HiRez Poll Taylor, Johnnie - EAR-GA-SM & RATED EXTRAORDINAIRE [SACD]

[rtbluray]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this 2018 Multichannel SACD from Dutton Vocalion of the classic Johnnie Taylor albums "Ear-ga-sm" and "Rated Extraordinaire".
This Multichannel SACD includes the original 1970s Quadraphonic mixes for both albums, available commercially for the first time in over 40 years!
The Quadraphonic mix of "Ear-Ga-Sm" is also available to stream in Dolby Audio via Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/eargasm/171109699


Ear-ga-sm
LP PC 33951 (1976) STEREO/PCQ 33951 QUADRAPHONIC
1: DISCO LADY (Scales; Vance; Davis)
2: PLEASE DON’T STOP (THAT SONG FROM PLAYING) (Davis)
3: DON’T TOUCH HER BODY (IF YOU CAN’T TOUCH HER MIND) (Davis)
4: I’M GONNA KEEP ON LOVING YOU (Morris; Davis)
5: YOU’RE THE BEST IN THE WORLD (Toney)
6: RUNNING OUT OF LIES (Jordan)
7: SOMEBODY’S GETTIN’ IT (Jones; Colter; Davis)
8: IT DON’T HURT ME LIKE IT USED TO (Jordan; Ross) alto sax: Eli Fountain
9: PICK UP THE PIECES (Davis; Barker; Briggs)

Rated Extraordinaire
LP PC 34401 (1977) STEREO/PCQ 34401 QUADRAPHONIC 10: YOUR LOVE IS RATED X (Moore)
11: STORMY (Moore; Davis)
12: HERE I GO (THROUGH THESE CHANGES AGAIN) (Orr; Harris)
13: DID HE MAKE LOVE TO YOU (Scales; Griffin)
14: AND I PANICKED (Roach)
15: LOVE IS BETTER IN THE A.M. (PARTS 1 & 2) (Scales; Griffin; Davis)
16: IT AIN’T WHAT YOU DO (IT’S HOW YOU DO IT)(Scales; Davis; Robinson; Harralson)
17: NOT JUST ANOTHER BOOTY SONG (Davis; Briggs; Hamilton)
18: I’M JUST A SHOULDER TO CRY ON (Scales, Vance; Davis)
19: STOP GIVING PEOPLE HARD LUCK STORIES (Toney)

Multi-ch Stereo
All tracks available in stereo and multi-channel

SA-CD
This hybrid CD can be played on any standard CD players

CDSML8545

 

[beerking]

Never heard of this guy before. Where have I been? Even had my own disco set up in the mid 70's. This man can really sing and also I'm reading that he was backed by a solid collection of musicians..eg Horny Brass, Bootsy Collins, to name but a few. I'm giving this a solid 9. Its very discrete and Mr Taylor has a voice that grows on you...well imo. Again, another pleasant surprise from Dutton Vocallion.

 

[DuncanS]

These are two albums by someone I'd not heard of before, of the two I prefer ear-ga-sm (so far!). They are both really classy 70s Soul/R&B, so for the music I'd give a 9 to Eargasm, and 8 to Rated Extraordinaire, Johnnie Taylor has a fantastic voice, and the songs and musicianship on both are really good. The mixes are great, so I'd give them a 9. Sound quality is good, so a 9. Plus the informative liner notes. There are a couple of Disco tracks which aren't my 'cup of tea', but if you like The Isley Brothers or the Phil Collins Solo albums you'll like this SACD. So its a solid 9.

 

[mattB2]

Like Duncan this artist is new to me but I agree with his comments about both the music and the surround mix. Excellent value if you like soul music.

 

[marpow]

Thanks and I voted 10. Great disc in 4.0 nice soulful sexy music, great 4.0 separation, highly enjoyable. Note for poll creators, I typed Johnnie Taylor in the poll search box and this release did not come up. I see that is listed as Taylor, Johnnie------------

 

[edisonbaggins]

Note for poll creators, I typed Johnnie Taylor in the poll search box and this release did not come up. I see that is listed as Taylor, Johnnie------------

Isn't last name, then first typical? Until titles have 10 votes, they only appear on the index tab. There's some magic that happens when Jon runs the latest poll calculation too. That's my understanding anyway.

 

[MrSmithers]

Giving this a spin after a while - and what a lovely surprise at how good this is! It’s funny how many times I overlook the second album on a DV twofer and then actually prefer that?!

Very close to a 10 but I think I‘m going with 9... Great job DV...

 

[steelydave]

Listening to this one again recently, and I'm really impressed with how well it's held up for me.

Sometimes with these titles that I've written liner notes for, I would get kind of personally invested in the artist as a result of all the work and research I did, and lose a bit of objectivity about the quality of the actual music. So I'd come back a year or whatever later, and the music wouldn't resonate the same way - sort of like the afterglow was gone or something.

Happily, that isn't the case with this one, and I think I like these records more now than I did when I was writing about them, thanks in no small part to the quad mixes of these albums. Obviously the music is quite different, but if you like Larry Keyes' mix of Earth Wind & Fire's Spirit, I'd say his Eargasm mix is every bit its equal, and the unknown ABC Studios engineer's quad mix of Rated Extraordinaire might be even better.

Yes, some of the lyrics are corny, and there are a couple of clunkers on Rated Extraordinaire (I'm lookin' at you, Not Just Another Booty Song) but there's at least an album and a half's worth of great music on this two-fer. If you don't have this disc (and like soul music at all) and you're making an order from D-V and need to even things up as per @GOS 's law of cracked cases, give this one a chance. It's also worth mentioning that the musicians that play on this album are a veritable "who's who" of soul and funk musicians, including members of Motown's Funk Brothers band, Memphis's Swampers and Parliament-Funkadelic amongst many others.

Also on a personal level, of all the writing I've done for D-V, the liner notes for this one were one of the most satisfying assignments I turned in. Not only was I able to find and include some choice quotes from the man himself (along with one from Marvin Gaye) it was also really rewarding to be able to combat the usual narrative about Taylor, which is that he jumped ship from Stax and sold out by making a disco album, neither of which is true - he was one of the last artists to leave Stax before it went bankrupt, and Eargasm was recorded with the same producer, same musicians and in the same fashion as all of his previous albums with Stax. He didn't chase mainstream success with Eargasm, the mainstream found him, and he couldn't have deserved it more.

 

[fredblue]

Listening to this one again recently, and I'm really impressed with how well it's held up for me.

Sometimes with these titles that I've written liner notes for, I would get kind of personally invested in the artist as a result of all the work and research I did, and lose a bit of objectivity about the quality of the actual music. So I'd come back a year or whatever later, and the music wouldn't resonate the same way - sort of like the afterglow was gone or something.

Happily, that isn't the case with this one, and I think I like these records more now than I did when I was writing about them, thanks in no small part to the quad mixes of these albums. Obviously the music is quite different, but if you like Larry Keyes' mix of Earth Wind & Fire's Spirit, I'd say his Eargasm mix is every bit its equal, and the unknown ABC Studios engineer's quad mix of Rated Extraordinaire might be even better.

Yes, some of the lyrics are corny, and there are a couple of clunkers on Rated Extraordinaire (I'm lookin' at you, Not Just Another Booty Song) but there's at least an album and a half's worth of great music on this two-fer. If you don't have this disc (and like soul music at all) and you're making an order from D-V and need to even things up as per @GOS 's law of cracked cases, give this one a chance. It's also worth mentioning that the musicians that play on this album are a veritable "who's who" of soul and funk musicians, including members of Motown's Funk Brothers band, Memphis's Swampers and Parliament-Funkadelic amongst many others.

Also on a personal level, of all the writing I've done for D-V, the liner notes for this one were one of the most satisfying assignments I turned in. Not only was I able to find and include some choice quotes from the man himself (along with one from Marvin Gaye) it was also really rewarding to be able to combat the usual narrative about Taylor, which is that he jumped ship from Stax and sold out by making a disco album, neither of which is true - he was one of the last artists to leave Stax before it went bankrupt, and Eargasm was recorded with the same producer, same musicians and in the same fashion as all of his previous albums with Stax. He didn't chase mainstream success with Eargasm, the mainstream found him, and he couldn't have deserved it more.

shake it in, shake it out, shake it all a-bloody-bout, steelydavey!

still a "10" chez moi