thanks for da info!
"i got dem bluuuuuuues...
da Quadraphonic blues!"
its my only minor gripe of an otherwise splendid mix.. Joe Tarsia (formerly of Philly International) gets a namecheck on the QS LP, i bet he had a hand in the Quad, the lil' devil
B.B. King - L.A. Midnight Q8
- Thread starter JonUrban
- Start date
Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:
thanks for da info!
"i got dem bluuuuuuues...
da Quadraphonic blues!"
its my only minor gripe of an otherwise splendid mix.. Joe Tarsia (formerly of Philly International) gets a namecheck on the QS LP, i bet he had a hand in the Quad, the lil' devil
well you can forget the iTunes download of "To Know You Is To Love You", its not QS..
and "Friends" on there ain't the QS Quad neither, just plain Stereo
As far as I know, the first three B.B. King quad releases (1971's In London and L.A. Midnight, and 1972's Guess Who) were all single-inventory QS quad, most likely thanks to the involvement of Ed Michel, who produced the first two and probably oversaw the mixing of the latter one thanks to his role at the top of the food chain in ABC's engineering department.
After that I think it's dual-inventory for 1974's Friends and Together... For the First Time (with Bobby Blue Bland).
Both 1973's To Know You is to Love You and Friends were recorded at in Philadelphia at Sigma Sound (probably best known for its association with Philadelphia International Records) with studio owner Joe Tarsia engineering. I spoke to one of the engineers that used to work there and asked him if he had any recollections about the B.B. King quad mixes - he said he remembered a QS encoder being brought in (they were already set up for SQ for the PIR stuff, and CD-4 for the Atlantic quad mixes like the Spinners they did) for some of the B.B. King mixing but he couldn't remember if it was for To Know You is to Love You or for Friends so I was unable to get any verification as to whether a quad mix of To Know You was ever done. Personally, I don't think it exists - despite being rare, all the other B.B. King Q8's have shown up from time to time and I think that one would have surfaced at least once in the last 40 years.
As to the rarity of the tapes, for me the B.B. King Q8s have been some of the toughest to find, especially in anything approaching very good condition. I attribute this to a combination of blues being somewhat of a niche genre (relative to rock and roll or easy listening) and also toward GRT's distribution network not being great compared to the big boys like CBS and WEA, and probably also to the fact that my cheapskatery won't allow me to spend $50 a tape for these titles. The fact that GRT was bankrupt well before the end of the 70s I think says a lot about how poorly their sales were doing, and I'm sure quad was probably an even smaller part of that picture.
If you're interested in King's output from this period, I highly reccomend checking out this BBC Documentary about the recording of In London called 'Sounding Out' from 1971 that someone has kindly pirated on to YouTube for your viewing pleasure:
As Wikipedia notes, King "is accompanied by US session musicians and various British rock- and R&B musicians, including Ringo Starr, Alexis Korner and Rick Wright (not the same from Pink Floyd), as well as members of Spooky Tooth and Humble Pie, Greg Ridley, Steve Marriott, and Jerry Shirley" and lots of them appear in the documentary.
Also interesting from a quad standpoint is that the album was recorded at Command Studios, at 201 Picadilly, right in the heart of central London. The studio was short-lived, but it was one of the first quad equipped studios in the UK (you can see four of the quad joysticks for panning stuff around the quad soundfield on the mixing desk at 17:13 in that video) and it's where the unreleased quad mix of Pink Floyd's Echoes was done the same year.
After that I think it's dual-inventory for 1974's Friends and Together... For the First Time (with Bobby Blue Bland).
Both 1973's To Know You is to Love You and Friends were recorded at in Philadelphia at Sigma Sound (probably best known for its association with Philadelphia International Records) with studio owner Joe Tarsia engineering. I spoke to one of the engineers that used to work there and asked him if he had any recollections about the B.B. King quad mixes - he said he remembered a QS encoder being brought in (they were already set up for SQ for the PIR stuff, and CD-4 for the Atlantic quad mixes like the Spinners they did) for some of the B.B. King mixing but he couldn't remember if it was for To Know You is to Love You or for Friends so I was unable to get any verification as to whether a quad mix of To Know You was ever done. Personally, I don't think it exists - despite being rare, all the other B.B. King Q8's have shown up from time to time and I think that one would have surfaced at least once in the last 40 years.
As to the rarity of the tapes, for me the B.B. King Q8s have been some of the toughest to find, especially in anything approaching very good condition. I attribute this to a combination of blues being somewhat of a niche genre (relative to rock and roll or easy listening) and also toward GRT's distribution network not being great compared to the big boys like CBS and WEA, and probably also to the fact that my cheapskatery won't allow me to spend $50 a tape for these titles. The fact that GRT was bankrupt well before the end of the 70s I think says a lot about how poorly their sales were doing, and I'm sure quad was probably an even smaller part of that picture.
If you're interested in King's output from this period, I highly reccomend checking out this BBC Documentary about the recording of In London called 'Sounding Out' from 1971 that someone has kindly pirated on to YouTube for your viewing pleasure:
As Wikipedia notes, King "is accompanied by US session musicians and various British rock- and R&B musicians, including Ringo Starr, Alexis Korner and Rick Wright (not the same from Pink Floyd), as well as members of Spooky Tooth and Humble Pie, Greg Ridley, Steve Marriott, and Jerry Shirley" and lots of them appear in the documentary.
Also interesting from a quad standpoint is that the album was recorded at Command Studios, at 201 Picadilly, right in the heart of central London. The studio was short-lived, but it was one of the first quad equipped studios in the UK (you can see four of the quad joysticks for panning stuff around the quad soundfield on the mixing desk at 17:13 in that video) and it's where the unreleased quad mix of Pink Floyd's Echoes was done the same year.
I have these listed as dual inventory
Live In Japan
Friends
Together for the First Time....Live
and these as single inventory quad only releases as I am unaware of a separate stereo release
The Best Of
Guess Who
In London
L.A. midnight
Out of curiosity I did some searching and B.B.King released 43 Studio albums & 16 Live albums! So only a tiny fraction in good old Quad.
I only managed to see him once a few years ago in Birmingham (UK), wonderful gig, the support act was John Mayall.
I only managed to see him once a few years ago in Birmingham (UK), wonderful gig, the support act was John Mayall.
Quads is not bad going..its as many surround releases as Elton and he's done about
albums ‼jefe1
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Ok
Anyone know if the CD releases of his single inventory quad releases keep the quad encoding intact
Like in In London and L.A. midnight?
Anyone know if the CD releases of his single inventory quad releases keep the quad encoding intact
Like in In London and L.A. midnight?
jefe1
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Ok I'm taking one for the team. Ordered a used cd of In London with spar code AAD. Which tells me it hasn't been digitally remixed. One bonus track though I doubt that was mixed for quad.
jefe1
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Ok the CD arrived and I'm playing it thru the surround master involve setting. Great fidelity. It sure sounds like it has the QS encoding but I can never be sure it isn't synthesizing well. I do not have the quad lp to compare it to. There is one bonus track that was mixed years later by different people. It does not spread out across the speakers like the original nine tracks.
This is good music if you like B B King.
This is good music if you like B B King.
Here's a couple of clues you can look for to see if it's really the quad mix:
- Most songs have the drums across the rears, and the bass guitar in the fronts
- The studio chatter at the beginning of "Midnight" should only be in the fronts
- The horns in "Sweet Sixteen" should only be in the fronts
- "(I Believe) I've Been Blue Too Long" has some trombone or low brass in the left rear speaker
jefe1
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Thanks for your tips sjorne. When I get time I will revisit the cd and listen for them and report back.
i think sj's tips were maybe for the L.A. Midnight Quad rather than the In London Quad?
jefe1
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Good Point Adam I have the cd of In London...so his tips wont help. I think LA Midnight is available on a two fer cd with another BB King album with likely the original encoding intact but I do not have that one.
At any rate my feeling based on one listen is that the In London cd is QS.
Yeah I was referring to L.A. Midnight, not sure how I misread your post. I've never heard the quad In London.
Sorry about that.
jefe1
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
That's Ok. If I ever get the other one on cd Ill refer to your tips.
Boy I could have gone crazy listening for non existent placements on this......
By the way anyone know whether there was a quad greatest hits lp for BB?
Boy I could have gone crazy listening for non existent placements on this......
By the way anyone know whether there was a quad greatest hits lp for BB?
The best of. In QS quad. Also on CDThat's Ok. If I ever get the other one on cd Ill refer to your tips.
Boy I could have gone crazy listening for non existent placements on this......
By the way anyone know whether there was a quad greatest hits lp for BB?
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