I figured that the conservative surround mix had to have been approved by the band, but I didn't realize that they had specifically told Chycki to go that way (which I assume happened, since that's what we got). It seems like a missed opportunity to me, but as I said, it was an artistic choice; this is what they wanted.
I guess that because it's "trendy" these days to remix important albums in 5.1 that I expected more. I've got some Genesis, ELP, even Elton John, in 5.1, and it's pretty impressive. The new packaging here (more on that in a second) seemed to indicate that this was a
whole new experience. The surround mix, the graphic novel unfolding, the awesome audio quality.
But the surround was far from immersive, the graphic novel was interesting once, but I don't think I'm going to bother with it again, and that pretty much leaves the better sound quality (which was nice) and new cover, so overall I'm not sure if it was really worth the price. Yeah, there's the extras, which I haven't even checked out yet, come to think of it. But those could easily have been put on a "regular" remix/remaster as bonus stuff.
I was informed that Dark Side of the Moon had been changed around 10 or so years ago, but I'm going to assume it went the way of new Coke since I haven't seen that change recently.
I remember seeing CDs with basically the original cover art, except that the triangle (pyramid, prism) was solid grey. I have no idea why anyone would have considered that better, or why they felt the need to change it at all. I believe it had to do with the 40th Anniversary of the album, but that's still messed up. You celebrate how awesome something is by changing it?
Same thing here. Where the hell is the red star? I figured that this is just a slipcover, and I'd pull it off to reveal the original cover, "remastered" (cleaned up and awesome looking) cover art but no. This is it. I too was disappointed.