Nektar quad question....

[Bob Squires Jr]

Nektar's "Remember The Future" and "Down To Earth" (which I have) on the German Bellaphon-Bacilus label were released in SQ as was "Recycled" (I had one of those too but have it no longer. I'd love to find another.) but I read somewhere that all German Nektar pressings were quad (unmarked) except "Journey To The Centre Of The Eye" and that US Pressings on Passport (only the ABC distribs) were unmarked QS quads in the states. Is this true or a lot of bunk? I've tried decoding parts of "Sounds Like This...." on the Bacilus label and it sounded like crap but I have no other LPs of theirs to try it with. The early CDs of Future through Recycled were rumored to be SQ as well. Thoughts anyone?

-Bob

 

[John Svensson]

Have no answer Bob, although I just picked up a mint Live in New York copy on Bellaphon so I'd be interested in the answer. (no decent working SQ decoder to even try) I would think there would be plenty of Nektar LPs out at Plastic Fantastic Records if you wanted to give others a listen. Hope they are still in business, I used to love that store when I lived in Wallingford. John S.

 

[noffour]

Nektar's "Remember The Future" and "Down To Earth" (which I have) on the German Bellaphon-Bacilus label were released in SQ as was "Recycled" (I had one of those too but have it no longer. I'd love to find another.) but I read somewhere that all German Nektar pressings were quad (unmarked) except "Journey To The Centre Of The Eye" and that US Pressings on Passport (only the ABC distribs) were unmarked QS quads in the states. Is this true or a lot of bunk? I've tried decoding parts of "Sounds Like This...." on the Bacilus label and it sounded like crap but I have no other LPs of theirs to try it with. The early CDs of Future through Recycled were rumored to be SQ as well. Thoughts anyone?

-Bob

I do have CD Nektar - remember the future - Bellaphon 289-09-001 and an LP version of it. The cover of the CD says SQ. But what you actually get on the CD is just the front 2 channels of the 4 channel mix. All the rear channel music is missing. So CD is not SQ, LP is SQ.
Nektar - Down to Earth CD Bellaphon 289-09-006 - I believe this CD is SQ but has no marking on the cover of CD indicating SQ.
Both CDs are West German manufactured.

Not sure about the others.
I have seen on ebay -
Journey To The Centre Of The Eye - Super Audio CD "surround remix"

Tom

 

[Bob Squires Jr]

I would think there would be plenty of Nektar LPs out at Plastic Fantastic Records if you wanted to give others a listen. Hope they are still in business, I used to love that store when I lived in Wallingford. John S.

He isn't there on Lancaster Ave anymore, but I hear he's in Bryn Mawr now somewhere. He re-opened a store that just sells vinyl only now. he had CDs, reels, cassettes and any other medium you could think of. I spent his last days in Ardmore going through the thousands of LPs trying to scoop up any quad LPs and reels he may have had in the piles. I found a few. I have to find his new place, if it does in fact, exist!

-Bob

 

[sspsandy]

Only two Nektar albums were actually done in quad to my knowledge, Remember the Future and Down to Earth. Initially they were Bacillus/Bellaphon lps with SQ logos. There was no stereo version of them released. The story is that when Passport released these titles in the US they were re-encoded as QS/RM to avoid the royalties. But they could very well be unmarked SQs as well. It was my understanding that Recycled was never released as a quad, although the album decodes very nicely. I'd love to find an SQ marked lp of this title if it exists.

Another one that also decodes well is the Passport remix of A Tab in the Ocean which Larry Fast and Mo moore remixed around the time of Recycled. Larry was working with QS systems at the time, although only the first Synergy album is actually quad. However he was well aware of recording using out of phase info, which is probably why these albums decode well.

I always found Journey to the Center of the Eye decoded quite nicely, athough the 5.1 SACD mix is really cool. The lp of Live in NY is taken from the compressed radio broadcast, so doubtful it would decode very well. The remixed cd was taken from the master multi track recording of the show, the sound is superior. There was also a 5.1 SACD version done, it is a good representation of being in the theatre, not super discrete but great for a live surround mix.

The first Bellaphon CD of Remember the Future used the wrong master tapes. When the band was recording the album for SQ quad, they had problems with phase cancellation that obscured the guitar. They shelved the original tape and redid it. Unfortunately Bellaphon pressed the wrong version when they did the first cd issue. It has since been recalled. The later correct versions had a Nektar Approved sticker on them to distinguish them.

Sounds Like This was recorded live in the studio. It is somewhat hit or miss as far as how it decodes, although my Tate makes it sound okay. Again the remastered version on Eclectic has superior sound, as well as an extra disc of outakes and unreleased songs from the sessions.

 

[John Svensson]

A little off subject, but if you check their website you'll see that Nektar are doing a US tour shortly, generally smaller venues. I'll be seeing them in Frederick, MD the night before Thanksgiving....might cut down on my wife's cooking the next day, at least that's what I'm using to convince her to attend. Great to hear that Remember the Future is getting another SACD release, I've been stymied each time I've bid on a copy or had to ship them back after receiving the regular CD via some false advertising. I have the Live in New York SACD en route, fingers are crossed. John

 

[BananaSlug]

Great to hear that Remember the Future is getting another SACD release

Amazon.co.uk does have it, but it is 18 pounds. That works out to over $30 before shipping - ouch! Still kicking myself for not picking it up when J&R had it for less than $20. Ah well, next time.

 

[sspsandy]

Here's an RTF SACD on ebay, currently at $9.00:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEKTAR-Remember...3QQihZ006QQcategoryZ14732QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[roundhousequad]

Hello all to bring this up again I have the 8track tape of Down to earth just opened it would it be quad encoded It has the passport number 98005 on it?
Thanks
Jim

 

[sspsandy]

My guess would be that the matrix encoding will be on the tape, since there were no stereo versions done. That being said, playback of SQ by using cassette and I would suspect 8 track can suffer from phase issues. I have certainly recorded cassettes of SQ lps and they've played back fine to my ears. But I did notice in the car that the cassette player eventually had issues with the head alignment resulting in channels being dropped. If I turned off the processor the stereo played fine.

 

[Quadzilla]

My guess would be that the matrix encoding will be on the tape, since there were no stereo versions done. That being said, playback of SQ by using cassette and I would suspect 8 track can suffer from phase issues. I have certainly recorded cassettes of SQ lps and they've played back fine to my ears. But I did notice in the car that the cassette player eventually had issues with the head alignment resulting in channels being dropped. If I turned off the processor the stereo played fine.

I don't think that the phase issues were a big problem when playing a tape back on the deck it was recorded on. It is when they are played back on other decks (with different alignments) that the phase problems come into play.

Since 8-tracks were the WORST at maintaining head alignment because they were always moving up and down to access the different track layers, I would say that the SQ encoding would not be useable at all.

Just my 2 cents ... Mike.