I've just played through the '40th Anniversary' remix of
Lizard andit seems to be more of the same. Weird mixing decisions. Odd stereoplacements. McCullochs (frankly) annoying snare stuck
way toohigh in the mix. But worst of all is what they do to the Mellotron.It's fairly well established in
Cirkus and has a prominentplace in the alternative version of
Lady of the Dancing Water,but unfortunately it's posted missing in my favourite bit in the album.
The coda to the god-awful Jon Anderson song features a
colossal Mellotronsection that restates the melody from the verse, culminating in awonderful resolution to A which then drops to A minor in entrance tothe bolero. Oh dear. But it doesn't. The harmonic complexities of thissection are lost once we realise that of the two Mellotronii recordedfor this section, only one is on the new recording. Consequently, itall sounds a bit thin and a bit anti-climactic.
On the positive side, the clarity on the CD is breathtaking, but themixing decisions are weird in the extreme.
-- Mike Dickson, EdinburghFree Music Project: http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/ Or http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+DicksonOr http://soundcloud.com/mikedicksonOr http://www.planetmellotron.com/revd4.htm#mikedickson