movie, that might run over the final scene.


Mmmm, definitely Red...

 

[mackie]

There's a song on their best of double disk set call Stars Die. It's similar to the songs on IA. It's nice and moody!
I can't understand why it hasn't gotten any air play yet either, but I don't think Pearl Jams 10 Album 10 got any airplay until two years after it's release? I also have Signify which I listen to at work since it makes great background music.