Quad LP/Tape Poll Funkadelic: Cosmic Slop [Q8]

[EMB]

Westbound 7198-2022C from 1973.

Program 1:

Nappy Dugout
You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure
March to the Witch's Castle
Let's Make It Last

Program 2:

Cosmic Slop
No Compute
This Broken Heart
Trash-A-Go-Go
Can't Stand the Strain


ED

[h=3][/h]

 

[vinylguy4]

If I remember correctly, the quad mix on Cosmic Slop was significantly inferior to all the other songs.
On my Q8, the right front and left rear are swapped, correcting this swap did help a bunch.
I like the music so much that it will affect my score.

vinylguy4

 

[Q-Eight]

Probably one of the most dull, lifeless, non-discrete mixes if I ever heard one. I'm fairly certain this is simply the stereo tape run through some kind of horrible QS or EV-4 box, dragged through a puddle of blood and human waste, and then lovingly recorded onto a Q8 and garnished with Larks' vomit.

Horrible Sound, Pathetic Mix. I think ONE song might actually be 4-corner discrete, but why waste a whole tape for one song? If anything, this tape is a monster let-down and absolutely NOT worth the price they go for when they appear.

WORST. Q8. EVER.

 

[steelydave]

Both of the "quad mixes" (note usage of ironic quotation marks) that Westbound issued (this one, and Ohio Players 'Ecstacy') are upmixes of some sort of the stereo mix.

The reason the rears sound like they have discrete activity in them occasionally is that on some of the tracks, after they created fake rear speaker action, they rotated the soundstage 90 degrees, so the original stereo mix is in the rear left and front left speakers, and the upmixed junk is in the two right speakers. So as a result of this, your ears prick up occasionally thinking you've heard something behind you, when in fact you're just hearing something from one of the channels of the original stereo mix that's been moved to the back.

It's no wonder these two tapes are as rare as hen's teeth, I'm sure they didn't sell any copies by word of mouth, that's for sure. I saw someone on ebay UK pay over $350 for this tape a year or so ago, and all I can do is feel bad for them.

It's made even more of a shame by the fact that this album (and Parliament/Funkadelic music in general) would be ideal candidates for the surround treatment. When I saw them live about 20 years ago they had more than 20 musicians on stage at the same time, and their 70's studio recordings were no different, an absolute abundance of talent playing together on all of those albums.

 

[Q-Eight]

I'd agree. I had the Ohio Players "Ecstacy" Q8 a few years ago. It was terrible.

 

[himey]

This is bad news indeed. I always hoped it was the poor conversion I had and was possible for an AF release to work the magic. Oh well... I have been slow getting into this band and there is no doubt an excellent multichannel release or two of the band would change that. Some of the psychedelic stuff I have heard is amazing.

 

[ArmyOfQuad]

This tape certainly makes the list of bad quad mixes. But it's not an open and shut case of a fake.

Going through the binders of wome....er....CD-Rs, I found an old DTS conversion of this. Which led me to review my files to decide if it's worth a revisit. I made a few quick notes of analysis to determine what's worthwhile to make the effort to preserve.

Nappy Dugout
Rights might be identical
Lefts are similar - but identified differences
At least 3 unique channels - slight quad mixing actually done

You can't miss what you can't measure
Fronts are very similar - but front left has shaker
Backs are unique from each other and front
Quad mix - with mostly mono front

March to the Witch's Castle
Might just be a doubling of the stereo
Might be some subtle trickery in the rears - or I might be hearing differences from the 8-track tape source - or might be imagining things
I don't think it's a quad mix - but there might be some faking happening

Lets Make It Last
Seems to be real but subtle quad mix
not a wide stereo spread
more difference front to back than left to right
Biggest left/right difference, woodblock to the left, mostly in back

Cosmic Slop
All around bad mix
Very reverby - fakery attempt?
fronts are similar
rears are similar
feel like it's moving the left right mix to a front back, and drowning it in reverb
However.....it seems to not be that. beginning, before beat kicks in, octave guitar notes
high note very audible in left channel on stereo mix - barely there on quad tape
Quad is some fuckery of a bad mix.

No compute
guitars in rears panned
real quad

This Broken Heart
Fronts are stereo mix reversed (or my CD source is a reversed stereo mix - I don't have an original LP to confirm)
Backs are right channel from the stereo CD, ducked around 3db

Trash a go go
doubling of stereo mix, with delay fuckery

Can't Stand the Strain
Front channels have stereo elements
Back channels - reverby mess
rears might be derived from some trickery


Some things here may be worthy of preservation for quad historical reasons - but that's about it. I'll probably make some sort of a hybrid disc for future listening - some things have noticeable quad elements. Probably would go to stereo sources for March to the Witch's Castle, Cosmic Slop, This Broken Heart, Trash A Go Go, and Can't Stand the Strain.

 

[Q-Eight]

Giving this a re-listen and maybe.... MAYBE some songs do feature pretty feeble attempts at mixing into Quad, it almost seems like the most successful songs are like "Can't Stand the Strain" where it's obvious the rears are nothing but echo.... but, at least there's an honesty here where there's a definite front to rear difference and front left to right difference. It works BETTER than some of the other songs.

I'd like to know the history of the album. How many channels on the multi? Where was it recorded? Who did the engineering? I mean.... some of the tracks have an almost Quad feel with drums very pure in Front Right, Bass solid in Back Left, Guitar in Front Left and a Tambourine in Back Left. But there's SOOO MUCH leakage from everything else. If those were the basic tracks, recorded live and with next to no baffling..... well then that might make certain amount of sense.

 

[humprof]

I'd like to know the history of the album. How many channels on the multi? Where was it recorded? Who did the engineering? I mean.... some of the tracks have an almost Quad feel with drums very pure in Front Right, Bass solid in Back Left, Guitar in Front Left and a Tambourine in Back Left. But there's SOOO MUCH leakage from everything else. If those were the basic tracks, recorded live and with next to no baffling..... well then that might make certain amount of sense.

Wikipedia says United Sound, Detroit and Manta Sound, Toronto. Anybody know anything about how those places ran or who the main engineers were, ca. 1972? (Here's a piece on Manta Sound.)

Since some of the songs were built on extended riffs and jams, maybe they were recorded cosmic-sloppily--without the intent, at first, of committing them to vinyl?