Looking forward to 2021

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Don't we all just wish we could just fast forward through the rest of 2020? I know I do!
Now that pretty much all of the major releases have been released this year, maybe now it's a good time to look forward to what we could expect in 2021, especially since there are probably a lot of releases that would have been out this year had it not been for delays relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, so let's take a look at the possibilities for next year, shall we?

-STEVEN WILSON REMIXES: There's a LOT of potential Steven Wilson remixes that could be released this coming year, so I'll break them down individually below:
-GENTLE GIANT: A few sources have already revealed that we should get a few more 5.1 (and maybe even Dolby Atmos!) remixes of some classic Gentle Giant albums from Steven Wilson, specifically "Free Hand", "Interview" and "The Missing Piece".​
-RUSH: 2020 has not produced a new surround release from RUSH because the multitrack tapes are no longer in existence for "Permanent Waves". However next year is the 40th anniversary of "Moving Pictures" which is an album that has already been released in 5.1 surround, but like the 2017 40th anniversary edition of "A Farewell to Kings" I'm going to predict that this 40th anniversary edition of "Moving Pictures" will feature brand new 5.1 & Dolby Atmos mixes from Steven Wilson. That would be about the only way that you could get me to buy this album in surround sound again!​
-ULTRAVOX: This year we were treated to a wonderful super deluxe edition of the classic Ultravox album "Vienna" for its 40th anniversary. I sincerely hope the 40th anniversary reissue series will continue next year with "Rage in Eden".​
-JETHRO TULL: The pandemic this year delayed two potential deluxe edition releases from Jethro Tull, both of which should now be released in 2021. The first is a "book-format" deluxe edition of the 1970 album "Benefit" complete with the 2013 5.1 mix from Steven Wilson. The more anticipated release should be a deluxe edition of the 1980 album "A" complete with new stereo & 5.1 mixes from Steven Wilson. Finally (in the "hear me out on this" category) I think it's also very possible that "Aqualung" could be reissued yet again as a 50th anniversary edition, this time complete with a new Dolby Atmos mix from Steven Wilson to go along with the stereo & 5.1 remixes of the album that we already have.​
-XTC: The only thing we know for certain concerning XTC is that as long as more tapes are found, Steven Wilson & Andy Partridge still wish to continue the XTC Surround Sound Series, but right now there's no indication that there is definitely a new release planned for 2021, so keep fingers crossed on this!​
(Finally, can Virgin & UMe PLEASE release more 5.1 mixes of Roxy Music albums starting with "For Your Pleasure"?!)​
-ESOTERIC RECORDINGS: There's more than a few potential surround releases from Esoteric Recordings coming in 2021, so I'll break them down individually below:
-ALAN PARSONS PROJECT: One of the best surround releases of 2020 was the amazing 5.1 release of the classic Alan Parsons Project album "Ammonia Avenue". It's been confirmed that the next reissue from AP & Esoteric should be "The Turn of a Friendly Card", and I'm thinking that release should be out within the first half of 2021, followed hopefully by a deluxe reissue of "I Robot" in the second half of 2021!​
-BEBOP DELUXE: This year we were treated to a fantastic deluxe edition of the first BeBop Deluxe album "Axe Victim". Next year I fully anticipate that the BeBop Deluxe reissue series will wrap up with a deluxe box set of the final BeBop Deluxe album "Drastic Plastic".​
-BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST: This year we were treated to a deluxe reissue of the album "...And Other Short Stories". According to Esoteric label head Mark Powell, the next reissue should be the 2nd BJH album "Once Again" which should be reissued in the first half of 2021. That album has already been released in Quadraphonic, so it will be interesting to see if this reissue contains both a new 5.1 surround mix and the original 1970s Quadraphonic mix.​
-RENAISSANCE: Another reissue in 5.1 surround that Esoteric treated us to this year was the release of the Renaissance album "Turn of the Cards". All indications are now pointing towards a 5.1 surround release of "Scheherazade and Other Stories" in 2021!​
-BEATLES: Before the pandemic hit, we were all fully anticipating the release of the new Peter Jackson film "Get Back". That film has now been delayed until August of 2021, so I'm sure that a "Let It Be" audio box set will finally be released around the same time as the "Get Back" movie, complete with new 5.1 & Dolby Atmos mixes from Giles Martin and his team at Abbey Road Studios.
-MARILLION: This year we were treated to a very nice deluxe edition of the first Marillion "Script for a Jester's Tear". Work is already underway on a deluxe edition of "Fugazi" and that deluxe edition should be out within the first half of 2021. After that, the next deluxe edition should be "Seasons End", followed by the final Marillion deluxe edition "Holidays in Eden" probably in 2022.

-PINK FLOYD: Will we finally get 5.1 mixes of albums like "Animals" and "The Wall" released in 2021?! Thanks to the awesome work of QQ's resident Pink Floyd expert @rontoon we now know from a recent audio interview with Pink Floyd engineer James Guthrie that a 5.1 remix of "Animals" is complete and a 5.1 remix of "The Wall" is almost complete, so now that they have almost exhausted all of the potential releases from the 1987-onward era, maybe we'll finally get these classic albums released in 5.1 surround!

-SONY JAPAN SACD RELEASES: It was a very pleasant surprise this year that Sony Japan finally decided to grace us with Quadraphonic SACD releases of the first two Santana albums! I fully anticipate that Sony Japan will continue to release these 7" mini-LP Quadraphonic SACD packages for subsequent Santana albums in 2021 (like "Santana III" and "Caravanserai")

-ROLLING STONES: One of the biggest surprise releases of 2020 was the release of "Goat's Head Soup" remixed and released in Dolby Atmos! If the Stones were to release another Super Deluxe Edition with an Atmos mix in 2021, I think the most likely candidate would be 1981's "Tattoo You" which is celebrating its 40th anniversary next year.

-JOHN LENNON: Another pleasant surprise from this year was the release of the "Gimme Some Truth" compilation from John Lennon, which contained 36 of his solo recordings remixed in 5.1 surround & Dolby Atmos! In the book for that release, it confirmed that a super deluxe edition box set of "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" was in the works! I'm sure it was supposed to be released this year, but the pandemic probably delayed the release until sometime in 2021, but the box set is supposed to contain 6 CDs and 2 Blu-ray Discs according to the information we have thus far.

-THE BAND: It seemed like a 50th anniversary deluxe edition of "Stage Fright" was going to be released this year, but it looks like that release has now been delayed until 2021, and it should have new stereo & 5.1 remixes of the album from engineer Bob Clearmountain.

-QUADIO RELEASES FROM RHINO RECORDS: Thanks to the amazing work of @Steel Woole and the team at Rhino Records we FINALLY got the Doobie Brothers Quadio box set in September, and it was totally worth the wait! Moving forward, I don't think there are any more potential Quadio box sets from Rhino Records, but I think the Quadio release series could continue either as D2C (Direct to consumer) releases on the Rhino webstore or Quadraphonic Blu-Ray releases as part of specific album reissues. There's no particular indications at this point as to what potential Quadio release (if any) could be next from Rhino Records.

-REISSUES OF PREVIOUS SURROUND RELEASES: Steven Wilson & Porcupine Tree have already confirmed that 2021 will see the release of a new deluxe edition of the album "Deadwing" in a similar format to 2020's "In Absentia" deluxe edition. Also 2021 is the 25th anniversary of the R.E.M. album "New Adventures in Hi-Fi" so I fully anticipate a 25th anniversary deluxe edition including the 2005 5.1 mix reissued on Blu-Ray.

-Finally, a WILD CARD: Next year is the 50th anniversary of the release of the classic album "Who's Next" by The Who. Like many of you, I would love nothing more than a proper Super Deluxe Edition box set release of the album complete with new 5.1 surround (and now Dolby Atmos) mixes! Let's hope this really happens!

I hope this is a good summary of the potential things we could look forward to in 2021! Comment below with other possible releases for next year!

:)
 
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How about Renaissance Scheherazade?

Good call.

A friend of mine reached out to Mark at Esoteric a while back, I forgot to post here.

.I've checked with Mark at Esoteric and he has confirmed the following, "Scheherazade is next on the list for the 5.1 treatment"

Excellent! Totally forgot about Renaissance, which is weird because I had "Scheherazade" listed as a possible release in the "Looking forward to 2020" thread. I'll add it to the first post under Esoteric.

:)
 
an honourable mention for Dutton Vocalion 👍

There's definitely plenty to look forward to from D-V in the year ahead.

I'd also add the following:

Herbie Hancock Thrust SACD from Sony Japan (I mentioned this elsewhere, when they do an artist they usually do all of their quads, and a digital transfer exists since AF released this album so cost-wise, it seems like a no-brainer).

Anything originally released in 1971 is probably at peak plausibility for a deluxe reissue, because of the US copyright stipulation that says a recording has to be made commercially available within 50 years of its recording or you lose your copyright protection. Just for example, King Crimson has made downloads of all the session reels from (I think) Poseidon and Lizard (their 1970 albums) to comply with this. Take your pick of great albums released that year - some more plausible than others probably, like Led Zeppelin's 4th album and Pink Floyd Meddle seem unlikely but there's a lot of other good stuff to choose from. How about a surround remix of Mahavishnu Orchestra's The Inner Mounting Flame to kick off a yearly reissue project for them? Attention Sony, I'm available if Bob Belden isn't. ;)
 
Mike Oldfield has been working for quite a while on Tubular Bells 4. I would think a surround mix would almost be guaranteed.

Three years ago he posted this:

As usual working on the next project and working on a Super Advanced music player for TB4 that will have multitrack mixing and Virtual reality as well as the usual high definition Audio.
 
Don't we all just wish we could just fast forward through the rest of 2020? I know I do!
Now that pretty much all of the major releases have been released this year, maybe now it's a good time to look forward to what we could expect in 2021, especially since there are probably a lot of releases that would have been out this year had it not been for delays relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, so let's take a look at the possibilities for next year, shall we?

-STEVEN WILSON REMIXES: There's a LOT of potential Steven Wilson remixes that could be released this coming year, so I'll break them down individually below:
-GENTLE GIANT: A few sources have already revealed that we should get a few more 5.1 (and maybe even Dolby Atmos!) remixes of some classic Gentle Giant albums from Steven Wilson, specifically "Free Hand", "Interview" and "The Missing Piece".​
-RUSH: 2020 has not produced a new surround release from RUSH because the multitrack tapes are no longer in existence for "Permanent Waves". However next year is the 40th anniversary of "Moving Pictures" which is an album that has already been released in 5.1 surround, but like the 2017 40th anniversary edition of "A Farewell to Kings" I'm going to predict that this 40th anniversary edition of "Moving Pictures" will feature brand new 5.1 & Dolby Atmos mixes from Steven Wilson. That would be about the only way that you could get me to buy this album in surround sound again!​
-ULTRAVOX: This year we were treated to a wonderful super deluxe edition of the classic Ultravox album "Vienna" for its 40th anniversary. I sincerely hope the 40th anniversary reissue series will continue next year with "Rage in Eden".​
-JETHRO TULL: The pandemic this year delayed two potential deluxe edition releases from Jethro Tull, both of which should now be released in 2021. The first is a "book-format" deluxe edition of the 1970 album "Benefit" complete with the 2013 5.1 mix from Steven Wilson. The more anticipated release should be a deluxe edition of the 1980 album "A" complete with new stereo & 5.1 mixes from Steven Wilson. Finally (in the "hear me out on this" category) I think it's also very possible that "Aqualung" could be reissued yet again as a 50th anniversary edition, this time complete with a new Dolby Atmos mix from Steven Wilson to go along with the stereo & 5.1 remixes of the album that we already have.​
-XTC: The only thing we know for certain concerning XTC is that as long as more tapes are found, Steven Wilson & Andy Partridge still wish to continue the XTC Surround Sound Series, but right now there's no indication that there is definitely a new release planned for 2021, so keep fingers crossed on this!​
(Finally, can Virgin & UMe PLEASE release more 5.1 mixes of Roxy Music albums starting with "For Your Pleasure"?!)​
-ESOTERIC RECORDINGS: There's more than a few potential surround releases from Esoteric Recordings coming in 2021, so I'll break them down individually below:
-ALAN PARSONS PROJECT: One of the best surround releases of 2020 was the amazing 5.1 release of the classic Alan Parsons Project album "Ammonia Avenue". It's been confirmed that the next reissue from AP & Esoteric should be "The Turn of a Friendly Card", and I'm thinking that release should be out within the first half of 2021, followed hopefully by a deluxe reissue of "I Robot" in the second half of 2021!​
-BEBOP DELUXE: This year we were treated to a fantastic deluxe edition of the first BeBop Deluxe album "Axe Victim". Next year I fully anticipate that the BeBop Deluxe reissue series will wrap up with a deluxe box set of the final BeBop Deluxe album "Drastic Plastic".​
-BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST: This year we were treated to a deluxe reissue of the album "...And Other Short Stories". According to Esoteric label head Mark Powell, the next reissue should be the 2nd BJH album "Once Again" which should be reissued in the first half of 2021. That album has already been released in Quadraphonic, so it will be interesting to see if this reissue contains both a new 5.1 surround mix and the original 1970s Quadraphonic mix.​
-RENAISSANCE: Another reissue in 5.1 surround that Esoteric treated us to this year was the release of the Renaissance album "Turn of the Cards". All indications are now pointing towards a 5.1 surround release of "Scheherazade and Other Stories" in 2021!​
-BEATLES: Before the pandemic hit, we were all fully anticipating the release of the new Peter Jackson film "Get Back". That film has now been delayed until August of 2021, so I'm sure that a "Let It Be" audio box set will finally be released around the same time as the "Get Back" movie, complete with new 5.1 & Dolby Atmos mixes from Giles Martin and his team at Abbey Road Studios.
-MARILLION: This year we were treated to a very nice deluxe edition of the first Marillion "Script for a Jester's Tear". Work is already underway on a deluxe edition of "Fugazi" and that deluxe edition should be out within the first half of 2021. After that, the next deluxe edition should be "Seasons End", followed by the final Marillion deluxe edition "Holidays in Eden" probably in 2022.

-PINK FLOYD: Will we finally get 5.1 mixes of albums like "Animals" and "The Wall" released in 2021?! Thanks to the awesome work of QQ's resident Pink Floyd expert @rontoon we now know from a recent audio interview with Pink Floyd engineer James Guthrie that a 5.1 remix of "Animals" is complete and a 5.1 remix of "The Wall" is almost complete, so now that they have almost exhausted all of the potential releases from the 1987-onward era, maybe we'll finally get these classic albums released in 5.1 surround!

-SONY JAPAN SACD RELEASES: It was a very pleasant surprise this year that Sony Japan finally decided to grace us with Quadraphonic SACD releases of the first two Santana albums! I fully anticipate that Sony Japan will continue to release these 7" mini-LP Quadraphonic SACD packages for subsequent Santana albums in 2021 (like "Santana III" and "Caravanserai")

-ROLLING STONES: One of the biggest surprise releases of 2020 was the release of "Goat's Head Soup" remixed and released in Dolby Atmos! If the Stones were to release another Super Deluxe Edition with an Atmos mix in 2021, I think the most likely candidate would be 1981's "Tattoo You" which is celebrating its 40th anniversary next year.

-JOHN LENNON: Another pleasant surprise from this year was the release of the "Gimme Some Truth" compilation from John Lennon, which contained 36 of his solo recordings remixed in 5.1 surround & Dolby Atmos! In the book for that release, it confirmed that a super deluxe edition box set of "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" was in the works! I'm sure it was supposed to be released this year, but the pandemic probably delayed the release until sometime in 2021, but the box set is supposed to contain 6 CDs and 2 Blu-ray Discs according to the information we have thus far.

-THE BAND: It seemed like a 50th anniversary deluxe edition of "Stage Fright" was going to be released this year, but it looks like that release has now been delayed until 2021, and it should have new stereo & 5.1 remixes of the album from engineer Bob Clearmountain.

-QUADIO RELEASES FROM RHINO RECORDS: Thanks to the amazing work of @Steel Woole and the team at Rhino Records we FINALLY got the Doobie Brothers Quadio box set in September, and it was totally worth the wait! Moving forward, I don't think there are any more potential Quadio box sets from Rhino Records, but I think the Quadio release series could continue either as D2C (Direct to consumer) releases on the Rhino webstore or Quadraphonic Blu-Ray releases as part of specific album reissues. There's no particular indications at this point as to what potential Quadio release (if any) could be next from Rhino Records.

-REISSUES OF PREVIOUS SURROUND RELEASES: Steven Wilson & Porcupine Tree have already confirmed that 2021 will see the release of a new deluxe edition of the album "Deadwing" in a similar format to 2020's "In Absentia" deluxe edition. Also 2021 is the 25th anniversary of the R.E.M. album "New Adventures in Hi-Fi" so I fully anticipate a 25th anniversary deluxe edition including the 2005 5.1 mix reissued on Blu-Ray.

-Finally, a WILD CARD: Next year is the 50th anniversary of the release of the classic album "Who's Next" by The Who. Like many of you, I would love nothing more than a proper Super Deluxe Edition box set release of the album complete with new 5.1 surround (and now Dolby Atmos) mixes! Let's hope this really happens!

I hope this is a good summary of the potential things we could look forward to in 2021! Comment below with other possible releases for next year!

:)


What happened to Roxy Music?!!!
We want moar!

Charlie Brown.jpg
 
There's definitely plenty to look forward to from D-V in the year ahead.

I'd also add the following:

Herbie Hancock Thrust SACD from Sony Japan (I mentioned this elsewhere, when they do an artist they usually do all of their quads, and a digital transfer exists since AF released this album so cost-wise, it seems like a no-brainer).

Anything originally released in 1971 is probably at peak plausibility for a deluxe reissue, because of the US copyright stipulation that says a recording has to be made commercially available within 50 years of its recording or you lose your copyright protection. Just for example, King Crimson has made downloads of all the session reels from (I think) Poseidon and Lizard (their 1970 albums) to comply with this. Take your pick of great albums released that year - some more plausible than others probably, like Led Zeppelin's 4th album and Pink Floyd Meddle seem unlikely but there's a lot of other good stuff to choose from. How about a surround remix of Mahavishnu Orchestra's The Inner Mounting Flame to kick off a yearly reissue project for them? Attention Sony, I'm available if Bob Belden isn't. ;)
Well how many other Hancock's are left, didn't you say somewhere that Secrets was fake Quad Dave?
https://www.discogs.com/Herbie-Hancock-Secrets/release/1866467
 
afaik there's at least 4 potential future MultiCh SACD releases for Sony Japan of Herbie Hancock albums in Surround;

the Quads of Sextant, Thrust & Secrets
(Sextant Quad mastertapes missing presumed gone, Secrets Quad a fake mix) and an unreleased 5.1 of Future Shock.
If that's true I'll "Rockit" 🚀 my vote for Future Shock out of that bunch (but then 5.1 is not Quad... sooo) 😄
 
Good call.

A friend of mine reached out to Mark at Esoteric a while back, I forgot to post here.

I have checked with Mark at Esoteric and he has confirmed the following, "Scheherazade is next on the list for a 5.1 treatment."

Since Audio Fidelity did reissue a stunning Stereo SACD of Renaissance's SCHEHERAZADE a few years ago, would it be presumptious to inquire of Mark at ESOTERIC if the new 5.1 remix could be issued on LOSSLESS BD~A instead of DVD~V [like TURN OF THE CARDS]...also keeeping in mind that ESOTERIC just released a LOSSLESS BD~A of Chris Squires FISH OUT OF WATER which was originally released in a pricey box set with a DVD~V LOSSY 5.1 remix.
 
Since Audio Fidelity did reissue a stunning Stereo SACD of Renaissance's SCHEHERAZADE a few years ago, would it be presumptious to inquire of Mark at ESOTERIC if the new 5.1 remix could be issued on LOSSLESS BD~A instead of DVD~V [like TURN OF THE CARDS]...also keeeping in mind that ESOTERIC just released a LOSSLESS BD~A of Chris Squires FISH OUT OF WATER which was originally released in a pricey box set with a DVD~V LOSSY 5.1 remix.

Also, hopefully, half the album won't have to be upmixed this time.

Would also love it if they could get their hands on the original quad tapes of the 1975 BBC Pop Spectacular and throw that in the box. That doesn't really seem to be Esoteric's thing, but you never know. I think they included a stereo fold-down of a Pop Spectacular on one of the PFM reissues they did years ago.
 
Also, hopefully, half the album won't have to be upmixed this time.

Would also love it if they could get their hands on the original quad tapes of the 1975 BBC Pop Spectacular and throw that in the box. That doesn't really seem to be Esoteric's thing, but you never know. I think they included a stereo fold-down of a Pop Spectacular on one of the PFM reissues they did years ago.

GREAT idea, humprof .... and truth be told if they could acquire those QUAD BBC POP SPECTACULAR TAPES, both that and Scheherazade could fit quite comfortably on a single BD~A...losslessly!
 
Not that I'm aware of, but after they did Avalon and the first album, I was hoping they'd do all the ones in between as well.

Way back in 2015, SW mentioned he was "starting work on the entire Roxy Music catalog". Whether or not he actually began mixing anything past the first album is anyone's guess.
I know you’re very busy at the moment with touring and promoting Hand. Cannot. Erase., but are you involved in producing or remixing any other records right now?

Not really. To be honest, the next year is pretty much wall-to-wall touring for me—we’ve got shows booked up until next February. So it means I won’t be in the studio much, if at all. There are some projects I completed last year, some remixing of classic albums, that have yet to be released but will be coming out over the next 12 months or so.

Are you able to reveal what those albums are?

I can tell you the ones that have been officially announced. We started on the Roxy Music catalog—the first Roxy Music album is coming out in surround sound soon. It was very exciting to get to work with those guys. And I started on the Tears For Fears catalog as well last year. Songs From The Big Chair came out just before Christmas, and The Seeds Of Love will hopefully be coming out this year.

It's pretty funny reading this article in 2020, knowing that Roxy Music wouldn't actually come out until February 2018 and The Seeds Of Love didn't come out until October 2020(!).
 
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