King Records Japan Quad Reels

[Mark Anderson]

And some additions from Nick P

 

[Snood]

 

[steelydave]

Wow! Thanks to Nick P. and you Mark, for digging all this stuff up!

Dividing these up, there seem to be three categories - International pop (4CHA (x) xx catalog numbers), International classical (4CHA (x) 10xx catalog numbers) and Japanese classical (4CHD x catalog numbers)

(Updated 6 April 2020)

International Pop
( (A) = A&M / (L) = London / (M) = A&M / (P) = Project 3 / (R) = Riviera / (V) = Vanguard )
4CHA (V) 1 - Joan Baez 'David's Album'
4CHA (V) 2 - Jean-Jacques Perry 'The Amazing Electronic Sound Of Jean Jacques Perry'
4CHA (V) 3 - Buffy Sainte-Marie 'Illuminations'
4CHA (P) 4 - Enoch Light and The Brass Menagerie
4CHA (P) 5 - Enoch Light - 'Spaced Out / The Music of Bach, Bacharach & The Beatles'
4CHA (A) 6 - Burt Bacharach - 'Live In Japan'
4CHA (L) 7 - Werner Muller 'Live In Tokyo'
4CHA (LJ) 8 - Stomu Yamash'ta 'Red Buddha'
4CHA (U) 9 - Francis Lai 'Live In Japan'
4CHA (A) 10 - B.B. King 'Live In Japan'
4CHA (L) 11 - Stanley Black 'Film Spectaculer / "The Epic"'
4CHA (L) 12 - The Norman Candler Orchestra 'Moonlight Party'
4CHA (L) 13 - Mantovani 'An Evening With Mantovani'
4CHA (M) 14 - Quincy Jones 'You've Got It Bad Girl'
4CHA (M) 15 - The Carpenters - 'Now & Then'
4CHA (R) 16 - Raymond Lefevre 'In Concert'

Titles known to exist but with unconfirmed catalog #s

4CHA (M) ?? - The Carpenters - 'The Singles 1969-1973' (DVD-A conversion circulates)


International Classical
4CHA (V) 1001 - Vanguard Records - 'This Is Surround Stereo' Sampler
4CHA (V) 1002/3 - Berlioz 'Requiem' (Abravanel/Utah Symphony Orchestra)
4CHA (V) 1004 - Handel 'Jephtha' (English Chamber Orchestra)
4CHA (V) 1005/6 - Mahler 'Symphony No. 3' (Abravanel/Utah Symphony Orchestra)
4CHA (V) 1007 - Mahler 'Symphony #9' (Abravanel/Utah Symphony Orchestra) (this looks like it might be 1007/8 based on double reel size)



Japanese Classical (and Pop?)

4CHD 1 - 4チャンネル・ステレオ・デモンストレーション ("4 Channel Stereo Demonstration")
4CHD 2 - Leon Grand Orchestra 'Aquarius Musicals Hit Tunes'
4CHD 3 - 酒井多賀志 'バッハ・オルガン・リサイタル' (Takashi Sagai - 'Bach Organ Recital')
4CHD 4 - ドキュメンタリー　日本民謡 ("Documentary Japanese Folk Song")
4CHD 5 - ヤング日本民謡 (これが4チャンネル・ステレ才だ) ("Young Japanese Folk Song (This Is 4 Channel Stereo)")
4CHD 6 - 4チャンネル・ステレオ デモンストレーシ ョン II ("4 Channel Stereo Demonstration II")
4CHD 7 - 鈴懸の径／鈴木章治とリズム・エース・ベスト / (Shoji Suzuki And His Rhythm Aces "Suzukake No Michi / Shoji Suzuki And His Rhythm Aces Best")

 

[winopener]

A>MA>>ZING went the string of my heart...

 

[Mark Anderson]

Another classical addition

Vanguard 4CHA-V-3501 (QR) HANDEL Jephtha (English Chamber Orchestra)

 

[steelydave]

Some creative googling on my part has turned up some images that have allowed me to confirm two more catalog numbers in this series - I've updated post #23 accordingly. They are:

4CHA (V) 3 - Buffy Sainte-Marie 'Illuminations'



4CHA (V) 1001 - Vanguard Records - 'This Is Surround Stereo' Sampler
(Interestingly, @winopener 's post #10 of the 2014 Yahoo! Japan auction appears to show this tape with a blue box, like the Handel 'Jephtha' reel from the post above this one. I wonder if King changed their box style at some point, or if they're different tapes/catalog numbers entirely? I'm guessing it's just a box design change though.)

 

[steelydave]

(Back from a deep dive of Japanese websites with a load more King QR images, click thumbnails to enlarge)

4CHA (V) 2 - Jean-Jacques Perry 'The Amazing Electronic Sound Of Jean Jacques Perry'


4CHA (R) 16 - Raymond Lefevre 'In Concert'


4CHA (P) 5 - Enoch Light - 'Spaced Out/ the Music of Bach, Bacharach & the Beatles'

 

[steelydave]

4CHA (L) 12 - The Norman Candler Orchestra 'Moonlight Party'


4CHA (L) 13 - Mantovani 'An Evening With Mantovani


4CHA (M) 14 - Quincy Jones 'You've Got It Bad Girl'

 

[steelydave]

4CHA (V) 1005/6 - Mahler 'Symphony No. 3' (Abravanel/Utah Symphony Orchestra)


4CHD 4 - ドキュメンタリー　日本民謡 ('Documentary Japanese Folk Song' according to Google translate)


4CHD 7 - Shoji Suzuki And His Rhythm Aces

 

[humprof]

4CHA (V) 1005/6 - Mahler 'Symphony No. 3' (Abravanel/Utah Symphony Orchestra)
View attachment 33113View attachment 33114

4CHD 4 - ドキュメンタリー　日本民謡 ('Documentary Japanese Folk Song' according to Google translate)
View attachment 33115View attachment 33116View attachment 33117

4CHD 7 - Shoji Suzuki And His Rhythm Aces
View attachment 33118View attachment 33119View attachment 33120

Man--I'd love to hear the Abravanel Mahlers.

 

[steelydave]

I'm no expert on this stuff - maybe @ubertrout can chime in - but I think some of that Vanguard classical stuff was released on DVD-A in the early 00's?

 

[humprof]

I'm no expert on this stuff - maybe @ubertrout can chime in - but I think some of that Vanguard classical stuff was released on DVD-A in the early 00's?

That seems right--on Silverline. Some DVD, some DualDisc. All synthesized 5.1, I think--although I don't know which were originally quad and which stereo.

 

[winopener]

Amazing finds... thanks a lot!

 

[steelydave]

So recently on Yahoo! Japan auctions someone auctioned a bulk lot of 24 Japanese quad reels, and while the closing price (nearly $1600) was way out of my league, I was at least able to scoop photos of the auction, which prove the existence of a few more King tapes.

Unfortunately the images are only 640x480 so I wasn't able to glean the actual catalog numbers (I even emailed the seller asking for higher-res photos but got no reply) but at least we have the titles for now.

The new ones are Stomu Yamash'ta 'Red Buddha' (I believe this is the only discrete/tape release of this album anywhere), Enoch Light and the Brass Menagerie, two Japanese 4 channel demo tapes, and another one that roughly translates as 'Young Japanese Folk Song'.

I'll list the contents of these pictures below each one:

Top row: Francis Lai 'Live in Japan', Shoji Suzuki & His Rhythm Aces, Carpenters 'Now & Then'
Middle row: Raymond Lefevre 'In Concert', ヤング日本民謡 ('Young Japanese Folk Song'), 4チャンネル・ステレオ・デモンストレーション ('4 Channel Stereo Demonstration'
Bottom row: 4チャンネル・ステレオ デモンストレーシ ョン II ('4 Channel Stereo Demonstration II'), Takeshi Inomata 'I Dream of Naomi' (RCA CHB-5004), Jack DeJohnette 'Papa Daddy' (CBS SOTF-42501J)

Top row: Enoch Light and the Brass Menagerie, Stanley Black 'Film Spectacular/The Epic', Werner Muller 'Live in Tokyo'
Middle row: Buffy Sainte-Marie 'Illuminations', Burt Bacharach 'Live in Japan', Stomu Yamash'ta 'Red Buddha'
Bottom row: Mantovani 'An Evening With Mantovani, Norman Candler Orchestra 'Moonlight Party' Takashi Sagai 'Bach Organ Recital'

The hype kanji on the Stomu Yamash'ta obi strip was interesting, I thought:

天才のきらめく感性が生んだ鮮烈なリズムの洪水

Which roughly translates as "A sparkling sensation of a genius gave birth to a vivid rhythm flood"

 

[winopener]

Are we safe to assume that all these reel had a CD4/SQ/QS/RM counterpart, or there may be cases as Randy Newman "Sail Away" which was a QR only release?

 

[winopener]

BTW... photos are 9+9... where are the other 6?

 

[steelydave]

Are we safe to assume that all these reel had a CD4/SQ/QS/RM counterpart, or there may be cases as Randy Newman "Sail Away" which was a QR only release?

It seems like all the QRs in the 4CHA series have equivalent CD-4 (4D series) or QS (4R series) LP releases - I put a full list of King's CD-4 and QS releases in post #5 of this thread and everything else seems to line up with that, with one exception, Francis Lai 'Live in Japan'.

There's one unknown CD-4 in the 4D series, 4D-20, so it's possible that that one is the Francis Lai title, but the string is so common it turns up about 800,000 Google search results which makes searching for it impossible.

It is possible that it was a QR-only title though, because it's a United Artists title, and Liberty/UA's other Japanese quad LP releases (Ventures, etc.) were part of Toshiba-EMI's QS LP series, with the catalog prefixes LZ and LLZ.

I'm not sure if the King Japanese market QRs (4CHD series) had equivalent quad LP releases or not, but King did do a big series (at least 40 albums) of Japanese market QS LPs (4K series), so it's entirely possible.

BTW... photos are 9+9... where are the other 6?

I didn't post the picture of the other 5 QRs because they were Toshiba-EMI, RCA and CBS tapes that I've already covered elsewhere.

 

[winopener]

I was hoping for a special surprise...

 

[sjcorne]

4D-19 - Airto Moreira - 'Fingers'

Is there any proof this one actually made it out? The only CTI title I've seen on King in CD-4 is Deodato 2- that one pops up from time to time (I snagged a copy on discogs for under $50 earlier this year), but I can't even find a picture or any trace of the Airto album. Anyone have one?

And I still think it's strange they didn't put out Prelude, arguably the biggest album from CTI, in this series. The inside jacket of the CD-4 Deodato 2 shows Prelude available as a stereo-only Japanese LP.

 

[Mark Anderson]

Is there any proof this one actually made it out? The only CTI title I've seen on King in CD-4 is Deodato 2- that one pops up from time to time (I snagged a copy on discogs for under $50 earlier this year), but I can't even find a picture or any trace of the Airto album. Anyone have one?

I have not seen 4D-19