Aretha Franklin's Greatest Hits - The Next QUADIO Title

[ArmyOfQuad]

On the one hand, I can see a point there, it certainly is very plausible that some people that had obtained the dvd-a may have chosen not to purchase the quadio release.

On the other, I think choice of title played a much larger role in the sales. I think if they were to release The Doors, Doobies, or Black Sabbath quad releases, all of which were released on reel and have found their way to dvd-a, they'd have no problem selling those out.

But, whatever, screw Rhino, they basically slapped us in the face, coming around here teasing us implying they had much more to offer, basically completely ignoring anything we suggested, and then bailing when the 2nd title didn't sell as well, despite the high demand there still is for the first one. I mean, heck, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to determine that just perhaps they were on to something, and should at least throw another Chicago disc out there. Or even press up more copies of the first Chicago disc. But noooo.....let the price gouging on ebay continue, heaven forbid anyone actually print up some product that people want to buy so that they don't have to resort to ridiculous prices on ebay. Would it really kill them to print up a run of some of the more high demand titles that bring in money on ebay?

Fucking morons and backstabbers, all of them. Rhino can go to hell.

 

[Quadwreck]

One thing that probably pushed the decision for the Aretha Quadio release is that greatest hits packages tend be the better selling choices for the retro market, and being that the Quadio program was early in its inception, that was probably viewed as a safe choice. Had it not been available in almost the same quality, it would have been a logical choice.

 

[fredblue]

I guess also that soul music/black music is a traditionally tougher sell than classic rock/pop (just look at the apathy given to the Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie HFPA's, easily the best things on that format and yet Supertramp and the Stones outsell them..)

 

[jaybird100]

One thing that probably pushed the decision for the Aretha Quadio release is that greatest hits packages tend be the better selling choices for the retro market, and being that the Quadio program was early in its inception, that was probably viewed as a safe choice. Had it not been available in almost the same quality, it would have been a logical choice.

They could have used something like The Doors' or The Doobie Brothers' greatest hits compilations instead. Titles with more mass appeal. The WMG vaults have a lot of great material from the quad days that could be drawn from, and perhaps they'll once again feed our addiction, maybe this time on BD-A.

 

[Quad Linda]

Although they're both great choices, here's how I perceive the possibility of either of those titles being released in either Quadio or DVD-A:



1- Best of Doors: WEA would be reluctant to release the Quad mixes, since DVD-A/SACD 5.1 mixes of all those tracks (except Who Do You Love) are available. Likely they feel that the Quad mixes would erode the sales of the 5.1 mixes and/or cause confusion.



2- Best of Doobies: Although ALL the early hits taken from Toulouse Street to Stampede have existing Quad mixes, tracking down all those Quad mixes and integrating them into one disc would require too much work, so why bother? Takin' it to the Streets and It Keeps You Runnin' likely have no existing Quad mixes. The labels seem intent on re-releasing 5.1/Quad mixes that have already been released. Although a best of (early) Doobies would require minimal work and no remixing, they likely still perceive this sort of project as too much bother. Sad.

They could have used something like The Doors' or The Doobie Brothers' greatest hits compilations instead. Titles with more mass appeal. The WMG vaults have a lot of great material from the quad days that could be drawn from, and perhaps they'll once again feed our addiction, maybe this time on BD-A.

 

[jaybird100]

The quad mixes are different enough from the 5.1 versions that it would be a great comparison. Also, The Doors' DVD-A discs are out of print, thus very hard to find at a reasonable price. The SACD's aren't cheap, either. If they go BD-A on them, the uncompressed sound would be more readily available to more consumers. Would most care about the difference? Most might not care, but we would!

 

[MyCuff]

...If Rhino had chosen (for Quadio release number 2) almost any of the Chicago/Eagles/Doobies mixes = different story I reckon.. not that there aren't solid transfers of most of their Quads out there but some (Eagles in particular) could be improved upon and I have little doubt would have been snapped up as with release number 1 (CTA).

Top and bottom, Aretha was just a duff choice.

Fellow QQ'rs, now is the time to chime in. As you can see below I was at least acknowledged, and for less than 2 minutes of effort it might bear fruit if enough of us do it.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Dr. Rhino <[email protected]>
To: My Cuff<***@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 8:09 PM
Subject: RE: Handmade Quadio

Dear Mike,



Thank you for your email and your input.



I will forward your message to our suggestion box.



Dr. Rhino



From: My Cuff[mailto:***@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, December 02, 2013 5:42 PM
To: Dr.Rhino
Subject: Handmade Quadio



Dr. Rhino,



The only handmade I am interested in purchasing is more Quadio. You all did great with the CTA disc. Not so much with the second release. I bought the Aretha disc to support the format and only played it once. Yup, target audience was way off on that horrible decision. Break out some good stuff, like Black Sabbath Paranoid, and it will sell out quickly. I will buy any and all you make, and there are many more of us out here.

Mike

 

[dr8track]

Fellow QQ'rs, now is the time to chime in. As you can see below I was at least acknowledged, and for less than 2 minutes of effort it might bear fruit if enough of us do it.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Dr. Rhino <[email protected]>
To: My Cuff<***@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 8:09 PM
Subject: RE: Handmade Quadio

Dear Mike,



Thank you for your email and your input.



I will forward your message to our suggestion box.



Dr. Rhino



From: My Cuff[mailto:***@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, December 02, 2013 5:42 PM
To: Dr.Rhino
Subject: Handmade Quadio



Dr. Rhino,



The only handmade I am interested in purchasing is more Quadio. You all did great with the CTA disc. Not so much with the second release. I bought the Aretha disc to support the format and only played it once. Yup, target audience was way off on that horrible decision. Break out some good stuff, like Black Sabbath Paranoid, and it will sell out quickly. I will buy any and all you make, and there are many more of us out here.

Mike

Sent a kind email requesting more surround sound music. Hopefully if they hear from enough people they might consider giving it another try.

 

[MyCuff]

Sent a kind email requesting more surround sound music. Hopefully if they hear from enough people they might consider giving it another try.

Umm yeah, kind would probably be better. I was not actually expecting a response!

 

[jaybird100]

I sent one in, too. I mentioned our forum here, and told them we would be all too happy to give them some feedback on what we'd like to see released in Quadio. Let's see what happens.

 

[jdmack]

I received the same reply to my e-mail to Dr. Rhino.

J. D.

 

[EMB]

Although they're both great choices, here's how I perceive the possibility of either of those titles being released in either Quadio or DVD-A:

View attachment 12125

1- Best of Doors: WEA would be reluctant to release the Quad mixes, since DVD-A/SACD 5.1 mixes of all those tracks (except Who Do You Love) are available. Likely they feel that the Quad mixes would erode the sales of the 5.1 mixes and/or cause confusion.

The latter--confusion--would be the more likely scenario, although if you're a diehard Doors fans (and who else woulda bought that box or the separate discs with MC?), you're well aware of this quad-only album and its mixes (even if you've only ever heard it summed to stereo). Still, it would make a hell of a nice title to release, with built-in sales (and it remains the only CD-4 album to remain in print on vinyl since release to the 'general end' of Elektra's releasing albums on Lp's--that is, the late '80s/early 90s--on a regular basis).

View attachment 12126

2- Best of Doobies: Although ALL the early hits taken from Toulouse Street to Stampede have existing Quad mixes, tracking down all those Quad mixes and integrating them into one disc would require too much work, so why bother? Takin' it to the Streets and It Keeps You Runnin' likely have no existing Quad mixes. The labels seem intent on re-releasing 5.1/Quad mixes that have already been released. Although a best of (early) Doobies would require minimal work and no remixing, they likely still perceive this sort of project as too much bother. Sad.

It might also be that the group members who might have a say in such things either haven't noticed, don't care, or haven't been contacted about assembling such a comp. As for later tracks, surely the multis exist, so it wouldn't be that tough to remix a few (or just go back and remix 'em all).

Sad when a boutique label can't (or won't) put out titles like these.

ED

 

[MyCuff]

I have the 5.1 box set and I would easily cough up 30 for a quad reissue of the doors. 5.1 is great, but I would prefer hearing the releases as originally mixed for surround.

 

[jaybird100]

The saddest part of the whole thing is that they just don't care, or are too lazy to do it. After the way the "CTA" disc sold out, you would think they'd show better judgement on selecting titles for the series, and would listen to what the people buying the discs want. The series is supposed to be about re-releasing the original 4 channel recordings, and I'll take all I can get. WMG have so many of these, if they haven't already destroyed the masters, that they could release as Quadio. It makes no sense that they're just letting those tapes rot in a vault somewhere, when people like us...and hopefully a lot more....want them made available again.

 

[GabeL]

It is my humble opinion that they gave up way too quickly on this idea. As much as I hate to say this, they should perhaps have tried a similar approach as the HFPA Blu-ray releases....a reasonable number of releases in a short amount of time. Then judge the outcome as it pertains to style of music, stereo vs. surround, etc.

 

[JonUrban]

We know that the Quadio program got swept away when 60% of Rhino got whacked by WB right after the program started. The people in charge of the program lost their jobs, sadly, and we lost the Quadio program.

Sure, they picked the wrong title for #2, but that decision may have been made at the onset of the program. We will never know if our suggestions ever had a shot. I remember that Bob Vosgien told me in a PM that he had been hired to do 7 more Quadio remasters, so their intent was there. If the corporate big-wigs gut a department, programs like Quadio become part of the debris, along with Alan Sherman box sets and other specialty stuff.

So it goes with niche markets.

 

[JonUrban]

Here are some PM's I got from Bob Vosgien back at the dawn of Quadio. They will show that Rhino was way serious about Quadio at that point.

Jon,
My name is Robert Vosgien and I am the mastering engineer for the CTA quad disc. It was mastered here at Capitol Mastering in Hollywood Ca. I worked very hard on this record for 2 days trying to get the most fidelity out of the 1/2" 4-track tape while staying true to the era it was originally conceived. It's amazing to me the number of folks who think this is a "flat" transfer done by some button pusher in a DVD plant! Thanks for your support and a few of the other guys on this forum who can hear that great care was taken on the mastering of this disc.

As you and some others have stated, it is completely true that Rhino is waiting to see what kind of sales they get on this disc before ANY others are completed... There are over 60 titles that could conceivably be released if all goes well. So, as you can guess I am completely APPALLED that one of the members here boasted that he uploaded a copy to his torrent for download.

Hi Jon,
You can let the forum know that we spoke and I'm available for some questions from time to time. You also might want to let those pirates know that making these limited releases available for illegal downloads will quickly put an end to the series before it even gets off the ground. Some of the other titles we're discussing are "The Captain and Me", "Paranoid", "Close to the Edge" and "Aqualung." Warners is checking the vaults at the moment.(keep your fingers crossed)

The DVD-A label on the package was a typo. Warners is not supporting DVD-A anymore and they also wanted this disc to be more compatible with the general public. I pushed for the DTS 96-24 stream and I can assure you it sounds VERY close to my original 96k/24bit files. The next series(if it happens) will most likely be Blu-Ray... so there you go....

Hi Jon,
Glad you like the Aretha...
Now I need to get MY copy from Rhino!
Hope 2 get to the Doobies soon...
Just started a new dialog with Warners to try and bang out 5 more Quadio's on the next mastering go round...
Keep your fingers crossed!
Thanks again!

 

[Quad Linda]

It's odd he mentioned Aqualung. Although it was released on CD-4/Q8 by WEA, EMI had been distributing Chrysalis during the Quadio era. Today, Chrysalis is again distributed by WEA.

 

[Quadwreck]

At the time, stuff stored at Capitol was being discussed for licensing by Warner.

 

[quadtrade]

WMG have so many of these, if they haven't already destroyed the masters

When we requested material from CBS Special Markets for the DTS titles, they were already in digital form, and all they had to do was replicate and send them. The Sony material was sent Hi 8 for a da-88. But typical shit from these guys, unorganized. We received an Ojays title with side 1 twice. Couple other titles were screwed up, out of the few we received. But Sony probably spent the dough to digitally organize somewhat, even back then, 1996. Most corporations in this country can not see beyond the next quarter. I doubt it that most are destroyed, but condition and location may be all over the map with WB titles. Maybe Quadwreck can inquire from his sources about the way WB has stored original material.