A TRIBUTE TO QUAD's UNSUNG HEROES

[steelydave]

Another one, getting in to the Warner Bros. side of things is Mike Butcher did the quad mix of Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid'.

What's interesting is the clipping below from Billboard Dec 10th 1973 says that Butcher went to Morgan studios Brussels to mix 'the new quadraphonic Black Sabbath album'. It's possible that he was just going to mix Paranoid, but if that's not the case it means he was doing a quad mix of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, the stereo mix of which was released in December 1973.

Maybe it's wishful thinking (or hoping) on my part, but maybe Warners put out the quad mix of Paranoid and sales didn't meet expectations, so they didn't bother putting out the quad mixes they had in the can of the albums subsquent to that. As we know, Sabotage (the album that followed Sabbath Bloody Sabbath) was slated for quad release and even had a catalog number so it's no stretch to think there's a shelved mix of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Look at Jethro Tull, another British Warner Bros. artist - they had a bunch of shelved quad mixes that have definitely turned out to be real because they've been released on the recent deluxe editions. Some of them were known about or had catalog numbers assigned (Minstrel In The Gallery), and others were a total surprise (A Passion Play, and apparently Too Old To Rock & Roll as well) so I just hope the same is the case with Sabbath and the mixes come to light someday.

 

[steelydave]

Another is The Allman Bros. 'Eat A Peach' and some (or all) of 'Live At Fillmore East' were mixed in quad by Ovie Sparks, aka QQ member elpaladin, as seen in this thread.

 

[steelydave]

And another:

"With the advent of SACD and the possibilities afforded by 5.1 surround audio, the time is right for the Moody Blues' catalog to be considered for such treatment," Andy Street said from his London office. "Always at the forefront of technology and groundbreaking recordings, the Moody Blues' albums were all mixed in Quadraphonic sound by [producer] Tony Clarke and [engineer] Derek Varnals in 1972 at Decca Studios in West Hampstead. These original multi-channel mixes were used utilizing Decca's unique reverberation chamber and equipment, which gave the Moody Blues' albums their distinctive quality. Therefore, these Quadraphonic mixes have been used for the 5.1 Surround masters.

So you can add Derek Varnals (produced/supervised by Tony Clarke)

Moody Blues - Days Of Future Passed
Moody Blues - To Our Childrens Childrens Children
Moody Blues - On The Threshold Of A Dream
Moody Blues - A Question Of Balance
Moody Blues - Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn

Not sure if they did the quad mix of the Justin Hayward/John Lodge album 'Blue Jays' from 1975 or not but it seems likely - I just can't find any definitive proof yet.

 

[steelydave]

Jim Reeves claims here that he did the following mixes, obviously not all were released:

PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
LAURA NERO "BEADS OF SWEAT" - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
SIMON & GARFUNKEL - "BOOKENDS" - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
EDGAR WINTER "WHITE TRASH" with Jerry LaCroix - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
JEFF BECK "ROUGH & READY" Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
AL KOOPER, MIKE BLOOMFIELD, STEVE STILLS "SUPER SESSION" - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
SLY & THE FAMILY STONE "GREATEST HITS" - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves

 

[LizardKing]

Great thread...

FYI - MFSB - Love is the Message - "Quadraphonic Re-mix Engineer: Joe Tarsia"

EDIT: The info is on the back of my US pressing Quad LP...

 

[Simon A]

Peter Bown QUAD mixes:
Barclay James Harvest - Once Again

That's a typo found in the CD booklet Adam. It's Brown, not Bown.

 

[steelydave]

Another one:

Karl Richardson - did the quad mix for Eric Clapton's 'There's One In Every Crowd' (produced by Tom Dowd). Dowd also produced the quad mix of 461 Ocean Blvd. on which Richardson was an engineer so I think it's pretty safe to assume he did that one also.

 

[steelydave]

A few more:

Phil Macy did Janis Joplin's 'Pearl'

Larry Keyes did Santana's 'Abraxas'

Bob Scharper did Melissa Manchester's 'Better Days & Happy Endings'

 

[quicksrt]

A few more:

Phil Macy did Janis Joplin's 'Pearl'

Larry Keyes did Santana's 'Abraxas'

Bob Scharper did Melissa Manchester's 'Better Days & Happy Endings'

Abraxas gets a bad rap for being an odd quad mix, odder and less successful than other Santana quad mixes. Yet none of us would be caught without that DTS CD.

 

[fredblue]

Great thread...

FYI - MFSB - Love is the Message - "Quadraphonic Re-mix Engineer: Joe Tarsia"

EDIT: The info is on the back of my US pressing Quad LP...

Great thanks LK! I'll add it to the list now :upthumb
(ps. My Spanish pressing of MFSB hasn't got the mix engineering credits.. Well it may have but you know "non hablar Espanol" and all that! )

 

[fredblue]

Jim Reeves claims here that he did the following mixes, obviously not all were released:

PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
LAURA NERO "BEADS OF SWEAT" - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
SIMON & GARFUNKEL - "BOOKENDS" - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
EDGAR WINTER "WHITE TRASH" with Jerry LaCroix - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
JEFF BECK "ROUGH & READY" Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
AL KOOPER, MIKE BLOOMFIELD, STEVE STILLS "SUPER SESSION" - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves
SLY & THE FAMILY STONE "GREATEST HITS" - Quadraphonic - Produced and Mixed by Jim Reeves

How odd.. the released ones must be alternate Quad mixes to these Jim Reeves jobs?

According to the SQ LPs...

Jeff Beck Group - Rough & Ready... mixed by Don Young
Sly & The Family Stone - Greatest Hits... mixed by Larry Keyes

 

[fredblue]

Abraxas gets a bad rap for being an odd quad mix, odder and less successful than other Santana quad mixes. Yet none of us would be caught without that DTS CD.

I like the mix on the DTS CD but the sound isn't that great is it.. I've got the SQ LP on its way in the mail as we squeak, hopefully it'll be a mellower listen..

 

[fredblue]

That's a typo found in the CD booklet Adam. It's Brown, not Bown.

Thanks matey, terrific sleuthing :upthumb

(I have known a Mrs. Bown and bought stuff from a Mr.Bown, believe it or not, so the name does exist..! :yikes )

 

[zabble]

How odd.. the released ones must be alternate Quad mixes to these Jim Reeves jobs?

According to the SQ LPs...

Jeff Beck Group - Rough & Ready... mixed by Don Young
Sly & The Family Stone - Greatest Hits... mixed by Larry Keyes

According to Jim Reeves, he was never credited with his Sly & the Family Stone GH mix. He told me that CBS never notified the art department to replace the name of the engineer they thought was working on it with his.

When the quad BS&T SACD was recently released, I emailed him to ask if he was aware of it. I let him know he was not credited, but he never replied. Then again, there are several quad mixes of that album that were done floating around. It's very possibly that the final mixes were done by who is credited (I can't recall who that is right now) and the unreleased mixes done by him.

 

[fredblue]

According to Jim Reeves, he was never credited with his Sly & the Family Stone GH mix. He told me that CBS never notified the art department to replace the name of the engineer they thought was working on it with his.

When the quad BS&T SACD was recently released, I emailed him to ask if he was aware of it. I let him know he was not credited, but he never replied. Then again, there are several quad mixes of that album that were done floating around. It's very possibly that the final mixes were done by who is credited (I can't recall who that is right now) and the unreleased mixes done by him.

Ok cool! Many thanks for the info.

What should we do then? Amend the list so that Jim Reeves gets his due for the Sly G.Hits Quad mix?

The BS&T AF SACD makes no mention of the Quad remix engineer as you say (inside the booklet it credits Roy Halee and Fred Catero as engineers but not specifically Quad engineers.. though both men did their own Quad remixes and received credits for so doing of course, so maybe they had a stab at it.. confuuuuusinggggg...!) maybe Mr. Moura the Multichannel Maven knows?
Or I will just have to pick up the SQ LP and see who that credits, oh the pain..!

 

[ssully]

Look at Jethro Tull, another British Warner Bros. artist - they had a bunch of shelved quad mixes that have definitely turned out to be real because they've been released on the recent deluxe editions. Some of them were known about or had catalog numbers assigned (Minstrel In The Gallery), and others were a total surprise (A Passion Play, and apparently Too Old To Rock & Roll as well) so I just hope the same is the case with Sabbath and the mixes come to light someday.

? I've never heard there was a quad APP. It definitely wasn't included in the recent Steve Wilson remix set.

 

[fredblue]

? I've never heard there was a quad APP. It definitely wasn't included in the recent Steve Wilson remix set.

I'm guessing it was a slip of the keys and Dave meant Minstrel In The Gallery, there's a previously unreleased Quad on that..?

 

[ssully]

missing this one?

Alan Parsons Quad mixes
Dark Side of the Moon

 

[fredblue]

Ok cool! Many thanks for the info.

What should we do then? Amend the list so that Jim Reeves gets his due for the Sly G.Hits Quad mix?

The BS&T AF SACD makes no mention of the Quad remix engineer as you say (inside the booklet it credits Roy Halee and Fred Catero as engineers but not specifically Quad engineers.. though both men did their own Quad remixes and received credits for so doing of course, so maybe they had a stab at it.. confuuuuusinggggg...!) maybe Mr. Moura the Multichannel Maven knows?
Or I will just have to pick up the SQ LP and see who that credits, oh the pain..!

Update: Just ordered a copy of the BS&T SQ LP in question and will update here if it indeed namechecks the Quad engineer responsible for the mix that made it out to stores (and on that AF SACD one would surmise..).. I've noticed those gold bordered old Quad records normally do give credit where it's due (and even when its not..) ..seems the later Quad records are a mixed bag with some crediting the engineer but many times they don't.. maybe the engineers didn't want to be credited, some of them are, well, kooky mixes to say the least (yes, I'm looking at you, Santana - Amigos and Festival SQ LPs..! Haha!! )

 

[fredblue]

missing this one?

Alan Parsons Quad mixes
Dark Side of the Moon

Ah yes, talk about overlooking the bleedin' obvious..

Thanks ssully :upthumb