Funny you should say that - Santana III is the one that intrigues me.
I wonder why Sony didn't release these quad mixes when the SACD format was launched. Perhaps it would have helped it catch on.
I'm curious if it was considered, or if it was just an oversight.
Oh well. At least they're doing it now.
Well, they were not able to release everything at once. And they did look at what they had in quad format and choose a bunch of them, and get several good ones on the SACD format. Jeff Beck, Isleys, O'Jays, and some others were quad mixed and then released on SACD. Perhaps they had Santana in mind for a later batch once the format caught on and more titles were demanded by the public. But the format did not catch on right away enough for them to do that.
Once you grab your favorites from the Japan series, you need to run (and not walk) over and grab a nice handful of the Audio Fidelity SACDs that were issued from older quad tapes as well, if you have not yet looked around at that series (all out of print, but available on the used market). Billy Cobham "Spectrum" is one of the collector's favorites and it fetching higher than normal prices. Alice Cooper "Muscle of Love", Loggins & Messina "Full Sail", Blue Oyster Cult, Sly and the Family Stone "Hits" a couple of Earth Wind and Fire albums that define what quad can do at its best. I guess it depends on if you like Rock, R&B, and Jazz / Rock Fusion which titles you might want to get. I like all of those genres. Then also for quad on SACD you must get some of the Dutton Vocalion titles as well. My favorites for quad mixing and overall top sound quality from D/V would be both their Return to Forever and Earth Wind and Fire SACDs (still in print I believe).
I'm a big fan of older quad, and 70s artists. So I like these titles a lot, and feel we were very lucky to eventually get them.