In doing some research for liner notes for some of the recently-released D-V SACDs, I stumbled across a couple of interesting articles about Mercury's quad output that I saved wanted to share. Originally I was going to do just that, but then I remembered that some of the Mercury quad mixes were also issued on CD-4 in Japan on the Philips label and I got doing some reading and discovered that Mercury, Vertigo, Philips (and other non-quad labels like Fontana) were all owned by a holding company called Phonogram, which explains why the Mercury quad mixes ended up on Philips in Japan. Phonogram would eventually become Polygram (there's more info on the wiki page here) and was bought by Seagram in the mid-90s and merged with Universal Music to form the Universal Music Group (UMG).
So as I learned more about the company, what was originally going to be just a list of Mercury and Vertigo's US Q8 releases (and non-releases) and a couple of articles about Mercury grew in scope. I was originally just going to include the Mercury titles that were part of the Philips Japan 4DX CD-4 series, but I figured it was worth listing the entire series in the name of completeness because there are at least a half dozen catalog numbers that are unidentified and unaccounted for, and I thought maybe the QQ collective could help solve the mystery as to whether they exist or not. I've also included the Philips Japan 4FX CD-4 series (Japanese pop) as well, and I think this listing represents a relatively complete list of everything known to have been issued by the Phonogram group of companies between the US and Japan.
Credit is due to @Mark Anderson - his quad discography forms the basis for most of the catalog number research, although I have verified and corrected a few titles where necessary, and in the case of the 4FX J-pop series, I've transcribed the titles from Japanese and re-translated them through Google translate (where necessary) to provide what I think are more accurate titles.
Mercury/Vertigo US Q8 Releases
(MQ8 = Mercury / VQ8 = Vertigo)
MQ8-1-673_ - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Bachman-Turner Overdrive'
MQ8-1-696_ - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'BTO II'
MQ8-1-1004 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Not Fragile' (also on Ampex quad reel MER H-11004 and reissued on HDS DTS CD)
MQ8-1-1013 - Ohio Players 'Fire' (reissued on HDS DTS CD)
MQ8-1-1027 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Four Wheel Drive'
MQ8-1-1038 - Ohio Players 'Honey' (reissued on HDS DTS CD)
MQ8-1-1067 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Head On' (Mercury's only Dolby-B encoded Q8 as far as I know)
__VQ8-2003_- Kraftwerk 'Autobahn'
Mercury also had a handful of reportedly unreleased titles that I've culled from Mark's discography. Mark lists the Ohio Players Skin Tight (1974) and Contradiction (1976) as released, but I've never even had a sniff of one (or know anyone who's seen one) in 20 years of collecting, so I'm putting them in my 'unreleased' section until "proof of life" is provided.
Unreleased/Rumored To Exist Mercury US Q8 Releases
MQ8-1-705_ - Ohio Players 'Skin Tight'
MQ8-1-709_ - Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band 'Unconditionally Guaranteed'
MQ8-1-1017 - Rod Stewart 'Smiler'
MQ8-1-1088 - Ohio Players 'Contradiction'
Philips Japan CD-4 Releases
(All of these are on the Philips label with the exception of a handful of Mercury titles that I've denoted with [M] and Fontana with [F])
4DX-1_ - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Penelope' (reissued on 2017 D-V 2fer SACD: QQ reviews / discogs)
4DX-2_ - Malando & His Orchestra 'King Of Tango'
4DX-3_ - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Fantastic 4 Channel'
4DX-4_ - Chaquito Latin Orchestra 'Chaquito's Latin Colours'
4DX-5_ - The Swingle Singers 'Joy of Singing' (aka The Four Seasons) (reissued on 2017 D-V SACD: QQ reviews / discogs)
4DX-6_ - Peter Covent Band 'Super Stereo Sound - Peter Covent International'
4DX-7_ - Malando & His Orchestra 'Continental Tango Russian Mood'
4DX-8_ - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Holidays'
4DX-9_ - Michel Clement Orchestra '4 Channel Latest Screen Themes'
4DX-10 - Various Artists '4 Channel Love Sounds Deluxe'
4DX-11 - Various Artists '4 Channel Screen Music Deluxe'
4DX-12 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Toccata'
4DX-13 - Malando & Grand Tango Orchestra '4 Channel Screen Tango'
4DX-14 - Michel Clement Orchestra '4 Channel Dynamic Screen Music'
4DX-15 - <Unknown>
4DX-16 - <Unknown>
4DX-17 - Michel Clement Orchestra '4 Channel Western Screen Theme Best'
4DX-18 - Michel Clement Orchestra '4 Channel Action Screen Theme Best'
4DX-19 - Michel Clement Orchestra '4 Channel Love Theme Best'
4DX-20 - <Unknown>
4DX-21 - <Unknown>
4DX-22 - Jerry Lee Lewis 'Rock & Roll Supersession' (1LP quad highlights of 1973's The Session...Recorded in London with Great Guest Artists stereo double-LP) [M]
4DX-23 - Various Artists '4 Channel Love Sounds Deluxe'
4DX-24 - Various Artists '4 Channel Screen Music Deluxe Encore'
4DX-25 - Michel Clement Orchestra 'Action Screen Music Collection'
4DX-26 - Michel Clement Orchestra 'Screen Music Love & Action Themes Collection'
4DX-27 - Various '4 Channel Latin Sound'
4DX-28 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Best Of Best'
4DX-29 - <Unknown>
4DX-30 - Jim Croce 'I Got A Name'
4DX-31 - Various Artists '4 Channel Latin Best'
4DX-32 - Malando & His Orchestra '4 Channel Tango Best'
4DX-33 - <Unknown>
4DX-34 - Perez Prado '4 Channel Perez Prado Best'
4DX-35 - Ray Davies 'Themes From The Exorcist & Other Great Films' (reissued on 2017 D-V 2fer SACD: QQ Reviews / discogs)
4DX-36 - Various Artists '4 Channel Action Screen Music Collection'
4DX-37 - Various Artists '4 Channel Movie Music Love Sounds Collection'
4DX-38 - Various Artists '4 Channel Action Screen Music Collection'
4DX-39 - Various Artists '4 Channel Love Sounds'
4DX-40 - Perez Prado 'Funky'
4DX-41 - Various Artists 'New Screen Music On 4 Channel Sound'
4DX-42 - Chaquito Big Band 'Action Hits By Dynamic Brass'
4DX-43 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'El Bimbo - Fantastic 4 Channel'
4DX-44 - Various Artists '4 Channel Screen Music Report'
4DX-45 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Not Fragile' [M]
4DX-46 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'The Way We Were - Screen Themes'
4DX-47 - Malando & His Orchestra 'Continental Tango On Screen Music'
4DX-48 - Ray Davies 'Screen Music Report On Dynamic Brass' (aka Flashpoint) (reissued on 2017 D-V 2fer SACD: QQ Reviews / discogs)
4DX-49 - <Unknown>
4DX-50 - Nana Mouskouri 'If You Love Me' [F]
4DX-51 - Chaquito 'A Man Called Ironside'
4DX-52/53 - Louis Bellson / Shelly Manne / Willie Bobo / Paul Humphrey 'The Drum Session' (2LP gatefold)
4DX-54 - Ohio Players 'Fire' [M]
4DX-55 - Malando & Grand Tango Orchestra 'Blauer Himmel'
4DX-56 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Bachman-Turner Overdrive' [M]
4DX-57 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'BTO II' [M]
4DX-58 - Michel Clement Orchestra '4 Channel Western Screen Theme Custom'
4DX-59 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Best Of Best Vol. 2'
4DX-60 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Emmanuelle - Paul Mauriat In CD-4'
4DX-61 - Ohio Players 'Honey' [M]
4DX-62 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Fascinating Sound CD-4'
4DX-7501/2 - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 In D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral" (Ozawa/New Philharmonia Orchestra)
4DX-7503__ - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6
4DX-7504 _ - Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
4DX-7505__ - Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker / Sleeping Beauty (Ozawa)
4DX-7506__ - Les Percussions De Strasbourg
4FX-8001 - Zen: Head Sounds / 禅: 無門の門
4FX-8002 - Ryoko Moriyama 'Ryoko in Person' / 森山良子 'ライブ'
4FX-8003 - Kiyohiko Ozaki 'Kieyo in Person' / 尾崎紀世彦 'ライブ'
4FX-8004 - Ryoko Moriyama 'A Wonderful Time' / 森山良子 '素晴らしい時間'
4FX-8005 - Kiyohiko Ozaki 'Kieyo Now' / 尾崎紀世彦 'かがやける愛の日に'
4FX-8101 - Finger 5 'Fly! Finger 5' / フィンガー5 'とびだせ！フィンガー5'
4FX-8102 - Ryoko Moriyama 'Live' / 森山良子 'ライブ'
4FX-8103 - Kiyohiko Ozaki 'Kieyo in Person' / 尾崎紀世彦 'ライブ'
4FX-8104 - Ryoko Moriyama 'Favorite Collection' / 森山良子 'フェイバリット・コレクション'
4FX-8105 - Kiyohiko Ozaki 'Favorite Collection' / 尾崎紀世彦 'フェイバリット・コレクション 愛こそすべて'
News Article Library
Billboard, Feb. 6, 1971
Robin McBride sounds like the kind of guy that "gets it" with regards to quad, and to me it's an amazing revelation that he was working on a quad demo tape with Brad Miller. The majority of the stuff he's saying about quad in the automobile you could easily be saying about 5.1 in the car some 40 years later.
I always wondered if Buddy Miles maybe had some shelved or unreleased quad mixes from his Mercury tenure, because he showed up at Columbia in 1972 and promptly did three quad albums: Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live, Booger Bear and Chapter VII. Obviously this doesn't substantiate that any complete albums were mixed for quad, but it at least shows that they were considering it. Presumably his departure from the label put the kibosh on all of that pretty quickly. Also an interesting revelation that the band Steam was going to be on McBride and Miller's quad demo, presumably that would have been their one and only hit, Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.
Based on McBride's description of the Runaway Child quad mix, I knocked up a quick-and-dirty graphic that gives you a visual idea of the layout of the mix:
I really like the look of the mix, a lot of stereo images, discrete stuff in the corners, and nothing in all four speakers at once. I guessed from the article's description that the organ solo most likely swirled from speaker to speaker. If you have a listen to the song in stereo (YouTube link here) you can pick out all the various elements and imagine them arranged around you the way McBride describes.
Billboard, October 12, 1974
Billboard, November 16, 1974
Shows you how close Rod Stewart's Smiler got to Q8 release - my guess is that they got wind that he was leaving the label and signing with Atlantic and cancelled the release.
Billboard, July 5, 1975
As far as I know, Randy California didn't release a solo album in 1975, so for a number of reasons I think this is most likely the Spirit album Son of Spirit, which was released in October 1975. It was partially recorded at Sound City (where the BTO quad mixes were done) and fits date-wise: Spirit of '76 came out in May 1975, and the album after Son of Spirit, Farther Along, came out in 1976 well after Mercury was done with quad. From what I understand, Son of Spirit didn't do nearly as well in the charts as Spirit of '76 did, which may be the reason they shelved the quad mix for it, if it was indeed completed.
Cash Box, August 16, 1975 Ohio Players 'Honey' full page ad with 'Quad 8' mention (click to enlarge)
Billboard, January 31, 1976 Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Head On' front page footer with 'Quad 8' mention (click to enlarge)
So as I learned more about the company, what was originally going to be just a list of Mercury and Vertigo's US Q8 releases (and non-releases) and a couple of articles about Mercury grew in scope. I was originally just going to include the Mercury titles that were part of the Philips Japan 4DX CD-4 series, but I figured it was worth listing the entire series in the name of completeness because there are at least a half dozen catalog numbers that are unidentified and unaccounted for, and I thought maybe the QQ collective could help solve the mystery as to whether they exist or not. I've also included the Philips Japan 4FX CD-4 series (Japanese pop) as well, and I think this listing represents a relatively complete list of everything known to have been issued by the Phonogram group of companies between the US and Japan.
Credit is due to @Mark Anderson - his quad discography forms the basis for most of the catalog number research, although I have verified and corrected a few titles where necessary, and in the case of the 4FX J-pop series, I've transcribed the titles from Japanese and re-translated them through Google translate (where necessary) to provide what I think are more accurate titles.
Mercury/Vertigo US Q8 Releases
(MQ8 = Mercury / VQ8 = Vertigo)
MQ8-1-673_ - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Bachman-Turner Overdrive'
MQ8-1-696_ - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'BTO II'
MQ8-1-1004 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Not Fragile' (also on Ampex quad reel MER H-11004 and reissued on HDS DTS CD)
MQ8-1-1013 - Ohio Players 'Fire' (reissued on HDS DTS CD)
MQ8-1-1027 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Four Wheel Drive'
MQ8-1-1038 - Ohio Players 'Honey' (reissued on HDS DTS CD)
MQ8-1-1067 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Head On' (Mercury's only Dolby-B encoded Q8 as far as I know)
__VQ8-2003_- Kraftwerk 'Autobahn'
Mercury also had a handful of reportedly unreleased titles that I've culled from Mark's discography. Mark lists the Ohio Players Skin Tight (1974) and Contradiction (1976) as released, but I've never even had a sniff of one (or know anyone who's seen one) in 20 years of collecting, so I'm putting them in my 'unreleased' section until "proof of life" is provided.
Unreleased/Rumored To Exist Mercury US Q8 Releases
MQ8-1-705_ - Ohio Players 'Skin Tight'
MQ8-1-709_ - Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band 'Unconditionally Guaranteed'
MQ8-1-1017 - Rod Stewart 'Smiler'
MQ8-1-1088 - Ohio Players 'Contradiction'
Philips Japan CD-4 Releases
(All of these are on the Philips label with the exception of a handful of Mercury titles that I've denoted with [M] and Fontana with [F])
4DX-1_ - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Penelope' (reissued on 2017 D-V 2fer SACD: QQ reviews / discogs)
4DX-2_ - Malando & His Orchestra 'King Of Tango'
4DX-3_ - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Fantastic 4 Channel'
4DX-4_ - Chaquito Latin Orchestra 'Chaquito's Latin Colours'
4DX-5_ - The Swingle Singers 'Joy of Singing' (aka The Four Seasons) (reissued on 2017 D-V SACD: QQ reviews / discogs)
4DX-6_ - Peter Covent Band 'Super Stereo Sound - Peter Covent International'
4DX-7_ - Malando & His Orchestra 'Continental Tango Russian Mood'
4DX-8_ - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Holidays'
4DX-9_ - Michel Clement Orchestra '4 Channel Latest Screen Themes'
4DX-10 - Various Artists '4 Channel Love Sounds Deluxe'
4DX-11 - Various Artists '4 Channel Screen Music Deluxe'
4DX-12 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Toccata'
4DX-13 - Malando & Grand Tango Orchestra '4 Channel Screen Tango'
4DX-14 - Michel Clement Orchestra '4 Channel Dynamic Screen Music'
4DX-15 - <Unknown>
4DX-16 - <Unknown>
4DX-17 - Michel Clement Orchestra '4 Channel Western Screen Theme Best'
4DX-18 - Michel Clement Orchestra '4 Channel Action Screen Theme Best'
4DX-19 - Michel Clement Orchestra '4 Channel Love Theme Best'
4DX-20 - <Unknown>
4DX-21 - <Unknown>
4DX-22 - Jerry Lee Lewis 'Rock & Roll Supersession' (1LP quad highlights of 1973's The Session...Recorded in London with Great Guest Artists stereo double-LP) [M]
4DX-23 - Various Artists '4 Channel Love Sounds Deluxe'
4DX-24 - Various Artists '4 Channel Screen Music Deluxe Encore'
4DX-25 - Michel Clement Orchestra 'Action Screen Music Collection'
4DX-26 - Michel Clement Orchestra 'Screen Music Love & Action Themes Collection'
4DX-27 - Various '4 Channel Latin Sound'
4DX-28 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Best Of Best'
4DX-29 - <Unknown>
4DX-30 - Jim Croce 'I Got A Name'
4DX-31 - Various Artists '4 Channel Latin Best'
4DX-32 - Malando & His Orchestra '4 Channel Tango Best'
4DX-33 - <Unknown>
4DX-34 - Perez Prado '4 Channel Perez Prado Best'
4DX-35 - Ray Davies 'Themes From The Exorcist & Other Great Films' (reissued on 2017 D-V 2fer SACD: QQ Reviews / discogs)
4DX-36 - Various Artists '4 Channel Action Screen Music Collection'
4DX-37 - Various Artists '4 Channel Movie Music Love Sounds Collection'
4DX-38 - Various Artists '4 Channel Action Screen Music Collection'
4DX-39 - Various Artists '4 Channel Love Sounds'
4DX-40 - Perez Prado 'Funky'
4DX-41 - Various Artists 'New Screen Music On 4 Channel Sound'
4DX-42 - Chaquito Big Band 'Action Hits By Dynamic Brass'
4DX-43 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'El Bimbo - Fantastic 4 Channel'
4DX-44 - Various Artists '4 Channel Screen Music Report'
4DX-45 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Not Fragile' [M]
4DX-46 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'The Way We Were - Screen Themes'
4DX-47 - Malando & His Orchestra 'Continental Tango On Screen Music'
4DX-48 - Ray Davies 'Screen Music Report On Dynamic Brass' (aka Flashpoint) (reissued on 2017 D-V 2fer SACD: QQ Reviews / discogs)
4DX-49 - <Unknown>
4DX-50 - Nana Mouskouri 'If You Love Me' [F]
4DX-51 - Chaquito 'A Man Called Ironside'
4DX-52/53 - Louis Bellson / Shelly Manne / Willie Bobo / Paul Humphrey 'The Drum Session' (2LP gatefold)
4DX-54 - Ohio Players 'Fire' [M]
4DX-55 - Malando & Grand Tango Orchestra 'Blauer Himmel'
4DX-56 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Bachman-Turner Overdrive' [M]
4DX-57 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'BTO II' [M]
4DX-58 - Michel Clement Orchestra '4 Channel Western Screen Theme Custom'
4DX-59 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Best Of Best Vol. 2'
4DX-60 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Emmanuelle - Paul Mauriat In CD-4'
4DX-61 - Ohio Players 'Honey' [M]
4DX-62 - Paul Mauriat & Orchestra 'Fascinating Sound CD-4'
4DX-7501/2 - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 In D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral" (Ozawa/New Philharmonia Orchestra)
4DX-7503__ - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6
4DX-7504 _ - Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
4DX-7505__ - Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker / Sleeping Beauty (Ozawa)
4DX-7506__ - Les Percussions De Strasbourg
4FX-8001 - Zen: Head Sounds / 禅: 無門の門
4FX-8002 - Ryoko Moriyama 'Ryoko in Person' / 森山良子 'ライブ'
4FX-8003 - Kiyohiko Ozaki 'Kieyo in Person' / 尾崎紀世彦 'ライブ'
4FX-8004 - Ryoko Moriyama 'A Wonderful Time' / 森山良子 '素晴らしい時間'
4FX-8005 - Kiyohiko Ozaki 'Kieyo Now' / 尾崎紀世彦 'かがやける愛の日に'
4FX-8101 - Finger 5 'Fly! Finger 5' / フィンガー5 'とびだせ！フィンガー5'
4FX-8102 - Ryoko Moriyama 'Live' / 森山良子 'ライブ'
4FX-8103 - Kiyohiko Ozaki 'Kieyo in Person' / 尾崎紀世彦 'ライブ'
4FX-8104 - Ryoko Moriyama 'Favorite Collection' / 森山良子 'フェイバリット・コレクション'
4FX-8105 - Kiyohiko Ozaki 'Favorite Collection' / 尾崎紀世彦 'フェイバリット・コレクション 愛こそすべて'
News Article Library
Billboard, Feb. 6, 1971
Robin McBride sounds like the kind of guy that "gets it" with regards to quad, and to me it's an amazing revelation that he was working on a quad demo tape with Brad Miller. The majority of the stuff he's saying about quad in the automobile you could easily be saying about 5.1 in the car some 40 years later.
I always wondered if Buddy Miles maybe had some shelved or unreleased quad mixes from his Mercury tenure, because he showed up at Columbia in 1972 and promptly did three quad albums: Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live, Booger Bear and Chapter VII. Obviously this doesn't substantiate that any complete albums were mixed for quad, but it at least shows that they were considering it. Presumably his departure from the label put the kibosh on all of that pretty quickly. Also an interesting revelation that the band Steam was going to be on McBride and Miller's quad demo, presumably that would have been their one and only hit, Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.
Based on McBride's description of the Runaway Child quad mix, I knocked up a quick-and-dirty graphic that gives you a visual idea of the layout of the mix:
I really like the look of the mix, a lot of stereo images, discrete stuff in the corners, and nothing in all four speakers at once. I guessed from the article's description that the organ solo most likely swirled from speaker to speaker. If you have a listen to the song in stereo (YouTube link here) you can pick out all the various elements and imagine them arranged around you the way McBride describes.
Billboard, October 12, 1974
Billboard, November 16, 1974
Shows you how close Rod Stewart's Smiler got to Q8 release - my guess is that they got wind that he was leaving the label and signing with Atlantic and cancelled the release.
Billboard, July 5, 1975
As far as I know, Randy California didn't release a solo album in 1975, so for a number of reasons I think this is most likely the Spirit album Son of Spirit, which was released in October 1975. It was partially recorded at Sound City (where the BTO quad mixes were done) and fits date-wise: Spirit of '76 came out in May 1975, and the album after Son of Spirit, Farther Along, came out in 1976 well after Mercury was done with quad. From what I understand, Son of Spirit didn't do nearly as well in the charts as Spirit of '76 did, which may be the reason they shelved the quad mix for it, if it was indeed completed.
Cash Box, August 16, 1975 Ohio Players 'Honey' full page ad with 'Quad 8' mention (click to enlarge)
Billboard, January 31, 1976 Bachman-Turner Overdrive 'Head On' front page footer with 'Quad 8' mention (click to enlarge)
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