as we know, while many Quad mixes retained the more regular stereo spread for drums across the Front pair of channels, a number of old Quad mixes instead spread drum parts out around the room, some more aggressively and some more convincingly than others.
Janis Joplin's "Pearl" is one old Quad that's had some stick over the years for panning various bits of kit seemingly willy-nilly and true it doesn't always make a ton of sense musically but it is such a fun surround mix it can almost be forgiven for its' sins!
also, as more people are discovering (thanks to Vocalion) several of the harder to find in vintage form late era ('75-'77) CBS mixes have drums isolated to one Rear channel only, which also seems to divide the modern day surround listening community somewhat. they're "Multichannel Marmite", you either love 'em (like me) or loathe them!
on this live album there were some liberties taken with the mix to pan elements and some of those mix decisions won't be to everyone's taste and that is of course absolutely fine, everyone's opinions are completely equally valid on something so subjective.
however, personally i'd rather an active and engaging surround mix such as this one than the 'so underwhelming it may as well be stereo' kind we sadly got for Lotus.
i'd also like to take this opportunity to briefly make a comment about this new release, in as much as it has been one of my biggest DV surprises so far, it has really made me appreciate two Quads i never had much time for in the past.
i believe that could be due in part to the massively upgraded sound quality, which by comparison to my old SQ LPs and Q8s is so remarkable it is bordering on the revelatory! these were two lousy sounding SQ LP Quads! if you rack this new set up against the vintage format offerings you'll likely be as staggered as i was, the new SACDs sound that much better its not just the proverbial veil that's been lifted, clothes are strewn around the room (all over the place like the drums!) and we're down to our undergarments!!
for greatly improved sound quality, musical content i'd never fully connected with until now and sheer fun this is a big fat booger "10".