HiRez Poll Derringer, Rick - ALL AMERICAN BOY & SPRING FEVER [SACD]

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Rate the SACD of Rick Derringer - ALL AMERICAN BOY & SPRING FEVER

  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1: Poor Content, Surround Mix, and Fidelity

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    45
ALL AMERICAN BOY: This had me grinning from ear-to-ear. A 10 for the music, 10 for the sound quality and 11 for the brilliant Quad mix! Its an absolute solid 10 all round. :danceIf only it went up to 11
SPRING FEVER: This one has taken a bit more listening to. I find it a bit inconsistent, nothing awful about any tracks, I suspect it may turn out to be a grower of an album over a few listens (not sure about "Hang On Sloopy" though, I prefer the original McCoy's version). So its a 9 for the music, a 10 for the sound quality, and a 10 for the Quad mix. Overall its a 9-to-10, mustn't be too picky so a 10. :LB

Great liner notes as usual, and they reminded me Rick Derringer was in the McCoys!

So if this Quad SACD isn't in your collection it should be!
 
Great quad mixes on both albums.
These are without a doubt 2 of his best albums.
I was never a big fan of Spring Fever when I had the SQ album but it's nice to really here the intended discrete mixes . I find the song "Rock " to be the best quad mix from that album.

All American Boy is better musically for me anyway.

Gave this double quad a niner.
 
Better late than never, but I finally had some time to sit down and listen to this a few times.

All American Boy is really a guitar players' record - I was struck listening to it how many different kinds of tones and textures Derringer uses. Phasers, flangers, tremolo pedals, leslie speakers, different types of clean and distortion tones, talk box, the list goes on and on. As some have noted, the lyrics can be a bit juvenile - having had some time to think about it, and with what I learned about Derringer writing the liner notes for this, I've started to maybe think that rather than being some kind of cynical ploy to appeal to teenagers, it's more to do with the fact that Derringer himself didn't have a 'normal' teenage life. By the time he was 16 he was already a star with the McCoys, so he didn't really have the chance to grow up normally, and I think the lyrics sort of reflect both some arrested development and also a kind of rose-tinted idealism for a normal childhood and adolescence that he never really got to have.

Having said that, the lyrical shortcomings are easy to overlook because the quad mix on All American Boy is phenomenal, absolute showcase material. There are so many little surprising moments that had me grinning from ear to ear - I used to think Larry Keyes was CBS's best quad mixer, but D-V's recent run of material that's featured a lot of Young's mixes (along with the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert, Appice SACDs from Sony Japan) have me seriously reconsidering that notion. It's also worth noting that the quad mix of All American Boy is by far the most dynamic version of the album, weighing in at nearly DR14 on the dynamic range meter. You can really feel it in the music too, and cranking it up makes it even better.

I don't think Spring Fever holds up quite as well - there are some improvements, including Derringer's vocals (which are much stronger, presumably thanks to 18 months of non-stop touring with the Edgar Winter Group) and the lyrical content, which is a lot more mature (relatively speaking) than All American Boy. What I do miss from that album is the variety of sounds - Spring Fever was recorded quickly (probably in just a few weeks) in between his commitments to Edgar Winter, and it kind of shows. The guitar sounds are less varied throughout, and there's less of the production flourishes I liked from the previous album, like the female backing singers that really helped carry Derringer's somewhat limited range as a vocalist. The album also suffers from the 'you have your whole life to write your first album, and a year to write your second' problem in that it doesn't have a lot of new material. What is new I really like, songs like Don't Ever Say Goodbye and He Needs Some Answers are excellent hard rockers, and Rock (despite being an All American Boy outtake) is probably the highlight of the album, but beyond that it's reused material in the form of covers (Hang on Sloopy, Walking The Dog) and songs he wrote for Johnny Winter (Still Alive and Well, Roll With Me). It's great that Derringer was so busy and all that year, but I think he was spreading himself a bit thin songwriting-wise, giving songs to Johnny Winter, and 4 other new songs that would appear on the Edgar Winter Group with Rick Derringer later that year.

The quad mix of Spring Fever is good, but for me, not nearly as revelatory as All American Boy, probably no surprise since the same guy (Shelly Yakus) did both mixes. It is a very good mix though, and there's certainly no reason to ever listen to the stereo version of Spring Fever again, that's for sure!

I also think All American Boy is sonically quite a bit better than Spring Fever, most likely due to the fact that it was recorded at Caribou Ranch, a great sounding studio that produced Chicago's 6th through 11th albums. Spring Fever has that kind of grungy midrangey New York sound that reminds me of the albums of Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult from the same period, which I never found really sonically satisfying. Again not bad by any stretch, but the contrast is probably more apparent by virtue of following All American Boy on the same disc.

It probably goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, the remastering on this disc, like every album we've been so lucky to get from D-V thusfar, is second to none. When I was listening to All American Boy I think I was marvelling at how (ok, not stylistically, but sonically) it sounded like it had been recorded yesterday, and also incredibly grateful that I'll never have to bother with the Q8s of these two albums, which as recently as last year were selling for $75+ each on eBay.

Really proud to be associated with this, even in a small way.
 
Better late than never, but I finally had some time to sit down and listen to this a few times.

All American Boy is really a guitar players' record - I was struck listening to it how many different kinds of tones and textures Derringer uses. Phasers, flangers, tremolo pedals, leslie speakers, different types of clean and distortion tones, talk box, the list goes on and on. As some have noted, the lyrics can be a bit juvenile - having had some time to think about it, and with what I learned about Derringer writing the liner notes for this, I've started to maybe think that rather than being some kind of cynical ploy to appeal to teenagers, it's more to do with the fact that Derringer himself didn't have a 'normal' teenage life. By the time he was 16 he was already a star with the McCoys, so he didn't really have the chance to grow up normally, and I think the lyrics sort of reflect both some arrested development and also a kind of rose-tinted idealism for a normal childhood and adolescence that he never really got to have.

Having said that, the lyrical shortcomings are easy to overlook because the quad mix on All American Boy is phenomenal, absolute showcase material. There are so many little surprising moments that had me grinning from ear to ear - I used to think Larry Keyes was CBS's best quad mixer, but D-V's recent run of material that's featured a lot of Young's mixes (along with the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert, Appice SACDs from Sony Japan) have me seriously reconsidering that notion. It's also worth noting that the quad mix of All American Boy is by far the most dynamic version of the album, weighing in at nearly DR14 on the dynamic range meter. You can really feel it in the music too, and cranking it up makes it even better.

I don't think Spring Fever holds up quite as well - there are some improvements, including Derringer's vocals (which are much stronger, presumably thanks to 18 months of non-stop touring with the Edgar Winter Group) and the lyrical content, which is a lot more mature (relatively speaking) than All American Boy. What I do miss from that album is the variety of sounds - Spring Fever was recorded quickly (probably in just a few weeks) in between his commitments to Edgar Winter, and it kind of shows. The guitar sounds are less varied throughout, and there's less of the production flourishes I liked from the previous album, like the female backing singers that really helped carry Derringer's somewhat limited range as a vocalist. The album also suffers from the 'you have your whole life to write your first album, and a year to write your second' problem in that it doesn't have a lot of new material. What is new I really like, songs like Don't Ever Say Goodbye and He Needs Some Answers are excellent hard rockers, and Rock (despite being an All American Boy outtake) is probably the highlight of the album, but beyond that it's reused material in the form of covers (Hang on Sloopy, Walking The Dog) and songs he wrote for Johnny Winter (Still Alive and Well, Roll With Me). It's great that Derringer was so busy and all that year, but I think he was spreading himself a bit thin songwriting-wise, giving songs to Johnny Winter, and 4 other new songs that would appear on the Edgar Winter Group with Rick Derringer later that year.

The quad mix of Spring Fever is good, but for me, not nearly as revelatory as All American Boy, probably no surprise since the same guy (Shelly Yakus) did both mixes. It is a very good mix though, and there's certainly no reason to ever listen to the stereo version of Spring Fever again, that's for sure!

I also think All American Boy is sonically quite a bit better than Spring Fever, most likely due to the fact that it was recorded at Caribou Ranch, a great sounding studio that produced Chicago's 6th through 11th albums. Spring Fever has that kind of grungy midrangey New York sound that reminds me of the albums of Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult from the same period, which I never found really sonically satisfying. Again not bad by any stretch, but the contrast is probably more apparent by virtue of following All American Boy on the same disc.

It probably goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, the remastering on this disc, like every album we've been so lucky to get from D-V thusfar, is second to none. When I was listening to All American Boy I think I was marvelling at how (ok, not stylistically, but sonically) it sounded like it had been recorded yesterday, and also incredibly grateful that I'll never have to bother with the Q8s of these two albums, which as recently as last year were selling for $75+ each on eBay.

Really proud to be associated with this, even in a small way.
Awesome! I just got mine after almost 3 months of waiting, but haven't listened to it yet. Reading your review, I'll make sure to have a listening session tomorrow! Thanks!
 
Which are the misses in your opinion?

(i'm not the trout but..) for me the only major DV hit misses so far's been (cue music);

"Meeee... aaa-and... Misses...
Misses Jones...
Misses Jones,
Misses Jones,
Misses Jooones..."


right there, that's a hit and Mrs., ooh no missus, noooo..!! :ROFLMAO:
 
(i'm not the trout but..) for me the only major DV hit misses so far's been (cue music);

"Meeee... aaa-and... Misses...
Misses Jones...
Misses Jones,
Misses Jones,
Misses Jooones..."


right there, that's a hit and Mrs., ooh no missus, noooo..!! :ROFLMAO:

Well, that’s interesting
That disc despite its price is on my wish list for War of Gods, not 360 Degrees.
So I may buy anyway hoping that War of Gods is up to snuff
 
Well, that’s interesting
That disc despite its price is on my wish list for War of Gods, not 360 Degrees.
So I may buy anyway hoping that War of Gods is up to snuff

oh ignore that! it was just a poor attempt at humour!
(DV hits and misses... ooh-err, missus... me and misses, Mrs. Jones..) its probably a British thing. plus me not being as funny as I think I am is usually a factor! :ROFLMAO:

anyway, forget all that silliness, from a surround point of view that Billy Paul 2-fer is fab, both 360 Degrees and War Of The Gods.

they're quite different in their mixing style... the 360 Degrees Quad (mixed by late great CBS man Larry Keyes) is a 4-corner affair, you've got drums in one of the rears, that kind of thing...

while the WOTG Quad was done in-house by Philly International's late Carl Paruolo. the WOTG Quad more closely resembles the WOTG Stereo than the 360 Quad does to the 360 Stereo.. but the WOTG Quad no less active and immersive, with some nice crazy 360-degrees panning thrown in just for fun.

funnily enough the Quad of 360 Degrees has no 360-degree surround panning but it is still very surround-y! o_O;)(y)
 
Which are the misses in your opinion?
I honestly haven't been a fan of most of the Vocalion releases (as opposed to the Epoch releases), but it's strictly an issue of content - I just don't find the releases musically interesting all that often. PPL and this one have been pleasant surprises. I thought the Poco release was pretty uneven. But I totally support the release program, and suspect part of my lack of interest is simply a "you had to be there" sort of thing. I wasn't even born during quad's first round, and a lot of this stuff doesn't mesh well with more recent tastes.
 
interesting idea.. i would suggest you can have an appreciation for something without "being there" at the time and that its one's personal taste and/or lack of connection to the music itself rather than to the time its from or one being more accustomed to current tastes, etc, etc.. you enjoyed the PPL and Derringer discs, both "of their time" (imho), anyhoo.. its a Poll and i've prattled on enough in it already, back to Strictly Come Drinking :dance
 
Thanks for the clarifications by both fredblue and ubertrout.
It’s not uncommon for me to be “slow on the uptake “ when it comes to humour.
It’s not a British thing, that’s my background too.
I see what ubertrout means, it has been an odd but interesting set of releases thus far
 
Thanks for the clarifications by both fredblue and ubertrout.
It’s not uncommon for me to be “slow on the uptake “ when it comes to humour.
It’s not a British thing, that’s my background too.
I see what ubertrout means, it has been an odd but interesting set of releases thus far

you're welcome! (y)
"odd but interesting" can also be "weird and wonderful"..! :LOL:
i think i've expressed it on QQ once or twice ( ;) ) how absolutely overjoyed i've been at a number of the selections DV have made so far!
i may be wrong but Mr. Dutton or someone who has the man's ear must've been reading at least one or two of our mad ramblings at QQ the last few years.. so far he has tackled Quads I found, fell in love with (some artists I admittedly already knew) and subsequently spouted on about on QQ thanks to that Quad time machine otherwise known as the Surround Master! Quads like; Seven, Cantamos, Eargasm, Tale Spinnin', War Of The Gods, Ain't Nothin' Stoppin' Us Now, All American Boy, Pure Music, Musicmagic... ohh.. just heaven.. and now all that surround music joy is here to lap up, free from its SQ shackles, in discrete multichannel master tape quality, for next to no money! ohh.. i need a lie down! its all too much!! :51QQ:QQlove
 
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