EMI UK (including Angel, Apple, Harvest, Purple, and Studio Two) Q8's

[steelydave]

Recently on eBay UK there was an auction for an EMI/Angel classical Q8 that I hadn't seen before - Previn/LSO 'Belshazzar's Feast' (Q8-SAN 324) and it reminded me that those UK tape catalogs I bought recently for info about Pye/Precision Tapes also had info about other UK labels including EMI. I thought I'd share the contents here, along with info from other sources including @Mark Anderson 's quad discography and my own research around the web.

I don't think this list is entirely complete, there are most likely more classical tapes unaccounted for - it seems like every 6 months or so a new one shows up on eBay UK, like the one above. There may even be even a pop one like Barclay James Harvest 'Once Again' - I remember the common wisdom was that the first ELO album never came out on Q8, until a couple of copies finally showed up on eBay UK. If anyone knows of any other EMI UK tapes I've missed, please feel free to chime in, and if you've got pictures, all the better.

( ASD = His Master's Voice (Angel) / PAS = Apple / SAN = EMI 'Angel' Series / SCX = Columbia / SHVL = Harvest / TPSA = Purple / TWO = Columbia Studio Two )

I've marked tapes that I know are Dolby-B encoded with an asterisk (*).

_Q8-ASD 2816 - Von Karajan/Berlin Phiharmonic 'Tchaikovsky: Pathetique Symphony' *
_Q8-ASD 2825 - Kersenbaum, Martinon/Orchestre National De L'O.R.T.F. 'Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.2 (Complete Original Version)' *
_Q8-ASD 2894 - Previn/London Symphony Orchestra 'Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture / Romeo & Juliet / Marche Slave'
_Q8-ASD 3002 - Previn/London Symphony Orchestra 'Holst: The Planets, Op.32' *

_____Q8-DT 1 - Sampler 'This Is Quadraphonic Sound'

Q8-PAS 10004 - John Lennon 'Imagine'

__Q8-SAN 324 - Previn/London Symphony Orchestra 'Walton: Belshazzar's Feast / Improvisations on an Impromptu of Benjamin Britten'

_Q8-SCX 6480 - Original London Cast Production 'Showboat'

_Q8-SHVL 781 - Pink Floyd 'Atom Heart Mother' *
_Q8-SHVL 797 - The Electric Light Orchestra *
_Q8-SHVL 804 - Pink Floyd 'Dark Side of the Moon' *

Q8-TPSA 7504 - Deep Purple 'Machine Head'

__Q8-TWO 221 - Silvestri/Bournemouth Symphony 'Showpieces'
__Q8-TWO 299 - Gibson/Scottish National Orchestra 'Wine, Women & Song (Waltzes & Polkas by Johann Strauss)'
__Q8-TWO 337 - Manuel & The Music of the Mountains 'Carnival'
__Q8-TWO 339 - Ron Goodwin 'In Concert'
__Q8-TWO 346 - Rose/Davies/Central Band of the Royal Air Force 'National Anthems and Memorial Music'
__Q8-TWO 350 - Fremaux/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra 'Le Cid - Ballet Music, Scènes Pittoresques, The Last Sleep of the Virgin'
__Q8-TWO 352 - Joe Loss and The Concertium 'The Loss Concertium'
__Q8-TWO 359 - Pepe Jaramillo and Manuel & The Music of The Mountains 'Pepe Jaramillo Meets Manuel'
__Q8-TWO 361 - Kibley/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra 'Eric Coates: The Three Elizabeths'
__Q8-TWO 375 - Harry Stoneham 'Hammond Hits the Highway'
__Q8 TWO 380 - Berglund/Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra 'The Popular Sibelius' *
__Q8-TWO 393 - John Keating 'Space Experience'
__Q8-TWO 398 - John Keating/London Symphony Orchestra '250 Years of Film Music' *
__Q8-TWO 412 - Franck Pourcel 'Western' *


Q8-SAN 324: Previn/London Symphony Orchestra 'Walton: Belshazzar's Feast / Improvisations on an Impromptu of Benjamin Britten'

 

[winopener]

One that i saw some times on ebay uk is "Show Boat"; silver label as early EMI UK Q8, with this graphic

One of the track is also present on the EMI Sampler This is quadraphonic sound.

 

[steelydave]

It's in my list, Q8-SCX 6480 - you were probably just distracted because it's right above that up and coming English beat combo, Pink Floyd.

 

[winopener]

I've seen showpieces and not show boat... now i'm gonna tear apart the boat in pieces and show it!

 

[steelydave]

Nick Perugini has a photo of the Showboat tape on his website:

 

[winopener]

 

[Simon A]

Here's a scan of my copy of Q8-TWO 375 - Harry Stoneham 'Hammond Hits the Highway'

Magnificent mix! I hope Vocalion releases it on SACD one day soon.

Thanks to Dave for starting yet another superbly informative thread.

 

[winopener]

339 346 352 393

 

[Simon A]

339 346 352 393

View attachment 33899

Nice! I'm jealous as I'd love to hear these. I love the tag at the bottom of the label: The Biggest Sound Around.

 

[ubertrout]

FYI, EMI has released the Previn as a 24/48 Quad DVD-Audio, as they did for many others (although they didn't include the "Improvisations." DTS also got many of the classical quads.

This is a useful guide to EMI's releases - I don't think it misses any: http://www.classicalcdreview.com/dvdareviews.htm

The DTS releases are cataloged here - all are from EMI quad tapes except the Don Jackson recordings (no conductor listed means Don Jackson): http://www.surrounddiscography.com/dts/dtsdisc.htm#classical

Not quite what you're asking, but potentially helpful.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

It's too bad their Pop/Rock releases were for the most part "tokenism ". Some great titles released initially but I sure wish they had continued with more of the same genre as they did with their Classical issues .

Interesting that they also released a number of encoded cassette tapes much like the Angel tapes in North America .

 

[winopener]

The sign that quad 8 tracks were dead in UK was the SQ-only release for Wish You Were Here. After the big hit of DSOTM it was impossible to consider the next PF release as a low or medium seller in any format.

 

[sjcorne]

_Q8-TWO 375 - Harry Stoneham 'Hammond Hits the Highway'

Interesting tidbit about this one...I was just listening tonight and I think the SQ LP may be mastered with the front and rear channels reversed.

Track 1 "Delicado"- Q8 has drums up front, organ left front, strumming left rear, brass & zylophone right rear. The SQ has the trumpet blasts in left front and pushes the drums toward the rears. Anyone else want to check this out? The Q8 layout is far more logical IMO.

 

[britmarc]

Q8's were more of an American thing than British so not so many were issued and I only sold a couple when I was managing a record store in the 70's even
though I had 20 or so in stock. Personally I loved the John Keating's... My quad set-up was in the house and my best friend had Q8 in his Jaguar...

 

[winopener]

Were you selling imported USA carts or UK ones?

 

[britmarc]

EMI and PYE were domestically made - RCA, WEA, and CBS Columbia just had UK catalogue stickers on them. I also dealt
with an import company for non locally available product such as Command, Vanguard, etc

 

[winopener]

No RCA UK at all?
Just wondering... you were there. AFAIK the only european RCA branch that released Q8 locally was Italy, with an astonishing catalogue of 4 titles, and it has always seemed weird to me...

 

[JonUrban]

Here are some pictures I pulled from eBay auctions over the years of some of these UK Q8's:

 

[JonUrban]

Three torn and tattered warriors:

 

[JonUrban]

A few looks at the variations of "Atom Heart Mother":