HiRez Poll Paul, Billy - 360 DEGREES OF BILLY PAUL & WAR OF THE GODS [SACD]

[rtbluray]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this Double SACD from Dutton Vocalion featuring two classic Billy Paul albums, "360 Degrees of Billy Paul" and "War of the Gods".
Both SACDs feature the original 1970s Quadraphonic mixes, remastered and released for the first time in over 40 years!
(BTW, this SACD set is listed on the Dutton Vocalion website as a 'LIMITED EDITION' release.)



360 Degrees of Billy Paul
LP KZ 31793 (1972) STEREO/ZQ 31793 QUADRAPHONIC
CD 1
1: BROWN BABY (Gamble; Huff)
2: I’M JUST A PRISONER (Gamble; Sigler; Hurtt)
3: IT’S TOO LATE (King; Stern)
4: ME AND MRS. JONES (Gamble; Huff; Gilbert)
5: AM I BLACK ENOUGH FOR YOU (Gamble; Huff)
6: LET’S STAY TOGETHER (Green; Mitchell; Jackson)
7: YOUR SONG (John; Taupin)
8: I’M GONNA MAKE IT THIS TIME (Lang; Sigler)

Arrangers:
Bobby Martin [1-2, 4-5, 8],
Lenny Pakula [3, 7],
Norman Harris [6]

War of the Gods
LP KZ 32409 (1973) STEREO/ZQ 32409 QUADRAPHONIC
CD 2
1: I SEE THE LIGHT (Gamble; Huff; Sigler)
2: WAR OF THE GODS (Gamble; Huff)
3: THE WHOLE TOWN’S TALKING (Gamble; Huff)
4: I WAS MARRIED (Gamble; Huff; Gilbert; Arc)
5: THANKS FOR SAVING MY LIFE (Gamble; Huff)
6: PEACE HOLY PEACE (Gamble; Huff)
featuring the Dandridge Choral Ensemble

Arrangers:
Lenny Pakula [1, 6],
Bobby Martin [2-5]

Remastered from the original analogue tapes by Michael J. Dutton

Multi-ch Stereo
All tracks available in stereo and multi-channel

SA-CD
This hybrid CD can be played on any standard CD players

 

[fredblue]

did any QQ members outside the UK receive their Billy Paul SACDs yet?

would be great to hear some feedback if you fancy!

 

[bmoura]

did any QQ members outside the UK receive their Billy Paul SACDs yet?

would be great to hear some feedback if you fancy!

It's an excellent one musically and has a fine surround sound mix.
A 10 here.

 

[fredblue]

It's an excellent one musically and has a fine surround sound mix.
A 10 here.

bravo, Mr Moura!
delighted you’re enjoying it so!
its a QQ “10” from me also, with no hesitation!
War Of The Gods in particular is absolutely top notch, with fabulous sound quality.. the surround mix has a fresh, almost more modern feel to it than I ever remember it from the old Quad records and tape (not that it was any slouch at all in the first place but it feels like its been sympathetically revamped for todays listeners.. maybe not but I think in Multichannel its just de-lovely! )

 

[winopener]

received today, will need some time before listening... and retire the q8 conversion.

 

[key_wiz]

did any QQ members outside the UK receive their Billy Paul SACDs yet?

would be great to hear some feedback if you fancy!

Yep. I got mine a week or so ago. Still haven’t played it yet though.

I’ll get to it soon enough. But right now I’m in a Talking Heads mood. “Fear of Music” has me dancing around the room tonight!

 

[4-earredwonder]

I likewise voted a solid 10. Great to have PIR on multichannel SACDs expertly rendered by D~V.

 

[sjcorne]

Great to have PIR on multichannel SACDs expertly rendered by D~V.

We can only hope there's more to come! PIR's quads are real holy grail surround stuff IMO

 

[Scott65]

did any QQ members outside the UK receive their Billy Paul SACDs yet?

would be great to hear some feedback if you fancy!

Mine arrived today...together with 7 other DV goodies...a busy listening weekend lies ahead

 

[Scott65]

Mine arrived today...together with 7 other DV goodies...a busy listening weekend lies ahead

Listening to 360 degrees at low volume at the moment..WOW! Superb!

 

[fredblue]

We can only hope there's more to come! PIR's quads are real holy grail surround stuff IMO

their earlier mixes are a lot of fun, very discrete and active with a fair bit of aggressive 360-degree and/or diagonal panning (aside from the subject of this QQ Poll, Billy's 360 Degrees & War Of The Gods, that includes The O'Jays "Ship Ahoy", MFSB's "Love Is The Message" and especially Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes' "Black & Blue", several tracks on which are like mini-Quad showcases of the new tricks the engineers could do with their panpot/joystick thingies, its a hoot.. and yet its not just a gimmick, in the track "is there a place for me" those refrains pop up all around the speakers which is very cool but very effective as a surround interpretation of the lyric and sentiments of the song!)... but as they evolved the PIR mixes came to be amongst the most sophisticated Quads, arguably some of the most accomplished and modern-sounding mixes to this day, with some of the earliest computerised mixing desks at their disposal and their engineers' constant cross referencing of the Stereo.. ooh they're are just gorgeous.. i totally LOVE them!

especially brilliant among their later Quads imho are The O'Jays "Survival" & "Message In The Music".. but really they're all wonderful examples of funky funky surround music

 

[Scott65]

listening to War of the Gods... just heard Thanks for saving my life for the first time since the 1970s!

 

[fredblue]

listening to War of the Gods... just heard Thanks for saving my life for the first time since the 1970s!

sounds pretty good, don't it..

 

[Scott65]

sounds pretty good, don't it..

oh yes indeed

 

[Scott65]

Just played this at my 'normal' listening volume. Superb! An easy 10.

'my oppo and Billy Paul, they got a thing going on'

 

[fredblue]

indulge me for a second my fellow happy campers.

"diddle iddle diddle iddle diddle iddle diddle diddle duh duh duh..

DOOF!

DUN DUN!

diddle iddle diddle iddle diddle iddle diddle iddle duh duh duuuh..

DOOF!

DUN! DUN!

...Concentrate...
and open up your miiiiiiiind..

(dun dun)

..Brown Baby
oooooooh
gonna spread the news around.."

thank you, that is all.

 

[Scott65]

Given this release is 'limited edition' I highly recommend fans of this type of music grab it while they can...it is excellent!

 

[dadmav]

Just like every disc I have purchased from Dutton , the sonics are awesome. My taste in music is pretty broad I just can’t get into performance. I probably should have researched the artist more before I purchased, thought it would have been right up my alley. But if you like this artist I highly recommend .

 

[sjcorne]

Finally gave it a good listen- what else can I say? Have the SQ LP of 360 Degrees and Q8 drops of both, so quite familiar with the mixes. Dutton's remastering impeccable as always.

Bring on the O'Jays (and Harold Melvin, MFSB, etc)!

 

[GOS]

Hmmm...only 8 votes.....surely more than 8 members purchased this one??