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yet still no poll option on QQ.
HiRez Poll Earth, Wind & Fire - SPIRIT & THAT'S THE WAY OF THE WORLD [SACD]
- Thread starter rtbluray
- Start date
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yet still no poll option on QQ.
Oh yeah? I can fix that! Here you go:
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/threads/earth-wind-fire-gratitude-sacd.27703/
Was just looking at my Spirit SQ LP jacket and I noticed that in addition to the Larry Keyes mixing credit, "The Eleventh Floor Flash" is credited for quadraphonic sound supervision. Curiously enough, this is not mentioned on the new SACD. I wonder who this mysterious character might be? Typically we get Al Lawrence paired with Larry Keyes, so maybe this was some kind of inside joke or nickname?
My theory is that it is indeed a pseudonym for Al Lawrence, although frustratingly the quad master tape boxes for Spirit didn't have any extra remix engineer information on them so we were unable to confirm.
The reason I think it's Lawrence is that he seems to disappear as CBS's Head of Quadraphonic A&R after an interview in the August 9th, 1975 issue of Billboard Magazine, after which I think he either left or was quietly let go by the company. I always wondered what happened to him, so a couple of years ago I did a deep Google dive on him and finally turned up some writing he did for an audio engineering magazine in 1976, including an article about various quad-equipped recording studios such as Caribou Ranch.
It's my belief that Lawrence wouldn't be doing writing like that if he was still an employee of CBS, and that in 1976 he may have returned to do the remix supervision for Spirit under a pseudonym either because CBS wanted to keep his departure hush-hush, or because union rules at CBS's New York studios wouldn't allow for a freelancer (as he would've been) working with a union man like Keyes. It's my recollection that the quad LP of Ted Nugent's Free For All (also from 1976) has a pseudonym for the Quadraphonic Sound and Remix Supervisor as well, so it's possible the same person was responsible for both mixes.
The reason I think it's Lawrence is that he seems to disappear as CBS's Head of Quadraphonic A&R after an interview in the August 9th, 1975 issue of Billboard Magazine, after which I think he either left or was quietly let go by the company. I always wondered what happened to him, so a couple of years ago I did a deep Google dive on him and finally turned up some writing he did for an audio engineering magazine in 1976, including an article about various quad-equipped recording studios such as Caribou Ranch.
It's my belief that Lawrence wouldn't be doing writing like that if he was still an employee of CBS, and that in 1976 he may have returned to do the remix supervision for Spirit under a pseudonym either because CBS wanted to keep his departure hush-hush, or because union rules at CBS's New York studios wouldn't allow for a freelancer (as he would've been) working with a union man like Keyes. It's my recollection that the quad LP of Ted Nugent's Free For All (also from 1976) has a pseudonym for the Quadraphonic Sound and Remix Supervisor as well, so it's possible the same person was responsible for both mixes.
yeah, i wondered about that.. at bottom middle it credits Quadraphonic Sound & Remix Supervision (fancy name for Producer?) to one Flash Rhomboid alongside Tim Geelan (who did the Blue Öyster Cult Quads) as the engineer what actually done the mix good and proper like.. must be the one and the same Eleventh Floor Flash!
Flash! Ahh! Mixer of the impossible!
Flash, i love you.. but we only have 14 hours to mix this Quad!
.
Simon A
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
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Love all this sleuthing!
I'm in the middle of my fourth listen in two days. Of the first three plays, one was loud, the others at a volume more respectful of the family. (It's better LOUD!) I can't rank this objectively; it's pure ear candy. 10-10-10.
I got my copy yesterday, still giving it a listen. But I’m real happy with it. Everything one could possibly want. Wow, this came out from the unexpected. Now we have all the known EW&F Quads released on SACD. Amazing.
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2002
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- 4,242
Yesterday i started the listening session for the new arrivals, and that was the first one to play.
Of course already knew songs and mixes with Q8 and SQ versions, so no musical surprise on that side. I know some vocals are different, but not jarring as the Billy Paul quad.
Excellent work from MD on that one. A must buy. D-V is becoming a mandatory bus stop for anyone intrested in multichannel: the music can suit your taste or not, but the transfer work is excellent.
Said that, that's a disc that should deserve a 19 - 10 for Spirit, 9 for That's (-1 for alternate vocal takes) since it's two excellent quads on a single disc. Never understood why AF went with Head and Open for their sacd, but i'm very happy now to have all 4 EWF quads on SACD along with Gratitude, who was un-grately alone on representing the EWF flag for years.
Michael Dutton, why about doing a fresh quad mix of All'n'All and I Am? AFAIK none had been mixed to quad, but these ones will be another dream come true. Twofer on two separate discs if this helps to cover the remixing money... no problem.
Of course already knew songs and mixes with Q8 and SQ versions, so no musical surprise on that side. I know some vocals are different, but not jarring as the Billy Paul quad.
Excellent work from MD on that one. A must buy. D-V is becoming a mandatory bus stop for anyone intrested in multichannel: the music can suit your taste or not, but the transfer work is excellent.
Said that, that's a disc that should deserve a 19 - 10 for Spirit, 9 for That's (-1 for alternate vocal takes) since it's two excellent quads on a single disc. Never understood why AF went with Head and Open for their sacd, but i'm very happy now to have all 4 EWF quads on SACD along with Gratitude, who was un-grately alone on representing the EWF flag for years.
Michael Dutton, why about doing a fresh quad mix of All'n'All and I Am? AFAIK none had been mixed to quad, but these ones will be another dream come true. Twofer on two separate discs if this helps to cover the remixing money... no problem.
If you can only have one EW&F surround disc, this is the one to own. Great mixes, great music, and great fidelity. 10.
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2013
- Messages
- 25,711
A no brainer TEN! Finally! And on one disc .......Thank you, thank you, thank you Michael!
DaverJ
Member
Ordered on Jan. 23 (Priority, no tracking) and it arrived in the U.S. today, Jan 31... not bad!
About to dive in, looking forward to this Quad mix.
About to dive in, looking forward to this Quad mix.
The56Kid
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
I’ll definitely be ordering the EW&F along with the O’Jays and the Blue Notes with my next D-V order.yeah, i wondered about that.. at bottom middle it credits Quadraphonic Sound & Remix Supervision (fancy name for Producer?) to one Flash Rhomboid alongside Tim Geelan (who did the Blue Öyster Cult Quads) as the engineer what actually done the mix good and proper like.. must be the one and the same Eleventh Floor Flash!
Flash! Ahh! Mixer of the impossible!
Flash, i love you.. but we only have 14 hours to mix this Quad!
Interesting to me and (hopefully) my fellow QQ guitarists, the Nuge references playing Gibson Byrdland guitars and ‘a custom guitar made by Paul Smith’. Today, Paul Reed Smith may be the most popular and successful electric guitar designer/manufacturer in the world. Ted’s must have been an early prototype.
jhw59
400 Club - QQ All-Star
Gave it a ten due to the superior mix. Spirit is a mixed bag content wise but That's the Way...... is phenomenal. Highly recommended as it's a natural mood enhancer for me.
Anyone else think some tracks on Spirit end sort of awkwardly? Like someone forgot to fade them?
Otherwise this sounds absolutely bitchin'
Otherwise this sounds absolutely bitchin'
Not to fire anyone up here, but actually I never cared for the band. As most of you know we all have our taste in music and we don't all care for the same artists or music. I do like the Quad mix of "TTWOTW" tho. It was on YT by themotownboy last decade and I really liked it. I's no longer up since then, I would suspect due to copyright viloations, but what I heard was fantastic. I probably wouldn't go as far as to buy this SACD for it but I do like that mix and that's about it for thier songs. Just my opinion. Thank you.
I also wanted to mention that from a post I read back in the 2000's sometime that someone had posted that there were No True E,W&F Quad Lp's, they were "Fake" as I saw that Dawn CD-4's were as well. This came from a very reliable source person that knows quad well. I don't remember where I read it or whom it was. It was on a Quad LP list forum tho. That makes me kinda confused about their Quad Mixes actually existing. Please advise !
even a reliable source has an off day, none of the 4 Earth, Wind & Fire Quads that saw release (Head To The Sky, Open Our Eyes, That's The Way Of The World & Spirit) are fake at all, they are all genuine Quad and even though they were mixed by different engineers (Don Young mixed 2 and Bruce Botnick & Larry Keyes 1 apiece) they're uniformly excellent examples of active and immersive surround music mixes.
the 2 Tony Orlando & Dawn Elektra albums on CD-4 are real Quad, the Arista Hits comp is said to have some fake Quad tracks but off the top of my head i couldn't tell you which ones.
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