Rick Wakeman - Six Wives and Arthur

[quadtrade]

Why do we give a shit what that little twit OD did does or is involved with. He was an idiot, bitched and whined and was a complete pain. His scripts had no air, sounded like shit. Computers can not recreate analog well and especially using a computer to derive audio that way. And one of these lps is a complete piece of crap. What a waste of time and $.

I have permission from OD to post this. King Arthur quad is a CD-4 rip by Oxford Dickie. It lists Richard OD Ford in the Thanks section. He had nothing to do with the stereo.

EDIT: he ripped the CD-4 at 24/48, so the 96KHz is upsampling done by the record company (as is the silent centre channel).

 

[LizardKing]

For those of you that have Six Wives already let us know if you think it sounds like a Q8 source, e.g. the tell tale wow & flutter...

 

[Owen Smith]

I gave both Quad mixes a listen this afternoon. They're both needledrops. Having said that I quite enjoyed them, especially "Arthur." Not what we're used to with SW's remixes, but worth having providing your expectations aren't too high.

What makes you think Six Wives quad is from vinyl specifically? Clearly it's not the master tape, but could it be Q8 as Jon has been told? Or are there characteristic vinyl clicks?

I may have to buy Six Wives myself to satisfy my curiosity, even though the music is a load of noise to me.

 

[Owen Smith]

Why do we give a shit what that little twit OD did does or is involved with. He was an idiot, bitched and whined and was a complete pain. His scripts had no air, sounded like shit. Computers can not recreate analog well and especially using a computer to derive audio that way. And one of these lps is a complete piece of crap. What a waste of time and $.

Because it matters to quad collectors how these were sourced, that's why. Your personal feelings about OD don't change that.

 

[fredblue]

For those of you that have Six Wives already let us know if you think it sounds like a Q8 source, e.g. the tell tale wow & flutter...

I'm going with tape rather than vinyl, there's what sounds like tape stretch/fluctuations & wobble in various places on Anne Boleyn.. poor wobbly old gal.. "Off with her head!"

 

[0tto]

That a major like Universal actually went to the trouble to make a quad mix available is something.

why is that a trouble for major like Universal? as far as i can see those two releases isn't charity.
contrary, they priced it like super luxury product, which in fact our QQ fellows gave for free some years ago.
if such trend of "majors" will continue, i won't be surprised to see old quad conversions done by amateur hobbyists,
reprinted and offered for sale from those major labels. can you imagine how huge saving would be - no search for sources
involves, no transfers, no production prep, no post-mastering, no authoring and compiling of master disc... just download and
sent file direct to print house.

 

[ArmyOfQuad]

Well, I will say that the Q8 of this is a particularly good sounding Q8. Might be time to pull out the fostex and do something about the wobbliness...

 

[Neil Palfreyman]

What makes you think Six Wives quad is from vinyl specifically? Clearly it's not the master tape, but could it be Q8 as Jon has been told? Or are there characteristic vinyl clicks?

I may have to buy Six Wives myself to satisfy my curiosity, even though the music is a load of noise to me.

Having never heard a Q8 I wouldn't know how to differentiate it from vinyl, sorry.

It sounds different to the Quad mix of Arthur (I actually prefer the Arthur needle drop) and there are some anomalies that could be tape speed variation, so it could be a different type of source.

My assertion that it was vinyl was based on the fact that you can quite clearly hear "transport noise", whatever that transport is, at several points particularly between tracks, even though someone has made an attempt to clean it up at some point, unlike "Arthur."

 

[colsky]

I'm going with tape rather than vinyl, there's what sounds like tape stretch/fluctuations & wobble in various places on Anne Boleyn.. poor wobbly old gal.. "Off with her head!"

Its been many years since I listened to the vinyl of this, but I do seem to recall that this fluctuation/wobble was on that too.

 

[Neil Palfreyman]

btw I gave the 24/96 stereo a listen last night as well. Both are pretty good, have plenty of dynamic range and don't sound too compressed. There's some over-brightness at several points in "six wives" but overall I think it's the better of the two in stereo.

My summary of the re-release is: It's a bit half-arsed compared to what we have come to expect, but I'm still pleased I bought them. The stereo of six wives and quad of Arthur will get plenty of listens from me.

 

[fredblue]

Well, I will say that the Q8 of this is a particularly good sounding Q8. Might be time to pull out the fostex and do something about the wobbliness...View attachment 17050

Ooh.. Is there a DROOLING emoticon?

It sounds very good (if it is a Q8) on the DVD that just came out too!

..How do you solve a problem like a wobbly Anne Boleyn?

 

[fredblue]

Having never heard a Q8...

Oh man.. you haven't lived..!!

 

[fredblue]

why is that a trouble for major like Universal? as far as i can see those two releases isn't charity.
contrary, they priced it like super luxury product, which in fact our QQ fellows gave for free some years ago.
if such trend of "majors" will continue, i won't be surprised to see old quad conversions done by amateur hobbyists,
reprinted and offered for sale from those major labels. can you imagine how huge saving would be - no search for sources
involves, no transfers, no production prep, no post-mastering, no authoring and compiling of master disc... just download and
sent file direct to print house.

Whatever next!? Soon every surround reissue will be from a needledrop! :yikes

Come on.. let's be realistic.. when was the last time Universal did this? The Sabbath/Paranoid Deluxe set? That was 5 years ago.. Desperate times call for desperate measures.. and the sound on these two Wakeman's knocks the shit out of that Paranoid needledrop..!! Sheesh...

 

[fredblue]

btw I gave the 24/96 stereo a listen last night as well. Both are pretty good, have plenty of dynamic range and don't sound too compressed. There's some over-brightness at several points in "six wives" but overall I think it's the better of the two in stereo.

My summary of the re-release is: It's a bit half-arsed compared to what we have come to expect, but I'm still pleased I bought them. The stereo of six wives and quad of Arthur will get plenty of listens from me.

Great summary, thanks Mr!

I'll be listening to the Six Wives Quad a lot, it's a full on assault but some days you need to blow away the cobwebs! I'll start listening to the King Arthur Quad when it arrives.. even though Amazon apparently sent it before Six Wives it's still not here yet.. HA! @:

 

[fredblue]

Its been many years since I listened to the vinyl of this, but I do seem to recall that this fluctuation/wobble was on that too.

These chicks of Henry's are wobblier than a blancmange.. No wonder he dispensed with them all..!!

 

[Neil Palfreyman]

Ooh.. Is there a DROOLING emoticon?

It sounds very good (if it is a Q8) on the DVD that just came out too!

..How do you solve a problem like a wobbly Anne Boleyn?

Isn't that a line from "The Sound of Music"?

 

[Owen Smith]

These chicks of Henry's are wobblier than a blancmange.. No wonder he dispensed with them all..!!

So can you tell if it's Q8, or vinyl with master tape wobble?

 

[colsky]

Great summary, thanks Mr!

I'll be listening to the Six Wives Quad a lot, it's a full on assault but some days you need to blow away the cobwebs! I'll start listening to the King Arthur Quad when it arrives.. even though Amazon apparently sent it before Six Wives it's still not here yet.. HA! @:

Similar here, my Six Wives arrived from Amazon on Sunday, but my King Arthur has been "preparing for dispatch" from Saturday till now! I too will listen to the Six Wives Quad a lot, I think it sounds great however it was put together. Not listened to the stereo of this yet.

One question for those of you that have received King Arthur - the original description of this release said that the dvd would also include the BBC Arthur on Ice video. I now read in another forum that this video has not been included after all. Can someone please confirm this? I wasn't expecting this to be of any great quality, but I was looking forward to a good laugh!

 

[Neil Palfreyman]

Similar here, my Six Wives arrived from Amazon on Sunday, but my King Arthur has been "preparing for dispatch" from Saturday till now! I too will listen to the Six Wives Quad a lot, I think it sounds great however it was put together. Not listened to the stereo of this yet.

One question for those of you that have received King Arthur - the original description of this release said that the dvd would also include the BBC Arthur on Ice video. I now read in another forum that this video has not been included after all. Can someone please confirm this? I wasn't expecting this to be of any great quality, but I was looking forward to a good laugh!

Sadly there's no Arthur on Ice. Would have been nice to have seen that infamous piece of Prog history.

There's a video of a performance of Catherine Howard on "Henry" filmed for the BBC show "The Old Grey Wrinkled Testicle" in 1973.

 

[colsky]

Sadly there's no Arthur on Ice. Would have been nice to have seen that infamous piece of Prog history.

There's a video of a performance of Catherine Howard on "Henry" filmed for the BBC show "The Old Grey Wrinkled Testicle" in 1973.

Thanks for the confirmation. I have watched the Catherine Howard OGWT performance - great historical interest, and his band here includes Alan White on drums. Another forum speculates that this performance is mimed - strange for OGWT, disappointing if true.