Aretha Franklin's Greatest Hits - The Next QUADIO Title

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practically the last 10 years or so, whilst so many were seemingly quite happy to illegally download heaps of music they could perfectly legitimately buy on cd (and more recently buy as downloads) I kept dutifully buying CDs in the hope that it would help in a tiny way to keep things afloat.

I fully also maintain that there are fans out there who do both. They buy music, but also download because it expands what music they listen to. Whether they bought that album or not, they're dropping on that artist, whether it's THEN going and buying the album, going to a show, or buying their next album.
 
Well, Universal Music Group just teamed up with Analogue Productions to release the recent Shelby Lynne tribute album to Dusty Springfield "Just A Little Lovin'" on a Hybrid Stereo SACD.
The SACD even has the UMG stickers and trademarks from their SACD series. See http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/80112/Shelby_Lynne-Just_A_Little_Lovin-Hybrid_Stereo_SACD

Who knows - if it sells well, perhaps UMG will release some additional SACDs with Analogue Productions down the road.
As was said earlier by DKA, if you want more Hi Rez discs, support the ones coming out.

The same Analogue Productions that are releasing all The Doors' stuff in 5.1 all over again, you mean!?
If they got their hands on the Elton's we'd probably get GBYR, CFATBDC, TC, EJ, HC again.. and then stop - again..!! :mad:
 
I feel a little differently. While many record companies have had an annoying habit of being short-sighted over the years when it comes to what and how to reissue back catalog, they are by no means the only problem. Let's look at three artists--and Doors, Moody Blues, and Elton John--to illustrate the importance of the artist being caring and involved to make such reissues a reality.

Obviously, the surviving Doors wanted their catalog out in 5.1 and remixed stereo. Elektra, knowing that the Doors are a brand name and will sell to some degree no matter what, went along, and you know the rest. Similarly, after Justin Hayward expressed interest in remastering the old quad albums, UMe went along with that, too, not least, one might assume, because the band still records for the company. On the other hand, after the first, great batch of 5.1 releases, the plug was pulled on further Elton reissues of the type. Had Elton wanted those albums released badly enough, does anyone doubt that they wouldn't have made it to us? Of course they would, and Elton not only has clout but still has validity as an artist, so if he'd really wanted them released, this most certainly would have come to pass. That they didn't make it out should tell us something about the nature of projects like this. As much as number-crunching can be useful, the fact remains that the reissue market has always been fairly modest compared to 'new' music and artists. This is understandable, but whereas in the 1980's labels desired their back catalogs on CD--not least because they were trying to phase out tape and vinyl--there is no such urgency today. The world has changed, and my hunch is that if an artist really wants his or her catalog available, it'll be available. If they don't really care or don't want to put it out--think Bob Seger's early Capitol material--it'll stay locked away.

ED :)

Im not sure how I feel about what exactly happened with the Elton SACDs.

Here's my take on it. See if I've missed anything..

Sometime in the early 2000's, Greg Penny remixed some of the Made in England album (which he originally produced in '94/'95) into 5.1 surround and liked the results.

Elton somehow heard it, liked what he heard and told Greg to remix GYBR.

Elton loved Gregs' 5.1 GYBR and so it was chosen to be released as part of the 30th Anniversary package of the album.

Elton then told Greg to go ahead and remix "the lot", i.e. all his classic albums was /is the perceived wisdom.

The GYBR SACD set sold well as did the first batch of Elton's.

The next batch was announced, including ROTW, Blue Moves, DSMIOTPP and Caribou. We all got excited!

Tidbits of news trickled in, we could look forward to some genuinely new bonus material and extras like the previously unreleased "Ducktail Jiver" on the upcoming SACD of "Caribou", for which Greg had even gone to the expense/effort of getting Davey Johnstone to record a new guitar part to finish that particular track off (the so-called demo of "Ducktail" I have bears this out as it only features acoustic guitar but otherwise sounds pretty complete and so was unfinished, rather than a demo.).

There were further rumours floating about that either The Here & There Live set or Live in Australia were to be remixed into 5.1 for inclusion in a Third batch of surround Elton.

Then, just as batch 2 was going to be released, UMG pulled the plug - we lost the rest of the Steely Dan 5.1's in the process.

All throughout the process I never heard or saw or read a peep out of Elton about the 5.1 versions of his albums, beyond his initial green-lighting to Greg to "do the lot".

I doubt Elton even knows they weren't released.
I believe the stopping of the 5.1 Eltons' was all UMG's doing.
Why!? God only knows.

I asked Laura Croker, the editor of eltonjohn.com, the last time I saw her if she knew what had happened to the next set of Elton SACDs, why they had never come out and if/when we could expect them?

Her response (get ready! this wonderful lady has been at Elton's right hand for decades so I imagine she has her finger on the pulse of a lot of Elton-related activity, she's certainly known her onions on everything else I've ever asked her about regarding Elton..!)..

"Oh, I thought they had all been released already!?".
 
thinking on, what makes the Elton 5.1 situation even crazier, is that UMG released Advanced Res DualDiscs (Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet in 2005 and Pete Townshends' & Ronnie Lanes' Rough Mix in 2006) a wee while after the abrupt/premature end of the Elton & Steely Dan SACDs.

why why WHY on earth didn't Universal then release the remaining 5.1 Greg Penny mixed Elton albums, even if only in the 'dreaded' DualDisc format..?!?!?

Yes, it would have taken some extra effort creating some graphics/menu's a la DVDA but I'm sure Neil Wilkes could tell us how much time/money/work that would have taken? The mixes were there, all done. The customers were waiting with cash in their hot little hands.

I just do not get it..?!?
 
Wow, they really must've had a hard time moving copies of this - I bought two copies during the same promotion last year.
 
It is indeed, and it's fascinating to me that the CTA quadio disc sold out really quickly, whereas this one seems to be dying on the shelves. I wonder what the reasons behind it are, if it's the fact that the Aretha disc was released on quad reel-to-reel tape and lots of people have it (or high quality conversions of it), or if people who buy this kind of thing are just more inclined to buy rock titles over R&B titles, or some other factor we haven't considered at all. Maybe they pressed too many copies based on the quick sell-out of the CTA disc?
 
My guess is that Aretha appeals to a demographic that is marginally interested in surround at best. I missed this Quad back in the day, primarily because it's missing several of her hits up to that point. Likely that also contributed to the lack of interest. Sad, 'cause it's great.
 
It's unfortunate that this was Rhino Quadio's second choice for a release. It's a disc I enjoy, but clearly was not a great choice in terms of widespread surround sound audience popularity. That may be part of the reason we never saw a third release from Quadio. There were hundreds of other titles that would likely have had the same level of sales response as the Chicago release.
 
There were hundreds of other titles that would likely have had the same level of sales response as the Chicago release.

Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" would have been an instant sell-out, for example.
 
Agreed, but often these things are dictated by either the cost of licensing the material, finding tapes in usable condition, and/or getting approval from the artists without too much hassle. I think it was just the right product at the wrong time - Rhino massively downsized right as the Quadio program kicked off, and a niche product like that is probably the first thing on the chopping block. Perhaps the slow but steady resurgence of multichannel audio on Blu-Ray will convince them to restart the program at some point.
 
Rhino Handmade took pains to send an email a few weeks ago to make sure we were aware of their "re activation".

Perhaps it's time we all write them of our continued interest in purchasing quad or surround releases.
 
Quadio was a great idea, but Rhino shot themselves in the foot with the Aretha release. As much as I like her, this album didn't have the mass appeal to follow up the CTA release. They had so much more available in the WEA vaults to pick from. It's like they intended to kill the format intentionally. But if it's true they may resurrect the format, count me in!
 
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There is a person at Rhino who is very sympathetic to quadraphonic collectors, but many decisions made at Rhino come from their bosses at Warner. It's never a bad move to keep both Rhino and Warner aware of an interest in selected quad titles.
 
I'd love to see all of the Doobie Brothers' albums included in the catalog, along with Gordon Lightfoot ("Gord's Gold" was one of the titles slated for quad release but cancelled before anything came of it), Yes, Foreigner, and all the great rock albums released by the Warner Music Group. And I know this is wishful thinking, but it would be great if Rhino could license selected albums from other labels to include in the program. And I don't care if it's DVD-Audio, DTS, or BD-Audio, I just want my surround!!!
'
 
There is a person at Rhino who is very sympathetic to quadraphonic collectors, but many decisions made at Rhino come from their bosses at Warner. It's never a bad move to keep both Rhino and Warner aware of an interest in selected quad titles.

I emailed Dr. Rhino today to remind him of my interest in Quadio. Only takes a few seconds and can't hurt. drrhino"at"rhino.com
 
Rhino is a wholly owned subsidiary of WEA, so there is no need to license any title, except those that have changed distribution/ownership.

I'd love to see all of the Doobie Brothers' albums included in the catalog, along with Gordon Lightfoot ("Gord's Gold" was one of the titles slated for quad release but cancelled before anything came of it), Yes, Foreigner, and all the great rock albums released by the Warner Music Group. And I know this is wishful thinking, but it would be great if Rhino could license selected albums from other labels to include in the program. And I don't care if it's DVD-Audio, DTS, or BD-Audio, I just want my surround!!!
'
 
Rhino is a wholly owned subsidiary of WEA, so there is no need to license any title, except those that have changed distribution/ownership. Planet Waves - Dylan, Allman Brothers and Zappa are the only old WEA Quads that come to mind as being no longer distributed by WEA. Paul Simon was on WEA for awhile, but is once again distributed by Columbia. Chicago was on Columbia, but the group now owns their masters, which are now distributed by Rhino.

I'd love to see all of the Doobie Brothers' albums included in the catalog, along with Gordon Lightfoot ("Gord's Gold" was one of the titles slated for quad release but cancelled before anything came of it), Yes, Foreigner, and all the great rock albums released by the Warner Music Group. And I know this is wishful thinking, but it would be great if Rhino could license selected albums from other labels to include in the program. And I don't care if it's DVD-Audio, DTS, or BD-Audio, I just want my surround!!!
'
 
I'd imagine sales of the Aretha Quadio weren't helped by the presence online of the (excellent) transfer of the old Quad reel to DVD-A.. not knocking it at all, it is/was superb (as good as the Quadio, possibly better, not for the Adv'd Res bit either for any Hi-Rez naysayers, it sounded great on its own merits) it was for years the only way for many not geared up with the kit to hear the Quad mix in great quality (myself included).

If Rhino had chosen (for Quadio release number 2) almost any of the Chicago/Eagles/Doobies mixes = different story I reckon.. not that there aren't solid transfers of most of their Quads out there but some (Eagles in particular) could be improved upon and I have little doubt would have been snapped up as with release number 1 (CTA).

Top and bottom, Aretha was just a duff choice.
 
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