In the ’70s, the major labels attempted to jump onto the multi-channel wagon with the thought that they were dealing with the future. And although they WERE dealing with the future, the necessity of pricey hardware to play the new discs stifled any enthusiasm that many listeners may have had. Of course, this led to a lessening of enthusiasm from the labels and the Quad mix was ended. But not before a number of Quadrophonic titles were actually issued and in the pipe. These old Quad mixes have been revisited by the class folks at Rhino, who had been slowly releasing them in a series called Quadio. Now, there are four more arriving.
On October 16, watch for the reissues of Holiday (1974) by America, Spinners (1973) by Spinners, Sundown (1974) by Gordon Lightfoot, and Mingus Moves (1974) by Charles Mingus. These are the next wave of what we hope will be ongoing issues of the Quadio series. These will be presented on Blu-ray Audio.
The series will continue. Word has it that Rhino/Warner will even do some albums that never had quad mixes back in the day. Also, since Rhino has already done a title from BMG (Jefferson Starship-Red Octopus), it’s a sign that they may be doing more license titles from the BMG catalog.
Excellent news!