Ohio Players - Contradiction, Ecstasy, Skin Tight

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dr8track

1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Mar 8, 2002
Messages
1,047
Location
Seattle
Does anyone out there have any of the non-dts Ohio Players quad releases, Ecstasy, Skin Tight or Contradiction? Either on Q8 or as dts conversions? I have never even seen any of these particular titles on Ebay. Just wondering if there are any out there. I'd love to have originals or dts versions.

 
I have the "Fire" DTS CD by the Ohio Players. Wonderful sound, great quad mix.

I've not yet heard the other albums you mention.

Jeff
 
Does anyone out there have any of the non-dts Ohio Players quad releases, Ecstasy, Skin Tight or Contradiction? Either on Q8 or as dts conversions? I have never even seen any of these particular titles on Ebay. Just wondering if there are any out there. I'd love to have originals or dts versions.
Just noticed this Q8, anybody heard it- only been uh 18+ years now 😲 ???
*Hum-edit hold up, I just noticed that Cosmic Slop was also on this "Westbound Records" label; and that someone (maybe @steelydave) mentioned it was fake Quad IINM :🧐

https://www.discogs.com/Ohio-Players-Ecstasy/release/8298306
TOP-E.jpg
 
Yeah, I've heard it and it's the same flavour of fake as Cosmic Slop - about half the tracks are the stereo mix in the front, with a clang-clang echo chamber version of same in the rear speakers, and then the other half are the stereo mix in the front left and rear left, with the echo chamber version in the front right and rear right.

Ecstacy very rarely comes up for auction, I've probably only seen it once or twice in my 20+ years of collecting. I've seen Cosmic Slop a little bit more, maybe 4 or 5, and the last couple have gone for stupid money, like $300 per tape. I feel bad for the people who pay that kind of money for a tape with a fake mix, but I guess by the same token, if you can afford to spend that kind of money on a 40 year old 8-track tape, you're probably well off enough to weather the disappointment. Presumably the reason these two tapes are so scarce is because no one who bought one back in the day reccomended it to a friend, given how lame the mix is.

As for Skin Tight and Contradiction, as I mentioned in the Mercury/Vertigo/Phillips discography/history thread that I did, I don't think either of these Q8's were released. The Mercury Q8s are relatively scarce compared to other major label releases, but the BTO tapes show up fairly regularly on eBay, and the two other Ohio Players Q8s (Fire and Honey) do occasionally as well. I feel like if either of these were issued, we'd have seen evidence of at least one in the 40+ years since. Labels weren't in the business of making things and not distributing them, and these weren't obscurities either - both of these albums hit #1 on the R&B charts and nearly made it into the Top 10 of the pop charts.
 
I had Ecstacy once upon a time. Don't remember what I paid for it but I only got $60 for it when I sold it. I think it was all stereo tracks with weird echo. Don't recall a single song on the tape that was discrete 4-channel.
 
Pretty sad when even Tommy James and The Archies could drum up some true quad, Westbound could only fake a few tapes worth of cutouts.
 
Pretty sad when even Tommy James and The Archies could drum up some true quad, Westbound could only fake a few tapes worth of cutouts.

I've often wondered what went through people's heads when the decision was made to jump on the Quad Wagon with fake Quad. It just seems like such a poor business decision: to pay someone and/or some studio to fake a 4-channel mix and then to sell it to an unsuspecting public whom you know are going to talk and spread word about what's good and what isn't..... Just seems like poor business sense. But then again, that seems to be the recurring theme with Quad, doesn't it? What with the "Release the album AFTER the album containing the hit(s)" in Quad; release God knows what artist in Quad but ignore the heavy hitters of the time: (Elton John, Led Zepplin, The Who, Rolling Stones...) heck, even the Eagles only had two Quad albums while Chicago and The Guess Who each had 9 or 10. Carly Simon had five! Or, using your examples, the Archies and Tommy James had a release versus the Eagles' two. ARG. Blows my mind.
 
Sounds like the Ohio Players real quad and BTO Q8 tapes are perfect candidates for a DV reissue!

tbh i'd be surprised if DV tackled the two Ohio Players Quads "Fire" & "Honey" and BTO's "Not Fragile" that were issued on DTS CD back in the day but the sonic upgrade would be welcome 🙂
 
tbh i'd be surprised if DV tackled the two Ohio Players Quads "Fire" & "Honey" and BTO's "Not Fragile" that were issued on DTS CD back in the day but the sonic upgrade would be welcome 🙂
Not sure it would help. I was a huge BTO fan back in the day. The Not Fragile tour was my very first rock concert! 1974. So I have all their albums on vinyl and bought a couple of the Q8s when they came out, although re-buying in a new format really makes me nuts so it is very rare that I do it. I also have the DTS of Not Fragile. The dynamic range on the Q8s is pretty awful, even by 8 track standards, and although the vinyl is far better sounding, its still not great. My recollection is that Randy Bachman engineered them all himself and used to proudly announce that he had done a whole LP in like three days or some such thing. It kinda shows!
 
Not sure it would help. I was a huge BTO fan back in the day. The Not Fragile tour was my very first rock concert! 1974. So I have all their albums on vinyl and bought a couple of the Q8s when they came out, although re-buying in a new format really makes me nuts so it is very rare that I do it. I also have the DTS of Not Fragile. The dynamic range on the Q8s is pretty awful, even by 8 track standards, and although the vinyl is far better sounding, its still not great. My recollection is that Randy Bachman engineered them all himself and used to proudly announce that he had done a whole LP in like three days or some such thing. It kinda shows!

Randy once explained to me that he did the stereo mixes. A couple years back I asked him about the identical credit on the Quad tapes and he figures they (the record company) just copied over the credit. I kind of figured as much because on "Head On", the back proclaims that one song is "mixed to monaural" and yet it is clearly, a 4 channel mix when you play it. Randy had nothing to do with the Quad mixes other than he had to give them the OK. He's aware they exist but hasn't heard them in years.
 
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