HiRez Poll Poco - CANTAMOS & SEVEN [SACD]

[skherbeck]

Finally listened to the first track of this one last night (that's all I had time for)... I'm speechless.
So I'll type instead... PERFECT surround mix and fidelity. The two things I love most about surround music are exemplified here: individual guitars in each corner and individual vocals and harmonies in the corners. Just gorgeous... can't wait to listen to the whole thing tonight!

 

[humprof]

Since I don't make a habit of voting in polls, I won't officially vote in this one, either. But because I resisted buying this album for the longest time (in spite of the fact that so many QQers whose judgment I respect kept gushing about it as the apotheosis of quad), I'm gonna weigh in.

Content: well, here, on personal taste alone, is where I give it the lowest marks. It's not that I don't dig country rock per se: I've never cared for the Allmans or the Eagles, but I do love Gram Parsons and Big Star (and all their musical descendants). But Poco...their sound and their songwriting just don't send me. Still, I gotta admit that I like this two-fer better than I thought I would, especially Cantamos, with its folky, PPL/CSNY vibe. So I donno...7.5? 8? BUT: even if, having given it three hard listens, I never spin this disc again, I would still gladly pay £11.99 for @steelydave's brilliant liners alone. I learned so much about the country-rock family tree that was new to me...this guy is the master of pithy, short-form pop and rock history.

Surround Mix: an undeniably demo-quality mix. Beautifully balanced, crazy discrete. Go Don Young! Enthusiastic 10.

Fidelity: I'm with Sean: the first track on Cantamos is just perfect all the way around. The relatively spare instrumentation and production of that album give it a really pristine sound. To me, Seven sounds muddy and mid-rangy by comparison. 10 and 8, respectively.

So I don't know what that works out to, on balance. But I'm glad I bought this, and I'm glad Michael Dutton continues to make so many people happy!

 

[blue.monk]

I'm giving Cantamos my first listen and, wow, y'all weren't lying about the mix and sound quality. Both are excellent. I'll need some time to get to know the material before voting. Glad to see that David's written the liner notes. I look forward as always to read them.

 

[key_wiz]

I’ve never been a big Poco fan. While I like country-rock a lot, the plain truth is the reason they never saw the same commercial success as many of their contemporaries is that the songwriting was never that good. Great players. Great arrangements. Great harmonies. But the hook of one of your songs is “Skatin’”??? Really?

Having said all that, I enjoyed this disc more than I thought I would. Mostly because the quad mix is SO good! This is a great sounding disc. Fans of these albums should, and probably will, give this a “10”. I can’t because the music just isn’t grabbing me that much. But I’ll play it a few more times and see if it grows on me some more.

Because it sounds THAT GOOD.

I give it an “8”.

 

[Scott65]

10. Another superb, great value for money release, by DV!

 

[dadmav]

I have not heard either of these from Poco till this purchase , as usual with Dutton , great sonics and nice use of surrounds . Also enjoyed a lot of the music , nothing great but it does have it’s moments. The musicianship of this band is well showcased , they can really play. Thank you Dutton keep up the good work.

 

[texquad]

Just saw this and immediately ordered it along with the Rick Derringer from Grooves.land.
I remember buying both Poco LP's when they came out and spending a $1 extra for the quad versions. I didn't have any quad equipment at the time but I was into hooking up a speaker out of phase and marveling at the sound of the 3rd channel from my SQ discs. It wasn't until the late 90's that I could finally afford to pick up quad gear at mainly thrift stores and flea markets.
I have Tab Patterson's SQ and Tate dts conversions that he did from my LP's and they sound great so I can only imagine how good these must sound. Hope DV release more of these excellent quad releases from the Columbia catalogue.

 

[ClarkNovak]

I'm a littlle late to board the train on this, but I just used some Christmas Amazon bux to get this and the Billy Paul two-fer.

OK, so I'm a little biased because I LOVE Poco and especially Rusty Young and Paul Cotton, and Cantamos is one of my favorite albums - "High And Dry" and "Bitter Blue" are amazing songs, and Harold Kleiner & Don Young's active, yet balanced Quad mix here really shows off the interplay of the vocal harmonies and slide guitar. "Another Time Around" is a great guitar showcase as well. This being Poco's last album for Epic and their 2nd album release in 1974, they could have laid back a bit and saved their best stuff for their ABC debut, but they didn't. I could only ask for a little more exposure for Tim's bass lines, but overall a 10 for Cantamos, for sure.

Now for Seven. This one was actually the band's first release for '74, and it suffers a bit in comparison, coming as it did just before Cantamos and just after Crazy Eyes. It's not the band's most stellar work, but there are some rewarding moments here too: the Colorado rave-up of "Rocky Mountain Breakdown" has some nice bluegrass licks, but the reliance on heavy, layered electric guitars ("Skatin'" is the most prominent example) contribute to a less open Quad mix; the rear channels seem reserved for the use of the tambourines, mostly, and there's a slightly muddier feeling to the mix when compared to Cantamos. That said, Paul Cotton's "Faith In The Families" and Tim Schmitt's "Krikkit's Song", with their more acoustic feels and open vocals, stand out as gems. All told I give Seven an 8, musically speaking.

I give the total package a 9. Very glad to have it - like all of the Dutton SACDs. Sounds great in my office!

 

[KevinD9052]

Gave them both a 10. I loved these albums years ago. Like some here, country rock wasn't a fave of mine. But these excellent mixes changed my mind. They really were excellent SQ albums-demo worthy through a good decoder like the SM, Tate or SQ-W-even then. I listened so much I got into the genre. Now with perfect sonics and a discrete mix I am totally blown away.

 

[Audiowannabee]

Had never heard of poco till joining this forum. Great country rock. Not familiar w the music but i like it.

Sound is great. Content is alright. Fidelity is excellent...a 9

 

[Neil Palfreyman]

Just giving this disc from my first DV order it's first proper spin. My initial thoughts were that I'm very pleased that I didn't look up anything about the style of music and just went with QQ recommendations (thanks again, guys), else I may not have bought it. And I would have missed out big time!

This is an astonishingly good surround mix and amazingly well produced; hard to believe it was recorded over 45 years ago! The sound is incredibly clear and discrete, with multi part instrumental passages and phrases being perfectly worked into the surround field. Even some tasteful use of rears with panning for the odd drum fill, when appropriate. Multi part harmonies are discretely mixed rear left/rear right - just how I like 'em.

It's not a genre that I would normally listen to out of choice, hence my opening comments, but its been masterfully played, recorded and mixed and then lovingly cleaned up and transferred by The Wizard and it absolutely shines. Top drawer stuff. It may even make a country rock fan out of me!

I've not voted yet, 'cos I'm still listening but I can tell just from the first play of the first half dozen songs that if the rest of the two albums on the SACD are this good, it'll be a ten. Easily.

 

[tezzalavell]

Well voted 10 . Because after the Liverpudlian Lads, Poco is my favourite band.
Now to justify the 10.
Firstly between 1969 and 1978 Poco gave us some great albums. The Country rock genre begun with Poco ( Not Gram Parsons, The Byrds , the Eagles) and up until 1978 their albums are littered with great country rock songs . After 1978 they sold out a bit following the success of Legend and went a bit down hill. Cantamos is the finest example of Country Rock to be found , Seven is good but more Rocky !
The Surround Mix on the twofer is outstanding , discrete, clean and as another contributor commented unbelievable for 45 + years old.
Wish we had A Good feeling to Know and Rose of Cimarron albums in quad for Dutton but alas No !

 

[Miilda]

Definitely 10 points for a qudro mix. That couldn\u0027t be better. It plays really luxuriously. Those people did great then at the age of 70. The album 'Cantamos' is especially nice music with beautiful sound-

 

[van1]

Well voted 10 . Because after the Liverpudlian Lads, Poco is my favourite band...
Wish we had A Good feeling to Know and Rose of Cimarron albums in quad for Dutton but alas No !

Such great mixes. What other quad releases did Poco have, was it just Crazy Eyes and Deliverin’? Hope we get theses too from D-V

 

[steelydave]

Such great mixes. What other quad releases did Poco have, was it just Crazy Eyes and Deliverin’? Hope we get theses too from D-V

Mike would definitely like to do more Poco as he's aware of how great these two mixes are, and also how well-received this disc has has been, both here and elsewhere. I think you would've seen more quad Poco in the wake of this disc but (at least in the aftermath of when it was released) both Crazy Eyes and Deliverin' were tied up in licensing with other labels. These things change on a yearly basis though, so I'm sure if they become available you'll see them released by D-V.

Also, as I detailed in this thread a while back, there may be an unreleased quad mix of the band's 1971 album, From the Inside. Whether it does indeed exist and can be found is another question, but I passed this info on to D-V so they at least know to have a look for it.

 

[van1]

Mike would definitely like to do more Poco as he's aware of how great these two mixes are, and also how well-received this disc has has been, both here and elsewhere. I think you would've seen more quad Poco in the wake of this disc but (at least in the aftermath of when it was released) both Crazy Eyes and Deliverin' were tied up in licensing with other labels. These things change on a yearly basis though, so I'm sure if they become available you'll see them released by D-V.

Also, as I detailed in this thread a while back, there may be an unreleased quad mix of the band's 1971 album, From the Inside. Whether it does indeed exist and can be found is another question, but I passed this info on to D-V so they at least know to have a look for it.

Thanks. I’m not sure how different negotiations for unreleased quads would be with D-V and the labels but it would be great for these to see the light of day.

Is it fair to say that the unreleased quads were not released primarily due to lack of support by the labels for the quad format or are there other considerations (eg poor mix quality or lack of artist approval)?

I know Ken Scott said in his book that he mixed Stanley Clarke’s School Days in quad but the label said at the last minute to do a stereo fold down.

It’s really amazing how good the quality of some of these mixes are and that they can hold their own against modern surround mixes and that they are getting released again by D-V, Rhino and Sony Japan (who im hoping will release the Aerosmith quads) for A range of dollars. Is it only Sony Japan releasing the deluxe quad sacds or is there interest from other Japanese labels?

 

[Miilda]

Write tips for other similar quality recordings in this genre in a spatial mix. There is definitely something great I don\u0027t know. ;-)