Just got the Steven Wilson surround sound mix of Relayer by Yes. The biggest difference is of course the much cleaner and clearer sound. The “battle sounds” are gone from the new stereo mix of “The Gates of Delirium” because they couldn’t be found anywhere in the original masters — but without them the sound of the band really comes to the fore.
“Sound Chaser,” a sometimes-cacophonous jazz fusion experiment very uncharacteristic of Yes really benefits from Wilson’s remixing. A brilliant piece, it was sometimes lost in a bit of mud. The mud is gone now.
The new stereo mix of “To Be Over” has some noticeable instrumental differences, with bits previously mixed very low or absent altogether have been brought into the open.
All in all, packaging included, the price tag for the “Definitive Edition” remix by Steven Wilson is well worth it, as were Wilson’s remixes of The Yes Album and Close to the Edge.
ArcherVox 