The Columbia "Underground" Quad Reels of the late '70s

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Yes, AOQ and Jon have the reality and context of it proper than the raw copyright law. These tapes, if all of them even exist still, are of the utmost importance for anyone who loves music regardless of channels due to their historical importance. So if anyone comes accosts any of these tapes please contact one of the Quadraphonic archivists here.

When the movie "My Fair lady" was being restored a while back the studio and preservationists wanted to use Audrey Hepburn's original vocal tracks on some of the songs. They found though that the tracks were lost or thrown away by the movie studio over time. Originally, Audrey Hepburn sang the songs but at the time of filming the studio decided to use vocalist Marni Nixon's version instead as she had done for other actresses in other films. Anyway, it ended up that a collector had a copy of the tape, and if not for that fan Audrey Hepburn's vocals for the songs in "My Fair lady" would have been lost forever.
 
Wow, somehow I missed this thread, there is a multitude of items there that I'd like to get copies of for personal consumption.
Too bad about Mike Robin, I know I have a copy of one of his auction or sale lists at home, circa 1995. I recall buying some LPs off him. John
 
The tapes never came with any artwork or printed labels. The reel was either Maxell or TDK. The reel in the photo looks to be a Maxell, but it's hard to say what the source of this offering is, as the seller has tried to make it look legitimate.
 
For all we know it could be a dub of a Q8 or SQ decode. The seller must be unaware this was never a commercial reel.


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Since he's selling it as vintage recording tape, with the recording a "bonus", maybe he'd be willing to erase a chunk of it to test the current recordability of the tape. Anyone ask him?
 
Looks like a Maxwell UD 35-90 tape to me as well, because of the visible part of the boxes Blue band on the inside of the box. I have a couple, but that makes it later than the original Quad release of this album, most of my tapes are Maxwell UD-XL 35-90Bs which I bought when I got my Akai 4000DS in 1977 which have no Blue-band visible on the inside. So looks like a copy to me.

Methinks that the DVD with the latest vinyl release of this is a better bet!

The tapes never came with any artwork or printed labels. The reel was either Maxell or TDK. The reel in the photo looks to be a Maxell, but it's hard to say what the source of this offering is, as the seller has tried to make it look legitimate.
 
FWIW,


Mike Robin's Reel-Reel Columbia quads were copied, from what I was told.So it could be one but from what generation of copy might be the greatest puzzlement.

And of course they had NO ARTWORK as previously stated.
 
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This is exactly why I joined this group - discoveries like this thread here!

I bought my Don Ellis - Tears of Joy (in vinyl of course) when it was originally released,,, too many years ago.

It has always been one of my all-time favorites.

What seems a bit odd is that I would have expected such tapes (this close to production process finalization) to be at least on four track 1/2" or even 1" wide on 10.5" reels with 15 IPS or perhaps even 30 IPS.
I'm guessing the images of two tapes are final customers copies, but they look like 1800' 1/4" X 7" reels.

My AMPEX ATR has already been totally reworked by Mike Spitz from 1/2" to 1/4" for convenience and set up with brand new NOS heads.
It's also just recently been fully fine-tuned up by Bob Shuster, so I'm not trying to go converting it back to costly 1/2" wide tape either!

This Don Ellis work would be an AWESOME example to hear thru four discrete channels.
Two amazing drummers playing nearly identical charts in destinct stereo unison.
It is incredible enough as it is in two ch, but I can imagine this entire tour de force masterpiece in true-quad!

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I did not see in this list the solo albums of Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon

Angel Clare and Still Crazy After All These Years in Quadraphonic Tape Reels

These two albums do not exist in Columbia Underground Quad Reels??
 
I did not see in this list the solo albums of Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon

Angel Clare and Still Crazy After All These Years in Quadraphonic Tape Reels

These two albums do not exist in Columbia Underground Quad Reels??

Unfortunately they do not. What's on that list is all that there is.
 
Gonna wake an ancient slumbering thread here, but do we have mixing and engineering credits for all of these quad mixes? Was listening to the Thirteenth Confession quad SACD today and wondering who birthed this lovely mix.
 
Well it has now been 5.5 years since Jon first posted this list:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/QQ-CQ4mr.html
and since that time, at least the following have come out officially:

Morton Subotnick Sidewinder
Blood, Sweat & Tears Child is the Father to Man
Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills Supersession
Chase Chase
Miles Davis Bitches Brew
Laura Nyro Eli and the 13th Confession
Paul Revere & Raiders Hard N'Heavy
Paul Revere & Raiders Indian Reservation
Ten Years After A Space In Time

Does anyone know how the mixes of these releases (and any others) compare to the mixes on the reels? I am under the impression that the 2nd two are fresh 5.1 mixes. But the others are official quads, are they not? If anyone has access to the reels or copies thereof, would you please comment on the similarities or differences?
 
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