Quad LP/Tape Poll Zappa, Frank: Apostrophe' [CD-4/Q8]

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Rate "Apostrophe'"

  • 10: Tops

    Votes: 3 21.4%

  • 9

    Votes: 5 35.7%

  • 8

    Votes: 2 14.3%

  • 7

    Votes: 4 28.6%

  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 5: Mediocre

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 1: Utter crap

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    14
EMB

EMB

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Feb 8, 2004
Messages
4,101
Location
The Top 40 Radio of My Mind
DiscReet DS 2175 from 1974; one of FZ's few 'hit' albums.


apos.JPG



Side 1:

Don't Eat the Yellow Snow
Nanook Rubs It
St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast
Father O'Blivion
Cosmik Debris

Side 2:

Excentrifugal Forz
Apostrophe'
Uncle Remus
Stink-Foot

NOTE: The Q8 has the sides reversed (for some bizarre reason)
 
I have the CD-4 version of "Over-nite Sensation", but don't have the means to play it in Quad anymore ( I miss my Sansui QRX-9001 :()
 
First! (To score it). I give it a "9". One of my favorite Zappa albums. Sounds great in quad. Nothing too over the top as far as the mix, but just very engaging. Apostrophe the song is a little muddy, or maybe intentionally grungy, but I like it that way. This album is best listened to all in one setting. The first time I heard yellow snow I think I was probably 12, and man I thought it was funny. I was hooked all the way through stink foot. Funnier than Pinky, or Valley Girl, fer sher.
 
I must admit my undying love for almost every thing FZ ever released. But The mix on this album is not a revelation like so many other quads have been for me. I give it 9 because it is such a great work. Frank was such a fan of the surround format that he named his record label DiscReet. I believe there are many discrete quad mixes sitting in his vault. Unfortunately there is much turmoil in the ZAPPA clan and we may never get to hear it all!
 
Wissing said:
I must admit my undying love for almost every thing FZ ever released. But The mix on this album is not a revelation like so many other quads have been for me. I give it 9 because it is such a great work. Frank was such a fan of the surround format that he named his record label DiscReet. I believe there are many discrete quad mixes sitting in his vault. Unfortunately there is much turmoil in the ZAPPA clan and we may never get to hear it all!
Click to expand...

I think it is pretty good, a proper AF release could bring it up a notch or two. I know it was mixed at the same time as Overnite Sensation but I like the Apostrophe mix better. Maybe it is just the conversion quality however. The Quadraphiliac disc is pretty cool too and a bit more discrete...
 
Wissing said:
I must admit my undying love for almost every thing FZ ever released. But The mix on this album is not a revelation like so many other quads have been for me. I give it 9 because it is such a great work. Frank was such a fan of the surround format that he named his record label DiscReet. I believe there are many discrete quad mixes sitting in his vault. Unfortunately there is much turmoil in the ZAPPA clan and we may never get to hear it all!
Click to expand...

One Size Fits All was also supposed to be done in QUAD but it was never released. It was not prepared by FZ for QUAD but WB go as far and giving it catalog numbers (BS4-2879 (CD4 format) and L9B-2879 (Q8 format)) but it obviously never happened.

OS, (‘) and Roxy (also never released) were the only full albums FZ mixed for QUAD. FZ did however mix certain things in quad but the configuration is different for some of that stuff. There is a film config and there is the traditional consumer config. The stuff on Quaudiophiliac was taken from an assortment of film config quad stuff, except for Waka and Chunga. They were mixed with intent for the consumer.

*Note: Some of this info is from an EXTREMELY reliable insider source and buddy of mine.
 
jaypfunk said:
One Size Fits All was also supposed to be done in QUAD but it was never released. It was not prepared by FZ for QUAD but WB go as far and giving it catalog numbers (BS4-2879 (CD4 format) and L9B-2879 (Q8 format)) but it obviously never happened.

OS, (‘) and Roxy (also never released) were the only full albums FZ mixed for QUAD. FZ did however mix certain things in quad but the configuration is different for some of that stuff. There is a film config and there is the traditional consumer config. The stuff on Quaudiophiliac was taken from an assortment of film config quad stuff, except for Waka and Chunga. They were mixed with intent for the consumer.

*Note: Some of this info is from an EXTREMELY reliable insider source and buddy of mine.
Click to expand...

So film configuration ? Would that be......L-C-R & SURROUND ? Likely what was originally "Baby Snakes".?

Also heard a rumour of a surround mix (4,5,6 ch) of "Yellow Shark".
 
boojidad said:
I don't have a copy to give a report on, BUT I did find these notes from a reliable Zappa discography site that comment on both 'Apostrophe' and 'Over-Nite Sensation':
http://www.lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/misc/quad.html
Click to expand...

Hi,

I can't vote, or give a grade, yet. I do have the Q8 of "Overnite Sensation", and I have heard a transfer of both from CD-4 (and hope to have my own CD-4 some day) "Apostrophe (')" of course was released as CD-4 and is not even that rare, but I have never seen a Q8 of it although the album was one of his best selling in the US. Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo (unfortunately never mixed in quad) were TOP 10 hit albums over here! :phones which I guess was quite a surprise for FZ, although his four concerts at the Helsinki Festival in 1973 must have helped sales enormously.

That article (the quoted link) is very accurate, I have the 1990's Rykodisc CD release with both albums and strangely enough the CD mastering was done from the quad mixes, just a stereo mixdown. Very obvious the extra bar in "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow".

But has anybody got this one "Apostrophe (')" in Q8?

It does exist I guess, unless this is a fake:

http://www.lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/vinylvscds/images/disl9d2175.jpg
 
krkier said:
It does exist, I have got this together with Overnite Sensation for around 6 Euro a few years ago at ebay.

-Kristian
Click to expand...

:confused: You, lucky, lucky b*stard! :D (Sorry, could not resist, just on old Monty Python joke!) :)

But I am envious. It's no coincidence Zappa named the label "DiscReet", but only two albums were released. I find it a bit weird that on the "Apostrophe (')" Q8 the sides are reversed in comparison to the CD-4 and regular stereo LP and later CD's.

Cheers!
 
Quadrifoglio said:
:confused: You, lucky, lucky b*stard! :D (Sorry, could not resist, just on old Monty Python joke!) :)

But I am envious. It's no coincidence Zappa named the label "DiscReet", but only two albums were released. I find it a bit weird that on the "Apostrophe (')" Q8 the sides are reversed in comparison to the CD-4 and regular stereo LP and later CD's.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

the sides ain't the only thing reversed on the Quad 8-track.. ;)
(the channels were all over the place on my Q8 cart of Apostrophe'! :D )
 
fredblue said:
the sides ain't the only thing reversed on the Quad 8-track.. ;)
(the channels were all over the place on my Q8 cart of Apostrophe'! :D )
Click to expand...

I just found a 24/96 rip of my Q8 (and a rip of my Mothers Q4) on an old hard drive in a recent drive search, and I pulled this up on the computer and thought 'Wow!', but from looking at the mix in Sound Forge, it sure looked like channels were not in the proper place. I was wondering if it was something I screwed up when I recorded it (the dates on the files are 2006) but if I did it in 24/96 then I already have my "good system" and the channels should have been correct.

And, of course, the first thing I did was check the poll thread, and there's Adam with the info. So, does anyone know what the proper mix should look like, channel wise?

Here's a look at Track 3, side 1 (Uncle Remus):

Zappa 3.jpg



It does sound pretty cool this way, the girls are in the rears. It does have a very discrete soundfield!
 
UPDATE: Tape Side 1 does sound really good the way it is........
 
Last edited:
JonUrban said:
I just found a 24/96 rip of my Q8 (and a rip of my Mothers Q4) on an old hard drive in a recent drive search, and I pulled this up on the computer and thought 'Wow!', but from looking at the mix in Sound Forge, it sure looked like channels were not in the proper place. I was wondering if it was something I screwed up when I recorded it (the dates on the files are 2006) but if I did it in 24/96 then I already have my "good system" and the channels should have been correct.

And, of course, the first thing I did was check the poll thread, and there's Adam with the info. So, does anyone know what the proper mix should look like, channel wise?
Click to expand...

ahh.. well.. the TLDR version is i can't remember! 🤭

..but its not all bad news! i'll fire up the computer in a bit and see if i jotted down what was going on with it.

off the top of my head i think some channel balances were a bit screwy as well as wrongly assigned.

i do remember some other WEA Q8s (Aretha Live stands out) necessitated a channel swap, it may have been the same thing with Zappa!
 
fredblue said:
ahh.. well.. the TLDR version is i can't remember! 🤭

..but its not all bad news! i'll fire up the computer in a bit and see if i jotted down what was going on with it.

off the top of my head i think some channel balances were a bit screwy as well as wrongly assigned.

i do remember some other WEA Q8s (Aretha Live stands out) necessitated a channel swap, it may have been the same thing with Zappa!
Click to expand...

I am listening to this for the first time in decades, and it's damn spectacular!! I love it! How could I have passed this by for so long? It's great! :)

I don't think I ever got Bob's conversion but I am going to clean this up for the car. Can't wait! :)
 
!FALSE ALARM ALERT!
(CODE RED, CODE RED etc)

well.. this is odd.. 🤔

my notes from November 2017 say "FR and RR swapped and channels balanced".

its a good job i kept the files of the original Q8 transfer i did because its much better than my silly rejig, i guess there was nothing wrong with the tape in the first place!

God knows what i was thinking or smoking/drinking at the time.
must've been good stuff.

oh and my Apostrophe' CD-4 still doesn't demodulate properly, even though i can get most other discs (apart from the problematic Barry Manilow, Cat Stevens etc) working now no problem. so i can't use it to compare the Q8 and the QuadraDisc.. bah bleedin' humbug!!

as for the Quad itself, i think its a borderline above average, so maybe a "7".
the mix does do some fun all over the place type effect things but it could've been better. great album!
 
I have an excellent Q8 conversion of this; and absolutely love it - It's Frank for one thing, and the mix is very nice for me.
Ugh, another one that would sell fantastically with folks here if it was only available digitally on say BD 😋
There's all kinds of surround effects swirling around, over and under on this, I'm going with a hard 10.
Great googly moogly Fido! (* you know the crux of the biscuit.)
 
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