SPOTLIGHT Sony Japan 7" Mini-LP Hybrid SACD Series - Comprehensive List of Multichannel Titles

[TommyTunes]

I would love it if Sony see’s fit to release,
Santana’s Caravanseri
Santana & McLaughlin’s Love Devotion & Surrender
Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Between Nothingness and Eternity
Blue Oyster Cult’s Tyranny & Mutation

 

[Old Quad Guy]

Also, Blue Oyster Cult’s “Agents of Fortune“ Quadraphonic mix exists or once did.

I had a very rare SQ record of it, that had the gold label. I only saw two copies of it. I bought one of them. It was bought at Warehouse Records when the record first came out, at the Willow Pass Road, Concord location.

I regret selling this record. But, there is hope as it seems Columbia records have maintained the Quad Masters well. I only ask that it be looked for.

The Dave Mason titles would make for a nice release.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Also, Blue Oyster Cult’s “Agents of Fortune“ Quadraphonic mix exists or once did.

I had a very rare SQ record of it, that had the gold label. I only saw two copies of it. I bought one of them. It was bought at Warehouse Records when the record first came out, at the Willow Pass Road, Concord location.

I regret selling this record. But, there is hope as it seems Columbia records have maintained the Quad Masters well. I only ask that it be looked for.

The Dave Mason titles would make for a nice release.

So you didn't like this MC? I don't have it and don't know how it sounds BTW.

Blue Öyster Cult – Agents Of Fortune (2001, SACD)

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2001 SACD release of "Agents Of Fortune" on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

 

[TommyTunes]

So you didn't like this MC? I don't have it and don't know how it sounds BTW.

Blue Öyster Cult – Agents Of Fortune (2001, SACD)

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2001 SACD release of "Agents Of Fortune" on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

The 2005 Sony Multi Channel version of Agents is excellent but I never heard the Quad, never even seen it referenced.

 

[steelydave]

Also, Blue Oyster Cult’s “Agents of Fortune“ Quadraphonic mix exists or once did.

I had a very rare SQ record of it, that had the gold label. I only saw two copies of it. I bought one of them. It was bought at Warehouse Records when the record first came out, at the Willow Pass Road, Concord location.

I regret selling this record. But, there is hope as it seems Columbia records have maintained the Quad Masters well. I only ask that it be looked for.

The Dave Mason titles would make for a nice release.

I think you might be suffering a bit of the Mandela effect on this one (or you owned some kind of pirate/bootleg fake) because Agents of Fortune definitely wasn't released in quad. Columbia stopped using the gold border design on their quad LPs partway through 1973, and Agents of Fortune was released at the end of May, 1976. Furthermore, a quad version of the album doesn't appear in either the 1976 or 1977 US Catalogs of Copyright Entries, which it would if it was released - anything bearing the Phonographic Copyright (p) symbol is collected in these catalogs, without exception, and every single CBS quad is in there including the faked ones like Santana's Amigos and Festival and Herbie Hancock's Secrets.

That's not to say the possibility doesn't exist that it was mixed for quad - 1976 puts it in the wheelhouse for the last quad hurrah from CBS - but in that era there are plenty of big name titles in the '76/'77 timeframe that should have (but didn't) get the quad treatment, including this one, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA, Return to Forever's Romantic Warrior, and Boston's self-titled debut album. I think the fact that BoC's 1975 On Your Feet or On Your Knees live album didn't get the quad treatment either suggests that the quad sales of their two previous albums probably had CBS believing that they didn't merit quad remixing anymore, and by the time Agents of Fortune took off, it was probably too late to go back and remix it for quad since it was all but dead by that point.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

the 1976 or 1977 US Catalogs of Copyright Entries,

That's a cool resource there Dave!

 

[Old Quad Guy]

I’m sorry, I can’t prove I had the record. I’m just asking, if possible, if such a mix exists to the powers that be. Thank you for your consideration. Thanks.

 

[steelydave]

I’m sorry, I can’t prove I had the record. I’m just asking, if possible, if such a mix exists to the powers that be. Thank you for your consideration. Thanks.

Apologies if I was overly forceful (or overly academic!) in my reply, it's just so easy for rumors to get started (and he told two friends, and they told two friends...) so I like to try and answer them when I have substantive facts at hand.

I agree with you completely though, if there is a quad mix of AoF it's probably a real knockout and should definitely be released. That's part of the reason I've done as much research as I have, because a lot of the information about unreleased quad mixes is hidden in plain sight - in off-hand comments from producers/engineers/label bosses in old interviews, or studio work updates in trade magazines, or catalog listings for upcoming releases. My hope is that by continuing to dig, and ask people who are still around questions, is that eventually something major will be unearthed as a result. I can be a bit overly optimistic at times, but I think sooner or later something big will come to light, and this is more a case of 'when' rather than 'if'.

 

[skherbeck]

That's not to say the possibility doesn't exist that it was mixed for quad - 1976 puts it in the wheelhouse for the last quad hurrah from CBS - but in that era there are plenty of big name titles in the '76/'77 timeframe that should have (but didn't) get the quad treatment, including this one, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA, Return to Forever's Romantic Warrior, and Boston's self-titled debut album.

Did you mean Born To Run?

 

[FunHouse1970]

I would love it if Sony see’s fit to release,
Santana’s Caravanseri
Santana & McLaughlin’s Love Devotion & Surrender
Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Between Nothingness and Eternity
Blue Oyster Cult’s Tyranny & Mutation

Santana’s Caravanserai : real masterpiece!!!

 

[EricKalet]

Figured I’d grab this as it seems to be headed to the rare bucket of 5.1 SACD. I have the original SACD...but now that I have the Japanese package...WOW this is impressive and I almost hate to open it!

 

[quicksrt]

Figured I’d grab this as it seems to be headed to the rare bucket of 5.1 SACD. I have the original SACD...but now that I have the Japanese package...WOW this is impressive and I almost hate to open it!
View attachment 66543

Great mix, and all of the 7" series are collectible. The more rare ones will always be the ones not previously out on quad or 5.1 SACD. I do hope that they all sell out (and become rare) and that Sony Japan keeps on releasing new titles in the series.

 

[skherbeck]

Santana 3 where are you?!

 

[GOS]

Figured I’d grab this as it seems to be headed to the rare bucket of 5.1 SACD. I have the original SACD...but now that I have the Japanese package...WOW this is impressive and I almost hate to open it!
View attachment 66543

Is that one carried by a vendor in the US, or you got from Japan vendor?

 

[EricKalet]

Is that one carried by a vendor in the US, or you got from Japan vendor?

Japan vendor via Discogs - Buy Vinyl Records and CDs from discsjapan at Discogs Marketplace

There are still several offers out there too Billy Joel - The Stranger (SACD, Japan, 2018) For Sale | Discogs

 

[quicksrt]

Santana III must be in the pipeline, the Japanese know which side of their bread is buttered.

That and the next album, and I’m set with Santana quadraphonic.

I really want Johnny and Edgar next after that. We are so close I can just about see it, TOCOAN with gatefold cover and obi, “Saints and Sinners” as well, we deserve it for hanging in there this long.

 

[steelydave]

I was hoping that Sony Japan would get going with these quicker than just doing them as 50th anniversary editions but given the elapsed time here, that doesn't seem to be the case. They were a bit late with reissuing the first album, but the SACD of Abraxas was 50 years to the month of the original LP release.

If that holds for the remaining titles, you can expect Santana III in September of this year, and then Carlos Santana and Buddy Miles! Live! in June of 2022 followed by Caravanserai in October of that year.

It's also possible that the release schedule has simply just been slowed by COVID, as all the quad tapes for these albums are held in the US in vaults controlled by Iron Mountain that have all but been shut down by social distancing regulations for the last year.

 

[quicksrt]

I was hoping that Sony Japan would get going with these quicker than just doing them as 50th anniversary editions but given the elapsed time here, that doesn't seem to be the case. They were a bit late with reissuing the first album, but the SACD of Abraxas was 50 years to the month of the original LP release.

If that holds for the remaining titles, you can expect Santana III in September of this year, and then Carlos Santana and Buddy Miles! Live! in June of 2022 followed by Caravanserai in October of that year.

It's also possible that the release schedule has simply just been slowed by COVID, as all the quad tapes for these albums are held in the US in vaults controlled by Iron Mountain that have all but been shut down by social distancing regulations for the last year.

I was not under the impression that the Japanese Sony 7" series was a 50th anniversary series in general. And that while Abraxas worked out that way, I'd expect others to not fall much in line with it. The other releases in the series seem to arrive when they arrive.

1973 would be crammed with several (or many) releases actually which would be fine for many of us.

 

[steelydave]

The press releases for the first two Sony Japan Santana releases were chock full o' verbiage about how they were commemorating the 50th anniversary of the original release, etc. so I entirely think that's the motivation here.

The 1973 thought is a nice one, except that Sony Japan only seem to do one artist at a time when it comes to these quad SACD releases - on the pop side it was Jeff Beck, then the aborted Simon & Garfunkel disc, and now Santana. On the jazz side it was the two Miles Davis discs, and then Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, so you'd expect (hope?) to maybe get Thrust this year in addition to Santana III. Who knows, maybe they'll suprise us with more, or something else entirely, but good thing there's another label delivering quad SACDs in superior sonics, isn't it?

 

[quicksrt]

I think it’s likely to get more of these coming sooner rather than later. And I hope they give us none of the previously issued quad masters that AF already did.

50th anniversary editions is fine advertising copy and I hope they don’t stick to it, until 1973, 74!

Getting more of these is likely - in my opinion comes down to how well they sell. I’d like to think that the market for surround music has grown over the last 10 - 15 years if ever so slightly. Add in the high prices being set, And that Japan being a market still devoted to physical media is a plus (in a way), and Columbia / Epic less red tape for clearances (for Sony), I’d be very disappointed if these came to an end.

Japan and Germany I’ve been told are two countries very much supporting physical media.

Things are looking up!