Quad LP/Tape Poll Keating, John: Space Experience [SQ/Q8]

[Quad Linda]

https://www.discogs.com/John-Keating-Space-Experience/release/155423
Space Experience
1973
Columbia CQ-32382 (SQ) [US],
Columbia CAQ-32382 (Q8) [US],
EMI Studio 2 Q4 TWO 393 (SQ) [UK & Australia],
EMI 1J 066-05132Q (SQ) [Spain],
EMI Q8-TWO 398 (Q8) [UK]


Side 1:

1- I Feel The Earth Move
2- The Unknown Planet
3- Rocket Man
4- Prelude To Earthrise
5- Star Trek


Side 2:

1- Space Agent
2- Jesus Christ Superstar
3- Upon Another Earth
4- The Sound Of Silence
5- Signal to Saturn

 

[Mark Anderson]

When this was released in the early seventies space travel and technology was a hot topic and as a young teen it was a subject I was interested in.
I first heard this when at a friends house who's father had a top of the line JVC system with large speakers. At the time I was impressed with the keyboard technology used on this album. It was new sounds I had not heard before. The mix on this is discrete but not so much as to reduce the sound field or create speaker pull with holes in the middle.
Listening to it today I find the music although well produced and executed has not aged well and some of the keyboard sounds had me considering shooting my speaker to end my misery.
It does bring me back to a time when I thought sci-fi was so cool like the movie "Login's Run" and this would have fit very well in some places of the sound track.
Although I have the LP I do not recall playing it and have only listened to the 8-track. Fidelity is good and although the music does not do much form me now the surround experience is enjoyable so my vote is a 7.

 

[Quad Linda]

Thanks for an informative post, Mark. And thanks for all you do for the surround community.

I was not impressed with the music when I first heard it. I had purchased my first real Quad piece a few weeks before: Akai-CR80DSS. Still have it.

Anyway, I bought this title although I hadn't heard it. I expected the mix would be anywhere from good to very good. That part didn't disappoint. 9-10 for the mix. It's not too hard to create a "discrete" mix with a whole orchestra, plus synth(s), and electric instruments. A whole lot of soundzz going on.

Musically, I thought this was crap at first. The music is a mix of early 70's covers, and some space age originals. Star Trek theme, too. It grew on me. It very soon became one of my most listened to Q8's. I already had 4 dozen of them, 200 LP's and dozens of mix tapes.. I wasn't starving for content.

Mark's point about it not aging well is well taken. I suspect my apathy or dislke when I bought it is rooted in a similar thing. A bit cheesy, even then. Some of the covers are good, though often overdone. Star Trek and the originals are what makes this album great. 8-9 for the music. A very ambitious project that has many highlights.

The vast majority of my listening to this was on US Q8. I found a sealed US SQ in the late 90's. I've only listened to that a handful of times. Ditto, for the UK CD, which includes Space Ex 2, as well.

In the day, I probably would have given this a nine. Today, I think 8 would be my vote. I like the mix. Not for everybody. IMHO, it's essential for all you Quadies.

 

[JonUrban]

The only thing I remember about this release was that the Q8s filled the cut-out bins of the local Grant's, Woolco's, and Zayre's around these parts. I was always bummed to look at the face end of the tapes in the racks, see the little Columbia Q8 logo, then find it was this tape.

I guess that does not reflect well for the poll thread. I rarely saw the SQ LP in stores, or cut-outs for that matter, so maybe the tape was being pushed by Columbia because there were quite a lot of them out there, as I said.

So of course I played the Star Trek theme and a few others that I knew, but I never latched on to this title. The surround was OK but quite frankly because it was quad and this type of material lent itself to surround much more so than say, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon....", I expected a surround mix that would blow me away. Nope.

Heck, the UK got a Volume 2 as I recall!

I have to say was one is a disappointment way back then and I doubt I would even bother with it today. The cover picture of the space wakk out of the Gemini capsule is pretty cool however. Damn hard to believe we could do that way back when.

Sorry

 

[TPT19764SQ]

Fantastic SQ mix especially on the Space Agent track. I originally had this album and played it on stereo in 1997. It got lost but found again thanks to that wonderful site called eBay in 2018 at the time I got my first Surround Master (SQ version). I was impressed by what I missing in 1997 in stereo, I already loved some of the familiar tracks and Space Agent.

 

[sofijander]

The very first SQ my father heard as a kid, on his cousin's Dual gear, thanks to being issued in Yugoslavia in seventies, and his favourite to this day. I of course heard it many times, first as a passive listener, and after, from my own will. "I feel the Earth move" does move ground when cranked still, half a century after.

 

[sofijander]

The only thing I remember about this release was that the Q8s filled the cut-out bins of the local Grant's, Woolco's, and Zayre's around these parts. I was always bummed to look at the face end of the tapes in the racks, see the little Columbia Q8 logo, then find it was this tape.

I guess that does not reflect well for the poll thread. I rarely saw the SQ LP in stores, or cut-outs for that matter, so maybe the tape was being pushed by Columbia because there were quite a lot of them out there, as I said.

So of course I played the Star Trek theme and a few others that I knew, but I never latched on to this title. The surround was OK but quite frankly because it was quad and this type of material lent itself to surround much more so than say, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon....", I expected a surround mix that would blow me away. Nope.

Heck, the UK got a Volume 2 as I recall!

I have to say was one is a disappointment way back then and I doubt I would even bother with it today. The cover picture of the space wakk out of the Gemini capsule is pretty cool however. Damn hard to believe we could do that way back when.

Sorry

I am not sure volume 2 is in quad.

 

[Quad Linda]

I am not sure volume 2 is in quad.

I have it. It is NOT Quad.

There was another Quad which followed Space Experience (I). It was a completely different style and type of mix. I bought the US Columbia/CBS SQ the week it dropped. In the rest of the world, it was EMI Columbia or Odeon. Traditional orchestral. IMHO, dull.

Space Experience is one of my most listened to Quads. I bought it on Q8, SQ & UK CD w/SE I & II. 250 is one of my least played Quads.

https://www.discogs.com/release/563...on-Symphony-Orchestra-250-Years-Of-Film-Music

 

[fredblue]

hi folks i come bearing good news!

the 1976 Spanish pressing of Space Experience 2 ("Experiencia Espacial 2") is in SQ Quadraphonic! hooray!!

 

[Quad Linda]

Guess I'll be picking up one of those.

Thanks, Adam

 

[fredblue]

Guess I'll be picking up one of those.

Thanks, Adam

yeay!! you need it!!

 

[sofijander]

I have it. It is NOT Quad.

There was another Quad which followed Space Experience (I). It was a completely different style and type of mix. I bought the US Columbia/CBS SQ the week it dropped. In the rest of the world, it was EMI Columbia or Odeon. Traditional orchestral. IMHO, dull.

Space Experience is one of my most listened to Quads. I bought it on Q8, SQ & UK CD w/SE I & II. 250 is one of my least played Quads.

https://www.discogs.com/release/563...on-Symphony-Orchestra-250-Years-Of-Film-Music

Thanks for the very comprehensive answer! Also, thanks to fredblue for his find. A (good) word in Spanish.