King Records Japan Quad Reels

[steelydave]

King Records in Japan was a major distributor for a lot of US labels that did quad, including A&M, ABC and United Artists amongst others. Interestingly they released quad reels of some titles that either weren't released in quad at all elsewhere, or not on quad reel at the very least.

What's really interesting to me is that Mark Anderson's quad discography only lists 4 of these releases, and they're not numbered consecutively This leads me to believe there may be more undiscovered quad reels out there, because the numbering system of these reels doesn't correspond to the catalog numbers of the quad vinyl releases of these titles that King put out, but they do appear to be numbered consecutively (ie 5, 6, 10 and 15) indicating that we're only seeing 4 of what might be at least 15 releases. I hate to spread rumours but I've heard rumblings that King Records Japan did quad reels of 1 or more titles from Quincy Jones and/or Rick Wakeman.

These are the titles in Mark's quad discography:

4CHA (P) 5 - Enoch Light - 'Spaced Out/ the Music of Bach, Bacharach & the Beatles'
4CHA 6 - Burt Bacharach - 'Live In Japan'
4CHA (A) 10 - B.B. King - 'Live In Japan'
4CHA (M) 15 - The Carpenters - 'Now & Then'


Titles known to exist (see posts below) but no catalog #s

4CHA (M) ?? - The Carpenters - 'The Singles 1969-1973' (DVD-A conversion circulates)
4CHA (M) ?? - Quincy Jones - 'You've Got It Bad Girl' (AoQ has seen a copy)
4CHA (?) ?? - Takashi Sagai - 'Bach Organ Recital' (2014 yahoo japan auction per winopener)
4CHA (?) ?? - Vanguard Records - 'This Is Surround Stereo' (2014 yahoo japan auction per winopener)


Does anyone know if there are any more in this series? Was a list of releases ever printed anywhere? These reels seem to be as rare as hen's teeth - of the 4 listed above I know know that the B.B. King and Carpenters ones exist for sure, as I've never seen or heard the other two.

 

[quicksrt]

Contact and communication with a Japanese quad fan and collector must be made in order to discern what came out on reels and the catalog system. Surprising that there have not been any members from Japan here on the QQ forums.

But I would guess that the tapes from King Records were and are stored carefully and are in good order, likely not returned to the US but remain in Japan.

Lots of great quad tapes are spread out all over the world. And with such a small market for new releases means that even phone calls to these distant countries is beyond what anyone wants to do.

 

[ArmyOfQuad]

I think a conversion floats around of a Carpenters - Singles reel conversion, and I've seen a Quincy Jones - You've Got It Bad Girl reel.

 

[zabble]

There's also a conversion of Wilson Pickett "Live in Japan" floating out there, which I believe was from a King Records Q4.

 

[steelydave]

I agree it's a shame that we don't have any Japanese members here at QQ - there are so many mysteries about the quad stuff that came out of Japan and this is definitely one of the most intriguing. Having QQ 'boots on the ground' there would be a massive help. I'm hoping that by posting this it'll act like a sort of 'Google trap' in the forthcoming years, that someone searching for any of those catalog numbers might stumble upon this thread and provide more information.

AoQ: You're right about The Carpenters Singles album, it does circulate as a conversion but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any information about the catalog number associated with it - it would be nice to see where it sits in that sequence of numbers. Where did you see the Quincy Jones reel? You've Got It Bad Girl is a great album and obviously a conversion of a QR would be most welcome, but I suppose that goes without saying.

Zabble: from what I gathered from a quick google, the Wilson Pickett conversion that circulates is from a CD-4 LP. As far as I know RCA distributed their own records in Japan so none of their releases would have been distributed via King. I'm not sure if RCA actually released any quad reels in Japan, but they did release lots of stuff on CD-4 records that weren't released in that format elsewhere, including some Guess Who albums, and some Japan-only CD-4's like the aformentioned Wilson Pickett title and also a Harry Belafonte Live In Japan double LP.


I went through Mark Anderson's quad discography and compiled a list of their CD-4 and QS releases, because I thought it might give some clues as to what might be in the missing series of King quad reels. I think one thing that's interesting is there seems to be no uniformity in the numbering between the albums that were released on more than one format - for example B.B. King 'Live In Japan' is #10 in the QR series but #8 in the QS LP series, The Carpenters 'Now And Then' is #15 in the QR series and #1 in the CD-4 LP series, and so on. The same goes for titles that were released by King in both CD-4 and QS, the release numbers don't correspond.

Obviously lots of these titles were released on QR by their respective labels in the US, but there are also plenty that weren't...the remaining A&M titles are especially tantalising. I'd personally happily pay a handsome sum for a QR of Quincy Jones 'Body Heat' if it exists!

CD-4 LP's

4D-1 - The Carpenters - 'Now And Then'
4D-2 - Carole King - 'Tapestry'
4D-3 - Rick Wakeman - 'The Six Wives Of Henry VIII'
4D-4 - Quincy Jones - 'You've Got It Bad Girl'
4D-5 - Raymond Lefevre Orchestra - 'In Concert'
4D-6 - Eumir Deodato - 'Deodato 2'
4D-7 - Joan Baez - 'Hits/Greatest & Others'
4D-8 - Enoch Light - 'Brass Menagerie'
4D-9 - Carole King 'Fantasy'
4D-10 - Quincy Jones - 'Body Heat'
4D-11 - Rick Wakeman - 'Journey To The Center Of The Earth'
4D-12 - Tom Jones - 'Body & Soul Of Tom Jones'
4D-13 - The Moody Blues - 'Seventh Sojourn'
4D-14 - Gilbert O'Sullivan - 'I'm A Writer, Not A Fighter'
4D-15 - Englebert Humperdinck - 'My Love'
4D-16 - Norman Chandler Orchestra - 'Moonlight Party'
4D-17 - Mantovani - 'An Evening With Mantovani'
4D-18 - Werner Muller Orchestra - 'Relax Music Learn To Love'
4D-19 - Airto Moreira - 'Fingers'
4D-20 - UNKNOWN
4D-21 - Charles Aznavour - 'Live In Japan'
4D-22 - The Carpenters - 'The Singles 1969-1973'
4D-23 - Gilbert O'Sullivan - 'Back To Front'
4D-24 - Englebert Humperdinck - 'Live In Japan' (Disc 1)
4D-25 - Englebert Humperdinck - 'Live In Japan' (Disc 2)
4D-26 - Ronnie Aldrich - 'Romantic Pianos'
4D-27 - The Moody Blues - 'Every Good Boy Deserves Favour'
4D-28 - Shirley Bassey - 'Live In Japan' (Disc 1)
4D-29 - Shirley Bassey - 'Live In Japan' (Disc 2)


QS LP's

4R-1 - Enoch Light - 'Electronic Music'
4R-2 - Buffy Sainte-Marie - 'Illuminations
4R-3 - Buffy Sainte-Marie - 'Four Channel Sampler, Vol. 2'
4R-4 - Enoch Light - 'Permissive Polyphonics'
4R-4 - Enoch Light - 'Challenge To 4-Channel'
4R-5 - Joan Baez - 'David's Album'
4R-6 - Enoch Light - 'Spanish Strings'
4R-7 - Enoch Light - 'Big Band Hits Of The 30's'
4R-7 - Enoch Light - 'Golden Swing Era'
4R-8 - B.B. King - 'Live In Japan'
4R-9 - Ray Charles Singers - 'Sunrise, Sunset'
4R-10 - Count Basie - 'Broadway Basie's Way'
4R-11 - Doc Severinsen - 'Golden Trumpet Sounds'
4R-12 - Larry Coryell - 'At The Village Gate'
4R-13 - Joan Baez - 'Blessed Are...' (Disc 1)
4R-14 - Joan Baez - 'Blessed Are...' (Disc 2)
4R-15 - Country Joe & The Fish - 'The Life & Times Of...'
4R-16 - Charles Aznavour - 'Live In Japan'
4R-17 - Enoch Light - 'Brass Spectacular'
4R-18 - Enoch Light - 'Brass Menagerie 1973'
4R-19 - World's Greatest Jazzband Of Hank Lawson & Bob Haggart - 'Extra!'
4R-20 - Buffy Sainte-Marie - 'Mr. Can't You See'
4R-21 - Enoch Light - 'Golden Movie Hits'
4R-22 - Stelvio Cipriani Orchestra - 'Cipriani Screen Mood'
4R-23 - Eddie Barcley Grand Orchestra - 'Grand Orchestra Symphonique'
4R-24 - Raymond Lefevre Orchestra - 'Live In Japan'
4R-25 - Phil Bodner - 'Brass Ring'

 

[JonUrban]

.......AoQ: You're right about The Carpenters Singles album, it does circulate as a conversion but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any information about the catalog number associated with it - it would be nice to see where it sits in that sequence of numbers. .......

What?

You missed my post from 11 years ago??

I had a copy of that reel and posted scans in the forum. You can review it here:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?3421

 

[quicksrt]

Since these commercial Q4s tend to sound really great, some of the anyway, the production masters must sound even better. And if original first generation masters can't be located for some titles, I wonder where the production masters went?

Were they left at Ampex or Bell and Howell duplication services, and then dumped?

One day soon, a commercial SACD release is going to be using a Q4 like this Carpenters diamond in the haystack as it's master.

But for all the quad formats being released around the world back 1973-1976, where are even the production masters if not the original mixdowns? They gotta be in some of the tape libraries at record companies around the world like King.

Nice scans Jon.

 

[steelydave]

What?

You missed my post from 11 years ago??

I had a copy of that reel and posted scans in the forum. You can review it here:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?3421

Not only did I see it I apparently even replied to it in early 2014, which I clearly had no recollection of when I made this newer post. Interesting to see in those pictures that the reel is marked '4CHA (R) 15' and the back of the box is marked '4CHA (M) 15' - I wonder if one of them is in error or if the box and reel carry seperate catalog numbers. My assumption based on the few known titles listed in my initial post was that the bracketed letter indicated the original record company - (A) for ABC, (M) for A&M, (P) for Project 3 and so on.

 

[winopener]

Saw on May 2014 a YahooJapan auction with Japanese Q4 for
Enoch Light Spaced Out
Vanguard Sampler
Takashi Sakai, Bach Organ Recital

Photos were too small to see the catalog number. The Vanguard didn't seems to be a King release.

 

[winopener]

From Top Left
row 2, reel 3 Vanguard Sampler
row 3 reels 1 2 Bach and Spaced Out

Guess why that auction skyrocketed... (hint: row 3 reels 3 4)

 

[steelydave]

Excellent digging winopener - I did some searching for that Takashi Sagai title and it turns out it was issued on quad reel on Vanguard in the US as well, although it doesn't appear in Mark Anderson's quad discography. The image I found is somewhat small, but it looks like the catalog number is either VSS 20 or VSS 28.

I'm going to amend my initial post to include the other titles that have been shown to exist, even though we don't know the catalog numbers for them (yet) - thanks Jon, AoQ, winopener, etc. Hopefully more information will come to light going forward!

 

[winopener]

Ok, so also the Vanguard sampler is a King release. The blue box got me off...

 

[cupboy]

I'm pretty sure The Beatles were on Toshiba-EMI, but I didn't know the White Album came out in quad. I wonder if it's a real quad mix, or just something electronically enhanced to simulate quad (like with Mantovani).

 

[Circular Vibes]

Those are not all quad reels, nor all on King. The White album is on Apple Records and in stereo, but a Japanese set on reels is rare and tres expensive. I can only see two quads in the pile.

 

[steelydave]

There's three quads, as winopener said. The Vanguard Surround Sampler (row 2, tape 3) is hard to detect as a King quad release but if you look closely the box has a blue border with gold-coloured writing that says '4 Channel' just like the two other quad reels (row 3, tapes 1 & 2) with the light brown bordered boxes.

 

[Circular Vibes]

I stand corrected.

 

[boojidad]

Here's one for you. Nothing to get excited about, but it is a Japan-issue quad reel.

 

[Philip Spinner]

Excellent digging winopener - I did some searching for that Takashi Sagai title and it turns out it was issued on quad reel on Vanguard in the US as well, although it doesn't appear in Mark Anderson's quad discography. The image I found is somewhat small, but it looks like the catalog number is either VSS 20 or VSS 28.

I'm going to amend my initial post to include the other titles that have been shown to exist, even though we don't know the catalog numbers for them (yet) - thanks Jon, AoQ, winopener, etc. Hopefully more information will come to light going forward!

View attachment 22484

The tape you are referring to is VSS 20.

 

[steelydave]

I can add another confirmed tape to this series:

4CHA (L) 7 - Werner Muller 'Live in Tokyo'

(Mark Anderson's quad discography says a QS LP of this was issued as well in Japan under the catalog number 4L-1)

I cribbed the images from an eBay Buy It Now that just showed up - yours for the princely sum of $135.00 if you want it.

Finding another tape in this series just strengthens my belief that there are at least 15 tapes in this series (4CHA (M) 15 is the Carpenters Now & Then) - I'd really love to be able to fill in more of the blanks. It also seems to confirm my suspicion that the bracketed letter indicates the original record label, in this case (L) for London.

 

[Mark Anderson]

Here are some popular additions to the list

Francis Lai - Live In Japan. King (QR) [Japan]


MANTOVANI -An Evening with Mantovani. London 4CHA L-13 (QR) [Japan]a


JOAN BAEZ -David's Album. Vanguard (QR) [Japan]

NORMAN CHANDLER ORCHESTRA -Moonlight Party. London 4CHA L-12 (QR) [Japan]a


LEON GRAND ORCHESTRA -Aquarius Musical Hit Tunes. King 4CHD-2 (QR) [Japan] (Same as Vanguard VSS-19)a


SHOJI SUZUKI -Best Album. KING 4CHD 7 (QR) [Japan]a