....At any rate, to encode SQ during a live concert recording when I'm sure it was multitracked doesn't seem logical.....unless Columbia Records had a SUPER DUPER SQ PROFESSIONAL encoder at the actual event .....as the SQ decoders built into the receivers of the time REALLY SUCKED!
I am just guessing by using old remembrances, but just remember that if the old SQ decoders of the time sucked, then how good could the ENCODERS of the time have been? A live event recorded and encoded in Japan where they were wild about quad at the time, a Sony artist with a Sony release that would promote the SQ format could possibly have been done that way. It would explain the absence of a stereo-only mix of this album.
But as I stated above twice, it's all conjecture. And really, we all have to stop agonizing over stuff that could have and should have come out in any format, from the '70s, to the early '00s, to now. If you can't buy it, then it's not worth dwelling on. There was probably more shit that almost came out then actually did come out, and all of it would have probably been great!
Getting arrogant about any of this stuff is a waste of energy.