HiRez Poll Guess Who, The - WHEATFIELD SOUL & CANNED WHEAT [SACD]

[rtbluray]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this SACD reissue from Dutton Vocalion of the albums "Wheatfield Soul" and "Canned Wheat" by the Guess Who.
This SACD includes the release of the original Quadraphonic mixes of both albums for the first time in over 40 years!

WHEATFIELD SOUL
LP LSP-4141 (1969) STEREO/PQ8-1442 QUADRAPHONIC
1: THESE EYES (Bachman; Cummings)
2: PINK WINE SPARKLES IN THE GLASS (Bachman; Cummings)
3: I FOUND HER IN A STAR (Cummings)
4: FRIENDS OF MINE (Bachman; Cummings)
5: WHEN YOU TOUCH ME (Bachman; Cummings; Matheson)
6: A WEDNESDAY IN YOUR GARDEN (Bachman)
7: LIGHTFOOT (Bachman; Cummings; Matheson)
8: LOVE AND A YELLOW ROSE (Bachman; Cummings)
9: MAPLE FUDGE (Bachman; Cummings)
10: WE’RE COMING TO DINNER (Bachman; Cummings)

CANNED WHEAT
LP LSP-4157 (1969) STEREO/PQ8-1472 QUADRAPHONIC
11: NO TIME (Bachman; Cummings)
12: MINSTREL BOY (Bachman; Cummings)
13: LAUGHING (Bachman; Cummings)
14: UNDUN (Bachman)
15: 6 A.M. OR NEARER (Bachman)
16: OLD JOE (Cummings)
17: OF A DROPPING PIN (Bachman; Cummings)
18: KEY (Bachman; Cummings)
19: FAIR WARNING (Bachman; Cummings)

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

CDSML8570

 

[GOS]

Wow man! This is just so amazing. I've never heard these 2 albums by themselves. Wheatfield Soul is so different and psychedelic! Love it....who would have known?

Content - 10
Fidelity - 8
Mix - 8.5

AWESOME!! Average is 8.8, rounded up to 9. This is deserving. WOW!!

 

[4-earredwonder]

Wow man! This is just so amazing. I've never heard these 2 albums by themselves. Wheatfield Soul is so different and psychedelic! Love it....who would have known?

Content - 10
Fidelity - 8
Mix - 8.5

AWESOME!! Average is 8.8, rounded up to 9. This is deserving. WOW!!

Totally agree, Gene. Two more quality RCA QUAD analogue masters rescued from oblivion by the wonderful WIZARD of WATFORD!

 

[Greg Z]

These two albums have never sounded better to my ears. Sometimes there isn't much going on
surround wise (These Eyes) and then you have No Time with the guitar moving around the soundfield.
Getting all these Guess Who albums released in this format by D-V is more than I could ever have
hoped for. I had resigned myself to Q8 transfers a long time ago.
The Guess Who were my hometown heroes growing up so I subtracted 1 point to account for my
blatant bias and gave this release a 9.

 

[Q-Eight]

Got mine today. Pretty much just as I remember these albums but wow, much, much better fidelity. "We're Coming to Dinner" was particularly hissy on the Q8 for whatever reason but is relatively clean here. I like how we get the un-muted "These Eyes" (remember how the Q8/Reel of "The Best Of" mutes the front channels until the guitar kicks in?) and the early version of "No Time" is the one I prefer. I wonder how sore the engineers' hand was after "Love and a Yellow Rose"? Watching on my scope, something I never noticed before is that the fuzz guitar will go anti-clockwise for the first pass, but then clockwise on the second pass - in double time! This continues for the entire song! That panning joystick had some miles on it by the end for sure! Nice that Mr. Dutton added the little musical interludes back onto "6 a.m. or Nearer" and "Key". I don't believe those were present on the original Q8.

Can't believe these are on SACD in the year 2020. I wonder what it would cost to remix the whole Artificial Paradise album into something a little more listenable? If they could do a few tracks to complete Paul Revere & The Raiders' "Hard & Heavy", I'd be willing to cough up extra dough for a modern, yet vintage 4-channel mix of Artificial Paradise.

 

[bossfan]

Just listened to this full run through. Familiar with Guess Who (being a Cdn) but not familiar with these albums. Holy smokes they are great. Really not what I expected out of these Cdn boys so many years ago... Just outstanding. If you don't have it, get it. I'll vote 9.

 

[par4ken]

These earlier Guess Who albums had so many great tracks, many underappreciated or forgotten entirely. “Friends of Mine”, my favourite track from “Wheatfield Soul” was actually released as a promo single. I have a copy of the CKRC Young at Heart Chart from early March 68 showing it as number 4 on the CANADA TOP FIVE. The 10 minute song was split into two 5 minute sides. From November of the same year “Of a Dropping Pin “was numbed 2 on the CANADA TOP FIVE and number 29 on the main chart. That track was also featured on the pre K-tel “20 Power Hits” album. A Wednesday in Your Garden was a hit for Barry Allen, in Canada at least. I much prefer the original version of “No Time “to the latter released single version, and The Key would be my favourite track from Canned Wheat.

The Mixes are excellent but the sound quality is lacking, parts sound fine other parts sound muffled and distorted much like the sound of the Audio Fidelity “Best of”. I’m still very grateful for the release of this regardless of the limited sound quality of the surround mix. For those who don’t like the instrument placement on certain tracks, full centre vocals make it easy to swap around channels anyway you like!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Anyone notice who has part credit for recording engineer on Wheatfield Soul- Elliot Scheiner!

Fabulous all around - some of it has that Doors psychedelic sound i.e. "Friends of Mine."

*Edit - I just finished listening to Wheatfield Soul; and I'm spent from all the newly discovered music in glorious Quad (only knew These Eyes from this album.) Where the F**K have I been with this one?
Right there with my man Gene... just WOW!

 

[skherbeck]

This is a great two-fer, especially if you don't have the first greatest hits disc... 4 monster hits (These Eyes, No Time (an early version), Laughing, & Undun), but good music from start to finish with some real standouts (I love "Friends of Mine" and "Love And A Yellow Rose"). The fidelity is better than any conversions I've heard, with wild, discrete quad mixes too groovy not to own. This is my second favorite of all the Guess Who hi-rez surround releases behind the American Woman/Share The Land two-fer (another must-have). 9.

 

[The56Kid]

This is a great two-fer, especially if you don't have the first greatest hits disc... 4 monster hits (These Eyes, No Time (an early version), Laughing, & Undun), but good music from start to finish with some real standouts (I love "Friends of Mine" and "Love And A Yellow Rose"). The fidelity is better than any conversions I've heard, with wild, discrete quad mixes too groovy not to own. This is my second favorite of all the Guess Who hi-rez surround releases behind the American Woman/Share The Land two-fer (another must-have). 9.

Both albums do feature great music with mostly impressive quad mixes although the fidelity is a bit lacking.

My one beef is the not uncommon quad mix practice of isolating drums to a single channel. In the case of Wheatfield Soul, it’s mostly to the right rear speaker although sometimes they’re mirrored in all 4 speakers. Give me drums in stereo across the front stage with percussive accents in the rears and I’m a happy camper.

 

[par4ken]

Both albums do feature great music with mostly impressive quad mixes although the fidelity is a bit lacking.

My one beef is the not uncommon quad mix practice of isolating drums to a single channel. In the case of Wheatfield Soul, it’s mostly to the right rear speaker although sometimes they’re mirrored in all 4 speakers. Give me drums in stereo across the front stage with percussive accents in the rears and I’m a happy camper.

It makes good sense to place the drums in the rear, as these mixes were released on Q8 and as such would be played mainly in the car. Rear deck 6x9`s providing most of the bass. The mix would not sound good with the smaller door speakers handling drums. If you don`t like it swap the channels front to rear!

 

[The56Kid]

It makes good sense to place the drums in the rear, as these mixes were released on Q8 and as such would be played mainly in the car. Rear deck 6x9`s providing most of the bass. The mix would not sound good with the smaller door speakers handling drums. If you don`t like it swap the channels front to rear!

Thanks for that explanation. Never knew about the 6 x 9 theory, but it makes sense!

 

[Q-Eight]

Both albums do feature great music with mostly impressive quad mixes although the fidelity is a bit lacking.

My one beef is the not uncommon quad mix practice of isolating drums to a single channel. In the case of Wheatfield Soul, it’s mostly to the right rear speaker although sometimes they’re mirrored in all 4 speakers. Give me drums in stereo across the front stage with percussive accents in the rears and I’m a happy camper.

The drums are actually a really nice stereo pair in the rear. Kicker definitely in the Back Left and I'm going to wager a guess that Snare was mixed in the middle and the overheads on the right. Problem comes from the fact that the overheads are definitely picking up the snare and artificially moving that more to the right as well. When there's some Tom-Tom hits, they're definitely in stereo as well. In a conversation I once had with Mr. Bachman, he told me the first two albums were for sure recorded on 16-track, but when I asked 16-track tape or 16-track board, he paused for a second and replied "Now that, I cannot be sure of."

(The reason I asked is that American Woman, the stereo version, sounds very much like an 8 track mix (drums on the right, bass on the left) but the earlier tracks sound better.)

Wheatfield Soul was recorded in New York, as was Canned Wheat; but American Woman was recorded in Chicago. I have a copy of the multitrack for the American Woman albums' version of "No Time" and it is 8 track. I also have a multitrack for "Hand Me Down World" though, and that sounds more like a 16-track tape. So, I can only assume that RCA's Mid-America Recording Center may have had an upgrade in either late 1969 or early 1970. It makes me wonder if the American Woman album was a bit of a step back in regards to production.

I'd also heard an anecdote that Gary Peterson was a bit of a stickler when it came to his drums and often times demanded that his drum kit take up 7 or 8 tracks of the multitrack. This might have worked somewhat on 16 track equipment but would've been impossible on 8 track.

 

[Simon A]

I'd also heard an anecdote that Gary Peterson was a bit of a stickler when it came to his drums and often times demanded that his drum kit take up 7 or 8 tracks of the multitrack. This might have worked somewhat on 16 track equipment but would've been impossible on 8 track.

Couldn't two decks have been linked together?. That was being done a lot so two 8 track machines could have been synchronized together. Not questioning your reasoning, more like thinking out loud.

 

[Q-Eight]

Couldn't two decks have been linked together?. That was being done a lot so two 8 track machines could have been synchronized together. Not questioning your reasoning, more like thinking out loud.

It could be done, but was harder in practice than one is lead to believe. Then comes the even more fun task of synching them back up for playback. Also consider the time it took to do this and the bill the record company would receive at the end of the rainbow.

It was done briefly with 4-track machines for the Beatles. Supposedly it was done for Simon & Garfunkel (but I have my doubts!) but I can 99% assure you that it wasn't going to be done for The Guess Who, who were still relative unknowns prior to their breakout hit with American Woman. Remember, their producer; Jack Richardson, mortgaged his own HOUSE to pay for the "Wheatfield Soul" sessions.

Standard Operating Procedure back then was if you're going to fill up an 8 track, you'd mix to mono and bounce those tracks to an open track on the same tape. That frees up 7 more tracks for overdubs. Very rarely, and by that I mean I can't think of a single instance when it was done so; if they filled up one 8-track, they'd bounce to mono on another 8-track and use the new tape for overdubs. 1" tape was ridiculously expensive back then, when you consider these were throw-away "pop" songs for the kiddies. It was very unusual that the expense was allowed. You had to be a big name with some hits under your belt before getting crazy in the studio was allowed. Remember, these were businesses after all. If they could save a nickel, they would.

 

[Simon A]

It could be done, but was harder in practice than one is lead to believe. Then comes the even more fun task of synching them back up for playback. Also consider the time it took to do this and the bill the record company would receive at the end of the rainbow.

It was done briefly with 4-track machines for the Beatles. Supposedly it was done for Simon & Garfunkel (but I have my doubts!) but I can 99% assure you that it wasn't going to be done for The Guess Who, who were still relative unknowns prior to their breakout hit with American Woman. Remember, their producer; Jack Richardson, mortgaged his own HOUSE to pay for the "Wheatfield Soul" sessions.

Standard Operating Procedure back then was if you're going to fill up an 8 track, you'd mix to mono and bounce those tracks to an open track on the same tape. That frees up 7 more tracks for overdubs. Very rarely, and by that I mean I can't think of a single instance when it was done so; if they filled up one 8-track, they'd bounce to mono on another 8-track and use the new tape for overdubs. 1" tape was ridiculously expensive back then, when you consider these were throw-away "pop" songs for the kiddies. It was very unusual that the expense was allowed. You had to be a big name with some hits under your belt before getting crazy in the studio was allowed. Remember, these were businesses after all. If they could save a nickel, they would.

I knew The Beatles did it often and so did The Beach Boys but perhaps an upcoming group may not have had that luxury because of the costs involved and the difficulties that came with synching.

 

[Dingo]

First up, congratulations to D-V for this ongoing treasure of releases.
" WHEATFIELD SOUL", I think has dated somewhat. Definitely a transitional set, finding what really works and what doesn't. Too much errs on the side of ' quaint ' and cod-DOORS. The lyrics of "FRIENDS OF MINE" are cringe making; could you really get away with that now. What did Kurt feel about that stanza? Let's face it, the DOORS had already got the patent on mystical psychodrama. This was such a misstep.
That said, the transfer is excellent.
On the other hand, CANNED WHEAT, with the exception of the misjudged and completely unnecessary final track, sounds as good as the day it was released. Thank you Mr.Dutton for keeping the linking tracks intact. A telling feature is the audibility of the acoustic guitars as Randy does his wig-out on electric: totally nailed here.
Great transfer of these decades old tapes.

 

[ar surround]

Thank you Mr.Dutton for keeping the linking tracks intact.

Dingo, what are the “linking tracks?”

 

[Dingo]

They are short musical interludes between certain tracks, sharply edited and intrinsic to the flow. On a three for one reissue of five plus years back, the segues were treated as discreet items with four second gaps, quite ruining the flow.

 

[oxenholme]

...On the other hand, CANNED WHEAT, with the exception of the misjudged and completely unnecessary final track...

I love the "misjudged and completely unnecessary final track".