For a few years now I've been trying to hunt down all 13 of the Motown Japanese CD4's (14 if you include the Rare Earth 'Get Ready' album which is actually on the Rare Earth label) without paying an arm and a leg for them and I now have 12 of the 13 (still looking for Jackson 5 Live and Rare Earth albums). I noticed something interesting on the actual labels of the LP's - they have a sequential numbering system apart from the CD4W-prefixed catalog number on the album jacket. I thought I'd collate them all because I wanted to see if there was an unissued/unused number that might account for the Marvin Gaye 'Live!' album which came out in the US on Q8 but never on CD-4 in Japan. It turns out there weren't any gaps in the numbering system, so I guess they never intended to put out Marvin Gaye 'Live!' on CD-4 in Japan, but what the list I've assembled does do is give you some insight in to when the albums that did come out were released.
All the albums have a phonographic copyright (P) with the release year, but for 7 of the albums I was able to find a short blurb with specific release dates on page 68 of Billboard Magazine from 23 Nov 1974 in an article called 'From THe Music Capitals Of The World - Tokyo':
"The music arm of JVC is rushing the initial release of Motown albums in CD-4. The first three are scheduled for release here Nov. 25, to be followed by two more Dec. 25 and another pair next Feb. 5. The motown recording artists include Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Jackson 5 and The Supremes..."
So I made this little table with all the information I collated for the obsessives that are out there like me who are interested in when this stuff actually came out:
I think what's most interesting is that it looks like the first two in the series (Jackson 5 & Supremes Live) were put out in late 1973 almost as a 'trial balloon' to see if there was sufficient interest in Motown quad mixes in Japan, and presumably there was, because the remainder of the titles did follow but not for more than a year afterward.
It's also my supposition that Motown did intend to release these in the US - as you can see the Diana Ross 'Live At Caesar's' title was the first non-'live in japan' title released, and it also saw release in the US as a Q8. I think Motown did the same kind of 'trial balloon' release of Q8's of the Diana Ross 'Live at Caesars' and Marvin Gaye 'Live!' albums but sales were probably poor enough that they didn't feel like releasing the remaining quad mixes they'd done was worth their time. The fact that the Marvin Gaye 'Live!' Q8 has more than 10 minutes shaved off it's running time (taking it down to barely over 30 minutes) says to me they prepared it with CD-4 in mind, because of the 'sandpaper quad' effect caused by inner groove distortion. If you see any of the Motown Japanese CD4's they have a huge amount of deadwax in the middle, presumably to avoid the problems associated with having the needle tracking any music close to the center of the disc. I suspect the fact that Motown was in some distress by 1975 probably contributed to the fact that they got out of quad so quickly too - it was seen as a failing format by that point, and Motown was probably looking for albums that were going to sell a million, not 10,000.
So I thought I'd start this thread as a catch-all for Motown related quad info/comments/etc. I've taken pictures (a la fredblue) of all my Motown quads (front/back/labels/inserts/etc). If there's any interest I'd be happy to put them on photobucket and post them in this thread.
All the albums have a phonographic copyright (P) with the release year, but for 7 of the albums I was able to find a short blurb with specific release dates on page 68 of Billboard Magazine from 23 Nov 1974 in an article called 'From THe Music Capitals Of The World - Tokyo':
"The music arm of JVC is rushing the initial release of Motown albums in CD-4. The first three are scheduled for release here Nov. 25, to be followed by two more Dec. 25 and another pair next Feb. 5. The motown recording artists include Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Jackson 5 and The Supremes..."
So I made this little table with all the information I collated for the obsessives that are out there like me who are interested in when this stuff actually came out:
| LP CATALOG NUMBER | Q8 CATALOG NUMBER | CAT # ON LP LABEL | LP RELEASE DATE | ARTIST | TITLE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QW-7022 (JVC Japan) | MOT4-7001 | LATE/73 | Jackson 5 | In Japan! (Recorded April 30th, 1973) | |
| QW-7024 (JVC Japan) | MOT4-7002 | LATE/73 | The Supremes | In Japan! (Recorded June 3rd, 1973) | |
| VQW-1003 (JVC Japan) | MOT4-7003 | 11/25/74 | The Temptations | Live In Japan (Recorded December 13th, 1973) | |
| MQ8-801-KT (Motown USA) | MOT4-7004 | 11/25/74 | Diana Ross | Live at Caesar's | |
MOT4-7005 | 11/25/74 | Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye | Diana & Marvin | ||
MOT4-7006 | 12/25/74 | The Temptations | 1990 | ||
MOT4-7007 | 12/25/74 | Marvin Gaye | Let's Get It On | ||
| TQ8-333-KT (Tamla USA) | xx/xx/74 | Marvin Gaye | Live! | ||
MOT4-7008 | 02/05/75 | The Jackson 5 | Greatest Hits | ||
MOT4-7009 | 02/05/75 | The Temptations | All Directions | ||
MOT4-7010 | ??/??/75 | Marvin Gaye | What's Going On | ||
MOT4-7011 | ??/??/75 | Diana Ross & The Supremes | Greatest Hits | ||
RAR4-7001 | ??/??/75 | Rare Earth | Get Ready | ||
MOT4-7012 | ??/??/75 | The Supremes & The Temptations | TCB (Soundtrack) | ||
MOT4-7013 | ??/??/75 | Diana Ross | Last Time I Saw Him |
I think what's most interesting is that it looks like the first two in the series (Jackson 5 & Supremes Live) were put out in late 1973 almost as a 'trial balloon' to see if there was sufficient interest in Motown quad mixes in Japan, and presumably there was, because the remainder of the titles did follow but not for more than a year afterward.
It's also my supposition that Motown did intend to release these in the US - as you can see the Diana Ross 'Live At Caesar's' title was the first non-'live in japan' title released, and it also saw release in the US as a Q8. I think Motown did the same kind of 'trial balloon' release of Q8's of the Diana Ross 'Live at Caesars' and Marvin Gaye 'Live!' albums but sales were probably poor enough that they didn't feel like releasing the remaining quad mixes they'd done was worth their time. The fact that the Marvin Gaye 'Live!' Q8 has more than 10 minutes shaved off it's running time (taking it down to barely over 30 minutes) says to me they prepared it with CD-4 in mind, because of the 'sandpaper quad' effect caused by inner groove distortion. If you see any of the Motown Japanese CD4's they have a huge amount of deadwax in the middle, presumably to avoid the problems associated with having the needle tracking any music close to the center of the disc. I suspect the fact that Motown was in some distress by 1975 probably contributed to the fact that they got out of quad so quickly too - it was seen as a failing format by that point, and Motown was probably looking for albums that were going to sell a million, not 10,000.
So I thought I'd start this thread as a catch-all for Motown related quad info/comments/etc. I've taken pictures (a la fredblue) of all my Motown quads (front/back/labels/inserts/etc). If there's any interest I'd be happy to put them on photobucket and post them in this thread.
wish they could be released on SACD or something (hint, hint, DV 
