It's a minor miracle that logical common-sense decision making prevailed in the doom-ridden world of surround where the kicks to the psychological nuts just keep coming and coming. How refreshing to see the Doobie Bros. Quadio box on a relevant format (BR) and excellent codec (DTS-MA). This release should be held as a model for all the airplane glue-sniffing execs. who take mixes by Steve Wilson and relegate them to lossy codecs or launch Atmos mixes on steaming services (Amazon) they cannot be reproduced upon. How are these execs. not catapulted into the sun? Even the most casual QQ poster would not make these goofs.
Also, Rhino should be applauded for the value of this box set. 4 BR albums for $60; that's excellent value. I think these economic box sets where they transfer old quad mixes to digital without remixing them is an excellent way to clear out the vaults. I also like the liner notes detailing the technical aspects of quad. Makes the release seem special.
Anyway, I listened to these albums one after another while drinking my way through a six-pack. Man, does Toulouse Street (8.5 out of 10) have a lot of hits on it. I had no idea how familiar I was with this album from hearing classic rock radio, wandering malls in my youth, and frequenting strip clubs in college. It reminds me of a poppier, hippy-style, psychedelic Eagles. I thought this was their best album. Toulouse Street even manages a good Christian rock song ("Jesus is Just Alright"). Talk about a miracle!
Sadly, The Doobie Bros. spend the rest of this boxset retreating from this fascinating pop sound for a grittier (and boring) blues-rock. I wonder if this was due to criticism from "serious" rock rags like Rolling Stone. Time has played its hand and the Doobs were right. Should have stuck to their poppy-psych guns. That's not to say the rest of the albums are bad-far from it. In fact, it's interesting to note how much more complex and layered the songwriting gets as the albums march on. Unfortunately, the complexity fails to match the creative burst of Toulouse Street. The drums needed to be better recorded for Toulouse Street, and it can get a bit trebl-y, but otherwise, this is an excellent album and mix.
I'm embarrassed to admit this, but who mixed these albums? There are Exec. Producer and mastering credits but no mixing. These quad mixes are superb! Lots of fun, but not distracting from the song. This mixer needs to be recognized and given more work if they're still alive.
Other notes:
1. Love the phantom center channel. I may prefer quad to 5.1.
2. Love the creeping muscular bass on some of the tracks.
3. Love the bass in the rears which envelops the head and sometimes seems to come from behind. Mixers take note!
4. Excellent separation of instruments
5. These mixes have the most important quality I desire in surround which is a sense of 3D space.
6. All 4 speakers are liberally utilized. Wow!
Grade on a Curve: 9
Albums: 7
Mix: 9.5
Sonics : 9
Value: 10