More Santana Surround Sound SACD Reissues from Sony Japan?

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Unless Sony are willing to adapt a similar concept that Warner Music & Rhino Records did with the Chicago Quadio box set, I think the only way we will see any Santana Quadraphonic mixes reissued is through Sony Japan on Multichannel SACD in the very expensive 7" packages.

The Sony Japan Multichannel SACDs by Jeff Beck and Santana were released in conjunction with upcoming tours in Japan.
So the real question, as it relates to more Santana Multichannel SACDs, is when will Santana be touring in Japan in the future? :)
 
Played it again this evening. Really, really needs a quad reissue. AF, go for it, there has to be money in this title.

ED :)
 
Played it again this evening. Really, really needs a quad reissue. AF, go for it, there has to be money in this title.

ED :)

One of those $50 discs with 7-inch packaging from SONY Japan seems more likely...really not sure why they went for Lotus first but maybe they'll get to it.

One of the best quad albums I've heard IMO. Love the front-back harmonies in "Shades of Time". The SQ through involve decoder is pretty good but the discrete mix is unreal
 
Ed Bishop said:
Played it again this evening. Really, really needs a quad reissue. AF, go for it, there has to be money in this title.

Santana Abraxas was recently remastered and released on Hybrid Stereo SACD and Vinyl LP by Mobile Fidelity.
So it's unavailable for Audio Fidelity and other reissue labels for release on SACD and LP until those licenses expire.
 
Santana Abraxas was recently remastered and released on Hybrid Stereo SACD and Vinyl LP by Mobile Fidelity.
So it's unavailable for Audio Fidelity and other reissue labels for release on SACD and LP until those licenses expire.

Brian, Abraxas was Santana's second album but MoFi also released Santana's debut album as a Stereo SACD a few years ago. https://www.musicdirect.com/optical-disc/santana-santana-numbered-limited-edition-hybrid-sacd

So they would BOTH be off the table as potential AF Quads but rife as 'potential' SONY Japan SACD QUAD releases.
 
Brian, Abraxas was Santana's second album but MoFi also released Santana's debut album as a Stereo SACD a few years ago. https://www.musicdirect.com/optical-disc/santana-santana-numbered-limited-edition-hybrid-sacd

So they would BOTH be off the table as potential AF Quads but rife as 'potential' SONY Japan SACD QUAD releases.

We just need to wait for that next Santana Tour in Japan when Sony Music Japan may do some reissues as a tie-in.
As they did with Santana Lotus Complete Edition and the Jeff Beck reissues.
 
We just need to wait for that next Santana Tour in Japan when Sony Music Japan may do some reissues as a tie-in.
As they did with Santana Lotus Complete Edition and the Jeff Beck reissues.

Let's hope SONY Japan will base their judgment on just how well the Lotus QUAD SACDs sold and we all pretty much know the Sony Japan Jeff Beck SACDs were a success. :banana:
 
we all pretty much know the Sony Japan Jeff Beck SACDs were a success. :banana:


We do?
How?

If you're taking about the recent Japan-only Wired release, it's high-price ($55+) and odd size spells niche release if ever there were one. I find no evidence of it breaking any sales records.

No idea how well Blow by Blow sold in US or Japan, but the SACD has been out for nearly two decades.
 
We do?
How?

If you're taking about the recent Japan-only Wired release, it's high-price ($55+) and odd size spells niche release if ever there were one. I find no evidence of it breaking any sales records.

No idea how well Blow by Blow sold in US or Japan, but the SACD has been out for nearly two decades.

I don't think any physical disc release these days is in any danger of breaking any sales records. I think what he was referring to was the fact that the series of Jeff Beck SACDs in Japan (which were all in the same 7" form factor, and which all retailed for the same price) must have been a success due to the fact that in under two years they issued all the Jeff Beck quad mixes (Jeff Beck Group, Rough & Ready, Beck Bogert & Appice, Blow By Blow, Wired). Given that these discs were released one at a time with a 4-6 month gap between each, I think it's fair to assume each disc was meeting whatever P&L expectations Sony Japan had.

I especially think this is the case given that they did the Santana Lotus SACD after the Jeff Beck series, which with 3 discs, ridiculously lavish artwork, and a bunch of new stereo and quad mixes for the bonus disc must have cost them way more to produce than any of the Jeff Beck SACDs. There's no way they would have embarked on something like that if they thought it was going to be a loss-making project - they could have just as easily decided to reissue all of these discs as CD-only but they've obviously chosen SACD (and multi-channel/quad at that) for a reason.

Obviously that's no guarantee there will be more releases like this, but to me those discs were a really positive sign for the future of multi-channel SACD out of Asia. I also think the fact that other territories like Hong Kong are now re-issuing OOP SACDs also backs up the idea that these are selling well enough, or that there's enough interest for them. Of course they're not of much interest to us because we already have most of these discs from 15 years ago, but I think that major labels these days are so cautious and conservative that they'll always go for the low-hanging fruit first - in this case discs like Carole King and Billy Joel that were already mixed, mastered and authored for SACD. This is exactly what they did with Jeff Beck's Blow By Blow for their 7" reissue series - just re-used the old SACD in new packaging, but then after that the good stuff (ie the previously un-reissued quads) came out. I don't see why that can't happen with other ones as well - if the Carole King & Billy Joel discs sell well for example, I don't think its out of the realm of possibility for Sony to dig up their old quads (Music, Fantasy & Rhymes & Reasons for Carole, Piano Man, Streetlife Serenade, and Turnstiles for Billy) and put them out. They already have a DSD master of Streetlife Serenade to work with courtesy of AF's quad release from a couple of years ago.
 
If there was ever going to be a Santana Quadraphonic collection, I think it would have to be called "CuadrafĂłnico" (Just sayin...)

But here's the thing, if Sony aren't willing to reissue the Santana Quadraphonic mixes themselves, I wonder if an independent label like Real Gone Music could license the albums and release them as a Blu-Ray Audio box set. (For more insight, Real Gone Music are the label that's about to release the single disc Alan Parsons Project Blu-Ray of "Eye in the Sky")

Of course, maybe Dutton Vocalion could release a Santana SACD box set (but I prefer Blu-Ray over SACD anyday) and while I like the idea of Sony Japan releasing the SACDs in the elaborate 7" packaging series, if they did that for all of Santana's Quadraphonic mixes, that could get rather expensive...

(This is all just me thinking out loud on Sunday morning...)

:)
 
If there was ever going to be a Santana Quadraphonic collection, I think it would have to be called "CuadrafĂłnico" (Just sayin...)

But here's the thing, if Sony aren't willing to reissue the Santana Quadraphonic mixes themselves, I wonder if an independent label like Real Gone Music could license the albums and release them as a Blu-Ray Audio box set. (For more insight, Real Gone Music are the label that's about to release the single disc Alan Parsons Project Blu-Ray of "Eye in the Sky")

Of course, maybe Dutton Vocalion could release a Santana SACD box set (but I prefer Blu-Ray over SACD anyday) and while I like the idea of Sony Japan releasing the SACDs in the elaborate 7" packaging series, if they did that for all of Santana's Quadraphonic mixes, that could get rather expensive...

(This is all just me thinking out loud on Sunday morning...)

:)

Since Sony Music has approved many SACD licensing requests, starting from the day the SACD format was launched, I doubt they would hold back on future Santana SACD reissues.
The bigger question, as is often the case, is what is the artist interest and licensing request for such a reissue series.
 
If there was ever going to be a Santana Quadraphonic collection, I think it would have to be called "CuadrafĂłnico" (Just sayin...)

But here's the thing, if Sony aren't willing to reissue the Santana Quadraphonic mixes themselves, I wonder if an independent label like Real Gone Music could license the albums and release them as a Blu-Ray Audio box set. (For more insight, Real Gone Music are the label that's about to release the single disc Alan Parsons Project Blu-Ray of "Eye in the Sky")

Of course, maybe Dutton Vocalion could release a Santana SACD box set (but I prefer Blu-Ray over SACD anyday) and while I like the idea of Sony Japan releasing the SACDs in the elaborate 7" packaging series, if they did that for all of Santana's Quadraphonic mixes, that could get rather expensive...

(This is all just me thinking out loud on Sunday morning...)

:)

Real Gone Music is an interesting prospect for new releases...it appears that Eye In The Sky is their most ambitious project to date....I like the fact that they have released some Johnny Mathis lately...on CD...AND they actually have a suggestion box for new releases HERE
 
If there was ever going to be a Santana Quadraphonic collection, I think it would have to be called "CuadrafĂłnico" (Just sayin...)
....:)

funny you should say that because Carlos barely speaks decent spanish and his LPs as full of "pidgin spanish"..maybe "cuadraphoniq" or something like that...

:smokin
 
We just need to wait for that next Santana Tour in Japan when Sony Music Japan may do some reissues as a tie-in.
As they did with Santana Lotus Complete Edition and the Jeff Beck reissues.

Carlo is not getting younger, better hope he stays healthy if that is the criteria.
 
Obviously that's no guarantee there will be more releases like this, but to me those discs were a really positive sign for the future of multi-channel SACD out of Asia. I also think the fact that other territories like Hong Kong are now re-issuing OOP SACDs also backs up the idea that these are selling well enough, or that there's enough interest for them.

Bob Dylan is on tour in Hong Kong this coming August....and the annual Hong Kong High-End Audio Visual Show will take place one week after his show. Anyone see a "sales opportunity"?
 
All this talk about the Doobies, and that's fine with me - but if there's an artist deserving of a quadio box, it's Carlos Santana. Look at all the quad releases under his name (sometimes shared):

Santana (1st Album)
Abraxas
Santana (3rd Album)
Caravanserai
Welcome
Lotus
Borboletta
Amigos
Festival
Greatest Hits

plus:
Illuminations - with Alice Coltrane
Live - with Buddy Miles
Love, Devotion, Surrender - with John McLaughlin

And if you really want to shoot for the moon, they also did a live BBC show that was mixed to quad as well. Now, CBS might own the masters so they may not lend them out to Rhino too quickly (as opposed to Chicago, who control of their masters when CBS let them go before '16'). But this is quad at its finest - let's call for it!

One last P.S. - the current 'Lotus' CD is made from the master which was SQ encoded. So it you've got a decoder and the CD, heaven already awaits you!
 
All this talk about the Doobies, and that's fine with me - but if there's an artist deserving of a quadio box, it's Carlos Santana. Look at all the quad releases under his name (sometimes shared):

Santana (1st Album)
Abraxas
Santana (3rd Album)
Caravanserai
Welcome
Lotus
Borboletta
Amigos
Festival
Greatest Hits

plus:
Illuminations - with Alice Coltrane
Live - with Buddy Miles
Love, Devotion, Surrender - with John McLaughlin

And if you really want to shoot for the moon, they also did a live BBC show that was mixed to quad as well. Now, CBS might own the masters so they may not lend them out to Rhino too quickly (as opposed to Chicago, who control of their masters when CBS let them go before '16'). But this is quad at its finest - let's call for it!

One last P.S. - the current 'Lotus' CD is made from the master which was SQ encoded. So it you've got a decoder and the CD, heaven already awaits you!

Don't forget that Lotus was also released as a Hybrid Stereo/Quad SACD in Japan recently. :)
 
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