Quad LP/Tape Poll Santana: Caravanserai [SQ/Q8]

[EMB]

Columbia CQ 31610, late '72.

Side 1:

Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation
Waves Within
Look Up (To See What's Coming Down)
Just in Time to See the Sun
Song of the Wind
All the Love of the Universe

Side 2:

Future Primitive
Stone Flower
La Fuente Del Ritmo
Every Step of the Way

On the Q8, "Song of the Wind" and "La Fuente"--the next to last tracks on each side of the Lp--are traded to even the timing for the tape.


ED

 

[winopener]

The best Santana album ever, excellent mix. Part 1 of 3 album run (with Welcome and Borboletta) in which Santana explored beyond the final frontier... sort of a trilogy, where Caravanserai starts from the earth and ascend, Welcome is where has ascended, and Borboletta is the return trip.

 

[kap'n krunch]

I'll halfway agree with winopener on this one..of all the Santana albums in Quad, this is the top notch one
BUT
it is not really the Santana band, it's a mix and match that nevertheless, to me, never reached those heights again...
"Caravanserai" is a REAL trip...
This one was the first Quad LP I got (and converted with Lucanu's script from back then..it still sounds awesome!)after finding this forum, got it new and sealed so it was pristine..well, still is cause I've probably played it twice...

From the "outdoor ambience" in the beginning to the segues into different songs that are the most homogenic of all his LPs , this is a real treat---bringing in those other musicians really helped this LP...

Fortunately , the mix on this one, and also being an early one, does not suffer from any of "III"'s maladies.....the panning is great , no running around the room stuff, and it has quite a bit of bass...

Content and mix 10

 

[Quad Linda]

8. A nice mix and good performance. Although I'm a huge jazz/jazz fusion fan, this one meanders a bit too much for my tastes. To me, Welcome or the later Swing of Delight are better jazz forays. Still, if you like Santana, it is not to be missed. IMHO, Jobim's Stone Flower is the best track here. Another LP that was released in 2 ch LP as a gatefold, but becomes a single sleeve here. :howl I've owned this on 2 ch LP, SQ, Q8, EU CD, expanded CD and Japan 2ch SACD.

View attachment 13748

 

[EMB]

I have many copies of this album, from original Columbia stereo Lp and Q8 (!) to quad Lp & Q8, even a '360 sound' label stereo pressing from Canada (cool to look at). I've always been very fond of its meandering, though not sure why, it just works. Maybe a nice one under a marijuana haze back in the day? If only I could remember....

ED

 

[jaypfunk]

Another 10 from me. Love it from start to finish

 

[Q8]

A 9 for me. This is one that I almost want to hit the 10 button on, but figure if I didn't give the first album and Abraxas a 10, I can't give this a 10. For me this is the best, hands down of all the Jazz Fusion inspired albums. I just love it. I can listen over and over. Great quad mix too. Great all around. :banana::banana::banana:

 

[Dillydipper]

Funny I just can't justify $90 for Lotus in Quad plus Some More Live Stuff and a 22-sided Origami Cover...but, I'd be more than willing to jump on a Sony Japan SACD of Caravanserai if they charged $30 for it...even though I already have the Columbia SQ LP, a stereo LP from the same year, and the original Japanese SACD of the stereo.

Priorities, priorities.

(OH - and side note...you owe it to yourself to dive into Jobim's album with the original "Stone Flower"...can never have too much Bossa!)

 

[quicksrt]

Funny I just can't justify $90 for Lotus in Quad plus Some More Live Stuff and a 22-sided Origami Cover...but, I'd be more than willing to jump on a Sony Japan SACD of Caravanserai if they charged $30 for it...even though I already have the Columbia SQ LP, a stereo LP from the same year, and the original Japanese SACD of the stereo.

Priorities, priorities.

(OH - and side note...you owe it to yourself to dive into Jobim's album with the original "Stone Flower"...can never have too much Bossa!)

Oh, ok then.

 

[Quadrifoglio]

9

Like it a lot, Used to listen to quite a lot in stereo on Walkman in the 1980's. back then I had never heard of quad. Stereo was better than mono, especially with headphones!

Anyways, now I have it on Q8 and the CD I have, from the late 1980's and a C-cassette on which I have the stereo LP vinyl taped form a friend before I got the CD, both play in SQ. Nice bonus. To me it sounds just like they must have used the SQ master for the CD mastering back then.

 

[kap'n krunch]

This is BEGGING to be released on SACD!!!!

 

[Albert Dagger]

This is a solid 10 for me, for both mix and content.
By far, this is a much better presentation of the album than the original stereo mix.
Waiting for a SACD release...

 

[quicksrt]

I guess this album is on everyone’s top rock quad wanted lists from the Sony vaults!

I have the SQ LP but never heard it decoded, I just have a hard time getting excited about SQ knowing how great the mixes so often are and how underwhelming SQ actually is.

 

[kap'n krunch]

I guess this album is on everyone’s top rock quad wanted lists from the Sony vaults!

I have the SQ LP but never heard it decoded, I just have a hard time getting excited about SQ knowing how great the mixes so often are and how underwhelming SQ actually is.

Well, to be honest, I find the decode quite satisfying.. and it was done about 10 years ago with Lucanu's SQ script!
Shoot me an email if you are interested...

 

[hafquark]

It's my favorite Santana album by far, which I've loved since buying the LP in '72. I've heard three different quadraphonic conversions (a couple Q8s and one LP), but my go-to is still the quad Q8 Caravanserai from AudioSpectrum that I picked up around 2007. What a wonderfully discrete, adventurous mix -- and a crying shame it has never been officially released.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

For the love of all things Quad - would somebody please release this in SACD
Beautiful separation, and plenty of juicy Quad movements; a little weird the Bass is coming out of the Right Rear though.
Lots and lots of that famous Santana percussion provided by José "Chepito" Areas, Michael Shrieve, Armando Peraza, James Mingo Lewis. and Lenny White. On electric piano the monster player -Tom Coster.
Anyway, got tons of great talent on this with Carlos really letting Neal Schon cut loose on guitar and Gregg Rolie on piano/organ (future Journey guys.)
Heck there's even some of those faux monkey noises in the song "Stone Flower" ages before The Pat Metheny Band used it.

This is a 10 in my book!
*And happy Quad trails EMB (Ed Bishop) wherever you may be.

 

[ss9001]

^^
Heck yes! Caravanserei was always one of my favorite SQ LPs, especially played with the Audionics-Tate. The crickets at the beginning of track 1, side 1 swirling around your head and when the music started with that eerie Tibetan-sounding instrument (horn of some type?) - it was quad heaven. I've been wanting to see this title in 4.0 or 5.1 multichannel since SACD/DVD-A first came out. Sadly, Sony never bothered. Sony Japan Imports did come out with the concert Lotus but audience & ambience isn't going to do it. I only wish Mofi would do this one in 5.1 or lacking that, Sony let D-V acquire the rights, since they already did for 2 Garfunkel albums.

The quad mixes of the classic 1st 4 Santana albums are like the eternally MIA The Abyss & True Lies on BD/UHD or GRRM's novel Winds of Winter!

 

[mwhealton]

For the love of all things Quad - would somebody please release this in SACD

This is probably my single most desired multichannel (re-)release. All four of the first albums remastered now by sensitive ears would be beyond fabulous!

You nailed it on the head as to this being a solid 10 musically. The band plays like a single multi-limbed being. They are so in synch it seems like telepathy to me at times. Now we just need a 10-level mix and transfer.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

This is probably my single most desired multichannel (re-)release. All four of the first albums remastered now by sensitive ears would be beyond fabulous!

You nailed it on the head as to this being a solid 10 musically. The band plays like a single multi-limbed being. They are so in synch it seems like telepathy to me at times. Now we just need a 10-level mix and transfer.

SONY! (think Seinfeld’s Newman)

It’s kind of a “Catch 22”; in order to spur on demand, more folks would have had to hear the Quad, but with old faltering and fading formats, fewer and fewer have that chance to even know how great it is.

 

[salsdali]

Heck yes! Caravanserei was always one of my favorite SQ LPs, especially played with the Audionics-Tate. The crickets at the beginning of track 1, side 1 swirling around your head and when the music started with that eerie Tibetan-sounding instrument (horn of some type?) - it was quad heaven.

I fancy myself as a little bit of John Travolta's character in Blow Out


and can't figure out for the life of me how they captured those crickets so exquisitely