The O' Jays MESSAGE IN THE MUSIC Q8

[MMM]

The O' Jays MESSAGE IN THE MUSIC quad 8 track seems very rare. Aside from listings for it being available back in the '70's now published on the internet, and one reported sale on the Shocker Log (for $300+), I've never seen one listed on eBay or for sale elsewhere online for sale in any condition.

Does anyone here actually have this tape? Does someone even have a copy of the eBay listing for the Shocker Log copy? I'd love to see it.

I don't have the $$$ to burn now for this, but eventually I would like to buy one of these.

Thanks in advance.

 

[steelydave]

I don't have a copy of the eBay listing, but I do remember when it was up for auction. The seller auctioned a whole pile of rare late era Columbia tapes including Wild Cherry's Electrified Funk and The Isley Brothers Go For Your Guns. I've never seen a copy of the O'Jays tape before or since and I have been looking. Would love to hear it as their other quad mixes are excellent.

 

[fredblue]

how I would dearly love to hear this in quad..!! the album is terrific!

I wonder if Sony are buying all these ultra rare Q8's because they've lost their master tapes and have plans to reissue some of these late quad era mixes. If only...

"shoo-be-doo-be-doo.. shoo-be-doo-doo-doo.. weeeeeeeee've got a message in our muuuuusic..!!"

The Isley album too, its got Footsteps in the Dark.. It's got Voyage to Atlantis.. this is out and out classic Isley Brothers stuff.. that is still so well-known.. still gets airplay.. It's mixed in quad.. sitting somewhere.. slowly rotting away.

In 50 years or less, who will care about the O Jays or the Isleys? They should but they doubtless won't in the same way people will potentially still talk about The Beatles.

This stuff should be out there, now, while it still matters to enough people.

Grrrr....!!! So infuriating..!!!

 

[fredblue]

Actually, I feel so strongly about this, I would like to make an appeal here.

To any QQ-ers who have the Q8's of any of the Isley Brothers or O'Jays albums that didn't see reissue on SACD (in other words all but two!) please, please take the greatest of care of them.

You may well be sitting on the only copies of some of these works.

I'd also suggest you consider having top quality backups made on DVDA pronto before they degrade anymore.

Thank you.

 

[Q-Eight]

I have this tape. It was the ONLY one I've ever seen. Had a buy-it-now of $40, and had barely been listed for an hour. Snapped it up. Total no brainer.

 

[fredblue]

I have this tape. It was the ONLY one I've ever seen. Had a buy-it-now of $40, and had barely been listed for an hour. Snapped it up. Total no brainer.

O. :yikes

M. :yikes

G. :yikes

:yikes :yikes :yikes :yikes :yikes

AMAZING!!! What condition is it in?

I'm praying to the Quad Gods you'll get at least one decent play-through of it enough to transfer it to shiny disc (and hard drive, multiple back ups a-go-go!) - that is one ultra ultra rare cart!!!!

Many Congrats on your amazing find!

:wave

 

[Q-Eight]

It plays perfectly fine. No splices, or anything major. I'll record it in along with the Isley's Live it Up. I've got over 400 tapes now, so it's getting to that point where there's very little I don't have.

 

[fredblue]

It plays perfectly fine. No splices, or anything major. I'll record it in along with the Isley's Live it Up. I've got over 400 tapes now, so it's getting to that point where there's very little I don't have.

Fantastic news! that must feel like quite an achievement at this stage of your Q8 collecting, you must now have just about everything you've ever wanted on the format!

Did you ever find any of the other Isley's or O'Jay's Q8's? (they all seem to be very hard to come by sadly).

I only ask as they're two of my all-time favourite groups and it would be so cool if Sony had gotten around to SACD-ising all of the quad mixes of both groups (there are quite a few aren't there!?) not just 3+3 and Ship Ahoy, though it seems like it'll never happen now

 

[Q-Eight]

There are three O'Jays Q8's : Ship Ahoy, Live in London and Message in the Music. I believe there is one SQ-only title as well.
(I have the three Q8's)

The Isleys Q8's are : 3+3, Live it up, Go for your Guns and The Heat is on. (I have Live it up and 3+3. I have seen the other two, just never got 'em)

I'm close to having everything I ever wanted. Now, I'm sort of trying to complete little collections, Like Having all the Billy Paul Q8's, all the Paul Simons, etc. I have remarkably few Chicago Q8's.... only have IX. Which I find kind of funny seeing as how fairly common they are, but I've never been lucky in getting them. I have almost 100 Columbia tapes now. I'm mostly just collecting now for completist sake. That, and I share them with others. Gotta give back to the community somehow.

 

[fredblue]

There are three O'Jays Q8's : Ship Ahoy, Live in London and Message in the Music. I believe there is one SQ-only title as well.
(I have the three Q8's)

The Isleys Q8's are : 3+3, Live it up, Go for your Guns and The Heat is on. (I have Live it up and 3+3. I have seen the other two, just never got 'em)

I'm close to having everything I ever wanted. Now, I'm sort of trying to complete little collections, Like Having all the Billy Paul Q8's, all the Paul Simons, etc. I have remarkably few Chicago Q8's.... only have IX. Which I find kind of funny seeing as how fairly common they are, but I've never been lucky in getting them. I have almost 100 Columbia tapes now. I'm mostly just collecting now forj completist sake. That, and I share them with others. Gotta give back to the community somehow.

afaik there are SQ's of The O'Jays' "Family Reunion" and "Survival" albums (two amazing records! I wish someone would transfer those!!).

how pricey were those Isley Q8's you passed on? do they come up very often? there was an SQ of The Isley's (incredible) "Harvest For The World" LP that never made it to Q8.. apart from that I think Q8 had their quad period covered..!?

 

[Q-Eight]

I still can't for the life of me understand why The O'Jays "Backstabbers" was missed. Right smack in the middle of the Quad era, however it does fall within the incredibly short 31,000-series of tapes. But that LP had two of their biggest ever hits, 'Love Train' and 'Backstabbers'.

 

[fredblue]

I still can't for the life of me understand why The O'Jays "Backstabbers" was missed. Right smack in the middle of the Quad era, however it does fall within the incredibly short 31,000-series of tapes. But that LP had two of their biggest ever hits, 'Love Train' and 'Backstabbers'.

very true! an obvious candidate for quad! not the first time big albums were passed over for acts' lesser (or less well-known) albums in both quad and later the same thing (mistake?) occurred in 5.1..!

what's the 31,000-series of carts denote?

 

[Quad Linda]

Columbia titles with numbers of KC(Q), KZ(Q) or E(Q) 31000 to 31999.

very true! an obvious candidate for quad! not the first time big albums were passed over for acts' lesser (or less well-known) albums in both quad and later the same thing (mistake?) occurred in 5.1..!

what's the 31,000-series of carts denote?

 

[fredblue]

Columbia titles with numbers of KC(Q), KZ(Q) or E(Q) 31000 to 31999.

Thank you Lovely Linda! hugs

 

[Q-Eight]

Linda nailed it. But out of my nearly 100 Columbia Q8's, I only have 9 "popular" titles in the 31xxx series of tapes. (I don't collect classical titles)
I have over 30 in the 30xxx series, 40 or more in the 32xxx series and then the handfuls that came in 33xxx and 34xxx.

I can understand why titles in 1975, 1976 and 1977 were few and far between, but the 31xxx series would've been around mid year '72 thru early '73 I guess? (The bulk of titles in that series are dated 1972). Just seems like they forgot about Quad for a year.

 

[Quad Linda]

Q8's, of course would have a CAQ, ZAQ, or EAQ prefix.

My guess as to why the 31000-31999 series was underrepresented is that Columbia was mostly releasing proven best sellers as the initial Quad releases. By the time they realized that Quad was taking off, they were focusing on new releases. '73 & '74 was Quad's heyday. At that point, the earlier releases were left behind. I believe many of the labels thought that Quad would help promote new releases. That's why Redbone's Wovoka (w/Come and Get Your Love) was never released in Quad, while Beaded Dreams was. Same story with Backstabbers, in favor of Ship Ahoy. RCA took a similar tack. B.W. Stevenson's My Maria was never released in Quad in the US, although it was a Q8 in Canada. Calabasas came out in Quad. It stiffed, and contained no hits, although it is his very best album.

Linda nailed it. But out of my nearly 100 Columbia Q8's, I only have 9 "popular" titles in the 31xxx series of tapes. (I don't collect classical titles)
I have over 30 in the 30xxx series, 40 or more in the 32xxx series and then the handfuls that came in 33xxx and 34xxx.

I can understand why titles in 1975, 1976 and 1977 were few and far between, but the 31xxx series would've been around mid year '72 thru early '73 I guess? (The bulk of titles in that series are dated 1972). Just seems like they forgot about Quad for a year.

 

[fredblue]

Q8's, of course would have a CAQ, ZAQ, or EAQ prefix.

My guess as to why the 31000-31999 series was underrepresented is that Columbia was mostly releasing proven best sellers as the initial Quad releases. By the time they realized that Quad was taking off, they were focusing on new releases. '73 & '74 was Quad's heyday. At that point, the earlier releases were left behind. I believe many of the labels thought that Quad would help promote new releases. That's why Redbone's Wovoka (w/Come and Get Your Love) was never released in Quad, while Beaded Dreams was. Same story with Backstabbers, in favor of Ship Ahoy. RCA took a similar tack. B.W. Stevenson's My Maria was never released in Quad in the US, although it was a Q8 in Canada. Calabasas came out in Quad. It stiffed, and contained no hits, although it is his very best album.

amazing info as ever! thank you, Linda!

do you have all the O'Jays & Isley Brothers Q8's?

if you do, how are the mixes? I'm dying to know if they're upto the amazing standards of Ship Ahoy & 3+3 and worth pursuing?

I recall Q-Eight saying the Isleys "Live It Up" quad mix on Q8 wasn't all that great.. which would be such a shame as I love love love that album!!

 

[Quad Linda]

No, I only have Ship Ahoy on Q8 & SACD. I have the others on SQ, and, of course, 3 +3 on SACD. The mixes are variable. To me, musically and mix-wise, Ship Ahoy is head and shoulders above any of the rest. IMHO, the best album Philly Int'l ever did. Yes, there are other great tracks like Mrs. Jones, TSOP, Backstabbers, Love Train, That Lady, If You Don't Know Me, and When Will I See You Again are all killer tracks. But for a complete album, Ship Ahoy does it for both music and mix.

Who's That Lady?

amazing info as ever! thank you, Linda!

do you have all the O'Jays & Isley Brothers Q8's?

if you do, how are the mixes? I'm dying to know if they're upto the amazing standards of Ship Ahoy & 3+3 and worth pursuing?

I recall Q-Eight saying the Isleys "Live It Up" quad mix on Q8 wasn't all that great.. which would be such a shame as I love love love that album!!

 

[fredblue]

No, I only have Ship Ahoy on Q8 & SACD. I have the others on SQ, and, of course, 3 +3 on SACD. The mixes are variable. To me, musically and mix-wise, Ship Ahoy is head and shoulders above any of the rest. IMHO, the best album Philly Int'l ever did. Yes, there are other great tracks like Mrs. Jones, TSOP, Backstabbers, Love Train, That Lady, If You Don't Know Me, and When Will I See You Again are all killer tracks. But for a complete album, Ship Ahoy does it for both music and mix.

Who's That Lady?

YOU's That Lady! Lovely lady!

 

[fredblue]

YOU's That Lady! Lovely lady!

wouldn't it be wonderful if Richard LaBonte were to release all the Philadelphia International quad mixes through his Music Valet label..!?

Quadraphilia Dreaming on such a Winter's daaaaayyyyy...!!!