Quad LP/Tape Poll America: Holiday [CD-4/Q8/QR]

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Rate "Holiday"

  • 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
    20

EMB

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Since 2002/2003
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Feb 8, 2004
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The Top 40 Radio of My Mind
Their fourth Lp, from 1974, one of two Quad America releases(wish there had been more!)]

Side 1:

1. Miniature
2. Tin Man
3. Another Try
4. Lonely People
5. Glad To See You
6. Mad Dog

Side 2:

1. Hollywood
2. Baby It's Up To You
3. You
4. Old Man Took
5. What Does It Matter
6. In The Country
 

Attachments

  • America HolidayA.jpg
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This is one of those bands that I'd never have touched if it weren't for quad, but I really ended up liking this album. It's not quite as strong as the DVDA release of Homecoming, but it's very good (and very quad) nonetheless. You can also definitely hear the George Martin influence on the orchestral arrangements on the album as well. Definitely a guilty pleasure.
 
I just listened to this reel the other day, and I had forgotten what a great surround mix this was. Very nicely done.
 
JonUrban said:
I just listened to this reel the other day, and I had forgotten what a great surround mix this was. Very nicely done.


hi Jon

yeah this was a great surround mix. i almost finish with a DVD-A transfer from the Q4, next will be the Q4 of Hearts !!!!! haven't played the reel in awhile hope the surround mix is the same !!!!!!!! thanks Gerardo
 
quadgdiaz said:
hi Jon

yeah this was a great surround mix. i almost finish with a DVD-A transfer from the Q4, next will be the Q4 of Hearts !!!!! haven't played the reel in awhile hope the surround mix is the same !!!!!!!! thanks Gerardo

Great minds think alike! :banana:
 
Since this is the one that has my favorite America single, "Lonely People," it has gotten more play over the years. Overall, a quirky group with a sound that was sometimes too soft and predictable, but here they were very easy to like, and the mix did justice to the music.

ED :)
 
Good but sometimes strange mix.

Tin Man starts out all front. First sound from the rear is the "ting" of a triangle. The stereo mix just has one offbeat "ting", but apparently that was too subtle for the quad marketing folks, so here it goes "ti-ding" from front to rear. I find that an unnecessary and intrusive alteration, essentially a case of the remix engineer rearranging the track.

There's some fun to be had isolating the rear channels. The engineer was a little sloppy, leaving tracks open before and after vocals come in. On Tin Man you can hear conversation -- I remember one of them saying, "Feels like I'm gonna pass out"!

If I remember correctly, most tracks have the main vocal nearly centered, slightly front. I've never liked that.

Although I like the mix of "Hollywood", you'll find you can get almost the same result -- with better sound quality -- by pumping the CD version through DPLII.
 
I pointed out this "sloppy mixing" to another quad advocate back in the 70's when I got the Q8 tape. He had the CD-4 and told me he couldn't hear any conversation on the back channels. So I always assumed the cutting up by the group was only on the Q8 version. The traffic noises going around the room and the party noises on "Hollywood" were a nice touch and sure raised the eyebrows of a lot of m/c doubters back in the day.
 
I transfered this to dts from the CD4 version. It rocks! I was able to take the lead vocals out of the center part of the rears. It sounds better mostly in the center. Lovely mix (besides the vocals being centered), great album.
 
Anybody else notice the tape start-up blip in the guitar at the beginning of "Lonely People" on the CD-4?

Doug
 
I don't know how to explain it, but I was disappointed that the traffic noise was not truly quad. At least when I listen through phones off the Q8 one pair - back?? - has the entire "sound" just being panned back and forth - not really even "stereo" like the traffic sounds on "Antelope Freeway" (an old Howard Roberts album). It just seemed to lack a spaciousness that it could have if it had been done differently. Minor quibble for sure.
 
Sorry but I don't know how you can judge quadraphonic recordings using headphones.

The traffic noise sounds great in CD-4 with speakers.

Doug
 
You can even listen with 2ch 'phones, but it takes twice as long on Q8's. I rated Holiday an 8. What's good is great, other tracks are a bit trite. Nice mix.

Linda
Don't Give Up Until You Drink From the Silver Cup

Sorry but I don't know how you can judge quadraphonic recordings using headphones.

The traffic noise sounds great in CD-4 with speakers.

Doug
You can,
 
Doug, what I'm taking about is in the sounds themselves - sort of. In the traffic noise there are "drive-bys" - the sound of a vehicle passing by the microphone(s) used to record the sound. In the rear channels this "drive-by" moves along with all the rest of the background - or other - sounds. In that way the sound is not as separated as I thought it was going to be. I'm not saying that the quad recording does not add depth and more movement to the sound, it was just not what I thought they would do with it. Maybe better said another way - the traffic sounds like it was recorded by 2 microphones - not 4 (like 2 figure 8's in a Blumlein setup with each signal sent to a separate track).
 
I was listening to my reel rip of this album this afternoon and realized how much more I like "Holiday" than "Hearts". It's a shame that Marshall never got to do this album - I know it was in his sights. I am not sure why they went with "Hearts" first, but it's just a shame that they stopped before "Holiday".

The mix and songs on this album are great. There's a lot of little things going on, like the traffic on "Hollywood", and in "Another Try", the "tick-tock" clock in the rear speakers, clear as a bell, makes for an interesting backward glance for demo listeners.

Give this one a spin if you haven't listened in a while, it's a nice distraction. Like I said, all the way through I like this one over both the quad "Hearts" and the 5.1 "Homecoming".
 
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