RHINO QUADIO batch #6 - Speculation Extravaganza!

[quicksrt]

Oh, that one's no fun...

Back cover of booklet in Quadio super jewel case!

But wouldn’t the orange velvet cover trim of the “fun” cover be expensive to reproduce? You know it had a touchy-feely fabric trim on original jackets.

 

[Aging quadie]

This Arlo Guthrie album is such a very strong production - recording and mix to quad. I need to listen to again because years ago I found it not very memorable musically.

The albums the late guitarist John Pilla produced for Arlo Guthrie between 1969 and 1978 are gems. All reflect Warner/Reprise's musical renaissance before the corporate types clamped down on the label's visionary artists.

Unfortunately, The Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys was the only set that saw a quad release. Two tracks feature Don Rich and the Buckaroos. Want to hear Buck Owens's classic band in quad? Here's your chance!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

QUADIO SPEC BATCH 6-D

 

[quicksrt]

I am wondering which artist will be the first to get a second album in a Quadio series BR release?

Geils, Starship, or something else?

 

[gvl_guy]

I am wondering which artist will be the first to get a second album in a Quadio series BR release?

Geils, Starship, or something else?

I'd bet Starship or Spinners. Both were huge artists back then.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

those UK exclusive CD-4 LPs were manufactured at Sonopress, maybe the tapes are in Germany?

Yep, Gutterslogh Germany

And Japan!

Passport Handmade in CD 4 was released there as well, so a back up 4 channel tape might just be waiting to see the day light of a mastering studio once more.


And Montreux Switzerland, as the late Claude Nobs who was in charge of WEA promotion in Europe during the quadradisc days.
Must be some quads in that Montreux Jazz Festival tape vault , such as Fats Domino (and possibly Deaf School , Absolute Elsewhere, Passport )
Might even find some "unreleased quads" there ?

I hate having to think those European Q-wonders have vanished, completely!!?

 

[fizzywiggs41]

No tapes on all. I don't think we have rights to Elsewhere.

But wait a minute Steve ?

RE TAPES Is it true that when it comes to tapes ,
WEA doesn't throw anything away .

 

[ForagingRhino]

But wait a minute Steve ?

RE TAPES Is it true that when it comes to tapes ,
WEA doesn't throw anything away .

True, nothing leaves any of the WMG vaults anywhere in the world without leaving a paper trail and a job ticket.
There is no evidence that these titles were ever there.

There's a 2 channel on Absolute, but no 4.

 

[quicksrt]

I'd bet Starship or Spinners. Both were huge artists back then.

Foraging mentioned in passing that Spinners was not the hottest seller that month, the next, or at all… - regardless of what happened 50 chart years ago.

So……….?

 

[fizzywiggs41]

True, nothing leaves any of the WMG vaults anywhere in the world without leaving a paper trail and a job ticket.
There is no evidence that these titles were ever there.

There's a 2 channel on Absolute, but no 4.

Oh wow.

I need a corner to go cry in .

Thanks for answering, Steve.

 

[quicksrt]

those UK exclusive CD-4 LPs were manufactured at Sonopress, maybe the tapes are in Germany?

Since you are in the UK I think you should make some calls, get into the car and drive around and on foot and find the "Absolute Elsewhere" quad masters. Start with the producer and then band members if any are still around. Of course I’m joking. I’m not really sure if this album even has a market at this point.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

True, nothing leaves any of the WMG vaults anywhere in the world without leaving a paper trail and a job ticket.
There is no evidence that these titles were ever there.

There's a 2 channel on Absolute, but no 4.

Also, this might sound weird (and desperate) but I would grab that 2 ch Absolute Elsewhere., to take a peek.
Why ?
Because I never ever saw a 2 channel one , only 3 or 4.....all quadradisc.

Well it couldn't hurt anyway.

 

[steelydave]

Surely some of that can be attributed to the fact that when he said that, The Spinners disc was known to have an error that left the front left channel down by about 6dB and a reissue/replacement program hadn't been announced, so people were holding off on buying the disc.

I do hope that New and Improved is one of the upcoming discs - not only does it boast a stone cold classic in the Dionne Warwicke duet Then Came You, it also features a brilliant quad mix from Don "Ship Ahoy" Murray. The quad mix for the self-titled album is good, but seeing as it was the first quad mix that Sigma Sound ever did(well, actually the second, they mixed this album once and it was rejected by Atlantic, hence why the quad master tape boxes say "remix" on them) there were certainly areas for improvement. In between the self-titled Spinners album and New and Improved they did quad mixes for Billy Paul's War of the Gods, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' Black & Blue, The O'Jays Live in London and Billy Paul's Live in Europe, and the lessons learned from all this work are reflected in the refinement and maturity of the New & Improved (an apt title, really) quad mix.

From this point onward, Sigma never looked back and did arguably the best bunch of quad mixes that the format ever saw over the next couple of years. I'd put them up (properly remastered) against any modern 5.1 or Atmos mix from any engineer you'd like to name, and I think they easily hold their own. I think if Rhino can make the numbers work for any of the Quadio titles issued so far, The Spinners are doing just fine - they certainly have enough interest to be reissued on CD every 5 or 10 years. Here's hoping we get Pick of the Litter as well, and Dionne Warwick's Then Came You and the unreleased Track of the Cat, also done by Don Murray at Kendun Recorders after he moved to California to continue working with Thom Bell after his relocation to Seattle.

 

[steelydave]

I also meant to add that New & Improved celebrates its 50th birthday this December, as do a whole bunch of other WEA family quads - what better way to celebrate them than to make these superb mixes available for purchase once more?

 

[kfbkfb]

(reverse of Paranoid Quadio rights situation in the UK)

AFAIK, the WMG online store for the UK doesn't sell the Paranoid Quadio (WMG doesn't have the rights to the album there), I was wondering of there are any Quadio suitable titles that WMG doesn't have the rights to in the USA but does in the UK (for example), maybe release the Quadio(s) in the UK only and those of us in the USA can buy the them on the used market.


Kirk Bayne

 

[quicksrt]

Also, this might sound weird (and desperate) but I would grab that 2 ch Absolute Elsewhere., to take a peek.
Why ?
Because I never ever saw a 2 channel one , only 3 or 4.....all quadradisc.

Well it couldn't hurt anyway.

They actually could have cut stereo discs from a four channel master folded to stereo at the mastering console.

In fact Warner did just that with an earlier “Paranoid” release. Universal did it with a Jackson 5 Greatest Hits Motown LP, Sony also did this exact thing to create true stereo mixes of two songs never mixed to stereo (Everybody is a Star / Thank You Falettinme Me Be Mice Elf Agin) for a double CD compilation set.

It would also not be the first time the real vault masters for an album contained more than the obvious album as labeled.

 

[Uncle Obscure]

Foraging mentioned in passing that Spinners was not the hottest seller that month, the next, or at all… - regardless of what happened 50 chart years ago.

So……….?

That's really sad. It was such an iconic album on original release. Simply brilliant production from Thom Bell...some (myself included) consider it to be his finest work. MFSB is also in top-notch form. Impeccable musicianship and arrangements. Plus, with four massive hit singles (three of which reached Number One on both the Billboard Pop and R&B charts) from start to finish, this album is quintessential Philly Soul. Have musical tastes changed so dramatically over the years that this record has now become irrelevant? Or, perhaps the sound of the sterling production lost something when it was originally mixed for quad? Whatever the case, I know if I were entertaining guests at the house, I'd much rather pop in this Spinners album than some of the Quadios we've so far gotten. I do not in any way mean to suggest that the other albums are not good, rather, the Spinners Atlantic debut is at least the equal, and in some cases even better, than the others.

 

[barfle]

Foraging mentioned in passing that Spinners was not the hottest seller that month, the next, or at all… - regardless of what happened 50 chart years ago.

So……….?

Perhaps that was due to the complaints about the channel balance. Yes, they made it right, but that sort if negative publicity can certainly affect sales.

Hard to know why people don’t buy, so who knows?

 

[gvl_guy]

Perhaps that was due to the complaints about the channel balance. Yes, they made it right, but that sort if negative publicity can certainly affect sales.

Hard to know why people don’t buy, so who knows?

I would like to think that's a reason why sales might not have been stellar, but I highly doubt it. Unless you're "in the know," like people on this board, you'd have no idea there was a problem. It actually took a little bit before the problem was even reported. So I really don't believe that's it. I just guess it's that musical tastes change.

For me, it was one of the top Quadios released. That one and Roberts Flack. Sure, I really liked the others, but America, Alice Cooper, Jefferson Starship and even Paranoid got just one play from me and have hit the shelf. I've pulled the others out several times already. The quality of the sound and quad effects just blow me away.

 

[~dave~~wave~]

is Billy Cobham - Spectrum a possibility to be released on Quad by Rhino? This is one of my favorite albums.

You bet it is!

You just made my month!

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/threads/billy-cobham-spectrum-af-4-0.25935/

As a Tommy Bolin fan I'd love to get that James Gang quadio!

I'll just leave this here, woke up this morning and found this is happening today.
I will be stopping by to pay my respects and view the museum exhibit, which runs for two more weeks for anyone passing that way.

Any Tommy Bolin fan within half a day's drive and no pressing plans today might want to get your skates on.

https://www.tommybolinofficial.com/tommy-bolin-fest