3 Surround Sound SACDs from Vocalion - Paul Mauriat, Ray Davies & Swingle Singers

[H.A.L.]

Not interested in these, but I wouldn't sneer at other "easy listening" music. I'm somewhat of a "tiki music" fan and would pounce on, say, Esquivel in surround (as it is, he has a mind-blowing CD in which, as an early stereo experiment, he synchronized two studios a block apart -- using tv cameras to conduct! -- each studio dedicated to one channel, and then put it together with a mix that had dubbed instruments moving from speaker to speaker on top of the two totally discrete channels).

That CD is "Latin-esque" if that description grabs ya. I wonder what Esquivel would have done with surround -- even now, imagine if the studio tapes were each in stereo (or even 3 channel, as common in the day) and later mixed to mono, the original tapes would easily provide one stereo studio in the front, and a discrete one in the rear, with all sorts of panning going on in the overdub tapes! @:

Sad to hear about the limited MoFi releases. Was happy to have the recent Jefferson Airplane SACDs -- even though I groaned at the fact that VOLUNTEERS has a quad mix out there, but being MoFi, they did their usual stereo-only thing :howl Of course, no hi-rez JA outside of vinyl existed until now, and only Jorma has a solo multichannel SACD.

 

[GOS]

I ordered 2 of the 3.
Paul Mauriat & His Orchestra, Ray Davies & the Button Down Brass

 

[GOS]

I think many of these Vocalion releases are a lot of fun, yes nostalgic for sure. They put me in a happy place for some reason.

 

[4-earredwonder]

excellent! thanks for the info.

just ordered the 3 Philips 4DXers, plus that 99p SACD and one of the Floyd Catfood, sorry I mean Cramer, SACDs i meant to order last time.

Adam, you can play that Floyd :kitty:food QUAD SACD as background music as you maniacally tear the cellophane wrappers from your daily pile of incoming CD~4/QS/SQ/EV~4 discs.....it'll put you in that contemplative mood! Actually, the Cramers sound great in QUAD and you won't believe how beautiful the strings come across in the rear speakers. I just can't imagine [no offense] the CD~4 EVER sounding that mellifluous.

 

[GOS]

excellent! thanks for the info.

just ordered the 3 Philips 4DXers, plus that 99p SACD and one of the Floyd Catfood, sorry I mean Cramer, SACDs i meant to order last time.

Ah-HAHAHA! Adam....lmao

 

[fredblue]

calling Simon A. please PM me.

 

[Quadzilla]

There are two points here.

I find the posts sneering at the music offensive and more than a bit arrogant. We each have our own taste in music (and everything for that matter).

Secondly, I cannot abide Strawberry Fields Forever. Back in 1967 I was horrified when I turned over the Penny Lane 45. I cannot abide Smoke On The Water. I would NEVER listen to either in mono or stereo. They're just not my scene. But in quadraphonic and surround it's a very different story. I actually use the UK quadraphonic Smoke On The Water as a demonstration track. In quadraphonic it comes alive for me. Likewise, in Dolby True HD 5.1, SFF becomes quite enjoyable.

Many of the new releases being enthused over leave me cold. They're like stale cat food to me but I don't put up posts dismissing them as rubbish.

A Pom called ME arrogant. I love the irony.

 

[bmoura]

bmoura or steelydave, do you know are these three new releases actually out now or just up for pre-order at this time? tia.

Doesn't say pre-order, so it looks like they are In Stock.
I ordered the Paul Mauriat and the Ray Davies Surround SACDs.

Should be here in 2-4 weeks based on past experience with Vocalion.
Looking forward to it.

 

[oxenholme]

A Pom called ME arrogant. I love the irony.

I'm a Canuck.

 

[fredblue]

Doesn't say pre-order, so it looks like they are In Stock.
I ordered the Paul Mauriat and the Ray Davies Surround SACDs.

Should be here in 2-4 weeks based on past experience with Vocalion.
Looking forward to it.

thanks Mr.Moura! :upthumb
looking forward to these too!

 

[Quadzilla]

I'm a Canuck.

The irony continues.

 

[quicksrt]

Dutton Vocalion is issuing 3 Surround Sound SACDs.
The albums are from the 4DX series of Quad releases that Philips released in Japan.

I hope that for several things, 1. Philips is related to Mercury/Phonogram in Japan. 2. That someone took a good look at what else was there in the Phonogram vaults for quad masters. Like things that the Universal vaults in the US might not have, but Philips/Mercury in Japan does have. Always good to consider things for the future, and what is available. It's called tape research.

 

[quicksrt]

We have to stop looking at releases like this as "must buys" because they're surround, but more like "If I want this title I'll buy it, if not, great - someone else is going to want it so let's be happy for them". (edit)

Even Marshall from AF told me that he did not want to do a quad subscription plan because he wanted people to buy the music because they liked the material, not just because it was surround.

Buy what you want, don't buy stuff you're not interested in(edit)

Yes, and I disagree to a point. One has to spend money on the things that they like, but collecting every Audio Fidelity release that has a surround mix would have helped the company continue to release them. Sales = more releases, it's very simply math.

Marshall told me the same thing, buy what interests you. I told him the only drawback I can see by a customer base buying every title is that is does not give the label a true measure of what are the hottest titles, what is the biggest hit. But the benefit is the company gets more cash flow, and issues more surround. So, yeah sit it out and don't buy and it could all sink like a stone.

 

[oxenholme]

I will be buying all the easy listening titles regardless. It is impossible to tell from a mono or stereo sample what they're going to sound like in quad.

A large proportion of the discs in my collection are glorified singles - as often as not I like just the one track. So I find that there is a pretty good chance that there will be something that appeals.

Back in the late 1960s or whenever it came out I thought The Good, The Bad And The Ugly sounded a bit stupid. In quad I like it a lot. And as a bonus there turned out to be several other tracks on the SACD that appealed too, especially that Air On The G String.

I hope that they keep coming. I hope that Dutton investigate the Pye quadraphonic catalogue too.

Insofar as Audio Fidelity, Mobile Fidelity and Analogue Productions stereo SACDs are concerned it would have to be a helluva good title to tempt me at $30 or more plus postage & package plus UK V.A.T. if HMRC decide that way.

 

[sperezmore]

Paul Mauriat - Penelope & Holidays

Will be mine.

Thank you

Regards,

 

[oxenholme]

The irony continues. SUPERB.

 

[oxenholme]

Button Down Brass - VERY discrete.
Paul Mauriat - just a tiny bit less in the rears, but only a tiny bit.
E Power Biggs - magnificent. Well balanced, not just ambiance in the rears.
The Swingle Singers - Wonderful. Pachelbel's Canon is SUPERB.

All four are up to Dutton-Vocalion's usual high standards. Buy with confidence if you like the music.

 

[ubertrout]

Button Down Brass - VERY discrete.
Paul Mauriat - just a tiny bit less in the rears, but only a tiny bit.
E Power Biggs - magnificent. Well balanced, not just ambiance in the rears.
The Swingle Singers - Wonderful. Pachelbel's Canon is SUPERB.

All four are up to Dutton-Vocalion's usual high standards. Buy with confidence if you like the music.

This matches my impression of the Biggs disc - both the Organ Sonatas and the quad-single. I especially liked the single - it's Biggs passionately advocating for a mostly forgotten composer in a unique medium. Kind of crazy that it's the first release in any digital format for these recordings.

 

[oxenholme]

The Swingle Singers disc is truly remarkable.

I have now listened right through it three times.

It is one of the best discs (albums) that I have ever heard. Much of it is breathtakingly beautiful - the sopranos are gorgeous.

The highlights are tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9.

Material - 10
Sound - 10
Mix - 10

 

[oxenholme]

This matches my impression of the Biggs disc - both the Organ Sonatas and the quad-single. I especially liked the single - it's Biggs passionately advocating for a mostly forgotten composer in a unique medium. Kind of crazy that it's the first release in any digital format for these recordings.

Just finished playing it from beginning to end. One phenomenally superb performance / recording of some wonderful music.