Rare Dracula SQ LP, and more rare stuff from Quad First and others!

[Q-Eight]

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Hammer-presents-...4809949136QQcategoryZ1081QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Soundtrack to Dracula in SQ quadraphonic anyone?

 

[dauQula]

Zounds good to me; bleah, bleah!!!

 

[JonUrban]

Wow. I have never heard of that one before. Not once in all of those long years.........

 

[Q-Eight]

I would bid on it just to get it home and software decode it to really see how discrete it is. I never checked but is it in the Quad Discography?

 

[Quad First]

I have had this SQ disc for many years, never saw it for sale anywhere either, mine came from Ben Bauer's estate. It is so-so in terms of discreetness, some cuts are decent quad, not great, other are poor. I haven't played it in years, but it wasn't one to list a demo material, other than for rarity and oddity sake. Also on EMI from the UK, I have a Q8 of Show Boat, and the jacket only from the SQ disc of same, so I know both were made. I have never seen these elsewhere either, some of the EMI UK stuff seems to be very obscure and little known. The number of Q8's they released is a mystery as well. A further oddity is the relationship of EMI in Japan, where they were tied with Toshiba, who was a RM/QS proponent, with a slight CD-4 release schedule. So, many EMI albums seem to have been done in Japan, in RM, or at least the labels say that. I am waiting for my copy of Atom Heart Mother to arrive on Toshiba-EMI, I want to check the runout area for the inscriptions, to see what master they used. The disc label has the UK number in small print, so I'm thinking they really used that master, but labeled it RM since Toshiba didn't do SQ in Japan. I have an Angel label Q4 factory reel on the way from Japan, that also is strange since EMI didn't do Q4 anywhere else in the world as far as I know. It makes one wonder if in Japan there were Q4's of the heavy hitters. such as Pink Floyd, ELO, and their other SQ releases in the UK. When the Angel reel arrives I'll scan and post it. Happy Holidays, Nick

 

[JonUrban]

Cool Nick! How about a scan of the ShowBoat Q8?

 

[Quad First]

As requested Jon, here is a complete scan. Note that the logo on the back is the same as used by Nippon-Columbia on their UD-4 albums in Japan. I am not sure of the whole relationship between CBS-Columbia in the USA, Nippon-Columbia in Japan, and as shown here, EMI in the UK by showing the Columbia logo. I don't recall seeing a Columbia logo on any of my other EMI UK Q8's.

 

[winopener]

EMI UK Quad releases which i know have a Columbia "Note" logo are:

John Keating "Space Experience"
Mandingo "The Primeval..."
Frank Pourcel "Western"
Pepe Jaramillo meets Manuel
(UK LP: black label)

AFAIK of these four i know only Frank Pourcel as a UK Q8 release. If you have it, check it out.

Also one of the few italian SQ releases,
Nomadi interpretano Guccini
is on Columbia-EMI label (blue label) with this same "Note" logo".

Regarding the relationship between the various Columbia, it dates back to the 78 rpm days with the various cross-licensing they made at first and then evolved in a royal mess.
IIRC Columbia was a USA label that was licensed in UK by the original HMV, that later became EMI and kept the usual cross-licensing relation (HMV UK master on Columbia-labeled or distribuited USA 78 and Columbia USA Master on HMV-labeled or distribuited 78). Both becaming bigger and doing aquisition overseas the need of crosslicensing deals disappeared - the biggest one specifically was that EMI bought Capitol - but now there was too much Columbia that needed to be different: they split the deal and the now-EMI got the right for the name with the "Note" logo, while USA counterpart got the permission to use only the name and had to choose a different logo (the "eyes" logo).

So the situation became more or less this:
- Columbia USA was allowed to have this name but a different logo only in the USA;
- Columbia USA was not allowed to use the name Columbia on Europe
- thus all Columbia USA with the new logo (the "eyes") became CBS (short for "Columbia Broadcasting System") in Europe, with the "eyes" logo used in the USA.
- EMI was not allowed to use the "Columbia" name or logo (Note) in the USA; usually what was EMI-Columbia in UK became Odeon (in its origin a German label) outside UK.

That's why also first Columbia (USA) Quad releases were distribuited in Europe with some sticker to change the name from "Columbia" to CBS: it was illegal to market it that way. Later they used different labels for LP and Q8 and cover too.

Out of curiosity, it is very singular that John Keating was released on both sides of Atlantic on the same "name" label: Columbia (EMI) in UK and Columbia (=CBS) in the US, while in other countries kept its EMI origin (South American pressing went on Odeon label). A true "one of a kind".

I have no idea on how is the Columbia "Note" logo story in Japan but for sure it is something similar to the USA/UK above. Which titles were releases on UD4 for Nippon Columbia? Just something japanese or also western-related which was released in other format in USA or europe?

BTW, something similar happened between USA UK and Japan with "Nippy", the Dog in front of the wind phonograph: in its origin it was the HMV logo and still it is on Europe but in USA went to RCA and in Japan it went, by the same long and winding RCA-USA roads, to JVC Nivico that still has it now, even at present time that all EMI stuff are Toshiba in Japan.

BIG mess.

One question: Showboat Q8 cames on the trasparent plastic case or a slipcover?

 

[JonUrban]

Very nice, Nick. I'm sure there are a few keyboards around here with "drool" on them!

 

[Quad First]

The attached scan shows most of the UK Q8 tapes in my collection. To answer about the slipcase, only the EMI demo came with one, but since I didn't buy any of these new personally, all came from trades or other collectors over the years, I can't say definately one way or the other that the EMI Q8's shouldn't have proper printed slipcases like the PYE ones. Maybe someone who has the UK Atom Heart Mother, or DSOTM, will share those slipcase pictures. On a related note, I have been seen the Frank Pourcel "Western" LP on Toshiba-EMI from Japan, and it says RM on it like the others in Japan on Toshiba. I still doubt Toshiba remastered them for RM, I bet they are really SQ. Shown in this post is a complete UD-4 release list. There are some non-Japanese releases on it. 4RX-9012 is unique, since it was released in the USA on the Alshire Quad Spectrum label in both QS and on Q8 tape, both of which I have, allowing for a direct comparison between all 3 formats. I have the ones marked with an (x) in my collection, the rarest being the Mike Oldfield.

 

[Quad First]

One other note, I forgot to mention, is that the PYE record label was released in Japan on Teichiku records. Teichiku was at first a RM label then they switched to CD-4 and had quite a release list in that format. I have all of the PYE CD-4's issued on Teichiku from Japan, and have pictures of several of the PYE RM albums on Teichiku Japan. The Moog at the Movies Q8 shown above, was released in CD-4 in Japan as UX-2Y. I will work on making a collage of these covers sometime after the holidays. BASF of Germany released several of the albums that they issued in SQ format in Germany, in CD-4 on Teichiku in Japan.

 

[Quad First]

Here is a scan of the Dracula disc label itself. The jacket is a fold out, and is laminated like the early Project/3 releases, very high quality. I wonder if this SQ was released on Q8? Wouldn't that be a find! It's a shame it wasn't more of a Quady mix, since much is spoken like a play, and it has many sound effects, it would have been ideal for wild quad mix.

 

[JonUrban]

NOTE: I moved this thread out of the eBay section to this new section, as these scans are historically important, and some would miss them if they stayed in eBay.

If anyone has scans of other rare quad stuff, feel free to scan and post them in this section!

 

[winopener]

Special Christmas Show!

About UK Q8 rarities, here's a little gem: Joan Baez Blessed Are.

Never released in USA as Q8, this UK is even more special because it includes *all 22 songs* (10+10+2 of the vinyl version) while the USA QR had only 18 (10+8). So, for 4 songs, this is the only discrete version available worldwide... unless some obscure Japanese Reel shows up.

Photo shows:
- Cart with single slipcase
- Cart without single slipcase
- Special slipcase for both carts, back view, with full track listing.

 

[winopener]

Both UK Q8 of AHM and DSOTM, along with Machine Head, came in a different style than the "Showboat" cart and were packed in cardboard slipcase; John Lennon Imagine has the same style of label and black cart as Showboat. Seems the transition from plastic case with paper insert/ cardboard slipcase was at the end of 1973/begin of 1974 and this affects also regular stereo releases.

 

[Terryquadterry]

Here is a scan of the Dracula disc label itself. The jacket is a fold out, and is laminated like the early Project/3 releases, very high quality. I wonder if this SQ was released on Q8? Wouldn't that be a find! It's a shame it wasn't more of a Quady mix, since much is spoken like a play, and it has many sound effects, it would have been ideal for wild quad mix.

OK, so I've had this album for a few years now, but it's not the EMI SQ release, but a US Capitol release (ST511340). Nowhere on the sleeve or label does it say SQ, but I have my doubts another, non SQ, mix would have been issued. I've decoded it and it sounds OK, but nothing spectacular, though the echo effect during some spoken parts are nice.

Anyone know for sure if it's the same mix?