Quad LP/Tape Poll Seals & Crofts: Diamond Girl [CD-4/Q8/QR]

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Rate "Diamond Girl"

  • 10: Great Sound, Great Mix, Great Content

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1: Bad Sound, Bad Mix, Bad Content

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    10

EMB

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Since 2002/2003
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The Top 40 Radio of My Mind
Warner Bros. BS4 2699, from 1973.

Side 1:

1. Diamond Girl
2. Ruby Jean And Billy Lee
3. Intone My Servant
4. We May Never Pass This Way(Again)
5. Nine Houses

Side 2:

1. Standin' On A Mountain Top
2. It's Gonna Come Down (On You)
3. Jessica
4. Dust On My Saddle
5. Wisdom

For the Q8, to even out the side timings, "Nine Houses" and "It's Gonna Come Down" were flipped.


ED :)
 
Though Summer Breeze is probably more impressive fidelity-wise, this release has a kind of quad reverb thing goin' on that I kind of like. We May Never Pass This Way Again open ups with strings more prominent, ditto with winds in title track. Dust On My Saddle, fun too. I have the quadradisc, great vinyl warmth to boot.
 
Well, some thoughts after hearing this one again after a long time away.

First, typical Seals & Crofts: good (if conservative) quad mix, opens things up but doesn't lose the feel of the stereo edition. Very 'studio' in orientation (but then their producer, Louie Shelton, did a lot of '60s session work, understands clean sound and polished musicianship, so...) and therefore, in the context of '70's soft rock, fitting if conventional. And as a sequel to their breakthrough album, SUMMER BREEZE, we hear again of their devotion to their faith (mostly in subtle ways--those unfamiliar with them could enjoy the lyrics and music and never know what they were going on about) and their wives ("Ruby Jean and Billie Lee," a track so smarmy and clunky that John Denver actually did better with the forthcoming "Annie's Song," which dripped of syrup). Also typical was the duo's tendency to fill out their Lp's with stuff that really seemed like mild throwaways, like "Dust On My Saddle" or "Standin' On A Mountain Top." They could play a little exotic, as with "Nine Houses," but my favorite on this Lp has always been "Wisdom," Jimmy Seals' instrumental finale where he plays a mean sax and we get some almost jazzy stylings, hints of what he used to do (and probably dug himself). But Seals & Crofts was blatantly commercial, and so "We May Never Pass This Way (Again)" was more typical (but, like the best Denver, I like it in spite of myself (and it was used for high school graduation ceremonies for years to come--so some claim).

A '7' for the mix and sound.


ED :)
 
I have 2 copies of this on vinyl and both distort like mad half way through the last cut on the first side, Nine Houses. I do not have distortion problems like this with any other CD-4 vinyl. Does your vinyl play quietly on this cut?
 
My copy sounds fine playing with a AT912Sa or Empire 4000 D/I into a Panasonic SE405 and, incidently, one of my favorite tracks off the album. I find myself whistling the exotic mideastern theme without thinking about it.

After being ambivalent toward Seals and Crofts in about 1970-71, they quickly became one of my favorite duos a little later when "Summer Breeze" came on the radio.

And "Diamond Girl" is wonderful in quad!

A '9'.

Doug
 
I give this a 7. The music gets an 8 and the quad mix Gets a 6. Much of this mix really is barely expanded stereo. Seems like they didnt try very hard for much of the mix.
 
I have 2 copies of this on vinyl and both distort like mad half way through the last cut on the first side, Nine Houses. I do not have distortion problems like this with any other CD-4 vinyl. Does your vinyl play quietly on this cut?

Oops! Sorry I forgot to reply to your question. Jeez, it's been a few years, huh? :mad:@: No, my copy played fine; pulled it out the other evening, think it was released or a hit about this time of year back in '73.

S&C's albums were always inconsistent, even early on, when they were with the short-lived T.A. label, but their talent was obvious. Their harmonies had an Everly Brothers influence, and given their occasional 'western' themed songs, that was possibly intentional. At one point they were instrumentalists in a later incarnation of the Champs (of "Tequila" fame), and from there decided to work together. Took several years to connect, but the move to Warner Bros. was a big help, as was linking up with veteran studio musician/producer Louie Shelton.

Both the old buggers are still with us, in their seventies now. I was surprised that Jim Seals was not older (born 1940, same year as Ringo); he's always looked a tad wizened, like a guy you would expect to see hanging around a saloon in Dodge City or Dry Gulch...:D

In their heyday, Record World mag did a special section on them which was mighty detailed and informative beyond the usual promotional schmooze, getting into their private life, their faith, etc. They came off as very personable and thoughtful guys.

ED :)
 
I have 2 copies of this on vinyl and both distort like mad half way through the last cut on the first side, Nine Houses. I do not have distortion problems like this with any other CD-4 vinyl. Does your vinyl play quietly on this cut?

This was the record that made me abandon the CD-4 format altogether. It had all sorts of noise, whistles and distortion. I got into a big argument with the manager at Sam Goody because I wanted to exchange it for the regular stereo version. Glad to hear that others had better results. This album would make a nice AF re-release which I would definitely buy.
 
To me "Diamond Girl" is Seals And Crofts. I never really cared much for "Summer Breeze", too mellow for my taste.

Anyway I've recently been transferring my QR tapes to my hard drive, I've started with my non Dolby tapes but this one oddly enough is not labelled as Dolby on reel or box but has the calibration test tones at the start of the tape. My question for anybody in the know "is this one Dolby encoded, or not"?

Incidentally I've had trouble with a few warped reels, placing a CD under the reel helps to shim the reel out a bit so it doesn't rub against the frame. The Diamond Girl tape was squealing as well, more fiddling around to get it to play properly. I want to have another good listen to this before I cast my vote.

If empty metal reels weren't commanding such high prices I would transfer all my Quad Reels to metal reels. The first tape that I ever bought Black Oak Arkansas "Raunch 'N' Roll" was warped right from the start, I transferred it to a metal reel and it plays perfect to this day!
 
There were Diamond Girl reels released with and without the tone. The ones with the tone were manufactured later. I've always had good results playing them with the Dolby on so I've always assumed they were in fact Dolby encoded. The Doobie Brothers The Captain and Me was released the same way, with and without the Dolby tone.
 
There were Diamond Girl reels released with and without the tone. The ones with the tone were manufactured later. I've always had good results playing them with the Dolby on so I've always assumed they were in fact Dolby encoded. The Doobie Brothers The Captain and Me was released the same way, with and without the Dolby tone.

That makes sense, likely Stereotape started using Dolby on their tapes while deciding to do another run or to continue with a run (of some previously non Dolby tapes) but this time with Dolby on, they just didn't update the packaging. A sticker on the box or an insert of some kind in the box would of been nice. If the tapes arn't encoded they would sound dull played with Dolby on. I guess I'll try redoing my transfer when I start dubbing my Dolby tapes. The entire process is very time consuming, by the time you record,covert format, normalize, split tracks and tag everything. Will be worth it in the end!
 
That makes sense, likely Stereotape started using Dolby on their tapes while deciding to do another run or to continue with a run (of some previously non Dolby tapes) but this time with Dolby on, they just didn't update the packaging. A sticker on the box or an insert of some kind in the box would of been nice. If the tapes arn't encoded they would sound dull played with Dolby on. I guess I'll try redoing my transfer when I start dubbing my Dolby tapes. The entire process is very time consuming, by the time you record,covert format, normalize, split tracks and tag everything. Will be worth it in the end!
I guess they were too cheap to redo the boxes. A sticker would of worked. Don't know why they did not include one. On the copies without the tone I experienced elevated levels on one or more channels on some of the tapes so that may have been a reason to do them over as many of them were defective.
 
I noticed that I had given this a "4" which is simply me venting my wrath over the issues I had back in the day with the CD4 format. If I heard the quad reel I'm sure my rating would be much higher, but I don't know where to find one and have no way of playing a reel anyway. C'est la vie.
 
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