The MFSL supposedly sounds different in some kind of way(s) to the other original mix versions (West German, East German, USA, USA for Japan, Japanese for USA, Outer Mongolian, Martian, etc etc etc - yes I'm joking), I can't remember all the microscopically detailed comments about this stuff over there, but I'm curious to hear another original mix version if that makes any sense.

Nope, there never was a quad mix of Quad. Surprising, you'd think it would have been a no-brainer.

I vaguely remember a radio station in the Tampa Bay area promoting a broadcast of a Who concert when Quadrophenia came out, which was supposed to be in quad sound. This might have been the King Biscuit show but I'm not sure. Anyway, I didn't know anyone with quad equipment at the time so I can't verify how it sounded.

Quote:

With twenty-first century technology, it would seem that 5.1 surround sound in particular would offer some intriguing possibilities for creating mixes that, if not exactly quadraphonic, could be presented with more multidimensional depth than was possible in 1973. Here as with Who's Next, however, less than ideal preservation of the source materials might make that hard to realize. "He always felt it fell down in the mix when he mixed it with Ron Nevison," says Jon Astley, who would later work on the remastering and remixing of the album for CD. "I think the pressure was on to get it done, it was a bit rushed, and they didn't really check stuff. When we decided to remix it – it was actually my idea – a lot of these quarter-inch masters we couldn't find. We had safety [copies], but Polydor wanted to reissue this and said to me, 'Can't you just use those?' I said, 'Well, they're inferior to the masters, and I can't find the masters anywhere.' I was at MCA in Los Angeles.

"Eventually most of them all did turn up about five years later. Despite being told probably five times, 'no, we haven't got the Tommy masters,' five years later – 'oh, we got the Tommy masters.' I was totally convinced they were there, and eventually they came clean. And I said, 'Have you got Quadrophenia as well,' and they said, 'Oh, we'll have a look. Oh, there it is. Surprise surprise!' So it was a real pain in the ass.

"That was MCA going through a very, very difficult time with some of their library people. A guy in L.A. told me one of the guys that worked at the MCA library was taking home tapes and cutting together his own little playback reels. When MCA found out about this, they kind of went, 'Right. Anybody asks for a master, we haven't got it.' They recovered all the tapes and built a little editing room in the library where some bloke would piece them all back together again. So over a period of time, they just denied all knowledge about having masters while this was going on. I was told time and again that the stereo masters were missing, which was the real reason that we started to remix everything. And out of that came this mix of Quadrophenia that Pete said, 'Oh, that's the way it should have sounded.' So it was kind of driven because we didn't have the original masters more than anything."

Continues Astley, "It would be nice to do a proper 5.1 of it, and actually the one I did with Andy McPherson of 'The Real Me' is just stupendous, it just sounds incredible. We ended up doing two tracks into 5.1, and then Pete decided he didn't want to go down that route anymore. We were gonna do a super audio release, and super audio versus DVD-A was going on, and I don't think anybody quite knew which format was gonna win. So he just said, 'No, let's leave it for now and see what happens.'

"But if they do do a remix [and] reissue a 5.1, Pete would like to go back to his eight-track. 'Cause the whole thing about Quadrophenia, it was done in eight-track, and then 16-track, and then 24-track. So by the time you get to your stereo masters, some of the elements that were recorded were already four generations old. Pete would like to rethink some of the eight-track stuff that he did, which got bounced down onto one or two tracks when it went to 16. So all those single violin tracks and stuff can be exploded and put into different positions in the 5.1 or the stereo mix. Quality-wise, they'll be a lot better than they were when they got to 24-track. That would be a great project to get involved in, and I think he has tried, and made some inroads into doing that.

"It would have been great if they'd done it to four-track, and then we could just lift out the four-track and hear it in glorious sort of 5.1. I think Quadrophenia in 5.1 would be an absolute masterpiece, because of all the sound effects and the stereo panning. Pete always said that the guy who was behind Dolby at the time kept hanging around the studio to see how they were getting on with his matrix quadraphonic four-track recording that they were experimenting with. Pete said he could see the wheels going on in his brain about 5.1 Dolby encoding back then, in 1973."

So the album's remastered, but there are only eight songs mixed into 5.1???

The box set gives a unique insight into the creation of this landmark album and will feature a re-master of the original double album, Pete Townshend’s previously unheard demos including songs that didn’t make it onto the original album, an exclusive eight track 5.1 sound DVD, a deluxe hard-back book, previously unseen personal notes, photographs, memorabilia and other exclusive material that will be announced over the coming months.

So I have a feeling that "The Real Me" will be one of the 8 tracks we're getting in 5.1. Although we still don't really have a great explanation as to why we're only getting 8 tracks. Seems to me like the whole album could be mixed based on this article.

Continues Astley, "It would be nice to do a proper 5.1 of it, and actually the one I did with Andy McPherson of 'The Real Me' is just stupendous, it just sounds incredible. We ended up doing two tracks into 5.1, and then Pete decided he didn't want to go down that route anymore. We were gonna do a super audio release, and super audio versus DVD-A was going on, and I don't think anybody quite knew which format was gonna win. So he just said, 'No, let's leave it for now and see what happens.'

"But if they do do a remix [and] reissue a 5.1, Pete would like to go back to his eight-track. 'Cause the whole thing about Quadrophenia, it was done in eight-track, and then 16-track, and then 24-track. So by the time you get to your stereo masters, some of the elements that were recorded were already four generations old. Pete would like to rethink some of the eight-track stuff that he did, which got bounced down onto one or two tracks when it went to 16. So all those single violin tracks and stuff can be exploded and put into different positions in the 5.1 or the stereo mix. Quality-wise, they'll be a lot better than they were when they got to 24-track. That would be a great project to get involved in, and I think he has tried, and made some inroads into doing that.

"It would have been great if they'd done it to four-track, and then we could just lift out the four-track and hear it in glorious sort of 5.1. I think Quadrophenia in 5.1 would be an absolute masterpiece, because of all the sound effects and the stereo panning. Pete always said that the guy who was behind Dolby at the time kept hanging around the studio to see how they were getting on with his matrix quadraphonic four-track recording that they were experimenting with. Pete said he could see the wheels going on in his brain about 5.1 Dolby encoding back then, in 1973."

Until we get more detailed info on this release, why is everybody assuming the worst-case scenario that only 8 songs are going to be available in 5.1?? Is it not possible that the exclusive eight track 5.1 sound DVD mentioned in the press release refers not to eight songs, but rather to the "eight-track masters" ?? Perhaps all of the album will be in surround, derived from the original eight-track?

Wait a minute - I thought the announcement meant the package was going to include an 8 track cartridge for those of us still with those players (in addition to the 5.1 DVD). You mean we're not getting an 8 track? Now I'm pissed


OK, I'm obviously kidding. But I think announcement is perfectly clear. The 5.1 DVD will only have 8 tracks (also known as "songs"). It will not be the whole album. No confusion at all. Can't see how anyone would interpret it any differently, but maybe I'm wrong. Me, I personally could care less about the 5.1 stuff as I don't even have a 5.1 system and am not a fan of that format for music, but I understand why 5.1 enthusiasts are up in arms about this and see it as a big missed opportunity. So they want to voice their displeasure - it's only natural.

But I think announcement is perfectly clear. The 5.1 DVD will only have 8 tracks (also known as "songs"). It will not be the whole album. No confusion at all. Can't see how anyone would interpret it any differently, but maybe I'm wrong.

Well, if there are no 5.1 mixes for certain songs because 5.1 mixes do not exist for those songs, there's really no point in getting upset. I'm buying this set either way--I love this album. But what I would like is just good, credible information about the Quadrophenia sessions, and how this album came to be, and what went on with the mixing of the album, without Townshend's inevitably distorted narrative of events.

I think you are missing my point. The only info we have states thus:
<snip>

I think you are missing my point. The only info we have states thus:



The wording "an exclusive eight track 5.1 sound DVD" does not have to mean eight songs, necessarily. Maybe it does, or maybe it means sourced from the eight-track, or maybe it was a typo and is entirely wrong.

The point is, there is no corroboration for this information, no second source to back up what this is telling us. Why say the sky is falling based on a single piece of evidence? Stuff happens, things change, and the final product hardly ever resembles the initial leak of info.

To claim outright "It will not be the whole album" based on one sentence in a press blurb seems to be foolish. If more sources come out that support this suppostion, then fine, I will gladly believe it then. But the negativity and complaining without hardly any factual basis grow tiresome here.

No, I see your point. I just don't think what you are saying makes any sense at all. No offense.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005DMNS4A/?tag=imwan-20

Track listing for the 2 CD deluxe edition:

Disc: 1
1. I Am The Sea
2. The Real Me
3. Quadrophenia
4. Cut My Hair
5. The Punk And The Godfather
6. I'm One
7. The Dirty Jobs
8. Helpless Dancer
9. Is It In My Head?
10. I've Had Enough
11. 5:15
12. Sea And Sand
13. Drowned

Disc: 2
1. Bell Boy
2. Doctor Jimmy
3. The Rock
4. Love Reign O'er Me
5. The Real Me (demo)
6. Cut My Hair (demo)
7. Punk (demo)
8. Dirty Jobs (demo)
9. Is It In My Head (demo)
10. Any More (demo)
11. I've Had Enough (demo)
12. Drowned (demo)

I wish they had included demos such as "Wizardry" and "Get Inside" instead of demos from songs that went on the album.