Rhinos may be known for having one or two horns, but the namesake American record label has unveiled a litter of beasts with four.
Rhino.com is giving people a chance to experience quadraphonic sound by re-releasing four albums which were known for their quad mixes back in the glorious but problematic heyday of 1970s surround.
I’m a person who owns and maintains a vintage quadraphonic sound system. I’m able to play SQ, QS, RM and CD-4 vinyl records as well as Q8 cartridges. Some day I hope to acquire a machine to play quad reel-to-reels, just don’t tell my girlfriend.
Quad sound is truly awesome, and in many cases is undiscovered territory involving even the most-familiar albums. This is because quadraphonic mixes of albums represent actual different mixes. You know — like when Giles Martin remixes Beatles records? Yeah — different mixes. My quad copy of Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd sounds different from the album you might know like the back of your hand. For starters, the title track on mine has a lap steel guitar solo in it and Have A Cigar is about a minute longer.
Tres Hombres by ZZ Top is only available in quad format as a Q8. The mix of the album in quad is drastically different from the stereo version. As such, expect to pay hundreds of bucks for a cart in decent shape.
I could go on. It’s a bit of an obsession.
Something I’ve also done is incorporate a Samsung BluRay player into my vintage quad setup. It’s easy to do because the Samsung has four RCA audio outs which correspond to front-left, front-right, rear-left and rear-right inputs on my vintage receiver. I’ve added this because there are a few box set releases of classic albums which also include a DVD or BluRay of the 1970s quad mix of the album. Some examples include the first few Chicago albums, Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd on their Immersion sets, and Echoes on one of the Early Years sets. They sound amazing. But, you need to hook up a small monitor as well, so you can see the menu of your BluRay player.
What Rhino has done is basically release four classic quad mixes on BluRay — Billion Dollar Babies by Alice Cooper, Red Octopus by Jefferson Starship, Paranoid by Black Sabbath and Nightmares & Other Tales From The Vinyl Jungle by J. Geils Band. The BluRays have replica artwork and contain both the quadraphonic mix and original stereo mixes of the album.
Rhino calls their format “Quadio” and unlike me and my dusty, old gear, all you need to hear them is a BluRay player and four speakers. I’ve ordered the Sabbath and Cooper albums.
They’re reasonably-priced as well. $25 each or all four for $80. By comparison, a quad vinyl copy of Paranoid will cost you more than $100 in great shape (and you want quad vinyl to be as pristine as possible). The Paranoid Q8 is well over $200. Only the 2009 special expanded-edition CD box set is comparable in price. This edition included the quad mix on DVD, and appears priced around $25 on Discogs.
So I’m pretty stoked about this and am still fantasizing about figuring out how to do quad mixes of my own Area Resident albums.
It’s a wonder I have a girlfriend.
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
