You can't get Coldplay in high-solution surround sound. You can't get Travis, either. But if you were to blend those two bands together? You'd get Keane. And, thankfully, the British trio's album "Hopes & Fears" is available on both SACD and DualDisc (w/DVD-Audio). Mastered by Doug Sax, the sonic quality of the 48 kHz / 24-bit multichannel recording is quite good. And Nathaniel Kunkel, who also worked on James Taylor's "J.T.", is on board for the surround mix. I tried out the DualDisc version and immediately felt immersed in sound, which was a nice change of pace considering some of the poor surround mixes we've seen lately. Surround channels contain music that is enveloping, rather than overly individual and jarring. However, I do have one complaint. It's not a deal breaker, but it is worth mentioning. My issue is that Kunkel chooses to anchor vocals primarily into the center channel, whilst using the remaining speakers---including surrounds---to round out the vocals, albeit at a much lower volume level . It's just a difference of philosophy, I'm sure. But I would have preferred that the mix place vocals primarily into the front left/right channels, instead. That said, this is still a fairly decent disc and I recommend it.
