Quad Releases Following Hit Albums (With No Quad Release)

[sjcorne]

Some other possibilities:

• Ringo Starr- Goodnight Vienna after Ringo
• Mahavishnu Orchestra- Birds Of Fire after Inner Mounting Flame (not sure which was the bigger album)
• Isley Brothers- Live It Up gets quad, no quad for The Heat Is On, then back to quad (albeit SQ-only) Harvest For The World
• Three Dog Night- Hard Labor after Cyan (the one with "Shambala"!) AND Coming Down Your Way after Joy To The World: Their Greatest Hits
• Carly Simon- debut album gets quad, then skip Anticipation, then back to quad for No Secrets

 

[Eggplant]

Thought of another ....

Argent - In Deep after All Together Now

Seems like the majority were CBS, with just a few from Warner.

Another that would have made the list:

Leo Sayer - Another Year after Just A Boy

but it never made it to production.

 

[sjcorne]

Thought of another ....

Argent - In Deep after All Together Now

Nice, that's the one with "Hold Your Head Up". In Deep has got to be one of the worst CBS quads IMO, I have the Q8 and there is little separation to speak of.

Added new ones:

• Wild Cherry - Electrified Funk after Wild Cherry
• Redbone - Beaded Dreams Through Turquoise Eyes after Wovoka
• Return To Forever - Musicmagic after Romantic Warrior
• O'Jays - Ship Ahoy after Back Stabbers
• BT Express - Energy To Burn after Non-Stop
• Johnny Nash - My Merry-Go-Round after I Can See Clearly Now
• Sly & The Family Stone - Small Talk after There's A Riot Goin' On and Fresh
• Arlo Guthrie - Last Of The Brooklyn Cowboys after Hobo's Lullabye
• Michael Murphey - Swans Against the Sun after Blue Sky Night Thunder
• Manhattans - It Feels So Good after The Manhattans
• Miracles - Love Crazy after City of Angels
• Aerosmith - Get Your Wings after Aerosmith
• Maria Muldaur - Waitress in a Donut Shop after Maria Muldaur
• James Taylor - One Man Dog after Mud Slide Slim and Sweet Baby James
• Phoebe Snow - Second Childhood after Phoebe Snow
• Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies after School's Out
• Pure Prairie League - Two Lane Highway after Bustin' Out
• Ringo Starr - Goodnight Vienna after Ringo
• Argent - In Deep after All Together Now

 

[fredblue]

Nice, that's the one with "Hold Your Head Up". In Deep has got to be one of the worst CBS quads IMO, I have the Q8 and there is little separation to speak of.

Added new ones:

• Wild Cherry - Electrified Funk after Wild Cherry
• Redbone - Beaded Dreams after Wovoka
• Return To Forever - Musicmagic after Romantic Warrior
• O'Jays - Ship Ahoy after Back Stabbers
• BT Express - Energy To Burn after Non-Stop
• Johnny Nash - My Merry-Go-Round after I Can See Clearly Now
• Sly & The Family Stone - Small Talk after There's A Riot Goin' On and Fresh
• Arlo Guthrie - Last Of The Brooklyn Cowboys after Hobo's Lullabye
• Michael Murphey - Swans Against the Sunafter Blue Sky Night Thunder
• The Manhattans - It Feels So Good after The Manhattans
• The Miracles - Love Crazy after City of Angels
• Aerosmith - Get Your Wings after Aerosmith
• Maria Muldaur - Waitress in a Donut Shop after Maria Muldaur
• James Taylor - One Man Dog after Mud Slide Slim and Sweet Baby James
• Phoebe Snow - Second Childhood after Phoebe Snow
• Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies after School's Out
• Pure Prairie League - Two Lane Highway after Bustin' Out
• Ringo Starr - Goodnight Vienna after Ringo
• Three Dog Night - Hard Labor after Cyan
• Argent - In Deep after All Together Now
• Isley Brothers - Harvest For The World after The Heat Is On

sorry for being a pita, i'd scrap the Isleys from this list.
i screwed up initially mentioning them in this context since Go For Your Guns was no less successful than Harvest For The World and both were released in Quad anyway.
add to that the true status of The Heat Is on Quad is unknown to this day and well I just don't think they are a fit for this topic after all.

 

[Eggplant]

sorry for being a pita, i'd scrap the Isleys from this list.

I agree.

Three Dog Night would require an entire discussion, but suffice it to say they don’t belong on the list. The best airing of the issues can be found on the Steve Hoffman Forum (do a search), the primary one being the deliberate destruction of most ABC/Dunhill masters in 1973.

If you can wrap your head around that maddening revelation without wanting to kill label head Jay Lasker (too late: he’s long dead), you’ll still have to explain why the bleeding hell none of the group’s previous smashes were ever even prepared for a quad release while the tapes still existed.

Take a look at the four 1970’s studio releases prior to Hard Labor:

1970 Naturally #14
1971 Harmony #8
1972 Seven Separate Fools #6
1973 Cyan #26

Cyan really isn’t a factor. Though featuring a #3 single, the album was a disappointment — the group’s first failing to crack the US top twenty. The real question is, what was wrong with the previous three albums? I don’t expect there is anyone alive to answer that now, but one thing is pretty clear about life at early 70’s ABC/Dunhill: chaos ruled.

If we can get past the appallingly short-sighted reign of one or more executives, we might be thankful that at least some quad mixes were completed and released (Grass Roots) and some critical masters survived (Steely Dan).

 

[sjcorne]

Thanks for the info, pulled the Isleys and Three Dog Night from the list in post #23.

Thought of some other possibilities:

• Poco - Deliverin' after Poco (not sure if this is good fit, but it seems weird to me they'd opt for a live album as part of the first wave of Columbia quad releases)
• Staple Singers - Be What You Are after Be Altitude: Respect Yourself
• Blue Oyster Cult - Tyranny & Mutation after Blue Oyster Cult (also not sure about this one, neither really charted)
• Herbie Hancock - Thrust gets quad, then no quad for Man-Child, then back to quad (barely) for Secrets
• Mott The Hoople - The Hoople after Mott and All The Young Dudes

 

[Eggplant]

Mott the Hoople and Staples Singers absolutely belong on the list — the former for skipping the album containing their first and only true hit, All the Young Dudes. The latter should have two entries: one for the omission of Be Altitude with the chart-topping smash I’ll Take You There, then no quad for Let’s Do It Again after two CBS duds and a switch to Curtom.

Speaking of Curtom, how about their biggest artist:

Curtis Mayfield - Back to the World after the #1 Superfly

Poco, Herbie Hancock, BOC are all head-scratchers, but don’t really belong. Poco’s first two albums sold a few copies but were hardly big hits. Deliverin’, though a live album, actually did much better than either at #26. Hancock was welcomed to CBS with a quad release of his less-than-stellar #126 label debut, Sextant, plus follow-up #13 winners Head Hunters and Thrust, but then my favorite Man-Child was skipped for no discernible reason. BOC’s #172 debut made no splash, yet two subsequent hitless albums merited quad releases. And then ... nothing? For the 1976 smash Agents of Fortune? One of the great unexplained quad omissions. It’s as if CBS switched to an all-dud policy for quad releases in 1976. With the exception of Johnnie Taylor’s Eargasm, they skipped every big hit from Boston to BOC and released only poor sellers.

I would also add another CBS title:

Dan Fogelberg Captured Angel after Souvenirs.

Captured did business, but nothing like its 1974 predecessor.

 

[sjcorne]

BOC’s #172 debut made no splash, yet two subsequent hitless albums merited quad releases. And then ... nothing? For the 1976 smash Secret Treaties? One of the great unexplained quad omissions.

I assume you're referring to Agents Of Fortune, which featured arguably their biggest hit "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". Secret Treaties (1974) was one of the hitless ones that did make it to quad- it was actually AF's last quad SACD release. As I'm sure you know, Sony eventually did a 5.1 of Agents that's not particularly great. Some have speculated that an unreleased quad exists, I really hope it's true.

I didn't even know there was a Curtis Mayfield quad...

Latest Update:

• Wild Cherry - Electrified Funk after Wild Cherry
• Redbone - Beaded Dreams Through Turquoise Eyes after Wovoka
• Return To Forever - Musicmagic after Romantic Warrior
• O'Jays - Ship Ahoy after Back Stabbers
• BT Express - Energy To Burn after Non-Stop
• Johnny Nash - My Merry-Go-Round after I Can See Clearly Now
• Sly & The Family Stone - Small Talk after There's A Riot Goin' On and Fresh
• Arlo Guthrie - Last Of The Brooklyn Cowboys after Hobo's Lullabye
• Michael Murphey - Swans Against the Sun after Blue Sky Night Thunder
• Manhattans - It Feels So Good after The Manhattans
• Miracles - Love Crazy after City of Angels
• Aerosmith - Get Your Wings after Aerosmith
• Maria Muldaur - Waitress in a Donut Shop after Maria Muldaur
• James Taylor - One Man Dog after Mud Slide Slim and Sweet Baby James
• Phoebe Snow - Second Childhood after Phoebe Snow
• Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies after School's Out
• Pure Prairie League - Two Lane Highway after Bustin' Out
• Ringo Starr - Goodnight Vienna after Ringo
• Argent - In Deep after All Together Now
• Mott The Hoople - The Hoople after Mott and All The Young Dudes
• Staple Singers - Be What You Are after Be Altitude: Respect Yourself and Let's Do It Again
• Dan Fogelberg - Captured Angel after Souvenirs
• Curtis Mayfield - Back to the World after Superfly

It’s as if CBS switched to an all-dud policy for quad releases in 1976. With the exception of Johnnie Taylor’s Eargasm, they skipped every big hit from Boston to BOC and released only poor sellers.

To their credit they also did Billy Joel's Turnstiles in '76, albeit SQ-only like Eargasm (for whatever reason). Also, Maynard Ferguson's Conquistador made it to quad in '77 and that had a hit single. But for the most part I'd agree.

 

[Eggplant]

I assume you're referring to Agents Of Fortune, which featured arguably their biggest hit "(Don't Fear) The Reaper".

Yes.
I’ve corrected that.

To their credit they also did Billy Joel's Turnstiles in '76, albeit SQ-only like Eargasm (for whatever reason). Also, Maynard Ferguson's Conquistador made it to quad in '77 and that had a hit single.

Turnstiles wasn’t much of a hit at the time, but yeah. Conquistador is one of the unexpected pleasures of the last days of quad, and did contain a genuine Top 40 hit version of the Rocky theme. Why that particular album was chosen is unclear. I’ve never heard it in full discrete. It would make a nice DV release except it has no companion album.

 

[fredblue]

I assume you're referring to Agents Of Fortune, which featured arguably their biggest hit "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". Secret Treaties (1974) was one of the hitless ones that did make it to quad- it was actually AF's last quad SACD release. As I'm sure you know, Sony eventually did a 5.1 of Agents that's not particularly great. Some have speculated that an unreleased quad exists, I really hope it's true.

I didn't even know there was a Curtis Mayfield quad...

Latest Update:

• Wild Cherry - Electrified Funk after Wild Cherry
• Redbone - Beaded Dreams Through Turquoise Eyes after Wovoka
• Return To Forever - Musicmagic after Romantic Warrior
• O'Jays - Ship Ahoy after Back Stabbers
• BT Express - Energy To Burn after Non-Stop
• Johnny Nash - My Merry-Go-Round after I Can See Clearly Now
• Sly & The Family Stone - Small Talk after There's A Riot Goin' On and Fresh
• Arlo Guthrie - Last Of The Brooklyn Cowboys after Hobo's Lullabye
• Michael Murphey - Swans Against the Sun after Blue Sky Night Thunder
• Manhattans - It Feels So Good after The Manhattans
• Miracles - Love Crazy after City of Angels
• Aerosmith - Get Your Wings after Aerosmith
• Maria Muldaur - Waitress in a Donut Shop after Maria Muldaur
• James Taylor - One Man Dog after Mud Slide Slim and Sweet Baby James
• Phoebe Snow - Second Childhood after Phoebe Snow
• Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies after School's Out
• Pure Prairie League - Two Lane Highway after Bustin' Out
• Ringo Starr - Goodnight Vienna after Ringo
• Argent - In Deep after All Together Now
• Mott The Hoople - The Hoople after Mott and All The Young Dudes
• Staple Singers - Be What You Are after Be Altitude: Respect Yourself and Let's Do It Again
• Dan Fogelberg - Captured Angel after Souvenirs
• Curtis Mayfield - Back to the World after Superfly

To their credit they also did Billy Joel's Turnstiles in '76, albeit SQ-only like Eargasm (for whatever reason). Also, Maynard Ferguson's Conquistador made it to quad in '77 and that had a hit single. But for the most part I'd agree.

maybe Turnstiles was SQ only since it was too late in the day by '76 for Family to do a Quad 8-track release via Ampex as they did for Piano Man & Streetlife Serenade?

 

[fredblue]

Yes.
I’ve corrected that.



Turnstiles wasn’t much of a hit at the time, but yeah. Conquistador is one of the unexpected pleasures of the last days of quad, and did contain a genuine Top 40 hit version of the Rocky theme. Why that particular album was chosen is unclear. I’ve never heard it in full discrete. It would make a nice DV release except it has no companion album.

the Conquistador Q8 t'fer that did the rounds at one time is great and the tape better sound than some of the other 76/77 CBS Q8s i've heard (the Tower Of Power & Wild Cherry Q8s were particularly dull sounding) which was just as well because i love the album and the Quad mix is mostly great but I could never get the SQ to decode totally satisfactorily thru the Surround Master (by and large it made a good fist of it i thought but both copies of the SQ LP I picked up when i was mucking around with old Quad records had distortion problems when decoded especially noticeable towards the end of the Rocky track).. anyhoo, back to the topic in hand "gonna fly... flyyyyyyyyy"

 

[Eggplant]

maybe Turnstiles was SQ only since it was too late in the day by '76 for Family to do a Quad 8-track release via Ampex as they did for Piano Man & Streetlife Serenade?

Very plausible. I know my 1978 CBS vinyl of The Stranger still had the Family Productions imprint on the label, so Billy was not free of that Artie Ripp leech even by then.

But then you’d still have to explain all the other CBS SQ-only releases, which make no sense (didn’t Q8’s always outsell their quad vinyl brethren?) Not even sure the execs making the decisions knew why.

the Conquistador Q8 t'fer that did the rounds at one time is great and the tape better sound than some of the other 76/77 CBS Q8s i've heard (the Tower Of Power & Wild Cherry Q8s were particularly dull sounding) ... [late era CBS Sq vinyl] had distortion problems when decoded especially noticeable towards the end of the Rocky track)

Having never gotten my hands on most of the late-era CBS Q8’s or conversions thereof, I’ve yet to hear and compare. But you are so right about the SQ distortion. If you think Conquistador is bad, check out Electrified Funk. The entire album sounds very strange, as if they used some weird new experimental mastering technique. Does anybody know what the deal is with this? Haven‘t read anything to explain it. This much I know: mastering any vinyl record is challenging, and quad releases — even matrixed ones — must have presented unique challenges, which CBS in the last days was still working hard to overcome. We know this because of the mighty sonic inferiority of many quad records, especially those from ABC/Command.

 

[fredblue]

Very plausible. I know my 1978 CBS vinyl of The Stranger still had the Family Productions imprint on the label, so Billy was not free of that Artie Ripp leech even by then.

But then you’d still have to explain all the other CBS SQ-only releases, which make no sense (didn’t Q8’s always outsell their quad vinyl brethren?) Not even sure the execs making the decisions knew why.



Having never gotten my hands on most of the late-era CBS Q8’s or conversions thereof, I’ve yet to hear and compare. But you are so right about the SQ distortion. If you think Conquistador is bad, check out Electrified Funk. The entire album sounds very strange, as if they used some weird new experimental mastering technique. Does anybody know what the deal is with this? Haven‘t read anything to explain it. This much I know: mastering any vinyl record is challenging, and quad releases — even matrixed ones — must have presented unique challenges, which CBS in the last days was still working hard to overcome. We know this because of the mighty sonic inferiority of many quad records, especially those from ABC/Command.

no idea why the SQ-only thing although i am guessing budgetary constraints of some kind may have been a factor? while i remember it, the Janis Ian's were on Rainbow and they were both SQ-only Quads, so maybe it was an outside label thing.. was it cheaper to press up vinyl than replicate carts? hmm... but then it was strange we got Eargasm SQ-only and then Rated EX was both SQ and Q8! so maybe there was no rhyme or reason!

i first encountered the late era CBS SQ distortion issue on Burton Cummings, a few tracks had vocals and stuff that got spitty and sibilant and had weird distortion going on (i know that album split the crowd but i love it! mercifully the Q8's pretty decent sounding so i turn to that now when i want a Quad fix of that Burch Magic!).. the distortion reared its ugly head again on the Electrified Funk SQ ("yeah we played that funky music and we were looking sssso good yeah..") which i knew couldn't be due to the condition of the disc itself as my copy was sealed and absolutely pristine before i got my mitts on it.. then i noticed it on the Isley's Go For Your Guns SQ ("..i keep hearing Footstepsss baby in the dark..") and then as we've mentioned the Conquistador SQ, which is kinda odd in places and the distortions really bad on Rocky but when you get to that part on the Q8 its not a problem so I can only surmise with those later Quads something changed with how CBS encoded or cut their SQ records?! i don't know i'm just an 'umble listener who came to love Quad the wrong way round via 5.1, you long time Quad guys are the experts, i just 'ear what i 'ear!

"is it really right? is it really really.. out of sight!" that Burton record man.. its kick-assssss!!

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I agree.

Three Dog Night would require an entire discussion, but suffice it to say they don’t belong on the list. The best airing of the issues can be found on the Steve Hoffman Forum (do a search), the primary one being the deliberate destruction of most ABC/Dunhill masters in 1973.

If you can wrap your head around that maddening revelation without wanting to kill label head Jay Lasker (too late: he’s long dead), you’ll still have to explain why the bleeding hell none of the group’s previous smashes were ever even prepared for a quad release while the tapes still existed.

Take a look at the four 1970’s studio releases prior to Hard Labor:

1970 Naturally #14
1971 Harmony #8
1972 Seven Separate Fools #6
1973 Cyan #26

Cyan really isn’t a factor. Though featuring a #3 single, the album was a disappointment — the group’s first failing to crack the US top twenty. The real question is, what was wrong with the previous three albums? I don’t expect there is anyone alive to answer that now, but one thing is pretty clear about life at early 70’s ABC/Dunhill: chaos ruled.

If we can get past the appallingly short-sighted reign of one or more executives, we might be thankful that at least some quad mixes were completed and released (Grass Roots) and some critical masters survived (Steely Dan).

" Joy To The World " a best of , got close probably even got mixed , as I've now seen it listed twice . Once in Sansui's ABC Quad releases listings ...and once in Billboard.

Yes I agree their first few albums shouda , and coulda been done.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Say does The James Gang count ?

No ABC Dunhill quads , yet some hit tunes , then comes Warner/Atco with "Miami " . Go figure.
Atco should have bought the ABC tapes before destruction and weird sales .

 

[sjcorne]

Say does The James Gang count ?

No ABC Dunhill quads , yet some hit tunes , then comes Warner/Atco with "Miami " . Go figure.
Atco should have bought the ABC tapes before destruction and weird sales .

Interestingly enough, their ABC album Straight Shooter (1972) was recorded at "Quadrafonic Sound Studios" in Nashville.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Interestingly enough, their ABC album Straight Shooter (1972) was recorded at "Quadrafonic Sound Studios" in Nashville.

I know I have it and want it to say QUAD , but doesn't help.

And so does Neil Young's Harvest btw.

 

[zabble]

Gloria Gaynor - Experience is in unmarked quad release which came after Never Can Say Goodbye

 

[Eggplant]

Gloria Gaynor - Experience is in unmarked quad release which came after Never Can Say Goodbye

Long forgotten this one, but as it is generally accepted to be single-inventory QS it does belong on the list, a #64 dud following the #25 hit album. I never once took out my copy for a play. Why would I?

Say does The James Gang count ?

I wouldn’t include it. Why wait five releases after the first gold record? Following the #20 James Gang Rides Again Atco skipped Thirds (#27) for no obvious reason, and two more perfectly good candidates — Straight Shooter and Passin’ Thru. By 1973’s Bang their chart peak was down to #122. The album finally settled on for the band’s quad debut, Miami, sputtered and died at #97. So this belongs more on the unexplained quad mysteries list.

If anything, it’s a double mystery as they moved to Atco from ABC in 1972. Record companies only grab successful acts from other labels. By definition, they’ve already proven they can sell records. The usual custom, at least at CBS, was to welcome the newly signed act with a quad version of their first release on the new label. Examples include first CBS releases by Herbie Hancock (Sextant) and Tower of Power (Ain’t Nothin’ Stoppin’ Us Now), plus Burton Cummings’ self-titled CBS debut after leaving RCA in 1975. Where was James Gang’s “welcome quad”?

Speaking of Atlantic Records, J. Geils Band is another strange case. Had they followed the “post-hit” rule, their first Gold record Bloodshot should have made its antecedent Ladies Invited a quad release, but it was passed over in favor of the #26 Nightmares. Stranger still, Bloodshot was at some point announced for quad release. Go figure.

And there’s this one we missed:

Donny Hathaway - Extension of a Man (#69) after Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway (#3).

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Long forgotten this one, but as it is generally accepted to be single-inventory QS it does belong on the list, a #56 dud following the #20 hit album. I never once took out my copy for a play. Why would I?



I wouldn’t include it. Why wait five releases after the first gold record? Following the #20 James Gang Rides Again Atco skipped Thirds (#27) for no obvious reason, and two more perfectly good candidates — Straight Shooter and Passin’ Thru. By 1973’s Bang their chart peak was down to #122. The album finally settled on for the band’s quad debut, Miami, sputtered and died at #97. So this belongs more on the unexplained quad mysteries list.

If anything, it’s a double mystery as they moved to Atco from ABC in 1972. Record companies only grab successful acts from other labels. By definition, they’ve already proven they can sell records. The usual custom, at least at CBS, was to welcome the newly signed act with a quad version of their first release on the new label. Examples include first CBS releases by Herbie Hancock (Sextant) and Tower of Power (Ain’t Nothin’ Stoppin’ Us Now), plus Burton Cummings’ self-titled CBS debut after leaving RCA in 1975. Where was James Gang’s “welcome quad”?

Speaking of Atlantic Records, J. Geils Band is another strange case. Had they followed the “post-hit” rule, their first Gold record Bloodshot should have made its antecedent Ladies Invited a quad release, but it was passed over in favor of the #26 Nightmares. Stranger still, Bloodshot was at some point announced for quad release. Go figure.

And there’s this one we missed:

Donny Hathaway - Extension of a Man (#69) after Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway (#3).

Yeah I was thinking "Funk 49 " and another tune "Walk Away " they had, which I heard plenty of back when .
Atco grabbed em in 72 , yet , sheesh. They really should have taken their ABC catalogue then.


Also Eric Clapton might be a candidate , what with his mega hit "Cocaine" -and no quad . Of course it was the end of the line at the time for WEA for quads then.