New DV Releases for January 2021! (Mott the Hoople, BTO, Burton Cummings, Grover Washington Jr!)

[steelydave]

I'm really glad to see these finally coming out - as Jon said, these have been in the pipeline for some time now, with a couple of them almost a year since work first commenced. I know COVID has challenged us all and D-V, relying on partnerships with a number of outside entities from record labels, to vault storage, to pressing plants, are no exception to that.

I had the pleasure once again of assisting with the credits, layout and artwork of these new pop releases, and I may be biased but I think this is some of Paul's finest work in combining the artwork of these various release. I also wrote an entirely new liner note for the BTO two-fer which is my longest (not sure if it's my best) piece for D-V to date.

I think it's worth noting that Mike is leaving no stone unturned in these difficult times - both Grover Washington, Jr. and BTO have come as the result of licensing deals with UMG. It's nice to see all the love here for D-V, and I think I'd probably just echo those who've encouraged you to show your appreciation by ordering whatever you can afford at the moment.

I know that a couple of the titles contain some stereo-only material, but in both cases they includes all the major chart hits of their respective artists. The Mott The Hoople 3fer collects every one of their singles that charted in the UK (with the exception of two non-LP singles Foxy, Foxy and Saturday Gigs) and the Burton Cummings 3fer (which in addition to the quad self-titled album) includes two stereo albums (Dream of a Child and My Own Way To Rock) that were 2x and 3x platinum respectively in Canada and produced the majority of his chart hits here.

Looking forward to hearing what everyone makes of these albums, and here's to hoping it augurs well for the year ahead for everyone!

 

[steelydave]

now i've got my initial excitement under control (!) i can say Burton Cummings' 1st solo LP is one of my absolute most-hoped-for Quads that DV might do! --and here it is bundled in with another two albums!! wowzers!!!!

the Burton Cummings Quad LP is one of those super-bright sounding latterday CBS SQ LPs and the Q8s dull as ditchwater by comparison, so it will be interesting to hear Mister Dutton's approach.. did he go bright and beautiful or did he go warm and gooey!

also the surround mix of Burton Cummings is a bit unusual for CBS in that it has a fair few vocals-all-round style tracks rather than lead vocals upfront only as was customary for them. however never fear ye fellow separation snobs because in all other respects the Quad is up to their usual discrete-o-matic mixing standards!!

oh man... i just cannot wait to hear this one (and maybe even find out - at last - who mixed the Quad! the SQ LP gives no specific Quad info so DV might have solved a 45 year mystery!)

I've seen the master tapes for this one, and they have Studio 55 stickers on them, but unfortunately the 'Engineer:' section is blank so we'll never know for sure.

My guess is/was that Howard Steele did the quad mix at the same time he did the stereo mix, but it could've been a junior or assistant engineer (like Tony Sciarotta and Dana Lathan, who are both credited on the stereo LP) so it didn't seem wise to put anything on the back cover since we didn't know definitively.

In any event, I think it can be safely said that the reason for the unique nature of this quad is because it was done at Studio 55 (which has no other credited quad mixes that we know of) and not at one of the CBS studios where someone like Larry Keyes or Don Young would've done a more typical SQ quad mix.

 

[Progfiend]

Woo hoo! I’m in for the Burton, BTO, Mott and Grover discs as well! I was wondering if DV would move on to Burton‘s solo stuff once they were done with the Guess Who, and BTO is a logical extension of that too. I wonder though if DV are done with the Guess Who now, or will still release Flavours and Power in the Music? I could see them passing on Artificial Paradise, since apparently it was a fake quad mix.

 

[sjcorne]

But methinks the D~V QUAD SACD remasters from the original 15 ips Master Tapes might paint a different picture than the matrix decoding from the 70's and/or those lo fi Q8 tapes.

I certainly look forward to the sonic upgrade--though the Dolby Q8 of The Hoople sounds quite good to my ears--but the actual mix differences in the quad version of the album (use of echo, alternate takes, instrument balances, etc) aren't going to change on the new SACD, if that's what you mean(?).

 

[4-earredwonder]

I certainly look forward to the sonic upgrade--though the Dolby Q8 of The Hoople sounds quite good to my ears--but the actual mix differences in the quad version of the album (use of echo, alternate takes, instrument balances, etc) aren't going to change on the new SACD, if that's what you mean(?).

I was just being curious as in the past Michael Dutton has been quite fastidious in selecting QUAD/Stereo master tapes for D~V replication. Will take your word for it the mix is 'wonky' and look forward to hearing it for myself.

 

[humprof]

I've seen the master tapes for this one, and they have Studio 55 stickers on them, but unfortunately the 'Engineer:' section is blank so we'll never know for sure.

My guess is/was that Howard Steele did the quad mix at the same time he did the stereo mix, but it could've been a junior or assistant engineer (like Tony Sciarotta and Dana Lathan, who are both credited on the stereo LP) so it didn't seem wise to put anything on the back cover since we didn't know definitively.

In any event, I think it can be safely said that the reason for the unique nature of this quad is because it was done at Studio 55 (which has no other credited quad mixes that we know of) and not at one of the CBS studios where someone like Larry Keyes or Don Young would've done a more typical SQ quad mix.

So Dave: on the classical side, we know that Don Young and Larry Keyes, between them, did the Columbias in this batch. Do we know the mixing engineers on the RCAs?

 

[esimms86]

If you want to pad, there's some great classical and easy listening CDs on sale for a pound each, like Ingrid Jacoby's Russian piano music album. There's also a free Dutton Epoch Sampler CD.

Thanks for the tip! I’ll see if I can have them add in the sampler.

 

[Q-Eight]

Woo hoo! I’m in for the Burton, BTO, Mott and Grover discs as well! I was wondering if DV would move on to Burton‘s solo stuff once they were done with the Guess Who, and BTO is a logical extension of that too. I wonder though if DV are done with the Guess Who now, or will still release Flavours and Power in the Music? I could see them passing on Artificial Paradise, since apparently it was a fake quad mix.

Pipe dream from me would be to see the whole kitten kaboodle get remixed. Mr. Dutton has been granted access several times to remix some classical tunes.... why not remix some popular stuff?? It's sort of now-or-never with these albums because.... in a few years, I really don't think my generation is going to care at all and the Boomers have limited shelf life left. Let's get Burton involved and remix Artificial Paradise, Flavours, Power in the Music..... if Bannatyne and Paramount weren't done.... let's do them, too!! Let's FINALLY release the Paramount show in it's entirety!! (To date, four songs have never been released).....

Let's just DO IT. Time is running out.

 

[steelydave]

So Dave: on the classical side, we know that Don Young and Larry Keyes, between them, did the Columbias in this batch. Do we know the mixing engineers on the RCAs?

I didn't work on the classical titles, so I don't have the information to hand, but it's been my experience that about 90% of the time, the engineer credited for the stereo mix also did the quad mix too. So if that's the case the credits would be as follows:

Stokowski / LSO - Beethoven: Symphony No.3 / Coriolan Overture (ARD1-0600) Engineer: Bob Auger
Stokowski / New Philharmonia - Brahms: Symphony No.4 / Academic Overture (ARD1-0719) Engineer: Anthony Salvatore
Stokowski / LSO - Mahler: Symphony No.2 'Resurrection' (ARD2-0852) Engineer: Anthony Salvatore

There are some credits for these guys in the quad engineers database if you want to see what else they've worked on - I suspect they're responsible for many more of the RCA quad mixes between them, we just haven't definitively confirmed it yet because the stereo and quad LP sleeves use the same credits. These new D-V releases will have quad engineering info if it's available, and so far with all the RCA releases it has been.

 

[TVB]

burton, bachman and mott....all done. going down to turn on the system and wait for delivery! sure glad i didnt win that burton q8 auction in the past when it went for $100 plus

 

[ubertrout]

Pipe dream from me would be to see the whole kitten kaboodle get remixed. Mr. Dutton has been granted access several times to remix some classical tunes.... why not remix some popular stuff?? It's sort of now-or-never with these albums because.... in a few years, I really don't think my generation is going to care at all and the Boomers have limited shelf life left. Let's get Burton involved and remix Artificial Paradise, Flavours, Power in the Music..... if Bannatyne and Paramount weren't done.... let's do them, too!! Let's FINALLY release the Paramount show in it's entirety!! (To date, four songs have never been released).....

Let's just DO IT. Time is running out.

I'm sure the pop folks are jealously looking at our side of the garden enviously, but surely it's so much harder to remix pop. In a way it's easier - the songs are much more studio creations - but the license and copyright issues are so much more complicated (remember that in classical the music is almost always public domain), and more generally a mix is less authoritative - the source in classical is the sheet music, not the recording, and you have a little more flexibility with the mix I'd think.

I also wonder if the labels are more willing to release quads because they're hitting the 50 year "use it or lose it" under EU law. So we might actually get quite a bit in the coming years. But probably not remixes.

Then again, I didn't think DV would go into pop the way it did. So what do I know?

 

[Imbobman]

And that FREE D~Epoch Sampler is SUPERB and fully displays the excellence of their RBCD mastering.

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDSPA2008

Hey 4-earredwonder...thanks for the heads up on the free sampler. Wished I'd have seen your post a bit sooner. I placed an order a bit ago & am hoping DV can add it on.

 

[The56Kid]

I'll have to audition these, but I imagine I'm at least in for one or two...

Cheap bastard!

 

[edisonbaggins]

Cheap bastard!

OMFG. LOL. I know you're kidding. And I'm sure you sympathize with how much I've ponied up to support Mr. Dutton!
I love each and every one of the D-V discs I own. But, I've also carefully selected each one.
If he wants to send me one of each for LiS evaluation and review, now, I wouldn't turn that down...

 

[jefe1]

Got my order of six in.

I'll be curious to see how they package the free DV coffee cup that comes with the January releases........

 

[4-earredwonder]

OMFG. LOL. I know you're kidding. And I'm sure you sympathize with how much I've ponied up to support Mr. Dutton!
I love each and every one of the D-V discs I own. But, I've also carefully selected each one.
If he wants to send me one of each for LiS evaluation and review, now, I wouldn't turn that down...

Michael Dutton to edisonbaggins:

Would you accept a virtual HUG instead?

 

[4-earredwonder]

Got my order of six in.

I'll be curious to see how they package the free DV coffee cup that comes with the January releases........

GOOD .... TO THE LAST DROP

 

[quicksrt]

OMFG. LOL. I know you're kidding. And I'm sure you sympathize with how much I've ponied up to support Mr. Dutton!
I love each and every one of the D-V discs I own. But, I've also carefully selected each one.

I've had to be very selective as well, I just can't afford to get everything. But I am going to order a super stimulus $$$ package this time. There are enough titles I do really need now.

 

[The56Kid]

OMFG. LOL. I know you're kidding. And I'm sure you sympathize with how much I've ponied up to support Mr. Dutton!
I love each and every one of the D-V discs I own. But, I've also carefully selected each one.
If he wants to send me one of each for LiS evaluation and review, now, I wouldn't turn that down...

Figured you’d get a laugh out of it, Mike!

 

[Quadwreck]

At last. I thought we had lost another label.