Quad LP/Tape Poll Rich Mountain Tower: Rich Mountain Tower [EV/Q8/QR]

[sjcorne]

Rich Mountain Tower's self-titled debut LP was the Tennessee country-rock act's sole quad release, issued on EV-4 matrix-encoded LP, quad 8-track, and quad reel-to-reel by Ovation Records in 1971. After being out-of-print for over four decades, the album was finally issued on CD in 2014 by UK-based reissue label Aurora.

Ovation OVQD 1412 [EV-4 LP] Q 8106 [Q8] D 106 [QR]
Discogs links: Q8 / QR / LP

Side 1

1. Uncle Bob White
2. Circle Sky Moon Mix
3. Thank You, Maggie
4. If You Don't Look Back
5. Our Passage Home

Side 2

1. He Ain't Got No Color, Boys
2. Song Of The Sea
3. The Same Thing Applies To Me That Applies To You
4. One Last Farewell
5. Marie

 

[par4ken]

I rather like this album. Favourite track is "Uncle Bob White", also notable is "He Ain't Got No Color, Boys" I'm voting 8. Reminds of CSNY a bit as well as Earth Opera.

https://www.knoxmercury.com/2017/04...ich-mountain-tower-resurfaces-40-years-later/

 

[jaybird100]

I had ordered this a few months ago, and it never showed up. I contacted the seller through Amazon; they replied with a "form letter", letting me know that they received my inquiry. I've heard nothing since. So I just reordered it, and am taking a "wait and see" stance. I have the original LP, which sounds great through the SM, so it'll be interesting to see how the CD does.

 

[atrocity]

I rather like this album. Favourite track is "Uncle Bob White", also notable is "He Ain't Got No Color, Boys" I'm voting 8. Reminds of CSNY a bit as well as Earth Opera.

"Uncle Bob White" rocks! I agree with the CSNY comparison and would also throw in a bit of Michael Nesmith.

 

[jaybird100]

"Uncle Bob White" rocks! I agree with the CSNY comparison and would also throw in a bit of Michael Nesmith.

The album was highly underrated. I have to wonder if Ovation was as aggressive at promoting it as they should have been. I like all the tracks on it. No clunkers.

 

[wrat]

Had never heard of these guys so thanx to this thread I am checking out a quad convert so far I like it will vote after a few more listens,

 

[jaybird100]

I give this a 9. I compared the LP and the CD, and in terms of quad separation, they both sound great. The CD's fidelity is definitely better. It was nice to hear this at its best, and the Surround Master really made it shine.

 

[kfbkfb]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SKDPMCP/ref=sr_1_1?
I bought 1 song - Our Passage Home - I liked the music, but, IMHO, the lyrics are kind of depressing, the MP3 I bought has fairly good surround sound w/Hafler/DynaQuad & DPL 2 music - I give this 1 song a 7.


Kirk Bayne

 

[jefe1]

I like this music quite a bit and have the album and CD.
Discogs considers the CD illegal and won't allow it to be listed

Be aware that Ovation released a second album of this group and it is may be quad encoded if you read the back cover.. It appears to be from the same recording sessions for this album or close to it

They also have a third non quad album released on a different label hard to find.
This group should have got traction and lasted but with no promotion they disappeared.

Edited for comment on second album.

 

[DuncanS]

I like this music quite a bit and have the album and CD.
Discogs considers the CD illegal and won't allow it to be listed

Be aware that Ovation released a second album of this group and it is also quad encoded. It appears to be from the same recording sessions for this album or close to it

They also have a third non quad album released on a different label hard to find.
This group should have got traction and lasted but with no promotion they disappeared.

I thought I'd got mine from Discogs, but checking my spreadsheet it was from amazon.co.uk (March 2023, £7.99)

 

[par4ken]

Discogs considers the CD illegal and won't allow it to be listed

I would never label a release as unofficial on Discogs for that very reason. Taking the label (Aurora) at its word they claim that the rights holders are not readily identifiable but that money has been put away in an escrow account to be paid out when/if they are identified. That sounds good to me! Might that disclaimer make it at least semi-official?

I'm curious as to the quality of the CD. Did it come from a master tape or is it just a vinyl rip?

Rumours or mention of it being released in QS are highly suspect. EV-4 was close enough to pass off as QS, but that does not make it so. Mention of SQ encoding seems even more unlikely!

 

[par4ken]

I thought I'd got mine from Discogs, but checking my spreadsheet it was from amazon.co.uk (March 2023, £7.99)

I ordered a copy of the CD (I already have the LP) from Amazon.ca it's also available on eBay.

 

[JediJoker]

Could someone who owns the Q8 and/or reel please add those releases to Discogs?

https://www.discogs.com/master/659328-Rich-Mountain-Tower-Rich-Mountain-Tower

 

[jaybird100]

I used this disc to show off how good the separation, with the Surround Master, is. The reaction was quite interesting, indeed. He wanted me to prove this recording wasn't discrete.

 

[atrocity]

Be aware that Ovation released a second album of this group and it is also quad encoded.

I'm pretty sure it's not quad. Isn't labelled as such and isn't nearly as interesting through the SM.

 

[jefe1]

@atrocity apologies if I am wrong. There is language on the back cover of the album that I interpreted to be mean it was mixed in surround.
Oh well. I will edit my earlier post.

 

[steelydave]

There's more info on the subject in this thread, but the wording on those back covers is clear as mud - Dick Schory, the president of Ovation had this to say:

"...I moved the Quad markings to the back of the jacket. Interested quad record buyers will find the QS logo mark and and the words 'Sector 4 Stereophonic Sound'. This is my way of describing our unique Quad recording techniques."

Now most of those later-era Ovation titles (including the Rich Mountain Tower Can You Feel It album from 1976) have the 'Sector 4 Stereophonic' notation, but they don't have the QS logo, so I don't think their status as quad LPs are settled one way or another. Like for example the self-titled Mighty Joe Young album (which is OV-1707, where Can You Feel It is OV-1709) has both the Sector 4 notation and the QS logo.

 

[jaybird100]

There's more info on the subject in this thread, but the wording on those back covers is clear as mud - Dick Schory, the president of Ovation had this to say:

"...I moved the Quad markings to the back of the jacket. Interested quad record buyers will find the QS logo mark and and the words 'Sector 4 Stereophonic Sound'. This is my way of describing our unique Quad recording techniques."

Now most of those later-era Ovation titles (including the Rich Mountain Tower Can You Feel It album from 1976) have the 'Sector 4 Stereophonic' notation, but they don't have the QS logo, so I don't think their status as quad LPs are settled one way or another. Like for example the self-titled Mighty Joe Young album (which is OV-1707, where Can You Feel It is OV-1709) has both the Sector 4 notation and the QS logo.

Ovation's "Sector 4" records are, in fact, QS. These are records that were encoded, but not released until after Ovation decided to stop labeling the records as quad. I have one from Hans Wurmann, "Comic Carmen", that sounds quite excellent through the SM, and the effects don't seem to be random. It's tongue-in-cheek Carmen a la Moog. OV-1716. The "Sector 4" designation was for pending releases that had already been recorded and mixed using QS, but they felt sales for these albums would be hurt by any mention of quad. By this time, Ovation was already slipping away into record company history.

 

[atrocity]

Now most of those later-era Ovation titles (including the Rich Mountain Tower Can You Feel It album from 1976) have the 'Sector 4 Stereophonic' notation, but they don't have the QS logo, so I don't think their status as quad LPs are settled one way or another.

I streamed their first album via Qobuz and found that it decoded exactly the same as my EV-4 vinyl through the SM. When I streamed the followup, it just didn't do much of anything interesting, hence my comment "Pretty sure it's not quad."

Though maybe what's on the streaming service(s) isn't the same as what was on the record.

 

[jefe1]

I have just played both of these Ovation albums the first on CD the second on vinyl and it's weird I never noticed this before but the same song appears on both albums.
It's Circle Sky Moon Mix
If its quad on the first album it should be quad on the second and maybe the others are too. The songs on the second album may be from the same sessions as the first one and they may have repeated the same song perhaps planning to promote it as a single. I read somewhere the group was surprised by the second albums release on Ovation as they had never been told about it.
The music on both of these albums is good to me and reminds me a little of that of Southwind also from the same time period