Herbie Hancock Headhunters - the next Sony Japan 7" quad SACD (September 9th)

[J. PUPSTER]

Gonna go OT for a sec here....when I think of Herbie, I also tend to think of Stanley Clarke..
I don't know, whenever I think of either , I just think of how I was made aware of both about the same time.
Some of you may know that the saxophonist David Sanborn used to host a laid back radio show...well here it was always played on Sunday mornings, some smooth music for hangover heads......
Now I was already sort of a jazz lover, but Sanborn took me places I would never have been. Like Doug Cameron on the fiddle.......sorry, I'll quit now.

No not at all, loved his show and feel exactly the same, used to even record some of them on cassette tape to play back later; a real music education!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Come to think of it, I guess shows like that have been replaced by the wonderfully knowledgeable folks here.

 

[mandrix]

No not at all, loved his show and feel exactly the same, used to even record some of them on cassette tape to play back later; a real music education!

I did too! I still had a tape as of last year but it finally gave up.

 

[salsdali]

my only experience with this album, and specifically just Watermelon Man (Which I'm come to love dearly) is the 5.1 version from the RS500 SACD sampler which is the Columbia/Legacy CS 65123 version.

I have never owned or heard any other version so can someone recommend the best version to buy. Is it this quad, is it an older quad, is it the 5.1?

I'm basically just confused by all the versions floating around and really just want to know what the best and definitive version is.

 

[sjcorne]

I have never owned or heard any other version so can someone recommend the best version to buy. Is it this quad, is it an older quad, is it the 5.1?

There's only ever been one surround mix of Headhunters, and that's the 1974 quadraphonic mix by David Rubinson and Fred Catero. All the multichannel SACD releases of this album use this mix 'manipulated to 5.1'. The center channel is just the front left & right channels summed to mono, and the LFE channel was probably created by running some combination of the original four channels through a low-pass filter. There is no new 5.1 mix.

 

[salsdali]

There's only ever been one surround mix of Headhunters, and that's the 1974 quadraphonic mix by David Rubinson and Fred Catero. All the multichannel SACD releases of this album use this mix 'manipulated to 5.1'. The center channel is just the front left & right channels summed to mono, and the LFE channel was probably created by running some combination of the original four channels through a low-pass filter. There is no new 5.1 mix.

so stick with the quad, but are all those basically the same or is one mastered better than the others because prices are all over the board for the various quad releases (why)?

or should I just wait for this Japanese version?

 

[salsdali]

Discovered this today (translated from Japanese):

"Herbie Hancock's most important album "Head Hunters" (1973), which will lead the times, will be released on September 9th as an SA-CD multi (4 channels front and rear) hybrid disc for the 80th anniversary year ..

that must just be some translational thing right, I mean the 80th ann of what?

 

[sjcorne]

so stick with the quad, but are all those basically the same or is one mastered better than the others because prices are all over the board for the various quad releases?

I'm pretty sure the old Sony CS 65123 and the newer AP CAPJ 084 SA are identical, with the only exception being that the AP version dispensed with the fake center channel. I don't think it's been made clear yet whether or not the new 7" reissue will feature a new mastering of the quad mix. A new remaster would certainly make it more tempting for owners of the prior multichannel SACD releases to double-dip.

 

[steelydave]

that must just be some translational thing right, I mean the 80th ann of what?

The 80th anniversary of Herbie Hancock being issued into this world!

 

[salsdali]

The 80th anniversary of Herbie Hancock being issued into this world!

Holy shit, I looked it up, his is 80

those crazy Japanese lol

 

[guybrown]

Has anyone seen any pictures or mockups of this yet?

Is it going to be gatefold sleeve - is the original LP gatefold? - and metallic foil like the MD 7” SACDs?

Am excited for this - love the MD titles!

Also bought the Santana release coming out too

 

[fredblue]

Has anyone seen any pictures or mockups of this yet?

Is it going to be gatefold sleeve - is the original LP gatefold? - and metallic foil like the MD 7” SACDs?

Am excited for this - love the MD titles!

Also bought the Santana release coming out too

the original Head Hunters SQ Quad LP didn't come in a gatefold or in metallic foil finish like the Miles Davis Japanese SQ Quad LP, its just a regular jacket with CBS SQ Quad logo/graphics at top right hand corner, as seen in the first post here

here's the original SQ Quad LP;

 

[Goona]

Just ordered with Santana from CD Japan

 

[Tubelicious]

Do we have any idea how this will compare to the SACD from acoustic sounds about 10 years ago?

 

[guybrown]

This arrived today from amazon.co.jp to the UK via DHL!

Am going to give it a spin in a moment.

What other quad Herbie Hancock releases where there? Wonder if they are going to follow up this one with more?

 

[fredblue]

This arrived today from amazon.co.jp to the UK via DHL!

Am going to give it a spin in a moment.

What other quad Herbie Hancock releases where there? Wonder if they are going to follow up this one with more?

the other Herbie Hancock Quads are;
1973's Sextant,
1974's Thrust,
1976's Secrets.

Audio Fidelity released the Thrust Quad on MultiCh SACD and Dutton Vocalion released the Quad of Sextant on MultiCh SACD.

 

[guybrown]

Yeah, I have the Sextant and Thrust SACD's.

Be good to get Secrets on SACD too and also see Sextant and Thrust get Japanese 7" treatment!

Shame Flood never got a Quad mix!

 

[fredblue]

Yeah, I have the Sextant and Thrust SACD's.

Be good to get Secrets on SACD too and also see Sextant and Thrust get Japanese 7" treatment!

Shame Flood never got a Quad mix!

i'm not terribly excited for a reissue of Secrets because as much as i like the album (and i really do) the Quad mix is, unlike the other Herbie Hancock Quads, an absolute fake load of old tosh.

 

[guybrown]

i'm not terribly excited for a reissue of Secrets because as much as i like the album (and i really do) the Quad mix is, unlike the other Herbie Hancock Quads, an absolute fake load of old tosh.

Really

 

[steelydave]

The bigger tragedy (for me, at least) is that Columbia strangely never released a quad mix of 1975's Man-Child, which came in between Thrust and Secrets. Not only is it some of his best fusion material, it's also really sonically dense, with even more keyboard layering than his previous albums, and it also has a horn section on some tracks. The album also has former Motown session man Wah Wah Watson (he of Papa Was a Rolling Stone fame) all over it, both as a writer and also playing his guitar through a variety of effects incluing (obviously) wah wah, echoplex, and talk box. Oh and Stevie Wonder drops by to blow a crazy harmonica solo on one of the tracks.

Honestly can't figure out why this never got the quad treatment - if Herbie was going to dip into his back catalog for an Atmos remix, this is the one I'd start with.