Quad LP/Tape Poll Chicago: Chicago Transit Authority [SQ/Q8]

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Rate "Chicago Transit Authority"

  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5: So-so

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1: Bad Mix, Bad Sound, Bad Content

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    17

EMB

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Feb 8, 2004
Messages
4,101
Location
The Top 40 Radio of My Mind
1969 debut, with several future hits(in Lp form, of course)....

Side 1:

1. Introduction
2. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
3. Beginnings

Side 2:

1. Questions 67 & 68
2. Listen
3. Poem 58

Side 3:

1. Free Form Guitar
2. South California Purples
3. I'm A Man

Side 4:

1. Prologue, August 29, 1968
2. Someday (August 29, 1968)
3. Liberation
 

Attachments

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10 all the way {except for Free Form Guitar, can't stand that song}. Super Quad mix, and fantastic music.:banana:
 
Possibly my favourite album of all time - the only unfortunate thing is I think some of the horn parts on this album were recorded in mono (ie. the entire horn section on one track) so they feel a bit claustrophobic confined to one speaker in a 4 speaker mix. The upside, I suppose is that this keeps the mix very faithful to the original stereo mix, in which the horns are often panned hard to one side. Oh, and the 'the whole world's watching chants don't sync up properly with 'Someday' the way they do on the stereo versions. Still, minor niggles and I would give this album an 11 if I could.
 
Geez, you guys are going to force me to crack open the sealed Q8 set of this that I bagged on eBay a few months ago! :D
 
JonUrban said:
Geez, you guys are going to force me to crack open the sealed Q8 set of this that I bagged on eBay a few months ago! :D

Go for it, you know you wanna....:smokin

An '8' from me...some of the music isn't really music, and Quad can't save it, really...but the best of CTA is great fun, most of all the hits, of course, even though these are the Lp versions put into 4 speakers....

ED :)
 
Ed Bishop said:
.some of the music isn't really music, and Quad can't save it, really...
ED :)

I always remember one time when I was playing this one, I went out to the garage to do some work and when 'Free Form Guitar' came on, my kid, who was probably 3 or 4 at the time, came out and said 'Dad, you're music's broken'.

K
 
As far as Chicago is concerned, to me, this is the only one to have!! The material is really fabulous, still sounds fresh 30 some years later, and the recording is good for the time. As for the quad mix, its vintage CBS later mix. In other words, more sophisticated than those early ones, but still pretty dramatic. Poem has the horns taking turns in each speaker, and is a great song all the way around. Really a great disc with a Tate. 10 for me.
Sad to hear how fast they spiraled downhill with the next few releases.
Marc
 
From THIS thread, the Q8 track listing(thanx to Flaquad for posting this :) :

1

1. Introduction
2. Questions 67 & 68
3. I'm A Man

2

1. Listen
2. Poem 58
3. Free Form Guitar

3

1. Beginnings
2. South California Purples
3. Prologue, August 29, 1968
4. Someday, August 29, 1968

4

1. Liberation
2. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?



As the owner of the SQ Lp only, all I can say is: Yikes! Kind of a weird sequencing, huh?


ED :)
 
10. An essential Quad. We need a picture of the Quad artwork. Although I think their second album is better, especially in DVD-A form, this album is INCREDIBLE. My all-time fave song, Beginnings is here. I like this Quad mix and always have. Get the Quadio DVD or the SQ if the Quadio is too pricey. I went nuts over this album when it came out in early '69, long before AM played any of it, or it came out in Quad. My only complaint musically is Free Form Guitar, which might be one of their worst ever tracks. I've owned the SQ, Quadio, 2ch LP, Mofi 1/2 speed mastered LP, 2CD, and CBS Mastersound Gold CD. The 1/2 speed LP is the best 2ch, although I don't know why you'd want to get that instead of Quad.

We've all spent years preparin', before this group was born. This album truly sounds like it.
 
10. An essential Quad. We need a picture of the Quad artwork. Although I think their second album is better, especially in DVD-A form, this album is INCREDIBLE. My all-time fave song, Beginnings is here. I like this Quad mix and always have. Get the Quadio DVD or the SQ if the Quadio is too pricey. I went nuts over this album when it came out in early '69, long before AM played any of it, or it came out in Quad. My only complaint musically is Free Form Guitar, which might be one of their worst ever tracks. I've owned the SQ, Quadio, 2ch LP, Mofi 1/2 speed mastered LP, 2CD, and CBS Mastersound Gold CD. The 1/2 speed LP is the best 2ch, although I don't know why you'd want to get that instead of Quad.

We've all spent years preparin', before this group was born. This album truly sounds like it.

I've got the Quadio dvd, Linda, how would you say it compares to the fidelity of the SQ and Q8? Is the mix identical on the Quadio to the SQ/Q8?

fwiw, I think the Quadio's a fantastic little package. I was only dismayed Rhino followed it up with the Aretha hits set, which I didn't bother buying. Just about anything else Rhino could have released at that time, I'm pretty confident I'd have gone for!
 
The separation and fidelity are better on the Quadio than the SQ. I've never owned the 2 Q8 set of this, nor heard it. I got the Quadio for a birthday present. Yes, it's the same mix.

I never bought Aretha on CD-4, but I bought the Quadio and highly recommend it. It's on sale this weekend from Rhino Handmade. There are some prior hits that are missing. The mixes and fidelity on the hits that are there are nothing short of fantastic.

I've got the Quadio dvd, Linda, how would you say it compares to the fidelity of the SQ and Q8? Is the mix identical on the Quadio to the SQ/Q8?

fwiw, I think the Quadio's a fantastic little package. I was only dismayed Rhino followed it up with the Aretha hits set, which I didn't bother buying. Just about anything else Rhino could have released at that time, I'm pretty confident I'd have gone for!
 
ah it's reassuring to know the Quadio's the best out there.. shame it wasn't DVDA but it's still a lovely set and I'm very thankful it happened at all.

oh really! I better go ahead and pick it up then at last! I can't believe they still have copies left..!!
Thank you for all the brilliant info, as ever!
 
The Quadio sleeve has the DVD-A logo. When it arrived, I said "Great! It is DVD-A after all!" It wasn't.

ah it's reassuring to know the Quadio's the best out there.. shame it wasn't DVDA but it's still a lovely set and I'm very thankful it happened at all.

oh really! I better go ahead and pick it up then at last! I can't believe they still have copies left..!!
Thank you for all the brilliant info, as ever!
 
The Best of Aretha Franklin is wonderful on CD-4 and I don't even have a very good copy. It's warped and noisy. Oh well, it was free. Someday I will replace it with a good one.

To hear those songs in fully realized quadraphonics is something else, like Linda said.

Doug
 
Unlike most of you folks that commented I like Free Form Guitar - but not as much now as I did then. Being a guitarist and hearing what Terry was able to get out of a Dual Showman and Strat was quite interesting when I first heard this. I remember being as amazed by the sounds here as I was with Hendrix. I certainly would not have wanted to be in the same room due to the volume levels without some kind of hearing protection (and this from someone who used to stick their head right up against PA speakers - back when I was stoopid). I've got a Dual Showman and never had it above 6 as it is really loud. I would suspect the track would be described as music concrete by artsy types to legitimize it as music. It was noise - but really interesting noise to me.

My favorite track was South Ca. Purples. I was always going to buy the quad version of this but I waited too long and it disappeared. (Always something else to buy back in the day). Another note: I never thought the crowd chant was all that synced on the stereo. It drifts in time a bit and never stays quite on top of the beat to my ears. Great album though and I would agree with Marcsten, they went in a different direction - especially after Terry's death - and I lost interest. They were at their best on this when they were more of an Ides of March than BS&T (non-Kooper version, that is).
 
Just a heads up for any of you mental cases that like SQ decoding - the HDTracks download of this album is actually the SQ encoded quad mix and not the stereo mix. Not really sure how this happened, but if you're looking for something to feed your Tate or your Surround Master, you can't really do much better than this!
 
Just a heads up for any of you mental cases that like SQ decoding - the HDTracks download of this album is actually the SQ encoded quad mix and not the stereo mix. Not really sure how this happened, but if you're looking for something to feed your Tate or your Surround Master, you can't really do much better than this!

Really?

Tempting - even if just from a comparison point of view with the Rhino quadio DVD Release!!! I don't have any stereo versions of the album anyway...
 
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