Quad / 5.1 / Atmos #1 Hits 1964-1991

[Eggplant]

JFF, I've made a list of all the Billboard #1 Hits that were ever released in surround sound (and even some not). I stopped at 1979 -- maybe later I'll add the few titles from 1980 on. Update: Started adding titles up to 1990.

I need your help in confirming a few titles that I don't have. ( The tracks in italics I believe to be available, but need to actually verify that it's the original hit recording.

Legend:
(-) Announced but never released
(+) New 5.1 mix
(#) Quad and 5.1 mixes available
(A) Dolby Atmos mix available
(Å) Quad and Dolby Atmos mixes available
(*) Import only
(%) Alternate version from hit single (different instrumentation and/or vocal track, edits notwithstanding)
(X) FAKE surround mix not produced from original multitrack source
(?) Confirmation needed
Bold indicates top hit single of the year


1991

"Black or White" Michael Jackson (+)

1990

"Hold On" Wilson Phillips (+)

1989

"Dont Wanna Lose You" Gloria Estefan (+)
”We Didn’t Start the Fire” Billy Joel (+) (X)

1988

"Anything for You" Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine (+)

1987

Michael Jackson "Bad" (+)
Michael Jackson "The Way You Make Me Feel" (+)

1986

"Invisible Touch" Genesis (+)
”These Dreams” Heart (A)

1985

"Power of Love" Huey Lewis and the News (+)

1983

"Tell Her About It" Billy Joel (+)

1982

"Centerfold" J Geils Band (+)
"Billie Jean" Michael Jackson (+)
"Beat It" Michael Jackson (+) (X)

1981

"Bette Davis Eyes" Kim Carnes (+)

1980

"Call Me" Blondie (X?) (Possibly fake surround) (A)
"Starting Over" John Lennon and Yoko Ono (+)
"Still Rock 'n' Roll to Me" Billy Joel (+)

1979

"My Sharona" The Knack (+) (X)
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" Michael Jackson (+)
"Rock With You" Michael Jackson (+)
”Bad Girls” Donna Summer (A)

1978

"Heart of Glass" Blondie (+)

1977

"Looks Like We Made It" Barry Manilow
"New Kid in Town" Eagles (+)
"Hotel California" Eagles (+)
"Dreams" Fleetwood Mac (+)

1976

"I Write the Songs" Barry Manilow
"Love Rollercoaster" Ohio Players
"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" Paul Simon
"Disco Lady" Johnnie Taylor
"A Fifth of Beethoven" Walter Murphy & the Big Apple Band
”Silly Love Songs” Wings (+)
"If You Leave Me Now" Chicago (-#) (5.1 mix known to exist but unreleased)
"Rock 'n Me" Steve Miller Band (#)

1975

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" Elton John (+)
"Mandy" Barry Manilow
"Please Mr. Postman" Carpenters (#)
"Fire" Ohio Players
"Pick up the Pieces" Average White Band
"Best of My Love" Eagles
"Black Water" Doobie Brothers
"Lady Marmalade" Labelle
"Lovin' You" Minnie Riperton (%) (Longer album version without synth strings)
"Philadelphia Freedom" Elton John (+)
"He Don't Love You (Like I Love You) Tony Orlando and Dawn
"Shining Star" Earth, Wind & Fire (%)
"Sister Golden Hair" America
"Love Will Keep Us Together" The Captain and Tennille
"Listen to What the Man Said" Wings
"The Hustle" Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony (*)
"One of These Nights" Eagles
"Fame" David Bowie (+)

1974

"The Joker" Steve Miller Band
"You're Sixteen" Ringo Starr (-)
"The Way We Were" Barbara Streisand (%) (Album version - alternate vocal)
"Sunshine on My Shoulders" John Denver (%) (Album version without strings)
"Hooked on a Feeling" Blue Swede (-)
"Bennie and the Jets" Elton John (+)
"TSOP" MFSB and the Three Degrees
"The Loco-Motion" Grand Funk (Å)
"Band on the Run" Paul McCartney and Wings (#)
"Sundown" Gordon Lightfoot
"Rock the Boat" Hues Corporation
"I Shot the Sheriff" Eric Clapton (#)
"Then Came You" Dionne Warwick and the Spinners
"You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" Bachman-Turner Overdrive
"Whatever Gets You Through the Night" John Lennon (#)
"Angie Baby" Helen Reddy

1973

"You're So Vain" Carly Simon (#)
"Killing Me Softly With His Song" Roberta Flack
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" Dawn
"Frankenstein" Edgar Winter Group
"Will it Go Round in Circles" Billy Preston
"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" Jim Croce
”My Love” Wings (+)
"Let's Get it On" Marvin Gaye (*) (#) (One quad and two different 5.1 mixes)
"Delta Dawn" Helen Reddy
"We're and American Band" Grand Funk (+)
"Midnight Train to Georgia" Gladys Knight and the Pips
"Photograph" Ringo Starr (-)
"Top of the World" Carpenters (#) (%) (Alternate version on "A Song for You")
"The Most Beautiful Girl" Charlie Rich
"Time in a Bottle" Jim Croce

1972

"Let's Stay Together" Al Green (#)
"Without You" Nilsson
"Heart of Gold" Neil Young (+)
"Oh Girl" Chi-Lites (X)
"Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me" Mac Davis
"My Ding-a-Ling" Chuck Berry
"Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" Temptations (*)
"I am Woman" Helen Reddy
"Me and Mrs. Jones" Billy Paul (%) (Lead vocal not master take)

1971

"Theme from 'Shaft'" Isaac Hayes
"Knock Three Times" Dawn
"Me and Bobby McGee" Janis Joplin
"It's Too Late / I Feel the Earth Move" Carole King (#)
"Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" The Raiders
”American Pie” DonMcLean (A)

1970

"I Want You Back" The Jackson Five
"Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin) / Everybody is a Star" Sly and the Family Stone
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" Simon and Garfunkel
"ABC" The Jackson Five
"American Woman / No Sugar Tonight" Guess Who
"Everything is Beautiful" Ray Stevens
"The Love You Save" Jackson Five (?*)
"(They Long to Be) Close to You" Carpenters (#)
"Make it With You" Bread
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" Diana Ross (?*)
"I'll be There" Jackson Five (?*)

1969

"Crimson and Clover" Tommy James and the Shondells
"Everyday People" Sly and the Family Stone
"Love Theme From 'Romeo and Juliet'" Henry Mancini (?)
"Sugar, Sugar" Archies
"Suspicious Minds" Elvis Presley (#)
"Someday We'll Be Together" Diana Ross and the Supremes (?*)

1968

"This Guy's in Love with You" Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
"Hello, I Love You" Doors (#)
"Love Child" Diana Ross and the Supremes (?*)
"I Heard it Through the Grapevine" Marvin Gaye (#)

1967

"Respect" Aretha Franklin
"Light My Fire" Doors (#)
"Love is Here and Now You're Gone" The Supremes (?*)
"The Happening" The Supremes (?*)

1966

"Hanky Panky" Tommy James and the Shondells (X)
"You Can't Hurry Love" The Supremes (?*)
"You Keep Me Hangin' On" The Supremes (?*)

1965

"My Girl" The Temptations (?*)
"Stop! In the Name of Love" The Supremes (?*)
"I Hear a Symphony" The Supremes (?*)

1964

"Where Did Our Love Go" The Supremes (?*)
"Baby Love" The Supremes (?*)
"Come See About Me" The Supremes (?*)

1963

"Surf City" Jan and Dean (X)

 

[ChristopherLees]

A great list..lot's of work there.
"Listen to what the man said" by Wings I''d be tempted to put a % there because of the extra drum tracks on the quad version ..heard in the rears on the line "The wonder of it all baby"..

 

[timbre4]

Ray Stevens - Everything Is Beautiful is the hit; it was Barnaby SQ / Q8
Al Green - Let's Stay Together 98% sure it's the hit on Hi/Ampex Q4/Q8
All the Supremes, Temptations & Jackson 5 are suspect!

 

[zabble]

Whew! Nice work.

Ray Steven's "The Streak" was released too late to make it to the quad "Ray Stevens Greatest Hits" (which indeed included "Everything is Beautiful").

Elvis' "Suspicious Minds" was released only on DVD-A.

Neither "Just My Imagination" nor "Can't Get Next to You" by the Temptations was/is not available in any surround format (at least not the studio version). Al Green did a cover of CGNTY in quad however.

Someone else might want to chime in on the Jackson 5 and Diana Ross and the Supremes titles in question.

 

[JonUrban]

I have heard an excellent transfer of the Supremes Greatest Hits CD-4, and can say that the songs on that disc are very discrete. I have also heard the Jackson 5 Greatest Hits CD-4 (Played it myself) and those songs are fairly discrete as well.

What I cannot understand is that, except for the few rare Marvin Gaye Q8's, none of these great Motown titles were released in quad in the USA? What was motown thinking?

 

[Eggplant]

A great list..lot's of work there.
"Listen to what the man said" by Wings I''d be tempted to put a % there because of the extra drum tracks on the quad version ..heard in the rears on the line "The wonder of it all baby"..

I should have clarified: the (%) indicates an intentionally alternate version. Very often, the album and single versions differ substantially on production (e.g., "Lovin' You" adds synth strings). Movie tracks often have an original soundtrack version and an album and/or single version ("The Way We Were" single has the same rhythm tracks as the album version, with a completely new vocal performance).

I didn't include minor mix differences such as the one you mention on the Wings track because I'd have to put a (%) next to nearly every track. I also didn't consider whether a single is shortened ("Frankenstein") or rearranged ("Love Rollercoaster") for the same reason.

I don't have any proof of this, but I belief mix differences like the drums at the end of LTWTMS were unintentional and merely the result of sloppiness -- the engineer simply wasn't familiar enough with the tracks to know which ones to mute. A common problem, perhaps most noticeable on the quad "Reelin' in the Years". The musicians recorded a guitar fill after every line of the chorus, and then later -- as so often happens -- decided it was overkill and took out every other one. The quad mix leaves them all in, to the track's detriment.

 

[Eggplant]

I have heard an excellent transfer of the Supremes Greatest Hits CD-4, and can say that the songs on that disc are very discrete. I have also heard the Jackson 5 Greatest Hits CD-4

What I need is a track listing for those discs.

 

[Eggplant]

Al Green - Let's Stay Together 98% sure it's the hit on Hi/Ampex Q4/Q8

My question is whether the DVD-Audio contains the quad mix or a new 5.1.

 

[timbre4]

Frankenstein was an editied (butchered) single; the stereo & quad album versions are the same instrumentally except for the fact that the ARP2600 chirping track starts sooner in quad (before rhythm section hits the last sustained note).

I wonder why we don't have access to DTS 4.0 discs of the Motown stuff.....!

 

[timbre4]

The Al Green DVD-A is too expensive to buy for research purposes <g>

 

[deepsky4565]

Hanky Panky by Tommy James is a horrible fake from a mono tape off a disc dub. I don't know if this makes a difference to the list you made.

I'm wondering if someone will make some compilation discs covering these tracks

 

[Eggplant]

Hanky Panky by Tommy James is a horrible fake from a mono tape off a disc dub. I don't know if this makes a difference to the list you made.

I'm wondering if someone will make some compilation discs covering these tracks

Upon receiving confirmation of this, I'll remove it from the list.
AFAIK, fake surround is not of interest to anyone on this forum*.

As for the compilation idea, I suggested that to QpS long ago.


-----
* -- except in avoiding it! To that end, I've decided to start including fake mixes, marked as such with (X).

 

[EMB]

My question is whether the DVD-Audio contains the quad mix or a new 5.1.

The Al Green DVD-A is all new mixes, not as discrete as the old Q8 was...and yes, it was the master(hit)take, but extended from the session master, runs much longer, to match the 45 all you do is fade at the right time.... The DVD-A, based on The Right Stuff comp, has the original 45/Lp length...

And before I forget, I believe Chuck's "My Ding-A-Ling" was listed. Whatever you think is Quad is not: that recording is mono on the LONDON SESSIONS otherwise-stereo Lp, and while I've not heard any Quad of that album, I doubt very much there were any tapes to remix to stereo, otherwise it would have been that way in the first place. For whatever reason, the Lp version and the edited 45 have always been flat mono.

ED

 

[Eggplant]

Update: Added titles 1978 - 1990.

Also added new 5.1 mixes for "quad era" titles, including "Fame" - Daivd Bowie, and the two Doors chart-toppers.

 

[EMB]

"Hanky Panky" was fake quad, same vinyl source as ever, so that one can go bye-bye. Too bad, but then, ya can't list any of the '50s Elvis singles from 30 #1 HITS either, unless faux 5.1 counts...

ED

 

[Bob Romano]

What I need is a track listing for those discs.

Here ya go...

 

[Bob Romano]

My question is whether the DVD-Audio contains the quad mix or a new 5.1.

The whole disc contains new 5.1 mixes.

 

[Q-Eight]

And before I forget, I believe Chuck's "My Ding-A-Ling" was listed. Whatever you think is Quad is not: that recording is mono on the LONDON SESSIONS otherwise-stereo Lp, and while I've not heard any Quad of that album, I doubt very much there were any tapes to remix to stereo, otherwise it would have been that way in the first place. For whatever reason, the Lp version and the edited 45 have always been flat mono.

ED

On the Q8, it is more of a triphonic. It's mono in the front (it's just Chuck & his guitar) but echo & crowd sounds are different in left rear and right rear. Chuck's vocals come from front only. There's a vocal echo going on in the rears that sounds exactly like the other live songs on the tape. It's as quad as it can get without making the mix lop-sided. They probably could have put Chuck's guitar in one speaker and his vocal in another, but that would've sounded terrible.

 

[britmarc]

More true 5.1 USA #1's....

1963 - Surf City --Jan & Dean. (DVD-A)
1975 - Fame -- David Bowie. (DVD dts)
1979 - My Sharona -- Knack. (DVD-A)
1980 - Call Me -- Blondie. (DVD-A)
1981 - Bette Davis Eyes - - Kim Carnes. (DVD-A)
1985 - Money For Nothing -- Dire Straits. (Dual-Disc)
1986 - You Give Love a Bad Name -- Bon Jovi. (Dual-Disc)
1987 - Livin on a Prayer - - Bon Jovi. (Dual-Disc)
1988 - Anything For You -- Gloria Estefan. (SACD)
1989 - Don't Wanna Lose You -- " " (SACD)


Anybody want a British List of #1's......

All the best.

Marc.

BTW: All Phil Collins have been remixed for 5.1

 

[EMB]

On the Q8, it is more of a triphonic. It's mono in the front (it's just Chuck & his guitar) but echo & crowd sounds are different in left rear and right rear. Chuck's vocals come from front only. There's a vocal echo going on in the rears that sounds exactly like the other live songs on the tape. It's as quad as it can get without making the mix lop-sided. They probably could have put Chuck's guitar in one speaker and his vocal in another, but that would've sounded terrible.

Of course "My Ding-A-Ling" is basically a solo performance, too, so all you'd have is Chuck, his guitar, and the audience. Still, it's too bad the 'front' sound(or the mono on the Lp)isn't ambient rather than flat.

ED