America - Hearts - Audio Fidelity 4.0 Multichannel SACD (Jan 2016)

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Sweet!

America
"Hearts"

Hybrid SACD 4.0 Multichannel
AFZ5 231 SRP $29.99

America – “Hearts” in 4.0 Surround Sound…

Hearts features 3 big hits, "Daisy Jane", "Sister Golden Hair" and "Woman Tonight". The album, released in 1975, was produced by the legendary Beatles producer George Martin. America is known for their vocal harmonies and light acoustic sounds, which makes for a dynamic combination for CD, SACD and 4.0 Quad.​

Enjoy The Music...

Marshall Blonstein


https://audiofidelity.net/

Hearts.jpg
 
Super must buy!!! Snood love Woman Tonight & Sister Golden hair :banana:
 
Amazing, I was really hoping for this after the 5.1 mix of Homecoming was re-released. I hope we see the quad mix of Hat Trick on an AF SACD someday soon too, it's just as good in my books as this album.
 
Amazing, I was really hoping for this after the 5.1 mix of Homecoming was re-released. I hope we see the quad mix of Hat Trick on an AF SACD someday soon too, it's just as good in my books as this album.

Was "Hat Trick" released in Quad, or are you really thinking of "Holiday"?
Either way, when it comes to "Hearts", if the music and mix on it are just as good as "Homecoming" is, then I'm definitely in for this SACD as long as the money holds up (and thankfully right now it is) :)
 
Was "Hat Trick" released in Quad, or are you really thinking of "Holiday"?
Either way, when it comes to "Hearts", if the music and mix on it are just as good as "Homecoming" is, then I'm definitely in for this SACD as long as the money holds up (and thankfully right now it is) :)

Yeah sorry, all those 'H' albums confuse me. Hat Trick was never released in quad, it was Holiday I was thinking of. Obviously music is about personal taste but I think Holiday and Hearts are both really good albums. They may be a slight step down songwriting-wise from Homecoming, but the production and arranging of George Martin and engineering of Geoff Emerick make them compelling listens, especially in surround. I was actually playing Hearts recently for my mom, and at one point something caught her attention and she said "that sounded like the Beatles" so I think it's safe to say the hallmarks of Martin's style are definitely evident.
 
BTW it's not available to preorder yet, but amazon are saying that it will be released on January 22nd, the same day as the forthcoming SACD release of "Sittin' In" by Loggins & Messina.

Is it safe to say that Warner Music are now definitely back in the Quad game with this release, Judy Collins, and Alice Cooper all coming soon? I think so. :)
 
I'm hoping that AF isn't planning to skip over "Holiday", which is the best America album, even though the quad mix is a bit disappointing compared to the others. When I had the all of my quad reels still, I very rarely played "Hearts".
 
Is it safe to say that Warner Music are now definitely back in the Quad game with this release, Judy Collins, and Alice Cooper all coming soon?

Correct. Some of the Warner Music Quad releases are available for licensing for Multichannel SACD release by Audio Fidelity.
 
I'm hoping that AF isn't planning to skip over "Holiday", which is the best America album, even though the quad mix is a bit disappointing compared to the others. When I had the all of my quad reels still, I very rarely played "Hearts".

It could happen. They've already done 3 America albums on SACD: America, Homecoming and now Hearts.... :)
 
A few more thoughts on this after a bit of reflection:

1. There's no one who loves the quad releases that were originally done with SQ or QS encoding limitations in mind (Columbia, ABC, etc.) MORE THAN ME [EDITED FOR FREDBLUE] but I think the Warner quad mixes (like this one) really translate the best to digital formats because they were done without any compromises based on how a matrix encode/decode might handle placement in the sound field. The fact that SQ (and maybe QS? I'm not sure) couldn't handle phantom center information in the rear speakers may seem like a small thing, but imagine if the same limitation applied to the front speakers - everything would sound like those early Beatles stereo mixes with instruments on one side and vocals on the other. This limitation meant that if you wanted anything discrete in the rears it basically had to be panned hard rear left or right - you couldn't have something nice like a Fender Rhodes keyboard stereo mic'ed through a leslie speaker (a staple of a lot of 70's music) slowly oscillating between rear left and rear right because it would disappear every time the sound hit the phantom center rear position. As a result, a lot of SQ mixes tend to (and I'm simplyfing here a bit) sound like a stereo image in the front with two discrete mono channels over your left and right shoulders. So you might have most of a full band in front of you, and then an isolated bongo drummer going crazy over one shoulder and a rhythm guitarist or keyboardist over the other. As I said I love these mixes intended for matrix quad but the more of them you listen to, the more you start to hear them mixing within the limitations of the format. The Warner quad mixes were subject to no such limitations, and I suppose also the fact that they were often done in the same studio and/or by the same engineers that did the stereo mixes meant that they often retained more of the same vibe of their stereo counterparts as opposed to some of the Columbia, ABC and A&M quad remixes which didn't seem to worry too much about that kind of thing.

2. Maybe the AF SACD can solve the mystery of who did the quad mix for this release. There's no separate quad remix credit on the album artwork as there is with may of the other WEA quads. Did Geoff Emerick do it when he was doing the stereo mixes, or was it handed off to one of the juniors/assistants at AIR Studios in London? Did George Martin oversee the production of the quad mixes? It would be a real added-value bonus (for me anyway) if AF could include photos of the master tape boxes in the booklet - I find that kind of thing fascinating. I don't know if record labels are funny about that kind of thing, but if not it would be a really cool addition.

3. Does any other America album feature a song with a FACE MELTING FUZZ BASS SOLO~ halfway through a smooth jam? Because this one does, about 1:15 in to the song 'Woman Tonight'. I wonder if they caught a whiff of Larry Graham recording the 'Aint No Bout A Doubt It' album around the same time because it sounds like something right out of his playbook.

[video=youtube;W83I3NAEkO8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W83I3NAEkO8[/video]
 
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Ahem, Dave.. I think you meant to say; ;)

"There's no one who DOESN'T LOVE the quad releases that were originally done with SQ or QS encoding limitations in mind (Columbia, ABC, etc.)"


 
Anyway, looking forward to this one (despite there being particularly good Q4 conversion around..) some more "SQ" or "QS" only Quads in 2016 would be great too please (i.e. those that never saw Q8/CD-4/QR release.. mono rears and all.. :eek: )
 
Well, a no-brainer buy, that's for sure.
Hope they go also for Holyday... and something more if there is something else in the vault.
 
Ahem, Dave.. I think you meant to say; ;)

"There's no one who DOESN'T LOVE the quad releases that were originally done with SQ or QS encoding limitations in mind (Columbia, ABC, etc.)"



Ahem, it's impossible that I left any words out of that sentence, no way. I think if you go back and check you'll see it was perfectly composed.
 
Ahem, it's impossible that I left any words out of that sentence, no way. I think if you go back and check you'll see it was perfectly composed.

Thank you! :)

Perfectly decomposed (like all the poor bastards who did SQ back in the day.. Is there a man alive today that worked on any of those Quads???) I mean composed..! :eek:
 
I like this group and I like this album fine. It does not compare to the excitement of Doors, Mahavishnu, Sly, nor Alice for me. And since there has already been an America title in mc on AF, well. And there is a quad Q4 conversion too. But I guess the last America SACD reissue must have done fine, go for a hat trick and do three!!!

What is cool is when a vintage 70s quad mix can sound as great as a modern surround mix, this is probably "demo" quad surround material when it's mastered well - like it's going to be.
 
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