October 2023 D-V SACD Releases (Isley Bros, O’Jays, Enoch Light, Tony Mottola, Henry Mancini)

[Freedesignfan]

I ordered The O'jays, The Isley Brothers, and...Mac Davis disc of 5 titles. I may order
Tony Mattola with another batch latter.

 

[key_wiz]

And an unbutchered album cover

The album cover was butchered the moment it was shrunk down to fit on a CD, IMO.

 

[4-earredwonder]

The album cover was butchered the moment it was shrunk down to fit on a CD, IMO.

IMO, the most important element is WHAT IS CONTAINED ON THE DISC OR DISCS THEMSELVES. Nitpicking at this juncture is just plain SILLY, IMO!

 

[steelydave]

Dave, doing some sleuthing, The FREE DESIGN titles [6 in all] have reverted to él Records, a division of Cherry Red Records and those interested in pursuing their catalogue look no further as all 6 albums + rarities are contained in this magnificent RBCD Imported box set. Additionally, most of those FREE DESIGN records were produced by none other than Phil Ramone! Enoch Light did produce KITES ARE FUN.

https://www.amazon.com/Butterflies-...ee+design,popular,76&sr=1-1&tag=forumyield-20

Cherry Red is just a reissue label, and el is a sublabel of theirs. The recordings were licensed (as you can see at the bottom of the back cover) from an entity called Zynczak Associates that owns and administrates the recordings according to their founder's LinkedIn page: "Music Licensing for The Free Design. J.A. Zynczak, Inc. owns the Master Recording rights in The Free Design songs and administers certain of the publishing rights. We license the songs for movies, television, and commercials both domestic and international."

Before his production career took off, Phil Ramone was more well known for his recording studio, A&R Recording, in New York - after Enoch Light and Robert Fine ended their ten-year association when Fine had misgivings about Light pursuing pop and rock and roll, Light started recording almost all of his music at A&R, and Ramone either produced or served as chief engineer on many of the earlier ones, sometimes assisted by a young Elliot Scheiner. Starting around 1972 Light started using Steve Friedman almost exclusively to enginer and mix his albums, and that continued until his passing.

I'll be in for all of them! I already have some of the Project 3/Enoch Light Quad LPs, and I may do a short list of titles I'd like to see over on the other thread. There was also a Tony Mottola Quad on another label IINM (i.e. ABC Command ?)

https://www.discogs.com/search/?type=all&artist=Tony+Mottola&format=QUADRAPHONIC

Command was one of Light's earlier labels - not his first (his second actually) but his most successful. He started it in 1959 with some co-investors, and then sold it to ABC the following year, which funded the recording of Persuasive Percussion, which was a massive hit in 1960 (I think maybe 6 weeks at #1 in the Billboard charts?) and one of the first notable stereo LPs, the kind that men with expensive HiFi systems would use to show off their equipment. Light had a number of hit records over the next few years on his own, and helped make a star out of Doc Severinsen, but by 1966 he'd had enough of working for another company, and so he sold his share of Command to ABC and used that money to fund the formation of Project 3 (the name being a reference to it being his third label project) later the same year.

ABC, meanwhile, kept Command going after Light's departure though it released progressively less new music year on year. By 1971 it was effectively defunct, and in the interim Light had released some of the first Project 3 quad reels in the latter half of 1970 as part of their distribution link-up with Vanguard, so ABC created the "Command Quadraphonic" label, cashing in on both the Command label's old audiophile reputation, and Light's new reputation as a quadraphonic pioneer. The first six Command Quadraphonic releases were old Light productions from the early to mid '60s: Persuasive Percussion (1960), Tony Mottola's Guitar... Paris (1964), Light's A New Concept of Cole Porter Songs (1965), Doc Severinsen's Fever! (1966), Count Basie's Broadway... Basie's Way (1966), and the Ray Charles Singers' Love Me with All Your Heart, a repackaged version of 1967's A Special Something... Even though Light had no hand in the quad remixing of these albums, they were ideal for the process becuase of the discrete close-mic'ing techniques (another innovation that he pioneered in the previous decade) and number of individual tracks afforded by the 35mm magnetic film format that Robert Fine was a proponent of.

ABC didn't put out any more quad LP releases until 1973, but when they did, they continued to use the Command Quadraphonic label, I guess figuring it still held some cache even though the subsequent releases (everything from CQD-40006 onward) had nothing to do with Enoch Light, but those earlier ones have his fingerprints all over them even though he wasn't involved with the quad mixing. I presume all the Command masters went up in the 2008 UMG warehouse fire seeing as they were an ABC subsidiary, so I think we should feel lucky that the Project 3 masters survive elsewhere as important evidence of Light's recorded legacy.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Cherry Red is just a reissue label, and el is a sublabel of theirs. The recordings were licensed (as you can see at the bottom of the back cover) from an entity called Zynczak Associates that owns and administrates the recordings according to their founder's LinkedIn page: "Music Licensing for The Free Design. J.A. Zynczak, Inc. owns the Master Recording rights in The Free Design songs and administers certain of the publishing rights. We license the songs for movies, television, and commercials both domestic and international."

Before his production career took off, Phil Ramone was more well known for his recording studio, A&R Recording, in New York - after Enoch Light and Robert Fine ended their ten-year association when Fine had misgivings about Light pursuing pop and rock and roll, Light started recording almost all of his music at A&R, and Ramone either produced or served as chief engineer on many of the earlier ones, sometimes assisted by a young Elliot Scheiner. Starting around 1972 Light started using Steve Friedman almost exclusively to enginer and mix his albums, and that continued until his passing.



Command was one of Light's earlier labels - not his first (his second actually) but his most successful. He started it in 1959 with some co-investors, and then sold it to ABC the following year, which funded the recording of Persuasive Percussion, which was a massive hit in 1960 (I think maybe 6 weeks at #1 in the Billboard charts?) and one of the first notable stereo LPs, the kind that men with expensive HiFi systems would use to show off their equipment. Light had a number of hit records over the next few years on his own, and helped make a star out of Doc Severinsen, but by 1966 he'd had enough of working for another company, and so he sold his share of Command to ABC and used that money to fund the formation of Project 3 (the name being a reference to it being his third label project) later the same year.

ABC, meanwhile, kept Command going after Light's departure though it released progressively less new music year on year. By 1971 it was effectively defunct, and in the interim Light had released some of the first Project 3 quad reels in the latter half of 1970 as part of their distribution link-up with Vanguard, so ABC created the "Command Quadraphonic" label, cashing in on both the Command label's old audiophile reputation, and Light's new reputation as a quadraphonic pioneer. The first six Command Quadraphonic releases were old Light productions from the early to mid '60s: Persuasive Percussion (1960), Tony Mottola's Guitar... Paris (1964), Light's A New Concept of Cole Porter Songs (1965), Doc Severinsen's Fever! (1966), Count Basie's Broadway... Basie's Way (1966), and the Ray Charles Singers' Love Me with All Your Heart, a repackaged version of 1967's A Special Something... Even though Light had no hand in the quad remixing of these albums, they were ideal for the process becuase of the discrete close-mic'ing techniques (another innovation that he pioneered in the previous decade) and number of individual tracks afforded by the 35mm magnetic film format that Robert Fine was a proponent of.

ABC didn't put out any more quad LP releases until 1973, but when they did, they continued to use the Command Quadraphonic label, I guess figuring it still held some cache even though the subsequent releases (everything from CQD-40006 onward) had nothing to do with Enoch Light, but those earlier ones have his fingerprints all over them even though he wasn't involved with the quad mixing. I presume all the Command masters went up in the 2008 UMG warehouse fire seeing as they were an ABC subsidiary, so I think we should feel lucky that the Project 3 masters survive elsewhere as important evidence of Light's recorded legacy.

Fantastic overview, Dave. MANY THANKS!

Slightly OT, but I was able to purchase this Enoch Light Stereo SACD from Elusive Disc containing two volumes of PERSUASIVE PERCUSSION which really sounds incredible, albeit in STEREO ONLY. And among the session players are Dick Hyman and Tony Mottola...and Enoch Light is credited as Bandleader and Producer:

https://elusivedisc.com/enoch-light-persuasive-percussion-hybrid-stereo-sacd/

 

[Guitmark]

Went for Mancini and O’Jays (at least for now)

 

[Luis Torregrosa]

Head to the website!

Just ordered The O'Jays & Isley Brothers.

 

[Scott65]

I've ordered O'Jays, Isley Bros and Mancini.

 

[Colin London]

Great Value £12:99 for the Double Isley Brothers Recordings on SACD Multi Channel.

Thanks for posting,

 

[martyn7772]

I've ordered O'Jays, Isley Bros and Mancini.

Snap. Plus the Bernstein Planets release. They've just arrived

 

[weekendtoy]

I agree. I'm really happy to see DV release these, and hear from all of you who enjoy it. But as for me, I have no interest in 70's soul or pop string arrangement. Maybe the next lot will include some rock for the rest of us.

I would have to generally agree with this statement.

However, I did use this temporary lull to get caught up on two DV Guess Who titles. Discs I should have purchased long ago.

Whether new releases or old stock, these DV titles represent an incredible value in surround.

 

[Freedesignfan]

This Tony Mottola quad on Enoch Light's lable has Free Design singing on 6 cuts. Might be a good one to pair with their Kites Are Fun LP for a Dutton release

 

[oxenholme]

I've just parted with a smidgen over £90. Looking forward to them!

 

[surroundophile]

I`m flabbergasted WOW...&%^$$$$ I bought the 6..............

Me too!

 

[jefe1]

Michael D they say Kites are fun.............try it.

 

[4-earredwonder]

This Tony Mottola quad on Enoch Light's lable has Free Design singing on 6 cuts. Might be a good one to pair with their Kites Are Fun LP for a Dutton releaseView attachment 97166

Tony Mottola's WARM WILD AND WONDERFUL may be a distinct possibility for a future D~V release but most unfortunately, The Free Design's KITES ARE FUN is now controlled by another label!

 

[Tres Discrete]

Sad news from The Isley Brothers camp:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...ding-member-of-the-isleys-brothers-dies-at-84

 

[Imbobman]

I'm in for 5 out of the 6, all the new sacd surrounds. Total came to $128usd plus change. Well worth it!
Thank you DV for all you are doing to get these 'classics' out in surround/ SACD physical media!!
Next is Rhino.....

 

[drh3b]

Oh happy day - take a look yourself!
https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/products.php?cat=2&sortby=9

Purchased! Gonna be an expensive month with Rhino and Pink Floyd yet to come.

 

[vinylguy4]

The Isley Bros. are at the top of my want list, so grateful to get this SACD, O'Jays are great too.
And a belated thanks for the REO Speedwagon sacd. I grew up in Champaign, IL so was my hometown band.
Saw Mike Murphy singing for One Eyed Jacks at Hessel park way back in the day, saw REO from 2nd row at Mens Old Gym on U of I campus.