HiRez Poll Derringer, Rick - ALL AMERICAN BOY & SPRING FEVER [SACD]

[esimms86]

I want to start by saying that this is a totally non-political statement. It’s been reported today in the major United States news outlets that 14,000 of your fellow soldiers will soon be coming home from Aghanistan. I just want to thank you and them for your sacrifices and for your service. I also want to acknowledge the soldiers and their families who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our country.

It warms my heart to see you enjoying life at home with your family after your long deployment, standing in harm’s way day after day so that we all can enjoy our freedom. While it’s great to be surrounded by sound, it’s even greater to be surrounded by loved ones during this holiday season. I hope you and your family have your best Christmas ever.

 

[edisonbaggins]

I want to start by saying that this is a totally non-political statement. It’s been reported today in the major United States news outlets that 14,000 of your fellow soldiers will soon be coming home from Aghanistan. I just want to thank you and them for your sacrifices and for your service. I also want to acknowledge the soldiers and their families who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our country.

It warms my heart to see you enjoying life at home with your family after your long deployment, standing in harm’s way day after day so that we all can enjoy our freedom. While it’s great to be surrounded by sound, it’s even greater to be surrounded by loved ones during this holiday season. I hope you and your family have your best Christmas ever.

Oh wow, I'd definitely say you get the "life in surround" concept. There are things to experience and enjoy all around us, if we can just appreciate them. And that's why surround music is so cool. It exemplifies that and reveals it. For those of us who get it, it engages us more fully.
In some ways, it's been rough reintegrating back in to civilian life. I've had my good days and bad days too. But I have tremendously enjoyed lots of tunes, all the way from mono to 11.2, doing some videos, building a recording studio, being around loving friends and family again and especially getting to know this magical, wonderful and delightful toddler I proudly call my son.
Thanks for your kind words. I hope you have happy holidays too.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Review video, explaining my vote of "9":

@steelydave
Was thinking about you today. Thought you'd like to know you get a shout out in this video.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Review video, explaining my vote of "9":

And what could be more apropos than the All American boy himself, edisonbaggins [Mike Viera] reviewing ALL American Boy/Spring Fever from Rick Derringer.

Thankfully, Mike, I'm glad you instilled in the buying public that the Dutton Vocalion two fers represent an AWESOME value in today's market, that they are meticulously transferred from the original analogue master tapes, a lot of which have been untouched since the early 70's and pointed out Steelydave's [David Zimmerman] superb and well annotated liner notes, especially written for this reissue which IMO are a true labor of love.

I would also point out that Dutton Vocalion has released more 70's QUAD SACDs than ALL the other reissue companies combined [including Analogue Productions, MoFi and even Audio Fidelity which in all fairness got the ball rolling with their QUAD/5.1 SACD reissue program].

Hopefully, in further Life in Surround segments you'll also review Art Garfunkel's two SACDs [which you touched upon] and a few of the QUAD CTI Jazz reissues which are quite rare [Airto/Deodato].

And if the music gets little Baggy's mojo working ..... the album in question is certainly deserving of another 1/2 *!

BTW, I likewise voted a 9......a solid effort from Derringer and D~V!

 

[4-earredwonder]

BTW, Mike, like the 5 o'clock shadow you sport in the latest episode of LIFE IN SURROUND:

 

[steelydave]

@steelydave
Was thinking about you today. Thought you'd like to know you get a shout out in this video.

Hi Mike - thanks so much for this, the recognition means a lot and I'm glad you enjoyed the story. It was an interesting one for me as I pieced it together, and it gave me a real added appreciation for how much Derringer had done at such a young age, and especially the two years that surrounded All American Boy and Spring Fever. I think his public persona was a bit of a cartoonish one, but it really belies his talents behind the scenes as a songwriter, producer and arranger.

His life story also allows me to give him a bit of a longer leash with some of the (admittedly) juvenile lyrics on All American Boy - at first I found them kind of creepy, singing as a grown man about 'teenage love affairs' and so on, but I think it's more a case of arrested development and a nostalgia for a "regular" adolescence that he never got to have, having a #1 hit single with Hang on Sloopy when he was 16.

On another note, Don Young's quad mix of AAB is a real sonic revelation for me, it's almost hard to believe it's from the same multitrack as the stereo version. Listening to the stereo mix on headphones it sounds like they ran the whole thing (at the time of mixing) through a Motown-style compressor or limiter which gives it a really grungy midrangey quality - no doubt it probably sounded great blasting out of AM radios at the time. The quad mix by comparison is really full-bodied and dynamic in comparison, with a much nicer (to my ears) frequency response. You'd almost dare to call it audiophile by comparison!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Hi Mike - thanks so much for this, the recognition means a lot and I'm glad you enjoyed the story. It was an interesting one for me as I pieced it together, and it gave me a real added appreciation for how much Derringer had done at such a young age, and especially the two years that surrounded All American Boy and Spring Fever. I think his public persona was a bit of a cartoonish one, but it really belies his talents behind the scenes as a songwriter, producer and arranger.

His life story also allows me to give him a bit of a longer leash with some of the (admittedly) juvenile lyrics on All American Boy - at first I found them kind of creepy, singing as a grown man about 'teenage love affairs' and so on, but I think it's more a case of arrested development and a nostalgia for a "regular" adolescence that he never got to have, having a #1 hit single with Hang on Sloopy when he was 16.

On another note, Don Young's quad mix of AAB is a real sonic revelation for me, it's almost hard to believe it's from the same multitrack as the stereo version. Listening to the stereo mix on headphones it sounds like they ran the whole thing (at the time of mixing) through a Motown-style compressor or limiter which gives it a really grungy midrangey quality - no doubt it probably sounded great blasting out of AM radios at the time. The quad mix by comparison is really full-bodied and dynamic in comparison, with a much nicer (to my ears) frequency response. You'd almost dare to call it audiophile by comparison!

……

 

[Audiowannabee]

Im not really into this one as much as the others...which kind of surprises me. Maybe it'll grow on me.
An 8

 

[quicksrt]

"Jump, Jump, Jump" is an amazing track with Edgar Winter featured on keys and sax iirc.

Didn't sound as amazing at 14 years old as it does later at 44 years old.

 

[esimms86]

AAB is in my personal top 25 albums of all time! Yeah, I’m an outlier!

 

[quicksrt]

"Jump, Jump, Jump" is an amazing track with Edgar Winter featured on keys and sax iirc.

Didn't sound as amazing at 14 years old as it does later at 44 years old.

And in quadraphonic it takes a track which is already spacious and really makes it even more demo quality.

 

[WBP]

I'm loving this release , and with 2 albums on 1 disc its a real bargain. The Quad mix is great Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo and Time Warp are major highlights - the material is a bit of a mixed bag and stops me giving it a 10 but if you are lover of classic rock then this a no-brainer.

 

[ubertrout]

Sort of left field, but I ended up watching this while doing other things, and found it kind of amusing:

 

[fredblue]

great new review of this wonderful disc!

https://audiophilereview.com/audiop...8hLeswsdyjOBoJaGBIbzueEAcQczsoeevERwLcrfb5Ipw

 

[marpow]

great new review of this wonderful disc!

https://audiophilereview.com/audiop...8hLeswsdyjOBoJaGBIbzueEAcQczsoeevERwLcrfb5Ipw

I have changed my vote from 8 to 9. After reading this article, not that the article changed my vote but it got me to listen to this DV disc again.
I like it much more, the surround sound has never been a problem for me, just the music. I think I got hung up on Rock N Roll Hoochie Koo and wanted the whole two albums to sound like that.
Things change and simply, I like it better now and will enjoy listening again.

 

[fredblue]

I have changed my vote from 8 to 9. After reading this article, not that the article changed my vote but it got me to listen to this DV disc again.
I like it much more, the surround sound has never been a problem for me, just the music. I think I got hung up on Rock N Roll Hoochie Koo and wanted the whole two albums to sound like that.
Things change and simply, I like it better now and will enjoy listening again.

that's great to hear Markie!
i'm delighted the article gave you the opportunity to revisit this one and that you enioy it more than before is wonderful!

has it really been 3 years nearly since this SACD came out!? wow time really does fly by when you're living "Life in Surround"..!!

if the author of this fine piece is not a QQ member already i would love for him to join! he gets the whole Surround thing and has a true appreciation for DV's meticulous SACD remastering programme. definitely a great man to have on-side

 

[edisonbaggins]

Sort of left field, but I ended up watching this while doing other things, and found it kind of amusing:

This guy's got comedic chops and packs in a lot of info. Enjoyed and subscribed.

 

[Scott65]

A "10". Only song I had ever heard was the McCoys version of Hang on Sloopy. I auditioned a few tracks on youtube and liked them, so I bought this disk. Where have these albums been all my life? He may be a 'derringer' but Rick is a big shot with these albums...

I'm currently revisiting this disc after a long break from it (there's so many DV titles out there now) - still a 10!

 

[Matt Wilson]

An 8 for the mix. All American Boy sounds a bit different than I remembered, I actually thought Spring Fever packed more of a punch surround-wise, but then it's not as good of an album - so there's that. These Vocalion discs sure are value for your money though. So far my fave is the four-album Kristofferson set.

 

[watsontr]

On another note, Don Young's quad mix of AAB is a real sonic revelation for me, it's almost hard to believe it's from the same multitrack as the stereo version. Listening to the stereo mix on headphones it sounds like they ran the whole thing (at the time of mixing) through a Motown-style compressor or limiter which gives it a really grungy midrangey quality - no doubt it probably sounded great blasting out of AM radios at the time. The quad mix by comparison is really full-bodied and dynamic in comparison, with a much nicer (to my ears) frequency response. You'd almost dare to call it audiophile by comparison!

I have loved AAB in stereo since it was released and have to agree with the compression aspect. I never thought that lyrically it was any worse than anything else at the time? I'm not sure how far we should backtrack in relation to what may be acceptable today. I find a lot of more recent misogynistic lyrics deplorable but few seem to bat an eyelid? It wasn't too long before this Ringo was singing You're 16 and he and his mates years before started a song with She Was Just 17. Although the individual aspects of the recording sound spectacularly clear to me, the whole always lacked a bit of punch. Bought the DV issue when it first came out but for one reason or another its still in cellophane or whatever it is.