Suggestions for Dutton Vocalion Multichannel SACD Releases

[4-earredwonder]

Now that would be an interesting two-fer in Multichannel SACD!

[Nino Rosso and Eric Carmen???????]

Nah, Bri......how about another Arista Artist......Melissa Manchester's "Better Days and Happy Endings"/Eric Carmen

 

[bmoura]

[Nino Rosso and Eric Carmen???????]

How about another Arista Artist......Melissa Manchester's "Better Days and Happy Endings"/Eric Carmen

It could also be artists with only one Arista CD-4 Quad release like Tony Orlando & Dawn, The Brecker Brothers or The Outlaws.

Melissa Manchester had 2 Arista Quad CD-4 releases (Melissa and Better Days and Happy Endings).
A more likely two-fer.

 

[4-earredwonder]

It could also be artists with only one Arista CD-4 Quad release like Tony Orlando & Dawn, The Brecker Brothers or The Outlaws.

Melissa Manchester had 2 Arista Quad CD-4 releases (Melissa and Better Days and Happy Endings).
A more likely two-fer.

ALL GREAT choices, Brian. But judging from the Dutton Vocalion catalog which heavily gravitates towards Easy Listening and/or Big Band Sound.......would these titles be too PROGRESSIVE?

Actually, the Melissa twofer would probably fit within D~V's mold. And they're both really great albums.

Does the Multichannel Maven have any clout with Dutton Vocalion? Perhaps if you whisper in their ears across the pond.............The Trans Moura EXPRESS!

BTW, Brian, has Audio Fidelity ever expressed any interest in doing twofer QUAD SACDs? There are SO many unreleased QUAD titles.......and SO little time! [hint, hint: Melissa Manchester]. Just did the Math: Melissa is 39:38 and Better Days/Happy Endings: 40:50. Classical Label BIS has released single Hybrid mch SACDs clocking in at 81+ minutes so it IS doable.

 

[bmoura]

ALL GREAT choices, Brian. But judging from the Dutton Vocalion catalog which heavily gravitates towards Easy Listening and/or Big Band Sound.......would these titles be too PROGRESSIVE?

Actually, the Melissa twofer would probably fit within D~V's mold. And they're both really great albums.

Does the Multichannel Maven have any clout with Dutton Vocalion? Perhaps if you whisper in their ears across the pond.............The Trans Moura EXPRESS!

BTW, Brian, has Audio Fidelity ever expressed any interest in doing twofer QUAD SACDs? There are SO many unreleased QUAD titles.......and SO little time! [hint, hint: Melissa Manchester]. Just did the Math: Melissa is 39:38 and Better Days/Happy Endings: 40:50. Classical Label BIS has released single Hybrid mch SACDs clocking in at 81+ minutes so it IS doable.

I have given Dutton/Vocalion a long list of what I would suggest for their Easy Listening Surround SACD releases.
I agree that there are many possibilities they could consider/release on Surround SACD.

The problem with Multichannel SACD Two-fers in the U.S. is that the reissue labels based in the US are paying US level guarantees to license (vs. the lower rates for the UK and Asian based reissue labels).
So a Multichannel Two-fer from Audio Fidelity (and the other US reissue labels) would be very expensive. It would have to be quite a hot title, or pair of titles, to pay the US Guarantee amount twice (a separate payment for each album) for such a release!

 

[4-earredwonder]

I have given Dutton/Vocalion a long list of what I would suggest for their Easy Listening Surround SACD releases.
I agree that there are many possibilities they could consider/release on Surround SACD.

The problem with Multichannel SACD Two-fers in the U.S. is that the reissue labels based in the US are paying US level guarantees to license (vs. the lower rates for the UK and Asian based reissue labels).
So a Multichannel Two-fer from Audio Fidelity (and the other US reissue labels) would be very expensive. It would have to be quite a hot title, or pair of titles, to pay the US Guarantee amount twice (a separate payment for each album) for such a release!

I figured as much concerning AF two~fers. Double the pleasure BUT double the cost. One would surmise that these mouldy quad masters might incite the majors to offer them at bargain prices unless they plan to reissue them as QUAD downloads in the future and/or pricey boxsets.

Brian, if you happen to communicate with Dutton Vocalion in the near future, tell them the Melissa Manchester QUAD two~fer would be a splendid release. Thanks in advance.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Unlikely, Snood but how about Eric Burdon's (of The Animals fame) 'Sun Secrets' (on Columbia SQ) as a second disc?

The TWO Erics side by side!

Just a little clarification, Eric Burdon-Sun Secrets was issued as a Q8 only on Capitol, And yes it would make a great quad sacd title, but I believe Vocalion has interest in only MOR artists.

Too bad really.It would be nice if they expanded their musical tastes.

 

[Tunes4theGoons]

Just a little clarification, Eric Burdon-Sun Secrets was issued as a Q8 only on Capitol, And yes it would make a great quad sacd title, but I believe Vocalion has interest in only MOR artists.

Too bad really.It would be nice if they expanded their musical tastes.

Monsters of Rock? It's about time!!

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Monsters of Rock? It's about time!!

MOR = middle of the road

 

[Tunes4theGoons]

I know, that's why I used yee ol' winking smiley. @:

The group America, or perhaps Steely Dan is about as middle of road as I can get with respect to multichannel audio. Sure wish there were more hard/heavy rock multi channel selections to choose from. I have always wanted to hear professional remasters of Aerosmith's Get Your Wings in multichannel, as well as Edgar Winter's They Only Come Out at Night.

 

[dr8track]

As far as the more "middle of the road - easy listening" genre goes, a fun RCA release would be the Gil Evans Orchestra Plays The Music of Jimi Hendrix. I've got this on Q8 and it's actually pretty fun to listen to the Hendrix tunes in a full orchestral arrangement.

 

[cupboy]

MOR = middle of the road

Pretenders

 

[4-earredwonder]

As far as the more "middle of the road - easy listening" genre goes, a fun RCA release would be the Gil Evans Orchestra Plays The Music of Jimi Hendrix. I've got this on Q8 and it's actually pretty fun to listen to the Hendrix tunes in a full orchestral arrangement.
View attachment 26070

Actually, a great album and if you ever perused the Dutton Vocalion catalog they do Big Band RBCDs so it's not out of the realm of possibility.

For Jazz buffs, Gil Evans did the haunting and remarkable arrangements for Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain.

 

[bmoura]

Actually, a great album and if you ever perused the Dutton Vocalion catalog they do Big Band RBCDs so it's not out of the realm of possibility.

For Jazz buffs, Gil Evans did the haunting and remarkable arrangements for Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain.

There's also an Atlantic CD-4 album "Svengali" by Gil Evans if Dutton Vocalion wanted to move into Jazz music like the albums by Evans.

 

[4-earredwonder]

There's also an Atlantic CD-4 album "Svengali" by Gil Evans if Dutton Vocalion wanted to move into Jazz music like the albums by Evans.

Perfect pairing, Brian. Actually, D~V does do JAZZ.......Ted Heath Big Band, etc is on their 2~fer roster. Use your clout, multichannel maven.

Addenda: I checked the timings over at Amazon and it seems both albums would exceed the limits of a single hybrid mch SACD. Bummer, Bri.

 

[steelydave]

I've been corresponding with Michael Dutton semi-regularly since Vocalion's initial batch of SACD's and I recently asked him how the 6 they'd released were doing, and he said well enough that they're looking at releasing more titles. There's no timescale on it and a lot of it has to do with the stars aligning between titles they can license and tapes that can be found.

I also mentioned that I really enjoyed the stereo CD two-fer that Vocalion did of Headhunters sax player Bennie Maupin's two 70s solo albums, and that there was tons of great quad mixes of jazz, soul, funk and R&B titles in the vaults of the labels under the Sony umbrella. He's invited me to send him a list of suggestions which I plan to do in the next few days - obviously no guarantees at all that it'll go anywhere, but at least I'll be able to make him aware of some of what exists and is worth pursuing.

 

[Simon A]

As far as the more "middle of the road - easy listening" genre goes, a fun RCA release would be the Gil Evans Orchestra Plays The Music of Jimi Hendrix. I've got this on Q8 and it's actually pretty fun to listen to the Hendrix tunes in a full orchestral arrangement.
View attachment 26070

I would love that one on SACD!

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I've been corresponding with Michael Dutton semi-regularly since Vocalion's initial batch of SACD's and I recently asked him how the 6 they'd released were doing, and he said well enough that they're looking at releasing more titles. There's no timescale on it and a lot of it has to do with the stars aligning between titles they can license and tapes that can be found.

I also mentioned that I really enjoyed the stereo CD two-fer that Vocalion did of Headhunters sax player Bennie Maupin's two 70s solo albums, and that there was tons of great quad mixes of jazz, soul, funk and R&B titles in the vaults of the labels under the Sony umbrella. He's invited me to send him a list of suggestions which I plan to do in the next few days - obviously no guarantees at all that it'll go anywhere, but at least I'll be able to make him aware of some of what exists and is worth pursuing.

Just curious if you have heard from Michael Dutton lately or have any updates to share with us

 

[MIDIQ]

I sure hope they get to more Hugo Montenegro, the Quadfather. Also Chet Atkins would be great.

 

[steelydave]

Just curious if you have heard from Michael Dutton lately or have any updates to share with us

Hi Clint,

I've had continued positive correspondence with Mr. Dutton since the beginning of the year, and I know that he's generally happy with the sales of the 6 SACD 2-fers that Dutton did at the beginning of the year. There's nothing concrete to report yet, but I would suggest (and this is just my opinion, nothing he's said) that if you want more of this type of thing from Dutton that you vote with your wallet and buy what's already out there, and also spread the word about them to other places beyond QQ.

I'm surprised how little they've been spoken about at SH.tv for example - it seems like the presumption is that because they're such a bargain price that the sound quality isn't going to be good. To my ears the mastering is really nice, and very much in line with the type of audiophile-grade mastering that Steve Hoffman, Kevin Gray, etc. do - little to no compression and a bit of an EQ boost in the upper-midrange to make the music sparkle without sounding overly bright. Obviously comparing the mastering of different albums is apples and oranges, but for my money Dutton seems to have got better results (sonically) out of old RCA quad master tapes than Audio Fidelity has, so far.

Michael has a long background in the industry (he worked at Morgan studios in London in the 70's, where they did the Jethro Tull and Black Sabbath quad mixes amongst others) and has a good grasp of what's available, but he also faces the same hurdles generally speaking that AF has/does - essentially that you have to find titles that a) you can license b) you can find the tapes for c) that will sell, and if any of those conditions can't be met it's a non-starter. I've tried to be respectful of this in not overloading him with demands or requests, but I like to think I have a relatively good grasp of what might be available for licensing and I've made my case for some of these to him. I think if you follow my postings on here at all, you'll have a general idea of what sorts of things these might be.

So there's nothing concrete to report at the moment, but I'd definitely say the vibe is positive. If (or hopefully when) there is something new to report, you'll definitely hear it here first.

 

[bmoura]

I sure hope they get to more Hugo Montenegro, the Quadfather. Also Chet Atkins would be great.

There are certainly more RCA Easy Listening Quad titles they could explore - including a number of albums from Henry Mancini and artists like Danny Davis & the Nashville Brass (Carribean Cruise, etc.) that were mixed to Quad in the 1970's. Watching this with interest.