Quad LP/Tape Poll Guess Who, The: American Woman [CD-4/Q8]

[EMB]

My fave Guess Who non-hits album, from 1970. The Japanese vinyl edition sounds sooooooo nice....:banana:

Side 1:

1. American Woman
2. No Time
3. Talisman
4. No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature

Side 2:

1. 969(The Oldest Man)
2. When Friends Fall Out
3. 8:15
4. Proper Stranger
5. Humpty's Blues/American Woman(epilogue)

 

[Q-Eight]

Now, I'm being overcritical I guess, but the main thing that bothers me about some of the early Guess Who Quads is the bleed over of many instruments. You can hear drums from all channels for instance and that bothers me. I think this is due in part to the master tape.... probably only being an 8 track, but it bothers me none the less.

Secondly is the panning. The panning of certain parts just makes no sense to me. Most notably on "No Sugar Tonight". This is a really awesome song, and I especially love the part where Burton is split front & rear with the No Sugar Tonight and New Mother Nature parts. But having the background singers, singing "No Sugar Tonight!" bopping around just kinda irritates me. But here I go being the hypocrite that I am, and saying that I enjoy at the end how the "Da-Da doo Dow Dow" parts pan around at the end of the song. Meh.

"American Woman" is a pretty *blah* mix. It doesn't make me sit up and listen. One of the top most disappointing Quad mixes in my opinion. It's a ripping song but they did nothing to it and it almost seems to my ears that the Quad version is missing a guitar overdub.

"Proper Stranger" I like. It's a simpler mix, but in this case, less is definitely more. The only panning is Randy's guitar between verses and how it goes one direction then reverses is pretty groovy.

"969 (The Oldest Man)" is a rippin' tune. It's seperated nicely and nothing pans around. Nice mix and nicely balanced.


Anywho, that's my unprofessional opinion. I did however give the album an 8. I do love the Guess Who no doot aboot that, but this would not be a tape I'd play to introduce someone to Quad. It's just not that exciting.

 

[EMB]

FWIW, the vinyl is cleaner and offers better definition than the Q8--understandable, given 8-track's inherent problems.

The mixes are a bit strange, though sometimes enjoyable. But it's as if the mixing engineer didn't really understand quadraphonic sound, nor particularly care. For example, "No Time" has panning effects, but they don't make any sense, it just seems to be done because it can be done, or that's what the engineer thought was the point of quad(Ha!). Some tracks--like "Talisman," "969" and "Proper Stranger"--do work well. But there is some inexplicable logic at work here, and sometimes the mixes are too busy and cluttered. Not sure why, seems this should have been an easy one to assemble.

Overall a '7' here, I try to rate the mix over the music, and this remains, for me, the most listenable of their non-comps. Fun, but coulda been a lot better.

ED