HiRez Poll Guess Who, The - AMERICAN WOMAN & SHARE THE LAND [SACD]

[rtbluray]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this 2019 Multichannel SACD release of two classic albums by The Guess Who, "American Woman" & "Share the Land".
The Multichannel SACD features the first release of the 1970s Quadraphonic mixes for the first time in over 40 years!

American Woman
LP LSP-4266 (1970) STEREO/PQ8-1518 QUADRAPHONIC
1: AMERICAN WOMAN (Bachman; Cummings; Kale; Peterson)
2: NO TIME (Bachman; Cummings)
3: TALISMAN (Bachman; Cummings)
4: NO SUGAR TONIGHT (Bachman) – NEW MOTHER NATURE (Cummings)
5: 969 (THE OLDEST MAN) (INSTRUMENTAL) (Bachman)
6: WHEN FRIENDS FALL OUT (Bachman; Cummings)
7: 8:15 (Bachman; Cummings)
8: PROPER STRANGER (Bachman; Cummings)
9: HUMPTY’S BLUES (Bachman; Cummings; Kale; Peterson)
– AMERICAN WOMAN (EPILOGUE) (Bachman; Cummings; Kale; Peterson)

Share the Land
LP LSP-4359 (1970) STEREO/PQ8-1590 QUADRAPHONIC
10: BUS RIDER (Winter)
11: DO YOU MISS ME DARLIN’ (Cummings; Winter)
12: HAND ME DOWN WORLD (Winter)
13: MOAN FOR YOU JOE (Cummings; Leskiw)
14: SHARE THE LAND (Cummings)
15: HANG ON TO YOUR LIFE (Cummings; Winter)
16: COMING DOWN OFF THE MONEY BAG (Leskiw) – SONG OF THE DOG (Cummings)
17: THREE MORE DAYS (Cummings; Winter)

Remastered from the original analogue tapes by Michael J. Dutton

Multi-ch Stereo
All tracks available in stereo and multi-channel

SA-CD
This hybrid CD can be played on any standard CD players

CDSML8564

 

[Ninecats]

The two covers are merged together beautifully!

 

[The Rang]

Yes, they did a great job in this one, it amazes me how they manage to successfully merge the covers on all these 2-fers

 

[EricKalet]

10 spot for this. Absolutely the best mastering and sound we may ever get for recordings over 40 years old.

 

[Mesozoic Mike]

I love this release so, I gave it an 8. From me, that's a high score. Recommended to all.

 

[Elad]

I was pleasantly surprised listening to the guess who today considering how old these are they sounded fresh, enjoyed the surround field and forgot how much I liked this group. Thank you Dutton!

 

[par4ken]

Wow another title that I suggested! Not saying that they listen to me it's probably more of a coincidence. No need to get those high priced Japanese CD-4's anymore. About a year and a half ago I submitted a very good offer to a Japanese eBay sell and didn't even get the cutiousy of a refusal or counter offer. They seem stuck on getting $300 US each for these and they those LP's have tracks deleted. It will be interesting to see if they now lower their asking prices. I'm a bit disappointed in the liner notes though, they are virtually the same as for the previous Guess Who release, no new information.
Being an early Quad release the vocals are mixed full centre. I know that many don't like this but as I've said before it's the perfect mix for playing in a car. As my rear speakers are set to the side rather than behind me I found that I had to adjust the balance toward the front, when set properly the speaker levels sounded equal and Burtons vocals emanated from the middle of the room. American Woman was their best selling LP, not a bad track on it! I can say the same for all the first four LP's, I'm still hoping for the release of the Wheat albums! My favorite track from American Woman would have to be "Proper Stranger" followed by "When Friends Fall Out". No Time is the single version which is good but I prefer the original from "Canned Wheat". Previously I rated the AF's "Best Of The Guess Who" a ten based on content and surround mix even though the sound quality was lacking a bit, my Stereotape reel suffered the same sound issues. This issue however sounds fantastic, I wish I could vote higher than a ten!
I had the "Share the Land" Q8 years ago and played it to death, in the car. I love the panned vocals on "Hang On To Your Life", actually more like they jump from speaker to speaker. That tape finally bit the dust, I eventually replaced it and got a copy of "American Woman" as well. I's always a crap shoot playing Q8's, I like to make copies with the computer, however Q8 sound quality leaves a lot to be desired. My favorite track from "Share The Land" would be "Three More Days".

 

[ar surround]

Wow another title that I suggested! Not saying that they listen to me it's probably more of a coincidence.

Please continue making suggestions to DV just in case it is some sort of dark magic ability that gets these titles reissued.

 

[GaryG]

As my rear speakers are set to the side rather than behind me I found that I had to adjust the balance toward the front, when set properly the speaker levels sounded equal and Burtons vocals emanated from the middle of the room.

I agree with Par4ken. I thought the rears were a little hot. I had to turn the rears down 4dbs on my system.
That aside I love this DV release.

 

[Elad]

Wow another title that I suggested! Not saying that they listen to me it's probably more of a coincidence. No need to get those high priced Japanese CD-4's anymore. About a year and a half ago I submitted a very good offer to a Japanese eBay sell and didn't even get the cutiousy of a refusal or counter offer. They seem stuck on getting $300 US each for these and they those LP's have tracks deleted. It will be interesting to see if they now lower their asking prices. I'm a bit disappointed in the liner notes though, they are virtually the same as for the previous Guess Who release, no new information.
Being an early Quad release the vocals are mixed full centre. I know that many don't like this but as I've said before it's the perfect mix for playing in a car. As my rear speakers are set to the side rather than behind me I found that I had to adjust the balance toward the front, when set properly the speaker levels sounded equal and Burtons vocals emanated from the middle of the room. American Woman was their best selling LP, not a bad track on it! I can say the same for all the first four LP's, I'm still hoping for the release of the Wheat albums! My favorite track from American Woman would have to be "Proper Stranger" followed by "When Friends Fall Out". No Time is the single version which is good but I prefer the original from "Canned Wheat". Previously I rated the AF's "Best Of The Guess Who" a ten based on content and surround mix even though the sound quality was lacking a bit, my Stereotape reel suffered the same sound issues. This issue however sounds fantastic, I wish I could vote higher than a ten!
I had the "Share the Land" Q8 years ago and played it to death, in the car. I love the panned vocals on "Hang On To Your Life", actually more like they jump from speaker to speaker. That tape finally bit the dust, I eventually replaced it and got a copy of "American Woman" as well. I's always a crap shoot playing Q8's, I like to make copies with the computer, however Q8 sound quality leaves a lot to be desired. My favorite track from "Share The Land" would be "Three More Days".

If you had anything to do with this THANKS. I have a 7.1 set up and hang on to your life is insane my dog went nuts. Not a bad cut on this not left my oppo yet

 

[H.A.L.]

An 8 -- so many great titles coming out now, I fear giving out all 10s.

I do have the Audio Fidelity BEST OF SACD and this knocks the socks off it! Go, DV!

 

[GOS]

An 8 -- so many great titles coming out now, I fear giving out all 10s.

I do have the Audio Fidelity BEST OF SACD and this knocks the socks off it! Go, DV!

Wow! Can’t wait to hear my copy.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[steelydave]

The two covers are merged together beautifully!

Yes, they did a great job in this one, it amazes me how they manage to successfully merge the covers on all these 2-fers

I completely agree with you both, and I think Paul Evans (who does all of D-V's artwork, and has just started getting a "reissue graphics" credit on the back of the discs this year) deserves mega kudos for the work that he does. Having had the privilege of assisting him a little bit with the artwork and design the last year or two, I've been able to see just how much effort goes in to every release. Being nearly 50 years old, much of the album artwork requires extensive restoration but Paul does such a great job that I think you'd be hard pressed to figure out where or what he's done. He's also proofreader and editor-in-chief for my liner notes and all the musician and recording credits, and his meticulous attention to detail is a big part of the reason that the presentation of D-Vs releases are practically flawless. When you take in to consideration how many discs D-V release a year across all genres, it's almost staggering how much high-quality work he produces, a feat that's maybe only matched by his boss.

[...] I'm a bit disappointed in the liner notes though, they are virtually the same as for the previous Guess Who release, no new information.

While I did re-use a portion of the text covering the band's history from the Rockin'/Best of Vol. 2, this isn't really true. The final 1,100 words (nearly 40% of the note) are newly-written, covering the recording and release of both albums along with some analysis of the songs, along with some information about the quad releases of both albums.

It may not seem like it since you can probably read these things before half of one album is over, but the process of researching and writing isn't a quick one - gathering facts and minutae like chart positions, band member entries and exits, etc. (and making sure it's accurate) takes time. It took me more than three weeks (that is, working every day including weekends) to do the liner notes for #10/Road Food, and then a further week to write the note for Rockin'/Best of v2, which used some of my work from #10/Road Food but dramatically fleshed out the band's early history, adding a further 800 words.

Given that D-V has an established style for their liner notes that I was working to (essentially band history + album analysis) it seemed like an exercise in futility to try and re-write another band history that told the same story just using different words. So, with the label's permission I re-used much of my previous band history for the beginning of the note and wrote the new appendix that covered American Woman and Share the Land. Part of the reason I put it at the end of the note, rather than integrating it in the middle of my reused writing was so that people who'd read the previous note wouldn't have to go searching through the old material to find the new stuff. I'm sorry you found it disappointing, but hopefully it's still more satisfying than no note at all, and I also hope that the superior sound quality of the release makes up for whatever shortcomings you (or anyone else) finds in the writing.

 

[par4ken]

I completely agree with you both, and I think Paul Evans (who does all of D-V's artwork, and has just started getting a "reissue graphics" credit on the back of the discs this year) deserves mega kudos for the work that he does. Having had the privilege of assisting him a little bit with the artwork and design the last year or two, I've been able to see just how much effort goes in to every release. Being nearly 50 years old, much of the album artwork requires extensive restoration but Paul does such a great job that I think you'd be hard pressed to figure out where or what he's done. He's also proofreader and editor-in-chief for my liner notes and all the musician and recording credits, and his meticulous attention to detail is a big part of the reason that the presentation of D-Vs releases are practically flawless. When you take in to consideration how many discs D-V release a year across all genres, it's almost staggering how much high-quality work he produces, a feat that's maybe only matched by his boss.



While I did re-use a portion of the text covering the band's history from the Rockin'/Best of Vol. 2, this isn't really true. The final 1,100 words (nearly 40% of the note) are newly-written, covering the recording and release of both albums along with some analysis of the songs, along with some information about the quad releases of both albums.

It may not seem like it since you can probably read these things before half of one album is over, but the process of researching and writing isn't a quick one - gathering facts and minutae like chart positions, band member entries and exits, etc. (and making sure it's accurate) takes time. It took me more than three weeks (that is, working every day including weekends) to do the liner notes for #10/Road Food, and then a further week to write the note for Rockin'/Best of v2, which used some of my work from #10/Road Food but dramatically fleshed out the band's early history, adding a further 800 words.

Given that D-V has an established style for their liner notes that I was working to (essentially band history + album analysis) it seemed like an exercise in futility to try and re-write another band history that told the same story just using different words. So, with the label's permission I re-used much of my previous band history for the beginning of the note and wrote the new appendix that covered American Woman and Share the Land. Part of the reason I put it at the end of the note, rather than integrating it in the middle of my reused writing was so that people who'd read the previous note wouldn't have to go searching through the old material to find the new stuff. I'm sorry you found it disappointing, but hopefully it's still more satisfying than no note at all, and I also hope that the superior sound quality of the release makes up for whatever shortcomings you (or anyone else) finds in the writing.

Yes you are correct the last half of the liner notes relates specifically to this release. My comment was just my first impression, this came out so soon after the last one I couldn't help but think wait a minute I just read this word for word. I apologise if I sounded overly critical, I really really do appreciate this release. I'm sure most don't bother to even read the liner notes.

 

[ar surround]

I'm sure most don't bother to even read the liner notes.

I'm one who loves reading the liner notes. Now they may go in one ear and out the other, but that's because of "seniority."

 

[edisonbaggins]

I always read @steelydave 's liner notes. They are among my favorite features of the D-V SACDs.

 

[Cheezmo]

Anyone know what is up with the 4:48 version of Proper Stranger? All the other releases I can find it is 4:04.

 

[sjcorne]

Wow! Excellent remaster of classic material. This is the best I've ever heard these songs sound, stereo or quad. In fact, I'd say this is the best-sounding of all the Guess Who quad SACD releases - I'm noticing far less hiss and other tape anomalies on this two-fer compared to the others.

I paid around $100 for the Japanese CD-4 pressing of American Woman several years ago, which actually sounded great (it's still one of the most treasured pieces in my collection), but this smokes it.

I also think it's superior to Audio Fidelity's Best Of The Guess Who quad SACD release from several years ago - it sounds not only clearer, but better balanced as well. I often felt the AF disc was a bit rear-heavy, as were some of the old quad LP and tapes.

I suspect not everyone will love the quad mixes - there are definitely some questionable mixing decisions on these (general lack of instrumental separation, drums and vocals in all four speakers, overuse of swirling/panning effects, etc) - but you have to remember that these are among the earliest examples of popular music mixed into surround sound. Would I have preferred a mix more in the CBS-style with the vocals only in the front and stuff isolated in the corners? Maybe, but that isn't the way RCA did their quad mixes at the time.

Usually, the swirly pans are rather effective and add to the fun (guitars in "Proper Stranger", "When Friends Fall Out", etc); other times they're less successful, either because don't really fit the mood of the song (acoustic guitar in "Talisman") or they're just too fast (backing vocals in "No Sugar Tonight", outro of "No Time"). Again, I have to reiterate that these are mixing decisions made almost 50 (!) years ago, at a time where there was no precedent or template for mixing music into surround sound.

I have no issues giving this a 10. Like @par4ken, I hope they do Wheatfield Soul & Canned Wheat as a two-fer - then we'll have digital releases of all the (worthwhile) Guess Who quads. It's a great time to be a surround fan

"When Friends Fall Out":


"Coming Down Off The Money Bag":

 

[Larry Geller]

I want the unworthwhile ones too. I would love a Flavours, Power Of The Music two-fer.

 

[The56Kid]

Man, I would love to hear Friends Of Mine from Wheatfield Soul in D-V full glory!!!