ABC Impulse releases on CD

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Bob Romano

Administrator
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Apr 26, 2002
Messages
5,743
Location
Viva Las Vegas
I have found a couple of title on cd that were released originally as single inventory quad items.

Both are Keith Jarrett titles:

Treasure Island
Death And The Flower

Does anyone know if the QS encoding would still be there? I assume that since they were mixed this way from the start and since it was the only way it was orignally released it would still decode.

Thanks
Bob
 
I have found a couple of title on cd that were released originally as single inventory quad items.

Both are Keith Jarrett titles:

Treasure Island
Death And The Flower

Does anyone know if the QS encoding would still be there? I assume that since they were mixed this way from the start and since it was the only way it was orignally released it would still decode.

Thanks
Bob

Bob they are intact. Lots of abc material from that era never made it to cd, and the masters were all bought by Japanese when ABC sold in the 70s. They even put adds in Billboard to try and recover Steely dan tapes. So there are a few of these. Couple of JL Hookers(free beer and chicken is British only) are out there.
 
I had asked about this awhile back but did not get a response. Some of those ABC/Impulse albums are out on CD in Japan (or at least have been, not sure if any of them have gone the mini-LP route since their original digital release), and I am sure those would be the matrix quad mixes.
 
Here are the ABC Impulse cds that I have. These were all originally QS matrix L.P.s and as much as I can tell, the cds have the matrix intact:

John Coltrane: "Interstallar Space"
John Coltrane: "Infinity"
Pharoah Sanders: "Black Unity"
Sun Ra: "Space is the Place"
Dewey Redman: "Ear of the Behearer" plus 4 songs from "Coincide"
John Lee Hooker: "Live at the Cafe' au Go-Go (And Soledad Prison)"("Live at the Cafe'..." portion is NOT quad encoded")
John Lee Hooker "Free Beer and Chicken"
Michael White "The Land of Spirit and Light"
Pharoah Sanders "Elevation"
Archie Shepp "The Cry of My People"
Marion Brown "Vista"
Sam Rivers "Crystals"


Another one I have missing from the photos is Archie Shepp "Attica Blues".
 

Attachments

  • ABC IMPULSE 1.jpg
    ABC IMPULSE 1.jpg
    70.4 KB · Views: 563
  • ABC IMPULSE 2.jpg
    ABC IMPULSE 2.jpg
    72.9 KB · Views: 541
I'm guessing the master tapes were encoded in QS, since these releases all stated 'Compatible Quad/Stereo' or some such, on the Lp labels. If that's the case, then barring remixes, they're still QS, even the bad ones...:)

ED :)
 
Archie Shepp - Kwanza has also been released on CD. I don't have the CD so not sure if QS in tact.

If it's okay, I created a 30 second excerpt of one of the songs on the CD and turned it into a FLAC file, so someone can check and see. I would say it is since I am not aware of a proper stereo mix, but to be 100 percent certain, here it is.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/cf9yn6 (2.68mb)
 
This is a screen cap of the decoding of the QS wav. Looks and sounds discrete to me.
 

Attachments

  • SP32-2871.jpg
    SP32-2871.jpg
    173.3 KB · Views: 490
One more for this list - Sam Rivers - Streams.
I do think the CD is QS.

I had the Charlie Haden CD at one time, but got nothing from the rears,
and had a copyright date of 1970 which would have been the original non-QS mix.

vinylguy4
 
I have a question about Impulse quad releases. There is a website here...

http://www.bsnpubs.com/abc/impulse.html

... that claims that catalog numbers the quadraphonic Impulse releases had an AQ prefix. I don't own any Impulse records from that era. Is that true? I thought all of the quad only impulse albums had an AS prefix.

J. D.
 
I like Mike Callahan and his site a lot--and regularly post there, I've known him since the early '80s and his BSN Newsletter days--but his discographies are in dire need of editing and clarity(like, listing the stereo info those who care about the site need the most, which is mostly absent, sorry to say).

Impulse! albums were compatible stereo/quad releases, and yes, AS was the prefix for most, IIRC.

ED :)
 
I did a quick check of many of the quad Impulse records I have from that list and they all have "AS" prefixes. I haven't found any with "AQ" prefixes, but will report back if I find any.
 
Just got in a CD of John Lee Hooker's Free Beer And Chicken and ran it through the SMv2, didn't sound very surroundy to me, kinda mono in fact; @zabble can you tell from yours if it is most definitely QS encoded?

Or maybe just had some connection wrong or something :unsure:

Here's the disc I have:
JLH-FB&C DISC.jpg
 
Just got in a CD of John Lee Hooker's Free Beer And Chicken and ran it through the SMv2, didn't sound very surroundy to me, kinda mono in fact; @zabble can you tell from yours if it is most definitely QS encoded?

Or maybe just had some connection wrong or something :unsure:

Here's the disc I have:
View attachment 51731
This had me intrigued as I really like Mr. Hooker but don't have this album in any form. I found these images on line. BGO is a UK company so the CD was probably from a UK 'Master' so just stereo.
1590612689156.png
1590612766637.png
1590612811379.png
 
As far as I know there's only one master for this album, and it's QS encoded, like a lot of Ed Michel's productions from 1972 to 1976.

BGO has never had any kind of "purist" approach to mastering, usually their releases have at the very least a moderate amount of compression. If it sounds mono-ish, I wonder if they've done something with this one like "narrowing the stereo field" by blending the left and right channels - this would totally destroy the QS decoding because you're essentially combining the left and right phase/matrix information.

I would get on YouTube with some headphones, and listen to a bit of a vinyl rip of the album, and see if it sounds different/narrower than what you have on CD. It wouldn't surprise me if they'd done something like this, because when you listen to matrix quad in stereo, it often sounds very wide (maybe too wide for their tastes) with the elements in the rear speakers pushed to the extreme left and right of the stereo soundfield.
 
As far as I know there's only one master for this album, and it's QS encoded, like a lot of Ed Michel's productions from 1972 to 1976.

BGO has never had any kind of "purist" approach to mastering, usually their releases have at the very least a moderate amount of compression. If it sounds mono-ish, I wonder if they've done something with this one like "narrowing the stereo field" by blending the left and right channels - this would totally destroy the QS decoding because you're essentially combining the left and right phase/matrix information.

I would get on YouTube with some headphones, and listen to a bit of a vinyl rip of the album, and see if it sounds different/narrower than what you have on CD. It wouldn't surprise me if they'd done something like this, because when you listen to matrix quad in stereo, it often sounds very wide (maybe too wide for their tastes) with the elements in the rear speakers pushed to the extreme left and right of the stereo soundfield.
Thanks Dave, definitely want to do some more research on this one ;)
 
I'm playing a reissue LP (S-75900 in runout) through an SM2 and get very little from the rears, mostly just the lead guitar in rear. Everything else is in the front.
Don't have and original LP.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top