Counterfeit & Pirate Quadraphonic Recordings

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Mark Anderson

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I recently removed some Counterfeit/Pirate recordings from the discographies and decided to move them to a Counterfeit & Pirate Quadraphonic Recording Discography hoping to alert unsuspecting folks from spending money on something that will probably not enjoy. It is not intended to be a complete list but it is a start.
I hope it helps. Where a Koupin label red vinyl CD-4 pressing might look desirable, it is the sound that counts and those just do not do it.
Thanks go out to Nick Perugini for being a sounding board and answering questions.
 
Mark, are you saying that Kuopin LP's are counterfeits? I assumed they were genuine, made from used stampers from Japan. I only have one, but it plays at least as well as most of my US CD4 titles. It has a bit of surface noise, but so do most Chinese LP's I have ever owned.
 
I knew that only a few pressing plants were capable of making CD-4 stamper and conferred with Nick to verify. He owns some counterfeit titles but also discussed releases with JVC employees over the years to confirm. They were not licensed and were likely made from the original records.
 
Thanks Mark for this new section. I have seen a lot of Yung Feng CD4 on ebay in the years, will go deep down to see some titles to add.
Maybe also a section for counterfeit/pirate q8?
 
Back in the day, just about any album coming out of Taiwan was illegit in some way, definitely counterfeits, though sometimes (oddly enough) someone would contrive some unique and original artwork, which is about the only collector value any of these deserve. They do indeed sound dubbed from vinyl sources, and the pressings are generally inferior and surface noise generally the rule.

The only time I've bought these is for sheer novelty value: different artwork (usually, a bad copy of the original cover is what you get), colored vinyl (lots of those) or unusual compilations of hits (which was done regularly in the late '60s, collections dubbed from 45 sources).

I have come across a few titles claiming quad, and they probably were. But anything Taiwan is generally gonna suck, at least if it's from the '60s & 70s.

ED :)
 
Here's the best addition of that page:

Just stumbled upon this page, and have something to add.

Jeff's explanation is only partially accurate. The Taiwanese bootleggers would sometimes acquire two legit copies of the record - one for each side - and then make new metal stampers *directly from those records* as if they were acetate cuttings. No dubbing involved.

This would destroy the originals, just as it does an acetate cutting, but doing it this way nearly always resulted in much better quality than a needle-drop dub. The quality of the result would depend on the condition and quality of the original, since all scratches, groove wear and pressing defects would also be transferred to all the copies. But this explains how the trailoff groove matrix numbers can be identical to official pressings from other countries.

Records made in this manner were generally trimmed a bit smaller than a "normal" record, since it was difficult to get a playable impression of the very edge of the lead-in groove.
 
Back in 1976-77, I did run into John Lennon's supposed Quad "Mind Games" at "Rather Ripped Records" in Berkeley CA., just north of the UC campus. It was not sealed in the ordinary sense, you could open the loose wrapping and look at the record. It was questionable from the start with the thin vinyl and Taiwanese lettering. The store had the Japanese Quads and those were for real, so it was not unusual to find rare items from all over the world. They did sell actual bootleg records of different titles. So we knew what we were dealing with here.

I asked the clerk about this title to confirm my suspicions, as you could tell it was not for real. Not only that, it looked like it would not play good at all. That's what made me suspicious to begin with. The store clerk recommended I not buy and I agreed. No regrets there, obvious fake of low quality.
 
Thanks Mark for this new section. I have seen a lot of Yung Feng CD4 on ebay in the years, will go deep down to see some titles to add.
Maybe also a section for counterfeit/pirate q8?

I think that is a great idea. I have not kept track of all the ones i have run over the years so could use some help as I only have a dozen or so to add to the list. I really never saw a need for a Q8 counterfeit list as I thought they were so obvious looking but more info will help someone. Now that I think about it I didn't list them so not to promote illegal activities but that does not hold any water since I do have bootlegs of quad radio broadcasts listed and now they can be put on a counterfeit list!
 
Say Mark,

Would you not only include the discs from the "AMAZING KORNYFONE" and "QUADRAPIG" labels?

I have those currently listed on the popular discography but it is no way complete or updated keeping track of every variation. More a list to alert a collector that some of those big bands had a quad release, even if it does not create a great quad effect from the KBFH broadcast. I always looked at a bootleg differently to a counterfeit, a little less offensive. But that is just me.
 
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