RCA was one of the first companies to release quadraphonic product in the United States with it's line of Quadraphonic 8-Track cartridges. (These early "quad-8" tapes can be distinguished from the more common RCA Q8's by their orange colored graphics and solid cardboard album graphic sleeves.) The reason for getting these tapes issued early was to insure that RCA quad product was out into the marketplace while their parent company in Japan (JVC) completed work on perfecting their new CD-4 discrete system for quadraphonic record albums. Early CD-4 LPs released in Japan were suffering from excessive wear and tear. Many of these LPs deteriorated after being played just a few times. This caused JVC to announce at that time that their CD-4 discs should only be played on their specially equipped systems. This problem hastened the development of the "Shibata" stylus, which increased the surface area of the stylus, thus decreasing the pressure on the grooves. With a new improved vinyl and the Shibata stylus, RCA was now ready to introduce the Quadradisc to the American publiv. When these first RCA CD-4 LPs were finally released with much fanfare in 1973, the early matrix quad albums had already been available in stores for over a year. Since these early matrix LPs had little or no separation, the thought was that CD-4 would quickly become the preferred method of distributing quadraphonic product on vinyl.

To celebrate a world wide live media event and concert  that would become known as "Elvis Presley - Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite", RCA decided to release the companion soundtrack album as one of it's first single inventory CD-4 compatible Quadradiscs. Since all copies of this 2 LP set were CD-4 albums, this gave RCA the "big sales" they wanted for a debut with the format. Collectors will note that the artwork for the initial issue album cover does not have the "quadradisc" logo printed above the VPSX-6089 pressing number and actually says "STEREO". (See Photos Below) This seems to indicate that this title was "rushed" into the CD-4 format at the last minute. A golden "Quadradisc" sticker was affixed to these "stereo" jackets, and continued to be used on the properly labeled later jackets. At any rate, most folks who bought the LP had no idea what the "quadradisc" sticker or logo was for anyway, they just bought the LP for the "Elvis"! This January 1973 concert was rush released and hit the stores in February 1973, a month later! (In the scans below, I increased the size of the RCA logos for internet clarity)

RCA was so sure that the compatible mono/stereo/quadraphonic CD-4 album would become the standard for all vinyl product that they started an entirely new numbering scheme that began with the very next CD-4 release: APD1-0001, which was Hugo Montenegro's "Love Theme from the Godfather". Located below is a list in numerical order of all of the RCA released CD-4 albums with their release dates and the date that each title was deleted - sent to the cut-out bins.

Starting at 0001 and looking down the list, it is interesting to note that it took them almost a year to release a popular commercial title. Most of the early CD-4s were either classical or "easy listening" music. It was not until the end of 1973 with the release of "Best of the Guess Who, Vol 2", "Volunteers", and "Nilsson Schmilsson" that real mainstream pop was available on Quad LP from RCA.

Looking further down the list, you can see that almost 80% of these titles are classical, country or "easy listening". Of course, this represents the type of artists that were signed to RCA during this period. There were some notable exceptions. I never understood why there were never any David Bowie or John Denver CD-4 releases, as at the time they were VERY popular acts, with Denver topping the charts many times in the mid '70s for RCA. Also, they never went back and did any of the classic Elvis albums from their catalog. Very strange - I guess they REALLY had to get those "Danny Davis" albums out!

Most of the CD-4 LPs listed below were released between 1972 and 1975. There were only 11 RCA CD-4 LPs released in 1976. After that, it was down to two Tomita LP's which found their way into quad homes. The LP "Kosmos" (ARD1-2616) was the last US manufactured RCA CD-4, with the final Tomita Quad LP "Bolero" only available in limited numbers, and that was basically the Japanese import LP with a US sticker on the front declaring it ARD1-3412.

198?

1980

1977

1981