70's Quadraphonic Sound was an early version of Surround-Sound. The intent was to have 4 channels of sound, so the music emanating from each of the 4 speakers (Right-Front, Left-Front, Right-Rear, Left-Rear) would be slightly different. This was supposed to make for more life-like sound reproduction. Unfortunately, Quad, unlike 2-channel stereo, had never settled on a single industry "standard". There were three competing (and incompatible) Quad LP formats, which was a major factor in the demise of Quad by the end of the decade. Luckily, even though the hardware is now obsolete, Quad LPs are perfectly compatible with regular stereo systems, and can still be enjoyed today.

There's more to Quad LPs than their rarity, and their potential to play 4-channel sound (when played on the right equipment). Several Quad LPs contain alternate versions of certain songs. Others have songs mixed differently than their regular album counterparts. Even when played on ordinary stereo systems, the variations in these Quad mixes are obvious and fascinating for the hard-core music collector.

Neil Diamond's Serenade was the only title in his catalog to receive the Quad treatment. CBS and Sony (Columbia's parent company) had bought and developed the "SQ" Quad format, so Neil, along with other CBS-affiliated artists like Pink Floyd and Barbara Streisand, had their Quad LPs encoded in SQ. In order to maintain compatibility with regular stereo equipment, SQ utilized a sonic phase-shift to encode the signal meant for the rear speakers. When played with the proper decoder box, the rear channel signals would be reconstructed, playing something (somewhat) different from the front channels.

"I've Been This Way Before"

There's not a great deal of difference between the Quad one and the regular one. The only thing notable is that in Quad, the orchestra is mixed louder, especially between "once again" and "For I've been released" (approx 1:10-1:16) and that it sounds more like a mellotron ensemble instead of an orchestra. The regular album does not have the orchestra mixed as high, but what's there is actually richer sounding.

"Rosemary's Wine"

The Quad version has a LOT more of the pedal steel guitar on it. It appears in a few places on the regular one, but it appears in many more places in Quad, particularly in the intro. The bass guitar is unusually prominent in the Quad mix, too. On the second verse, the rhythm guitar is mixed left in Quad, and right on the regular album.

"Lady Magdelene"

The Quad version has a rather complicated stereo mix- the band instruments (guitar, piano, congas) are reversed, but the orchestra parts are not. It doesn't have the same great stereo separation or truly ethereal quality that the regular copies have, mainly because the piano is mixed lower and is not as channel-separated. The Quad one was cut with an alternate vocal take, so there are minor vocal differences throughout the entire song. It also has an alternate set of lyrics in the second verse: "The man in-between stands within the two", where the regular one has "the man in-between waits between the two" (I think the Quad lyric makes more sense in the context of the rest of the song). On the last line, the Quad version ends with "and what will become of the man in-between", where the regular one ends with "or what will become...". There's also a subtle difference in the way that the orchestra drops in and out of the mix. In Quad, the orchestral rush on the last verse after "...like a prize unwon" is missing.

"The Last Picasso"

On the intro, the Quad one has the guitar and maracas on the left, while on the regular album, the guitar is on the left and the maracas are centered. In Quad, the first appearance of the line "We, We can sigh" at 1:15 is accompanied by the orchestra where the regular album is not. The 2nd verse was recut- the Quad one starts with "Say!" and the regular one starts with "Hey!" and there are some phrasing differences in the lines about Don Quixote. The two versions of the song are different in the way that they fade out. There is a good deal of repetition of the lines "Me, Me and you" and "We, We can sigh". One of them, at 3:15-3:22 is present on Quad mix but missing on regular mix.

"Longfellow Serenade"

Both Quad and non-quad versions sound about the same until 3:28, where they diverge. In Quad, Neil sings very clearly, "I'll weave his web of rhyme upon the summer night". The regular version has "Weave your web of rhyme upon our summer night".

"Yes I Will"

The Quad version is more densely orchestrated than the regular one. It has additional orchestra and guitar parts added to the instrumental mix. There's strings right under "love was in this strange house" and horns between "Indeed I will" and "If I can" at about 1:30. There is a major difference in the vocal track of the Quad version, when Neil sings the bridge a second time, "Say you do say you want to be giving/ Say it out loud if you need to be holy/ If you do if you want to be loving/ Say it out now if you need to be holier still" during what's normally the INSTRUMENTAL break. I rather like it, it's splendidly sung, and it adds more drama to the song. Finally, on the last verse, the Quad album has some quiet guitar playing before "Baby, if I had the answers" and also under the line "Plainly it's a circle" which is missing on the regular album. Personally, I like the Quad version best.

"Reggae Strut"

The Quad version has much wider stereo separation and a lively bass mix. By comparison, the regular one sounds relatively "flat". There are not a lot of "real" lyrics in this song. The major difference is at the end, when Neil sings what's best described as "lyrical improvisations" that are not always intelligible. For the terminally-obsessed "Reggae Strut" fan, this chart describes how they vary:

"The Gift of Song"

The vocal tracks of Verse 3 are different, starting with "and wake the sleeping child". From there, there are only minor differences in the phrasing until 1:51, where the Quad one has "I will bring the songs of life..." and the regular album has "I will bring a gift of song..."

An unusual variant of Serenade exists, one with the quad version of the album pressed on Side 1 and the regular version pressed on Side 2. This variant was packaged in a regular cover and had standard brown labels on the record (See Figure 1), and was apparently sold as a normal album. These discs can be identified by the matrix numbers stamped into the run-out groove of the record. Side 1 has the numbers PAL32919-1A machine-stamped on it, and Side 2 has PAL 32919-1AM hand-etched on it. True Quad albums have gold "SQ Quadraphonic" labels (See Figure 2) and machine-stamped numbers on both sides, while every general-release copy of Serenade that I've seen has hand-etched numbers on both sides.

Some, but not all of these "half-quad" albums came with a tiny "green dot" on the front cover (See Figure 3). Under magnification, the green dot appears to have been caused by a problem with the color printing plate. It just seems a little too coincidental for a batch of "error" covers to be paired with records with a pressing error! If anyone has more information about this, please write!

Early Quad album releases from Columbia Records had thick gold-colored borders surrounding a miniaturized reproduction (approx. 8" x 8") of the album cover with a large "QUADRAPHONIC" notation on the top of the cover (See Figure 4). By 1975, Columbia had dispensed with the unusual packaging. Serenade came in a cover that looked much like the normal cover with the exception of a small "Quadraphonic" notation in the upper left-hand corner (See Figure 5). The persons who did the Quad sound supervision and remix were uncredited on the sleeve, which is unfortunate. They deserve much praise for the remarkably tasteful Quad mix (wonderfully devoid of gimmickry, e.g. balance-twiddling to enhance the stereo effect or over-"phasing" to provide spacey echoes). Whether you have a Quad system or a regular stereo, Serenade in Quad is highly recommended for its musical merits and pure entertainment value.

And a word of Thanks

To the people who had provided me with the information and resources to make this project possible:

If anyone has actually heard Serenade played on true Quad equipment, please write! Let's compare notes!

zmoq@ix.netcom.com

Copyright 1998,1999 K. F. Louie. This work may not be commercially
distributed without written consent of the author.