Shigeru Suzuki & Huckleback - Japanese QS-encoded cassette (!) from 1976

[steelydave]

In my Google travels recently, I came across a couple of pictures that caught my eye:


You'll notice in the 3rd picture the sleeve clearly bears the Sansui QS logo and underneath says in English "Encoded by RM (QS) System" which piqued my interest. After doing some more searching and translating I was able to figure out that the album is called 'Shigeru Suzuki & Huckleback'. It's a real oddity in that there doesn't seem to be any LP equivalent, and being released in 1976, it has to be one of (or possibly) the latest QS releases.

Subsequent to that I found a Japanese discussion site where users were talking about this release, and the comments, translated in to english had some interesting info:

"The cassette tape "Huckleback" was originally recorded for the purpose of playing at the Sansui booth of Audio Fair. Sansui was a maker of QS and was keen on 4ch. If the 4ch encoded sound source is converted to CD as it is, the possibility of being a hidden 4ch is high. "

"I tried to QS decode the "Huncle Back of Illusion", CD and listen. Completely separate 4ch. No doubt, this is a hidden 4ch cd."

"New information has been sent about this huckleback hidden 4ch. The '96 version (CRCP-28104) is a hidden 4ch (QS), but the '89 version of the first CD (ZL-5012) is normal stereo. It was the '96 version that I verified. Is that another master used? "

So it appears that the 1996 Crown CD release (CRCP-28104) uses the QS-encoded master, and I believe I found it album on YouTube:



There seem to be instruments hard-panned to the sides, which I always took as a hallmark of matrix quad, because it's usually that stuff that ends up in the rear speakers. The music is actually quite nice, funky jazz in the Crusaders/Stuff mould (minus the horn section) and even veering a little more in to Yacht Rock territory on the vocal cuts. Maybe someone could play the YouTube link through their Surround Master (or other QS decoder) and verify if it decodes or not?

 

[fredblue]

thanks so much for the heads up on this one, Dave!
for all Surround Master owners at QQ, this one in QS decodes really well through the Surround Master, give it a try!

 

[rustyandi]

yes it is QS Quad

 

[Simon A]

I wish to thank to thank steelydave for a splendid example of quality sleuthing here.

The YouTube clip indeed decodes superbly with the SurroundMaster. I am convinced that even though this was a cassette only release at the time, that the engineers in charge of mixing and encoding were doing it to show off what QS could do. This can be used as a demo for sure. Now remember, the clip is encoded at 128 kbps which is hardly ideal, but the results are still pretty impressive. There are plenty of electric pianos and synths here which makes for a pretty interesting surround texture. I actually like the music and the vocals sung in Japanese are actually excellent. For anyone into Jazz/Funk/Fusion/Rock from the early to mid 70's should enjoy this. It's a shame this artist only has one Quad album as I think his other albums are equally as interesting.

Here's the tracklisting:

1. Great American Funky Girl 2:37
2. 100 Watt Lover 5:29
3. Rain In The City 6:14
4. Lady of Sand 4:36
5. Jungle Jam 16:15

Jungle Jam starts with about 3 minutes of bird sounds with ambient music (keyboards and guitar noodling sounds) and then gives you 13 minutes of jamming. This track alone gives you a pretty good example of what the Quad mix offers.

All in all, not only a solid album but an equally satisfying Quad experience.

The album was reissued on vinyl in 1996 and I wonder if the QS encoding was kept for that release.

 

[rawmacias]

In my Google travels recently, I came across a couple of pictures that caught my eye:
View attachment 39315 View attachment 39316 View attachment 39317

You'll notice in the 3rd picture the sleeve clearly bears the Sansui QS logo and underneath says in English "Encoded by RM (QS) System" which piqued my interest. After doing some more searching and translating I was able to figure out that the album is called 'Shigeru Suzuki & Huckleback'. It's a real oddity in that there doesn't seem to be any LP equivalent, and being released in 1976, it has to be one of (or possibly) the latest QS releases.

Subsequent to that I found a Japanese discussion site where users were talking about this release, and the comments, translated in to english had some interesting info:

"The cassette tape "Huckleback" was originally recorded for the purpose of playing at the Sansui booth of Audio Fair. Sansui was a maker of QS and was keen on 4ch. If the 4ch encoded sound source is converted to CD as it is, the possibility of being a hidden 4ch is high. "

"I tried to QS decode the "Huncle Back of Illusion", CD and listen. Completely separate 4ch. No doubt, this is a hidden 4ch cd."

"New information has been sent about this huckleback hidden 4ch. The '96 version (CRCP-28104) is a hidden 4ch (QS), but the '89 version of the first CD (ZL-5012) is normal stereo. It was the '96 version that I verified. Is that another master used? "

So it appears that the 1996 Crown CD release (CRCP-28104) uses the QS-encoded master, and I believe I found it album on YouTube:



There seem to be instruments hard-panned to the sides, which I always took as a hallmark of matrix quad, because it's usually that stuff that ends up in the rear speakers. The music is actually quite nice, funky jazz in the Crusaders/Stuff mould (minus the horn section) and even veering a little more in to Yacht Rock territory on the vocal cuts. Maybe someone could play the YouTube link through their Surround Master (or other QS decoder) and verify if it decodes or not?

https://www.discogs.com/artist/3264802-Shigeru-Suzuki-Huckleback

 

[rawmacias]

I wish to thank to thank steelydave for a splendid example of quality sleuthing here.

The YouTube clip indeed decodes superbly with the SurroundMaster. I am convinced that even though this was a cassette only release at the time, that the engineers in charge of mixing and encoding were doing it to show off what QS could do. This can be used as a demo for sure. Now remember, the clip is encoded at 128 kbps which is hardly ideal, but the results are still pretty impressive. There are plenty of electric pianos and synths here which makes for a pretty interesting surround texture. I actually like the music and the vocals sung in Japanese are actually excellent. For anyone into Jazz/Funk/Fusion/Rock from the early to mid 70's should enjoy this. It's a shame this artist only has one Quad album as I think his other albums are equally as interesting.

Here's the tracklisting:

1. Great American Funky Girl 2:37
2. 100 Watt Lover 5:29
3. Rain In The City 6:14
4. Lady of Sand 4:36
5. Jungle Jam 16:15

Jungle Jam starts with about 3 minutes of bird sounds with ambient music (keyboards and guitar noodling sounds) and then gives you 13 minutes of jamming. This track alone gives you a pretty good example of what the Quad mix offers.

All in all, not only a solid album but an equally satisfying Quad experience.

The album was reissued on vinyl in 1996 and I wonder if the QS encoding was kept for that release.

Hello, Did you ever find out if the vinyl 1996 release was quad encoded?

 

[Simon A]

Hello, Did you ever find out if the vinyl 1996 release was quad encoded?

No. I did not pursue the matter. It's still a mystery...