Suggestions for Audio Fidelity Multichannel SACD Releases

[rtbluray]

They didn't say no, that's something

True, but I guess I'm spoiled by the more personable responses from Marshall and Audio Fidelity. I think all 6 of these titles could have a good shot just because Mobile Fidelity hasn't snatched up any of these yet for reissue on Stereo SACD, so Hope Springs Eternal!

 

[marpow]

Aerosmith, multichannel, count me in.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

True, but I guess I'm spoiled by the more personable responses from Marshall and Audio Fidelity. I think all 6 of these titles could have a good shot just because Mobile Fidelity hasn't snatched up any of these yet for reissue on Stereo SACD, so Hope Springs Eternal!

You are generally going to get that type of "automated" response...Marshall is certainly the exception to the rule...if you emailed MoFi it would probably go in their spam filter...by design:violin

 

[JanBakker]

Unfortunately what I got back just now was a somewhat canned response. Observe:


BTW if I would recommend other specific titles besides those, it would be these:
Isley Brothers "3+3"
Marvin Gaye: "Midnight Love"
O'Jays: "Ship Ahoy"
Weather Report: "Mysterious Traveller"

In my puberty I jumped from what everybody liked straight to the New wave of british heavy metal so your other suggestions are probably more welcome to others, sorry about that

Edit: These days I like a lot of different music styles but that came with age

 

[rtbluray]

In my puberty I jumped from what everybody liked straight to the New wave of british heavy metal so your other suggestions are probably more welcome to others, sorry about that

Edit: These days I like a lot of different music styles but that came with age

The feeling's mutual. The other 4 suggestions are not at the top of my list (though they may be at the tops of others' lists) but my musical tastes have also expanded over the years, especially in this last year due to Audio Fidelity's phenomenal Multichannel SACD series, so now almost anything is an option for me.

 

[hirez]

Unfortunately what I got back just now was a somewhat canned response. Observe:


BTW if I would recommend other specific titles besides those, it would be these:
Isley Brothers "3+3"
Marvin Gaye: "Midnight Love"
O'Jays: "Ship Ahoy"
Weather Report: "Mysterious Traveller"

I would pass on the other 3 but I do have the SACD MCH(4.0) release of Mysterious Traveller and do play it occasionally. I find the high end a bit on the hard side but the music itself is great.

The stereo single layer SACD of Heavy Weather isn't bad but it still suffers the hard high end of Mysterious Traveller.

If I recall rightly Weather Report put out 4 consectutive SQ LPs starting with Mysterious Traveller and I had all of them and enjoyed them all.

 

[4-earredwonder]

You are generally going to get that type of "automated" response...Marshall is certainly the exception to the rule...if you emailed MoFi it would probably go in their spam filter...by design:violin

No, Clint. When you email MoFi regarding anything to do with multichannel they politely inform you that all they're interested in is replicating the sound of the ORIGINAL stereo [or MONO] master tapes....as if a QUAD or 5.1 mix is an abomination of the original artist intent!

At least AP is [occasionally] including the mch track when it's available to them.

Makes one realize what a TRUE maverick AF and Marshall Blonstein remain in an industry where 'originality' is a dirty word.

Would I buy Blow by Blow AGAIN......not likely as my original single layered mch BBB is scrumptious!

 

[cupboy]

Other than the Dylan, what's next on AF SACD? Any rumours yet?

 

[rtbluray]

Other than the Dylan, what's next on AF SACD? Any rumours yet?

Nah, they already released "Rumours" on Multichannel SACD a few years ago… :ugham:
But in all seriousness though, no news on what the next release after Dylan will be, but if there is to be one (or two) in April, we'll probably know within the next few weeks.

 

[Q-Eight]

Seeing as how Audio Fidelity has strayed from it's "Rock Only" mantra, why not throw in some country releases?

Waylon Jennings : Lonesome/On'ry/Mean (great mix and good tunes!)
Jerry Reed : Any/All of the three
Dolly Parton : Bubbling Over, Real Live Dolly
John Denver : Poems/Prayers/Promises, see what the unreleased album is - might be Rocky Mountain High

Still Holding out for:

Janis Joplin : Pearl
The Raiders : Indian Reservation
Edgar Winter : White Trash, They Only come out at Night, Shock Treatment, etc.
Johnny Winter : J.D. Winter III, Saints/Sinners, etc
Aerosmith: Rocks, Toys
David Essex : Rock On


I'd love it if they could discover/unearth a previously unknown Quad Mix of the O'Jays : Backstabbers. Everything else was in Quad, why wouldn't their album with TWO #1 hits not be?

 

[The Rang]

Everything on that list looks good to especially the rock titles, though Jerry Reed intrigues me too.

Don't hold out much hope for Pearl though, I believe it's on Mofis release schedule

 

[bmoura]

Seeing as how Audio Fidelity has strayed from it's "Rock Only" mantra, why not throw in some country releases?

Country and Soul albums don't tend to sell as well as Rock and Pop titles in the audiophile market that the Audio Fidelity Multichannel SACDs play in.
So I'd say that Country titles in Multichannel SACD would be long shots from Audio Fidelity.

 

[fredblue]

Country and Soul albums don't tend to sell as well as Rock and Pop titles in the audiophile market that the Audio Fidelity Multichannel SACDs play in.
So I'd say that Country titles in Multichannel SACD would be long shots from Audio Fidelity.

Well then, we better hope Dutton Vocalion carry on their great work with Surround SACDs in the Country genre at least

AF owe me/us nothing - and they have done the most stunning job with their Quad SACDs so far - but I'd be gutted if they don't bring out some more Soul now they're well and truly mining the vaults (look at that sampler they're working on.. The Isleys, The O'Jays, Harold Melvin, Earth Wind & Fire.. oh my God its like a treasure chest.. these R&B masterworks are clearly there at AF's disposal in Quad.. this is the best shot anyone's got to get them out in fabulous surround sound at last, please don't drop the ball guys! Or whatever the sporting metaphor is..

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Well then, we better hope Dutton Vocalion carry on their great work with Surround SACDs in the Country genre at least

AF owe me/us nothing - and they have done the most stunning job with their Quad SACDs so far - but I'd be gutted if they don't bring out some more Soul now they're well and truly mining the vaults (look at that sampler they're working on.. The Isleys, The O'Jays, Harold Melvin, Earth Wind & Fire.. oh my God its like a treasure chest.. these R&B masterworks are clearly there at AF's disposal in Quad.. this is the best shot anyone's got to get them out in fabulous surround sound at last, please don't drop the ball guys! Or whatever the sporting metaphor is..

I'd love more soul titles

 

[fredblue]

As long as the majority of the tracks on this comp haven't been previously released on SACD, I'll be ecstatic. At the very least it will serve to prove the existence of a whole bunch more quad masters.

If most (or some, at least) of the full albums that the tracks on this comp are being culled from are available for licensing, it might be wise for AF to run a poll (either on their website or facebook page) asking what track from the comp people liked most, as a way of seeing which artists/albums are in highest demand, and also to generate interest in future releases.

AF could do some Polls here if they're looking for targeted accurate feedback from their captive audience? Jon? Brian?

 

[Q-Eight]

Backstabbers and Love Train are in Quad, albeit on the Live album.

I know, but it's always been my hope that the Backstabbers album was prepared and mixed but for whatever reason left unreleased. It was a hugely popular album with a couple high-charting singles on it, and it was also right in the thick of the Quad-era at Columbia. It is however in the truncated 31xxx series of tapes. Why is this section so short? Who knows? But there are an awful lot of amazing albums during that time frame that did not come out in Quad.

 

[steelydave]

I know, but it's always been my hope that the Backstabbers album was prepared and mixed but for whatever reason left unreleased. It was a hugely popular album with a couple high-charting singles on it, and it was also right in the thick of the Quad-era at Columbia. It is however in the truncated 31xxx series of tapes. Why is this section so short? Who knows? But there are an awful lot of amazing albums during that time frame that did not come out in Quad.

The 31xxx series may be short in terms of pop stuff, but there aren't a lot of unallocated numbers (See here) as most of it went to Masterworks classical releases. As you can see from that list, when a classical box set had multiple discs, each disc got it's own catalog number which ate up tons of numbers.

I think there are less quad releases in the 31xxx series (relative to what came before and after) because most of the 30xxx series were from a buildup of titles mixed for quad in the year(s) before the quad program started in 1972, and then the 32xxx-34xxx series occurred during Columbia's most prolific period of quad releases, 1973-1975. I think it's just a coincidence that 31xxx occurred during that 'ramp up' period, and also as I said earlier, Columbia didn't seem to want to go back and remix older releases after that initial push that included Sly GH, Raiders, etc. The only 'catalog' title I can think of that came out after 1973 was the first Santana album in 1974, a mix that must have been done years before as it features on the Mike Robin quad reel list (and none of those titles were done after 1972). So it seems, for CBS's purposes, if something wasn't remixed for quad around the time the stereo version came out, it was in the past for them.

I think in the case of the Backstabbers album, they probably didn't expect it to be the massive hit that it was - the O'Jays had been around for more than 10 years at that point and had only had middling success. The group was actually considering disbanding in 1972, and two of the original members (they originally had 5 vocalists a la The Temptations) quit just before they started recording the Backstabbers album. So it's my belief that by the time the Backstabbers album was a big hit it was too far removed from the original mixing sessions for them to go back and do a quad mix, and so instead they just started mixing their subsequent releases for quad. The CBS catalog is littered with examples of that too, artists where the big hit album wasn't mixed in quad but the followup was - Johnny Nash and Wild Cherry both spring to mind.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Here's another clue for you all.........the Walrus was Marshall. :music

Oh yes, John Lennon on that sampler would be fine indeed.

but I don't think SONY/BMG has his music rights, just UMe.





but if AF now has UMe catalogue access? Well good news indeed.

 

[quicksrt]

As long as the majority of the tracks on this comp haven't been previously released on SACD, I'll be ecstatic. At the very least it will serve to prove the existence of a whole bunch more quad masters.

If most (or some, at least) of the full albums that the tracks on this comp are being culled from are available for licensing, it might be wise for AF to run a poll (either on their website or facebook page) asking what track from the comp people liked most, as a way of seeing which artists/albums are in highest demand, and also to generate interest in future releases.

We've had the long running polls for a while now. I think everyone knows what albums are desired. The sampler it looks like is a way to get some tracks released from the long list of titles that exist in decent shape, sound fine, but have fallen victim to being locked out of consideration due to a previous license (like MFSL) being granted for SACD. Santana, Dylan, and Nilsson, Miles Davis, Jeff Beck, and EW&F I think are all off the table for their albums coming out in the original quad mixes. Things change of course. But once Marshall stated that anything out or coming out on SACD / DSD elsewhere is most unlikely to be considered for AF. Then we could do the subtraction ourselves and figure out what is not coming.

Point is, this sampler represents a lot of stuff that is not available and will not be available for the foreseeable future in SACD quad album form. Or, it is available for license, but AF do not have the album on their desired wish list for quad. I'm thrilled that AF went the distance to get what they can here, the single songs/cuts.

Marshall told me that he was reluctant to use the term "Sampler" in discussing this comp. The reason he said was that there is not more available from these albums, nor any planned. So it's not a sampler of things in his catalog, or a sampler of anything. It's a various artists "collection". So I was a little surprised that the art mock-up has sampler in the text.

 

[fredblue]

"There is not more available from these albums, nor any planned.."

WTF...!? :yikes

Do you mean there won't be any Isley Brothers, O'Jays, Harold Melvin Quad albums released on SACD by AF?