CBS (mastered) CD-4 titles for the WEA group

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Looked carefully at the above mentioned CD-4 disc,
nothing in the lead out groove area or the jacket that
it was mastered by CBS.


Kirk Bayne
 
The only W/E/A title I've seen that explicitly mentions this is the original cast recording of The Wiz. On the bottom of the back cover, below the quad remix credit for Phil Ramone, it says "Mastering: Tom Dwyer, CD-4 Cutting Room at the Columbia Recording Stdio, New York, N.Y.".

I suspect generally speaking that CBS probably didn't want their name associated commercially with CD-4 given that they had a huge vested interest in the success of SQ, so if other albums don't credit them, that could very well be why.
 
The only W/E/A title I've seen that explicitly mentions this is the original cast recording of The Wiz. On the bottom of the back cover, below the quad remix credit for Phil Ramone, it says "Mastering: Tom Dwyer, CD-4 Cutting Room at the Columbia Recording Stdio, New York, N.Y.".

I suspect generally speaking that CBS probably didn't want their name associated commercially with CD-4 given that they had a huge vested interest in the success of SQ, so if other albums don't credit them, that could very well be why.

i remember this as a problem CD-4 LP.. the sides were pretty full and cut closer to the label than most CD-4 discs, latter tracks had short bursts of distortion through both my JVC 4DD-5 and Grundig Quadro. i never tried it through the Marantz CD-400B, though i plan to someday.
 
Love those old Billboards! Still waiting for the Bowie and Denver CD-4's. Is it January yet? :)

rca bowie.jpg
 
Love those old Billboards! Still waiting for the Bowie and Denver CD-4's. Is it January yet? :)

View attachment 46831

presumably the planned John Denver CD-4 was the Poems, Prayers & Promises album that was on Q8.. and i'm guessing the Bowie album would've been David Live since Tony Visconti mentioned in the DVD-Audio liner notes that it was recorded with Quad in mind.

January 1975.. would've been super cool if it was Diamond Dogs in Quad! 💎 🐶 although either way it didn't get released so bleurgh!! 🤷‍♀️🤣
 
Here's another one I discovered in a 1976 issue of Billboard:

View attachment 48798

Even though it's not mentioned by name, the album in question is Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (Finnadar QD-9010).

great sleuthing as always Dave! 🤗
are any of the selections "musical" on this LP or are they all 'avant-garde' and / or 'challenging'..?

edit: egads, the Morton Babbitt reminds me
of my then-4-year-old sisters' first Casio keyboard noodlings when she was wildly stabbing at the buttons and cycling through the various voices and effects 🤷‍♀️

edit 2: for a couple of the tracks it might be tricky to know if you're experiencing CD-4 "sandpaper" distortion or hearing the 'music' as intended... 🧐
 
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You can add Herbie Mann's Reggae album (Atlantic QD-1655) to this list:

"Mastering: Tom Dwyer, CD-4 Cutting Room at the Columbia Recording Studio, New York, N.Y."
View attachment 55134

remember that one demodulating well and the mix being pretty solid.. musically nice and laid back.. my girl (boop boop), talkin' 'bout my girl (diddle - iddle - oo)... my girl (toot toot!) 🎺🥁🎸🎷 :smokin
 
You can also add two Spinners CD-4s to the Tom Dwyer/Columbia Recording Studios CD-4 Cutting Room list:

1974's New and Improved (Atlantic QD-18118)
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and 1975's Pick of the Litter (Atlantic QD-18141)
1598859705302.png
 
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