Loggins and Messina - Self-Titled - Audio Fidelity 4.0 SACD (September 2015)

That's lame that downloads still have album breaks. (Good thing 8-tracks never became the standard.)
A fix would require a whole new master, but couldn't that have been done the first time around for CD?

Some classic albums have been so fixed, as was a later limited release of Dark Side of the Moon.

Philip Spinner said:

Does the download have the break in the middle. All of the cd's I've checked have the break which is strange since the original master has the whole thing intact.

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Interesting question. Maybe Brian has bought that download.

eggplant said:

That's lame that downloads still have album breaks. (Good thing 8-tracks never became the standard.)
A fix would require a whole new master, but couldn't that have been done the first time around for CD?

Some classic albums have been so fixed, as was a later limited release of Dark Side of the Moon.

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Actually there are music download sites - like the Pentatone Music web site - where you can buy and download albums as a full album DSD ISO file.
With DACs and Software that support ISO playback these albums do indeed play gaplessly. And you can create individual tracks with software like ISO2DSF and ISO2DSD.

However, most people who buy music downloads want the album sliced up into individual songs.
That makes gapless play difficult, if not impossible.

It's also worth noting that Pentatone received many complaints for offering DSD downloads in ISO vs. track by track form.
I'm sure this is part of the reason that newer music download stores have followed the lead of the early ones in offering music downloads in track form vs. ISO form only.

Pre-ordered today as well as Sly..... Keep the quads coming AF and so far I've passed on only two of the releases.

eggplant said:

That's lame that downloads still have album breaks. (Good thing 8-tracks never became the standard.)
A fix would require a whole new master, but couldn't that have been done the first time around for CD?

Click to expand...

It's an annoyance that goes back to the cassette days for me...I bought Tom Waits' "Nighthawks at the Diner" and couldn't believe that it maintained not just the fade-out and fade-in at the record side breaks but even inserted several seconds of silence between them!

Flash forward to 2015 and the 192k Pono download of Neil Young's "Live Rust" does the same thing. It's probably a no-win for them: If they "fix" the side breaks, the purists will complain...if they leave them in, those who think they should take advantage of modern technology will complain.

Today Audio Fidelity has announced the upcoming release of the classic album Loggins and Messina from Columbia Records on a Multichannel SACD. The SACD is scheduled for release on September 18, 2015.

The new SACD will feature music from the original Analog Master Tapes. This includes Stereo SACD and CD remastering by Steve Hoffman and an Analog to DSD Transfer of the original 4.0 Quad mix from the 1970's by Gus Skinas at the Super Audio Center in Longmont, Colorado.

The 4.0 Quad mix of the Loggins and Messina album was done by Columbia's main Quad mixing team: Quad Sound Supervisor Al Lawrence and Quad Remix Engineer Larry Keyes.

The self-titled Loggins and Messina album was the only one of the group's albums where the 4 Channel Quad Tapes were in the Sony Music tape library vault. A very fitting tribute to an excellent band. The announcement from Audio Fidelity:

"While Loggins and Messina created many fine albums, this one stands out as most representative of their impact.

In the early '70s the duo pioneered true Country/Rock and showcased it with style and near flawless performances. The 1972 release of "Loggins and Messina" built on the strengths of their debut album "Sittin In". The album reached the top of the Billboard charts and the single "Your Momma Don't Dance" reached #4. The epic "Angry Eyes" became an instant FM Radio staple reaching the top of the AOR charts.

The "Loggins and Messina" album became the true introduction of the band Loggins and Messina, not as soloists playing together, but rather as a duo that offered pure genius in their music."



Loggins and Messina
Audio Fidelity AFZ5 216
UPC 780014221621
Suggested Retail Price: $29.99

The other quad mixes aren't in the Sony vault? Does that mean they're gone/destroyed or just not found yet?

steelydave said:

The other quad mixes aren't in the Sony vault? Does that mean they're gone/destroyed or just not found yet?

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The self-titled Loggins and Messina album is the only Quad mix that was found in the Sony Music vaults.
Audio Fidelity licensed it and is well underway in preparing the album for Multichannel SACD release.

Yeah, I got that from the previous post, thanks.

steelydave said:

Yeah, I got that from the previous post, thanks.

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It means that "Full Sail" could have been sent to Japan or another country for their quad release, or a mastering house in the US, and could be located at a further date. More work and more time/money involved. Probably not gone forever, but for now.

I have a feeling that Japan's CBS/Sony vaults are loaded with 4-chan master tapes. More red tape to deal with.

Marshall just sent me an email that said I can "talk about" this release.

THIS IS A WINNER!!! So clear, so discrete. I am telling you that the Columbia quad master tapes that these guys are finding are in great shape. Or, they are doing a terrific job of baking and fixing them up. It's so good to see these old things pulled from the memories of our minds back into tangible audio that we can play without the limitations of the Q8 or the encoding/decoding of 40 year old SQ equipment.

I must sound like a broken record, but this one is again one to grab. It may not have the audience of THE DOORS, but everyone alive has probably heard "Your Mama Don't Dance...", and those with the Q8 know how great that one sounds in quad.

You have to hand it to Columbia. They may not have had a perfect LP system, but the mixes they made back then which could only be realized on Q8 were probably the best quad ever done. It's a damn shame they did not sell quad reels. However, at least we now have these ancient mixes, cleaned up, and available on SACD for future generations.

Again, KILLER

Killer never came out in quad, only Billion Dollar Babies & Muscle Of Love.

Larry Geller said:

Killer never came out in quad, only Billion Dollar Babies & Muscle Of Love.

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Literal Larry

Great to hear that the sonics are top, mix is wonderful, tapes in good shape, and many reels are there where they should be.

Nice that the cover doesn't have that thick gold border of the early CBS quads. That would have been taking authenticity too far.

JonUrban said:

Marshall just sent me an email that said I can "talk about" this release.

THIS IS A WINNER!!! So clear, so discrete. I am telling you that the Columbia quad master tapes that these guys are finding are in great shape. Or, they are doing a terrific job of baking and fixing them up. It's so good to see these old things pulled from the memories of our minds back into tangible audio that we can play without the limitations of the Q8 or the encoding/decoding of 40 year old SQ equipment.

I must sound like a broken record, but this one is again one to grab. It may not have the audience of THE DOORS, but everyone alive has probably heard "Your Mama Don't Dance...", and those with the Q8 know how great that one sounds in quad.

You have to hand it to Columbia. They may not have had a perfect LP system, but the mixes they made back then which could only be realized on Q8 were probably the best quad ever done. It's a damn shame they did not sell quad reels. However, at least we now have these ancient mixes, cleaned up, and available on SACD for future generations.

Again, KILLER

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Well, we now have a few of them, a handful anyway. It is rather promising. Columbia / Epic and the CBS labels quads are so desirable partly because there were no quad reels released of them. How odd, and I do wonder why that was?

Anyway, the Columbia/Epic catalog is one of the deepest. They won't run out of titles to choose from for a while.

Looks like the standard retailer release date for this title has been pushed back one week, from Sept 18 to Sept 25, FYI

rtbluray said:

Looks like the standard retailer release date for this title has been pushed back one week, from Sept 18 to Sept 25, FYI

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Amazon emailed me today to say it's been pushed back to November, so I guess will come out same time as the Sly & Family Stone Quad.

rtbluray said:

Looks like the standard retailer release date for this title has been pushed back one week, from Sept 18 to Sept 25, FYI

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Yes. Audio Fidelity has moved back the Loggins and Messina Multichannel SACD "by a few days". So the In Store date change from Sept 18 to Sept 25 sounds right.

rtbluray said:

Looks like the standard retailer release date for this title has been pushed back one week, from Sept 18 to Sept 25, FYI

Click to expand...

Yes. Audio Fidelity has moved back the Loggins and Messina Multichannel SACD "by a few days". So the In Store date change from Sept 18 to Sept 25 sounds right.