SPOTLIGHT Joni Mitchell The Asylum Albums (1972-1975) (Quadio Boxed Set)
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jamoke
Senior Member
I've only listened to selected tracks on two discs (FTR and AOM) as I was interested in hearing the Quad mixes of each.
I can say this....This IS a mind blowing experience for this Joni fan!
The Quad mix on AOM is very very good. It is immersive and puts you in the middle of the stage. Can't help but wonder why this never seen the light of day?
Joni across the front with lead guitar in rear left, keyboards in rear right, horns across the back. Very nice.
The AOM Atmos is like listening in a completely different venue. I prefer the Quad on some tracks and Atmos on others.
The Quad for FTR is good, but the Atmos is "Blow you away" good with the Sonics and mix.
Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire in Atmos is a religious experience for me.
SO much more to dig into, but GAWD, this is good.
Your gonna love it!
I can say this....This IS a mind blowing experience for this Joni fan!
The Quad mix on AOM is very very good. It is immersive and puts you in the middle of the stage. Can't help but wonder why this never seen the light of day?
Joni across the front with lead guitar in rear left, keyboards in rear right, horns across the back. Very nice.
The AOM Atmos is like listening in a completely different venue. I prefer the Quad on some tracks and Atmos on others.
The Quad for FTR is good, but the Atmos is "Blow you away" good with the Sonics and mix.
Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire in Atmos is a religious experience for me.
SO much more to dig into, but GAWD, this is good.
Your gonna love it!
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VERY gratifying to hear that MILES OF AISLES has a discrete soundstage. Released in 1974 as a double LP, it probably wasn't commercially released as a CD~4 as even then QUAD was beginning to wane in popularity but it did reach #2 on the Billboard charts and I consider it a TREASURE nonetheless!
Thanks for your mini reviews. Extremely encouraging!
I'll be ordering with the next batch of QUADIOS in early May.
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1974 was when the labels did deep dives into the catalogs looking at remixing some slightly older but big hit albums. The sky seemed the limit and the quadraphonic bins at the stores were bulging with brand new and some slightly older titles mixed in quad.
Joni’s live album being a double LP set, I’d expect that they held off waiting to see how the album in general was going to perform. Then it got lost and fell through the cracks as quad really did begin to lose traction in late ‘75. Or the labels began to release less and by ‘76 its fate was sealed. I was still looking for quad versions of albums in ‘75 and the bins were loaded up that summer I can attest. So exciting to my little mind that was being blown by the thought of hearing these killer albums in four fricken channels.
Joni’s live album being a double LP set, I’d expect that they held off waiting to see how the album in general was going to perform. Then it got lost and fell through the cracks as quad really did begin to lose traction in late ‘75. Or the labels began to release less and by ‘76 its fate was sealed. I was still looking for quad versions of albums in ‘75 and the bins were loaded up that summer I can attest. So exciting to my little mind that was being blown by the thought of hearing these killer albums in four fricken channels.
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Fine if they want to try out different plane routes and airlines, but their previous problems seemed to be their packing and shipping routines right there at the input of order and output of shipping labels, and the physical wrapping up of four simple discs and then the repeat of that exact same transaction 600 to 800 times exactly the same.
So thankful for the good news, and attention to detail here.
I received a box today. The return address says it is from: Joni Mitchell, 1 Viper Way, Ste B, Vista,CA 92081. How cool is that!
I absolutely love this box set. It has three studio albums and one live album (1972-75). It includes stereo, Quadio, and Dolby Atmos mixes. The songcraft, performance, and sound production are absolutely stellar. A few favorite songs are "Court and Spark," "The Jungle Line," and "Shadows and Light." It has been such a pleasure to revisit these songs (and listen to some for the first time). I give this my highest recommendation.
What's interesting about it being a double album is that they did release the MJQ Live album, which was a double LP Quadradisc. I don't know how many of those got pressed, but I can tell you as a quad freak from almost the beginning, I never saw this double album in a record store when quad albums were available. The first time I saw one was when I was visiting Pittsfield, Mass for work and I stopped into the (at the time) famous Berkshire Record Outlet, which was essentially a barn filled with records for sale. They had a ton of cut-outs, and in those cut-outs were about 15 copies of the MJQ Live double Quadradisc!!
Even on eBay this double album rarely shows up whenever I've been looking through the quad stuff
Now, you would think that the folks at WB would think that a Joni live album would sell more than a live jazz album, so I am not sure if the fact that it was a double impacted it's appearance or not. Could be. But whatever it was, it's a shame, as it would have been a highly sought after release back in 1975 or so
For the labels the writing was already on the wall for quad by the end of 1974 - sales peaked in '73, and in that business if you're not growing, you're dying. Consumer sales of recorded tape (one of the best ways to get quad) was also in sharp decline - Ampex got out of that business in 1975 and so did GRT and Stereotape (who sold their quad business to The Reel Society) which tells you how fast the popularity of the 8-track, which was like the cultural equivalent of the iPod in terms of introducing portability to music 10 years previous was declining.
Against that backdrop, it's my feeling that WEA probably looked at their quad sales and felt like with two studio albums out in quad in early 1974 and late 1975 that were probably selling a 10th (if they were lucky) of their stereo counterparts, that the market for Joni in quad was probably well-enough saturated and that trying to sell a live album in quad was a fool's errand.
It's also possible that all of the well-documented trouble they had trying (and failing) to get a satisfactory CD-4 cutting of ELP's Welcome Back My Friends live album the year before may have also contributed to them being gun-shy about releasing Miles of Aisles in quad, especially knowing that all that mastering work was going into something that might only sell tens of thousands of copies at best.
Against that backdrop, it's my feeling that WEA probably looked at their quad sales and felt like with two studio albums out in quad in early 1974 and late 1975 that were probably selling a 10th (if they were lucky) of their stereo counterparts, that the market for Joni in quad was probably well-enough saturated and that trying to sell a live album in quad was a fool's errand.
It's also possible that all of the well-documented trouble they had trying (and failing) to get a satisfactory CD-4 cutting of ELP's Welcome Back My Friends live album the year before may have also contributed to them being gun-shy about releasing Miles of Aisles in quad, especially knowing that all that mastering work was going into something that might only sell tens of thousands of copies at best.
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I was more surprised that none of Joni's magnificent REPRISE albums were never remixed and released by WB in CD~4 ...not to mention James Taylor's Sweet Baby James and Mud, Slide, Slim. Whoever was in charge of these QUAD releases obviously failed to cater to popular demand.
And of course without a world wide internet at the time, most QUAD releases were unceremoniously placed in bins apart from their stereo counterparts and no one really knew what was available.....especially in Japan!
Advertising for QUAD in those days was relegated to stereophile rags and we all know where that went: KAPUT!
Even though Miles of Aisles did reach #2 on the Billboard charts ....... and was remixed for QUAD ......it does not bode well for the folks at her record label who didn't deem it worthy of a CD~4 or for that matter a Dolby b Quad Open Reel release.
It only took 50 years but alas, it's here and sounding better than EVER!
Probably Asylum and Atlantic were run as completely different labels and only pressing and distribution was under WEA.
Both MOI and MJQ should have both been on Reels in quad for their markets. But it still would not have saved quad in the 70s.
Very sad that something good for the listeners, and that got that much product to market just died on the vine.
Flash forward to 2024 and several labels issuing those old mixes and they sound so often incredible.
The only question I have is what could be next from Rhino, Sony Japan, and DV? How many more real classic albums with stellar surround mixes can come out in the new immersive formatted discs? How many great ones have blocks on them from ever being heard. I think there are years worth of very nice high-quality quad masters sitting there, if they can be cleared and the tapes located. I’m still excited and so glad music on disc has not gone extinct yet.
(Edit)
I found a Mint / Sealed copy of the CD-4 MJQ LP at the Pasadena City Swap Meet for $10. Did a needle drop of the CD-4 in stereo and it sounds wonderful. I then listened to the reg stereo release on CD, and it sounds wonderful in a different way. It’s just a really good recording and hearing that Joni MOA has strong quad mix gives me more hope for this one too.
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Decided I needed this after listening to the Atmos mixes on Apple Music, but had a hard time ordering it and use the bonus code. Tried both Opera and Chrome with no luck, but at last I got my order in with Edge. 
My Fedex drivers like to leave boxes out in the open or in front of a garage door so it can get rained on or run over backing out.
Mine is now coming today, not tomorrow. Joni's box. 
Rain has just moved in, and luckily, working from my home office today. I can grab it before it sits in the rain.
Rain has just moved in, and luckily, working from my home office today. I can grab it before it sits in the rain.
Now you are rubbing salt in my wounds! In 1973 Quad was still in its infancy. The industry had just been born and was quickly killed off (infanticide!) before being given half a chance. I didn't get my first (non-logic) decoder until late 1973 or 1974. I remember reading reports that sales were down in 1975 but that was attributed the recession. IMHO the early adopters are often early quitters as well!
Steretape may have been sold but tapes were still being made in the late seventies, under that brand name. I didn't get my reel to reel until mid 1979, I started purchasing tapes about a year before that. CD-4 continued to improve into the late seventies. The industry in general had jumped in before the technology was ready, before the public was ready and then exited even faster. In 1973-74 CD-4 was still very problematical, it would have been difficult for anyone but a dedicated "Quadraphile" to achieve satisfactory results. Better demodulators and better records came latter as quad was slowly being murdered!
The 8-track was getting stiff competition from cassettes which had been greatly improved fidelity wise. Still in the mid seventies I remember it being hard to find a cassette deck for the car as everything was still 8-track. Philips wouldn't allow quad cassettes, without splitting the narrow tracks further (not practical). Tape was the best way to achieve discrete quad but packing double the tape into a cartridge, especially those poorly designed ones was problematic. I still remember people saying just how good 8-tracks sound, it depends on what you are comparing to. The 8-track remained viable until the early eighties, its demise had nothing to do with quad but it was simply displaced by the cassette.
Owen Smith
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
The UK was different, 8-track never took off here even in stereo (ignoring our rather different quad scene).
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