Quad LP/Tape Poll Fireballet: Night On Bald Mountain [QS]

Passport PPSD-98010 from 1975, QS-only release.

Side 1:

Les Cathedrales
Centurion (Tales of Fireball Kids)
The Fireballet

Side 2:

Atmospheres

Night On Bald Mountain (Suite)

a. Night On Bald Mountain
b. Night-Tale
c. The Engulfed Cathedral
d. Night-Tale (Reprise)
e. Night On Bald Mountain (Finale)





ED

Thanks for starting a poll on this release!

From the lack of responses before mine, I would guess this is probably an obscure title. I had never heard of this (never mind heard the music) prior to the summer of 2013 when it was released as a decode on the Dreaming Spires site. I dutifully pulled it down for a spin, and I am glad I did. This is among my favorite "discoveries" from the site: very proggy and very discrete.

The music reminds me at times of Yes, Camel, Elton John, and even an old Alice Cooper track called Titanic Overature from the 1969 album "Pretties for You."

Here you will find plenty of layering, instruments including synths, acoustic keyboards and guitars, flute (and many more), and mystical lyrics... all the ingredients of classic 1970s prog. Plus I like the cover art - again in the vein of 1970s prog art.

In summary, if 1970s prog is in the scope of your tastes, I recommend this recording, and the quad mix of it, as excellent surround listening. I rate this a 9.

A tip of the hat to OD for his tireless efforts to propagate classic quad in a properly decoded discrete format.

i should listen it again to be able to vote as i don't remember how it sound after decoding from matrix.
but still remember i was quite impressed by music, albeit unlike Fourplay, their music for me more associated with early Genesis.

Actually, this album did Ok in the US, probably because it garnered some FM airplay, enough to get it on the charts. The band was generally unknown here but this is the kind of prog rock young America was amenable to, and many albums working the same turf did well also.

ED

0tto said:

their music for me more associated with early Genesis.

Click to expand...

I can hang with that as well. It is a melange of prog influences of the 1970s, and one can hear the influences of many bands. I heard an ELP-like riff in there at one point, although I would not say they sound like ELP...

I just ordered this on CD from Italy via Discogs, the Italian release is possibly QS encoded (according to the Surround Discography), thought it was worth a punt.

A very good QS listen, my guess is that any CD release of it would have the encoding intact. It is a relatively "easy find" here in the States for the LP. Certainly recommended. John

Just tracked down some tracks from this on Youtube. I'll have to pick up the CD or the Amazon MP3s, though I lack QS decoding abilities. Does anyone know if QS encoding survives MP3 compression, assuming high enough bitrates?

Well the Italian CD of this turned up. The good news, its nice Prog rock similar to Genesis/Yes/Gentle Giant/King Crimson etc. in the mid-1970s, it was recorded in 1975. It states it was mixed into QS Quad. As I haven't got a Surround Master yet (waiting for the next version) I listened to it via DD Prologic II: Music mode (which worked better than Neo), and there is quite a lot going on in surround for the first 5 tracks of the original album. Not so much with the Bonus tracks.

The bad news, the Italian CD is sourced from Vinyl, both the 5 original tracks and the 7 bonuses (at least it wasn't expensive!). The distortion levels can get quite bad, along with clicks, pops etc. So I wouldn't recommend getting the Italian released CD. Has anybody got one of the Re-Masters listed on amazon, which might well be from the original master tapes.

I wish Audio Fidelity would issue this on SACD.

There is an official remastered release of both Fireballet albums available from Inner Knot here in the US. They may also be the distributors elsewhere. The QS is still intact for NOBM, and would probably sound good with a new decode.

I do remember buying both albums back in the day and enjoying them but not much else. I much preferred Bo Hansson and have 2 of his CDs.