According to this Billboard article of October 13, 1973, a new Quad title for Neil Young was supposed to come out in November. Neil Young is specifically mentioned twice here:
October 13, 1973
Warner Bros. 'Q' Tape Success;
2 Tapes Reaching 15,000 Sales;
Big Span of Music Categories
By BOB KIRSCH
LOS ANGELES-
Warner Bros. Records received a lot of publicity when they released their share of the WEA quadrasonic disk release several months ago, but Warner's 4-channel 8-track release is also doing well, with two of the releases hovering around the 15,000 mark in sales from branches to retail accounts.
According to Warner Bros. director of tape operations Lou Dennis, the two releases seeing most action at the present are Seals & Crofts' "Diamond Girl" and the Doobie Brothers' "The Captain and Me." The other five tapes in the release—Arlo Guthrie's "Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys,” Frank Sinatra's "My Way," the Mystic Moods' "Awakening," and releases from Brad Miller and the San Sebastian Strings—are also moving well according to Dennis.
Dennis added that while the rock tapes seem to be moving fastest, Warners will continue to offer product in a broad range of musical categories. "We have no intention of ignoring any segment of the record buying public," he said. "The reason the rock tapes are moving a little better than the others is probably because the consumer buying quadrasonic tapes and records is the same consumer purchasing stereo disks and tapes, and rock is still the biggest seller."
The label is already planning their November quadrasonic release for disk and tape, which will include a new Neil Young LP, Alice Cooper's "Billion Dollar Babies," James Taylor's "One Man Dog," The Mothers of Inventions' "Overnite Sensation," the Mystic Moods' "Clear Light" and several others.
Dennis said he has already had several reorders from his branches on the initial release. "This is a good sign,” he said, "because this signifies to us that the retail account is asking for more product from the branches.
Q Choice Selective
"We're trying to get new product, such as the Neil Young, out," Dennis continued, "because much of this is recorded in 4-channel. But we are also taking some catalog product which is suitable for remixing into quadrasonic. The suitability is very important to us, and we also have to have the approval of our engineering department and the producer involved. We refuse to remix a tape so it's nothing more than sound coming from four speakers."
Dennis said that ads for the quadrasonic material is running in several cities and bag stuffers have been made available concerning 4-channel. The ads cover both disk and tape.
"We are attempting to move both at the same time," Dennis said.
"We're not really pushing one over the other because it's our goal to promote the 4-channel mode, not just tape or just disk."
The artwork on the 4-channel tape remains the same as on the stereo tape, but the slip case is a different color. The tape comes in a grey case and "Quadraphonic" is listed across the top several times.
The list price of $7.97 is price coded on the spine with a separate prefix indicating quadrasonic.
Q Buyer Demographics
There is one unique point about the quadrasonic tape releases. It is not Warner Bros. policy to release every LP in tape format, but in the quadrasonic mode, every disk issued in 4-channel form will also be made available in 8-track tape form.
"Probably the main reason for this,"
Dennis explained, "is that we are
being extremely selective with what we release in 4-channel. We will have established product or new product by established artists. And we will also offer material from time to time which is basically sound effects oriented, such as "Sounds of the Southern Railroad Steamengines."
Dennis offered another reason for offering a broad variety of music in the initial quadrasonic releases. "Besides the fact that we want to appeal to all buyers, we also want to find out what is going to sell best in the 4-channel configuration," Dennis said. "There is really no way to discover this unless we mix up the kind of music in the initial releases."
Talking about the current and upcoming releases, Dennis said he is excited about the response from the branches "because this means they are reordering material that has already gone into the retail account. It doesn't mean that the branches are being loaded up. We're also looking forward to the two and a half month period before Christmas, since this is traditionally the time that hardware as well as software sells well. For example, cassette hardware sales always pick up well during that time and the software follows suit. It will be interesting to see if there is a comparison in the 4-channel field. In other words, if the equipment sales pick up, it is quite possible the software sales will be bigger than ever."
Warners has issued a special order form covering quadrasonic tapes and disks for retail salesmen and retailers.
