This was my first exposure to A Night at the Opera, or any album by Queen for that matter. I know it must be hard to believe that anyone in the world is just now delving into Queens considerable catalog but I just wanted anyone reading this to know that Im a bit of a clean slate when it comes to Queen; I have heard their hits of course.
While I wont be able to provide comparisons to other versions of this album on different formats, I will say that I enjoyed this collection of songs very much and I now appreciate this albums reputation as one of the all time classics of the Rock genre. I would not however rate this SHM-SACD as one of Universal Japan's stellar achievements and certainly, it was not worth the money I paid. In fact although I have not personally auditioned them, many of the SHM-SACDs released by this band have garnered a less than desirable status among the audio engineering and remastering enthusiasts that I encountered on the web. I would like to audition more of these releases though.
I am curious to know how the multichannel DVD-A of this title fared because I feel that this album could be set free given a proper multichannel mix! Perhaps I am wrong. The sound of the stereo SHM-SACD seems congested at times at least on my system and the numerous special effects and embellishments employed during the original studio recordings no doubt necessitated the use of compensatory production techniques, this is my theory anyway. I have heard many exaggerated and over embellished recordings that contain a greater sense of space and dimension than this recording does; I suspect George Martin would have made this one of his masterpieces! Much of the album seems overly busy by design so perhaps I am not being completely fair, but I do feel that this album did not utilize the fullest potential of the SHM-SACD format. Perhaps this is rendering of "A Night at the Opera" will grow on me.
Generally speaking the open feel of live or live in studio jazz recordings with their wide dynamics and holographic imaging lend themselves more perfectly to the SACD format in my opinion, but I am not as interested at least at this point in my life in listening to Jazz music although I am mellowing to a degree as I age. Among many other musical inspirations, I still seek the exhilaration of complex and somewhat histrionic musical passages. The awe-inspiring intense hard rock soundscapes of electric guitar, flamboyant synthesizer crescendos, and highly nimble, thunderous, go for broke percussion statements always start my spine tingling and I was optimistic that "A Night at the Opera" on SHM-SACD would thoroughly satisfy my desire for audio exaltation of the pop variety. I am satisfied but not thoroughly. Maybe I should try classical music or give a real night at the opera a listen. I like some classical but thus far real opera has escaped me.
