Dutton Vocalion September 2022 Surround Sound SACDs (3)

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She owns the rights to all her masters, both the physical tapes and the rights, which is why her albums have never been licensed out. She may not even be aware she has quad master tapes in her vault, or that there's anything unique or interesting about them.
I had honestly hoped her quad masters could be utilized for a refresh. I really do dig her 70's output. Same with Bette Midler's; The Divine Miss M
 
All 3 arrived today (or should I say all 10?!) and just sitting down to start the evening with a bit of Kris Kris-saucisson 🌭 (slightly hungry! 😊) This sounds amazing - buttery smooth fidelity and great quad. Sounds like you're listening to the master tape. SACD/DSD is perfect for this.

Just a really nice mellow listen... Before things get a bit bonkers when I put on the Azteca! 🤪

Thank you D-V and all those involved... Keep 'em coming.... 😎
 
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All 3 arrived today (or should I say all 10?!) and just sitting down to start the evening with a bit of Kris Kris-saucisson 🌭 (slightly hungry! 😊) This sounds amazing - buttery smooth fidelity and great quad. Sounds like you're listening to the master tape. SACD/DSD is perfect for this.

Just a really nice mellow listen... Before things get a bit bonkers when I put on the Azteca! 🤪

Thank you D-V and all those involved... Keep 'em coming.... 😎
Mine did as well, but I haven't opened it yet, as I went to watch the Women's Rugby match at Sandy Park, Exeter, so not far away, England Red Roses v USA, those in the USA may want to look away the score was


England 52 USA 14 England win record 24th Test in a row against USA
 
lovely! 😍

can you please do something to support DV as well? 🙏

frankly we're in a faintly ridiculous situation right now, where after an incredibly testing time they've just delivered a batch of 9 Quads over just 3 releases, representing astonishingly good value for money, all lovingly remastered from the original mastertapes in the undoubted best quality we're ever gonna get and yet people here and at the Hoffman board are still nitpicking and whining on about it? 😂


Oh , like what are they saying in the negative , frederico ?
 
Oh , like what are they saying in the negative , frederico ?
oh just the usual Fizzy, re: false/unnecessary questioning of mastering/sources/provenance, content, configuration, jewel cases, etc, etc. its not worth losing sleep over.. i'm just so happy (and relieved) DV are "still alive and well" doing Quads i'm trying to make an extra effort to 'noise cancel' out the whinging! 😂
 
oh just the usual Fizzy, re: false/unnecessary questioning of mastering/sources/provenance, content, configuration, jewel cases, etc, etc. its not worth losing sleep over.. i'm just so happy (and relieved) DV are "still alive and well" doing Quads i'm trying to make an extra effort to 'noise cancel' out the whinging! 😂

So "bitching for the sake of bitching" in other words.

Some people can find fault with winning a millionaire lottery.
 
So "bitching for the sake of bitching" in other words.

Some people can find fault with winning a millionaire lottery.
in some ways my friend, i guess so 🤗

i know we all find fault and there's nothing wrong with that at all, its only right to speak out when something's wrong and i do my fair share of complaining too of course
so i'm not gonna be a hypocrite about it 🙂

however, we know now how things have fairly rapidly and comprehensively changed, in this day and age Apple and Tidal Quad and Atmos streaming have steadily become the predominant delivery method for new Surround Music releases.

New physical Surround Music releases have really dwindled down and the best we can seemingly now hope for is the occasional boxset from the major labels with Surround included, Cherry Red/Esoteric's releases, Sony Japan's infrequent but no less fabulous 7" SACDs and of course SDE's standalone Surround Blu-ray's.

surely given the situation, Dutton Vocalion's continued Quad SACD releases should be seen as being a truly welcome, wonderful thing, delivering a high quality product that's great value.

i'm not gonna pull that line "if we don't get behind them it'll all end in tears" etc.. but in a way you know its not a theory i'd like to put to the test because there's still a lot of Quads Vocalion could Remaster and hopefully will! 🤞
 
however, we know now how things have fairly rapidly and comprehensively changed, in this day and age Apple and Tidal Quad and Atmos streaming have steadily become the predominant delivery method for new Surround Music releases.

-Boy I certainly hope that's not the new norm. Surely they'll see the error in their ways and come back to us olde farts with physical disc's aplenty.
i'm not gonna pull that line "if we don't get behind them it'll all end in tears" etc.. but in a way you know its not a theory i'd like to put to the test because there's still a lot of Quads Vocalion could Remaster and hopefully will! 🤞

Yes, yes Double triple Quadruple ....we most certainly know of Quads still to see a shiny physical disc reissue. (and a few unreleased).
Harry Nilsson comes to mind , and an unreleased Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow...we all hope to see one day.....heeeey Christmas is coming 🎅

Those tape vaults are just bursting with Quads , to delight our fancy.🧞🧞‍♀️🧞‍♂️🧜
 
re: Les Beatles, i was really just being un agent provocateur! 😋😂 we all know Revolver's gonna be Amazing!! 💘

oh i wish there were only two albums, too. i also wish they were two albums (with Quads included!) by the Isley Brothers instead but that's a different matter altogether! 😂

however, i will say that perhaps something that hasn't been ruminated upon yet and that is that these multiple album sets are possibly the only way DV can make some of this stuff viable to licence now?

i mean, lets take it that their bread and butter audience is likely the CD/Stereo crowd rather than us QQ folk, so with the Kristoffer Kristofferson and Friends of Dorothy multiple sets they can appeal to a wider audience who will be enticed to pick up a set that is effectively 4 albums for the price of 2 but still DV can deliver us the Quad despite the increased overhead due to extra mastering costs etc because they are able to shift more units to the CD/Stereo crowd..?

just a thought.. 🤔💡🧐
Don't worry, I know you were only being playful (I hope that was obvoious) and it did make me laugh as well as think! It's a genuinely interesting point you make - demixes are kind of upmixes.

As for DV, my opinion is totally non-controversial: the genre can be a bit 'easy', but the sound quality and value for money are the very best. I'm saying nothing there that will surprise anybody reading this.
 
Well, that Kris Kristofferson double SACD is a wonderful surprise! It's absolutely superb. The sound is sublime. The material is excellent. The quadraphonic mixes are great.
I noticed his name back in the 1970s but I didn't take much notice. This is the first time that I've heard him. Nashville, some very familiar names in the musicians. One is impressed.
VERY highly recommended.
Too bad That his first album wasn't also done in Quad (1970) "Kristofferson". My favourite track Kristofferson track has long been "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down"! Aside from that I can't wait for "Border Lord".

I always loved the movie (cult classic) "Cisco Pike"! I remember there being a reel to reel in his apartment, I forget if it was Quad or not but I do recall it as having 10.5" reels!

Yes Kris is not the greatest singer however his voice compliments the style of country music that he is known for. IMHO he is miles above Willie Nelson!
 
I've been on the road for a week, so I'm late to this most excellent party!

Since I've seen one or two folks balking at the Azteca two-fer, I’ll just add this to the plugs from @fredblue and @steelydave: before I started researching--and really listening--in preparation for writing the liner notes for this set, I’d always casually written off Azteca as sort of a Santana “also-ran.” It didn’t take me long to realize that I’d been doing the band an injustice.

I think Columbia was hoping for a Latin Rock supergroup that would pick up where an increasingly disintegrated Santana had left off before they veered into the astral plane; what they got instead was an amazing Afro-Latin jazz-funk-rock orchestra that they didn’t really know how to promote. Azteca is "of its moment," yeah, but that moment was really pivotal, both culturally and musically, and I don’t find their sound dated at all. I’d also counter that their sound is eclectic but deeply rooted, not least in West Coast salsa and Latin jazz. (The Escovedo brothers, Coke and Pete--who’s still going at age 87!--had had a well-known Bay Area combo since the late 50s.)

Musically, I think the second album is even more sophisticated than the first, so it’s a shame it didn’t get a quad mix. I haven't heard it yet, but I’m sure Michael Dutton’s remastering will make it sing, just the same.

As for the price: 24 quid might seem like a lot, comparatively speaking, for a set containing just one quad album, but it seems to me that Dutton held the line against price increases for as long as they could, and in the grand scheme of things, their two-fers were insanely cheap to begin with. So now they’re just a little less cheap. And for us Yanks, the dollar is still close to the best it’s been against the pound for yonks (as our British cousins say). So this is still a bargain.

That said: I'm excited for the other two releases, too. Four Kristofferson albums in one set--holy cats! All good-to-excellent mixes, and Kristofferson is one of the best country songwriters ever, IMO, whether he's shading more towards pop, outlaw, or John-Prine-folk. His grizzled voice is an essential part of the package for me. Friends of Distinction are just the best kind of feel-good summertime music there is. When they're good, they're really good. Anyway: this batch was totally worth the wait. Can't pass on any of them.
 
I've been on the road for a week, so I'm late to this most excellent party!

Since I've seen one or two folks balking at the Azteca two-fer, I’ll just add this to the plugs from @fredblue and @steelydave: before I started researching--and really listening--in preparation for writing the liner notes for this set, I’d always casually written off Azteca as sort of a Santana “also-ran.” It didn’t take me long to realize that I’d been doing the band an injustice.

I think Columbia was hoping for a Latin Rock supergroup that would pick up where an increasingly disintegrated Santana had left off before they veered into the astral plane; what they got instead was an amazing Afro-Latin jazz-funk-rock orchestra that they didn’t really know how to promote. Azteca is "of its moment," yeah, but that moment was really pivotal, both culturally and musically, and I don’t find their sound dated at all. I’d also counter that their sound is eclectic but deeply rooted, not least in West Coast salsa and Latin jazz. (The Escovedo brothers, Coke and Pete--who’s still going at age 87!--had had a well-known Bay Area combo since the late 50s.)

Musically, I think the second album is even more sophisticated than the first, so it’s a shame it didn’t get a quad mix. I haven't heard it yet, but I’m sure Michael Dutton’s remastering will make it sing, just the same.

As for the price: 24 quid might seem like a lot, comparatively speaking, for a set containing just one quad album, but it seems to me that Dutton held the line against price increases for as long as they could, and in the grand scheme of things, their two-fers were insanely cheap to begin with. So now they’re just a little less cheap. And for us Yanks, the dollar is still close to the best it’s been against the pound for yonks (as our British cousins say). So this is still a bargain.

That said: I'm excited for the other two releases, too. Four Kristofferson albums in one set--holy cats! All good-to-excellent mixes, and Kristofferson is one of the best country songwriters ever, IMO, whether he's shading more towards pop, outlaw, or John-Prine-folk. His grizzled voice is an essential part of the package for me. Friends of Distinction are just the best kind of feel-good summertime music there is. When they're good, they're really good. Anyway: this batch was totally worth the wait. Can't pass on any of them.
Hmmm…I wasn’t gonna bite on the Azteca since I have never heard them, but based on your description it sounds like something I would love 😍
 
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