Songs CHANGED in Quad/5.1

[Quadwreck]

On the Japanese "Best of the Supremes", I don't remember which song, but one song uses the wrong vocal where Diana makes a mistake and stops singing. How that got released has no explanation.

 

[Q-Eight]

On the Japanese "Best of the Supremes", I don't remember which song, but one song uses the wrong vocal where Diana makes a mistake and stops singing. How that got released has no explanation.

Yeah! That ones' hilarious. The remixer didn't mute the track when she flubbed. So you hear her say "Barry, I didn't like that one.." and then you hear the punch-in kick on. The track is "Love is here and now you're gone".

 

[JonUrban]

On the Japanese "Best of the Supremes", I don't remember which song, but one song uses the wrong vocal where Diana makes a mistake and stops singing. How that got released has no explanation.

Along the same lines, Jackson 5 GH the track "I'll Be There" has different lyrics at one point.

 

[jsulzinger]

Did anyone mention the addition of marching snare and guitar solo to "Never Going Back Again" from Rumours?

 

[wavelength]

Did anyone mention the addition of marching snare and guitar solo to "Never Going Back Again" from Rumours?

Right! Of all the 5.1 songs I've ever heard that's the one that stands out the most as differing from the original. When I first heard it 5 or 6 or whatever years ago I thought hey that's cool they added a middle section.

 

[neil wilkes]

Another one that comes to mind here is Eric Clapton's 461 Ocean Boulevard, in particular the opening track "Motherless Children".
In the Quad & the DTS Ents DTS-CD version, half of the solo is missing completely, yet apparently (I do not have it so cannot check) the CD-4 version has it intact.
It;s also there as it should be on the SACD 5.1 version.

Also, still on the Clapton trail, "Layla" has so many different mixes it's not funny.
The 5.1 mixes are both utterly different, using different rhythm guitar parts and there are at least 5 different stereo mixes I know of:
1 - Original mix
2 - Crossroads Box Set mix (all the D&D tracks there are remixes) - pitched up slightly and a lot brighter
3 - 20th Anniversary Edition remix.
4 - MFSL mix - pitched down, plays slow as well
5 - Japanese 3" single edit.
They all have quite different rhythm parts.

We won't discuss the terrible so-called "5.1" mix of Bowie's Station to Station....except to point out it's appalling, seriously high level Hi-Hats throughout the title track

Still on the Bowie mixes, the 5.1 of Young Americans is vastly different, with the whole sound being completely changed - although I am not sure if this actually counts

 

[ssully]

Speaking of Young Americans in 5.1, the song 'Fame' is missing the word 'fame' sung at the very end of the standard mix (before 'what's your name').

 

[EMB]

And, of course, Sly's Greatest was mixed for Quad from multitrack masters. The prior stereo release was electronically rechanneled. Even if you are only capable of reproducing stereo LP's, the Quad album is the one to own.

Only three tracks from the original Epic Lp were rechanneled: "Hot Fun in the Summertime," "Thank You" and "Everybody is a Star." These were all 1969 non-album tracks and, for whatever reason, the multis weren't used to prepare stereo mixes. Otherwise, the album is stereo and uses Lp mixes from previously released albums.

ED

 

[proufo]

Santana - Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen. There are shouts/cheers in the quad mix that are absent from the stereo version.

And to compensate, there's a vocal bit ("¡Sabor!") missing in "Oye como va". It can faintly be heard.

 

[Bob Squires Jr]

Nilsson - Schmilsson - "Driving Along" has a different guitar solo mix
Jethro Tull - Aqualung - "Sun streaking cold" part does not have the "megaphone" sound.
West Bruce & Laing - Whatever Turns You On - "Backfire" has a dissident guitar in the mix not on stereo.
Joe Walsh - The Smoker You Drink - "Meadows" missing the crazy intro..
Black Sabbath - Paranoid - "War Pigs" does not speed up at the end.
Mott The Hoople - The Hoople - "The Golden Age Of Rock & Roll" has what sounds like someone slowing and speeding the tape where he sings "The golden age of rock n roll will never die."

 

[Q-Eight]

Of the two versions of the Grass Roots 16 Greatest Q8, "Temptation Eyes" has the correct guitar solo on one and an alternate organ/synth solo on the other.

http://the-grassroots.com/html/audio.html

 

[Eggplant]

Jethro Tull - Aqualung - "Sun streaking cold" part does not have the "megaphone" sound.

[This long-lived effect, known as "telephone eq", has been used on many pop recordings, including "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" and, of course, ELO's "Telephone Line".]

Note that the 1975 greatest hits collection M.U. The Best of Jethro Tull includes a stereo mix that also excludes this effect, making me wonder if any other tracks on the album are remixes. Many radio stations, including B100-FM in my area (San Diego), played mainly this version from 1976 on.

 

[Eggplant]

Have we got all day?

Seriously, there are so many -- where to start?

Burton Cummings -- S/T

Nicki Hokey -- missing 3rd harmony part 2nd verse, third chorus

Sugartime Flashback Joys -- background vocals muted
-- organ muted, possibly missing chorus effect



Billy Joel -- Turnstiles

Summer Highland Falls -- alternate (and inferior) horn part in break -- out of tune
-- alternate (inferior) piano outtro, first half

All You Wanna Do is Dance -- background vocals hotter
-- electric pickin' guitar hotter

Angry Young Man -- accoustic piano ENTIRELY MISSING from EVERY CHORUS. At least the drums have reverb for once.
(did we run out of board inputs?)

I've Loved These Days -- big drum reverb almost entirely missing
alternate, weak horn part during break -- out of tune



Billy Joel -- Streetlife Serenade

Whole album absurdly dry, sounds more like a demo than a finished product

Streetlife Serenader -- big reverb on drums, accoustic piano almost ENTIRELY MISSING

The Great Suburban Showdown -- what sounds worse than a dated 70's mono synth? A dated 70's mono synth with NO REVERB WHATSOEVER! Awful.

Root Beer Rag -- again, virtually no reverb on drums

The Entertainer -- more dead, dry, dated synth. Ending is particularly lame.




Billy Joel -- Piano Man

Another awful mix with almost no reverb.

Piano Man -- dry piano, dry drums. 'Nother round, anyone?

You're My Home -- a beautiful tune destroyed by lead vocals so potted down you can barely hear, dry drums, overly loud steel guitar, yet too-quiet guitar leads in the bridge. Way to go, team!

The Ballad of Billy the Kid -- an orchestral masterpiece in stereo, reduced to a quad mix with all the drama of a kindergarten musical on VHS. Totally dry drums, instead of thundering sound ridiculous, as does the dry accoustic piano. Complete, utter FAIL.

Stop in Nevada -- still works, despite overly loud steel guitar and dry drums

Captain Jack -- dry and dead, with a dated vocal echo

 

[Eggplant]

Nilsson - Schmilsson - "Driving Along" has a different guitar solo mix

Um, yeah.

While we're discussing that album, how 'bout . . .

Gotta Get Up
-- piano drops in volume as soon as vocals and way-overloud guitar enters. Uccgh.
-- insane speed-up ending totally ruined, with pitches going up AND down instead of, logically, upward only.

Coconut
-- vocal countoff. Not on RCA single or any Greatest Hits collection, nor is it on my MFSL CD of the album.
-- Dramatic reverb on doctor's voice missing.
-- Reverb on high vocal "Doc -- TARRR!" missing.

Jump into the Fire
-- Extra 16 bars in intro just before vocals. Not on my MFSL CD or any collection, so assume it's on the quad only?
-- Extra vocal answer parts (actual separately recorded tracks, according to Cai). I don't care for them, but you might.
-- Extra drum parts in long solo ending. Honestly, I don't get this at all. It destroys any real groove the track had up to this point and makes no musical sense to me -- just piling extra crap on for the hell of it. Guess they didn't think a lone drummer and reverb was quaddy enough.

 

[EMB]

On the Japanese "Best of the Supremes", I don't remember which song, but one song uses the wrong vocal where Diana makes a mistake and stops singing. How that got released has no explanation.

It's very easy to explain: they just took whatever multis they felt like using and remixed them, not bothering to reference either the mono single versions or the stereo Lp mixes. True, this was a Japan-only release, as all the Motown's were, but for this album it took no work at all to use whatever the hell they happened to feel like mixing. It's a fascinating mess, since some tracks--or portions thereof--ARE the master takes, but as I remember, there are songs that have some parts from the master take but portions obviously from another (also on occasion true of the stereo mixes from the old days). It's a real mess, it is, but fun to hear.

ED

 

[Eggplant]

EAQ31584 Edgar Winter Group - They Only Come Out At Night

Probably one of the most popular quad albums ever released contains a timing difference during 'Frankenstein' in terms of the entrance of the ARP synthesizer sequence. The quad version starts several seconds before the stereo version.

TRIVIA: Excerpts of Frankenstein have been heard as early as his debut album Entrance in 1970. Great album, highly recommended.

It's not timing, it's sloppy mixing.

On the multis, the ARP starts where it starts, at full volume. To make its entrance smooth requires a board fade-in of that channel at the right time, as on the stereo mix. The quad mix engineer simply didn't bother.

What "excerpts" are on previous albums?

 

[arnold_layne]

A couple people mentioned Wish You Were Here quad mix. No one brought up the title song. The mix has steal guitar that's not present in the stereo mix. Also the quad mix does not have the "scat" vocals which would normally be were the steel guitar is on the quad mix.

A_L

 

[JonUrban]

Any new findings?

 

[sjcorne]

Cool thread! I thought of a bunch that haven't been mentioned yet (especially all the new 5.1's that have been issued since 2012!):

Quad:

• Alice Cooper "Unfinished Sweet" - extra screams during the dentist drill part
• Jeff Beck "Come Dancing" - Jan Hammer's keyboard solo almost absent
• Aerosmith "Back In The Saddle" - horse galloping & whip effects much more prominent than stereo, some vocals ad-libs missing during the fade-out
• Chicago "Wishing You Were Here" - missing lead acoustic guitar during the intro
• Santana "Evil Ways" - cold ending
• Paul Simon "Kodachrome" - more prominent organ and electric guitar parts in rear channels

5.1:

• Fleetwood Mac "I'm So Afraid" - much more reverb on the drums, additional Stevie Nicks backing vocals in center during 2nd verse
• Fleetwood Mac "Rhiannon" & "Sara" - added Stevie Nicks vocal intros
• Fleetwood Mac "Say You Love Me" - extra guitar fills present throughout
• Fleetwood Mac "Hold Me" - Lindsey Buckingham vocal brought up much higher in the mix
• Graham Nash "Chicago" - extra acoustic guitar present throughout
• Guns 'n' Roses "Rocket Queen" - sex noises during breakdown almost absent
• Beatles "I Want You (She's So Heavy) - Billy Preston's organ brought up much higher in the mix (particularly the solos during the chorus)
• Crowded House "Don't Dream It's Over" - missing Neil Finn lead vocal during the chorus, only backing vocals are audible
• Duran Duran "(Reach Up For The) Sunrise" - additional congas/bongos present during breakdown
• Marillion "White Russian" - alternate lead vocal
• Talking Heads "Houses In Motion" - female backing vocals much louder during chorus
• Peter Gabriel "Sledgehammer" - not sure if anything was added per se, but the balance feels really different from the original
• Steely Dan "My Rival" (SACD/DVD-A mix) - missing percussion fill towards the beginning
• Jimi Hendrix "Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - extra flanging effect on guitar
• Porcupine Tree "Blackest Eyes" - extra electric guitar fills move around the room during the verses, whispered vocal harmony in center more noticeable
• Porcupine Tree "Drown With Me" - much more reverb/delay on lead vocal, overall very different instrument balance with keyboards much louder

 

[ar surround]

Santana "Evil Ways" - cold ending

I love that cold ending on the quad!

Paul Simon "Kodachrome" - more prominent organ and electric guitar parts in rear channels

I really like those parts because I juice up the rears a few dB's when I play the quad of this song.

Beatles "I Want You (She's So Heavy) - Billy Preston's organ brought up much higher in the mix (particularly the solos during the chorus)

I always felt that Preston's organ along with the bass lines were the best parts of an already magnificent track.