I think there are two issues at play here, regarding the sound quality of CBS quad releases - the early ones (basically the gold bordered LP releases) often suffer from issues related to the acutal mixing (lack of bass, a generally more tinny sound quality) whereas the issues with the later ones (like the two Eggplant noted above, and nearly everything from the '76/'77 era - I'd include Billy Joel's Turnstiles and the Isley Bros. It wouldn't surprise me if it was mixed around the time the stereo version came out, given that Larry Keyes (who mixed this one) did the unreleased quad mix for Paul Revere & The Raiders Hard 'N' Heavy (with marshmallow) in February 1969, some 6 months before this album came out. This is must-have quad!ĭespite coming out in 1974, the first Santana album was definitely mixed sometime before early 1972, because tracks from the album started turning up on CBS SQ samplers around that time. I'm going to give this 2.5/3 for the mix, 2.5/3 for fidelity, 2.5/3 for content, and a bonus point for the price/packaging which is an outstanding bargain in these days of Super Deluxe sets, so 8.5 rounded up to 9. In terms of content, this album has 5 tracks that I've always enjoyed, and the fidelity and mix on those 5 tracks are excellent (although the vocals on "Jingo" are more recessed in the mix than I remember) (The tracks are "Waiting", "Evil Ways", "Jingo", "Treat", and "Soul Sacrifice"). This sounds light years better than the Q8 conversion I had, which was unlistenable for me. The high end is there for the most part, although a couple of tunes still have a dullness that was present on the stereo mixes as well (luckily they're not my favorite tracks). I say generally because on Soul Sacrifice I felt like the bass line should be a little more prominent, but I went back and compared it to a stereo recording and the bass just isn't that prominent on the track as originally mixed.
The bass and percussion generally sound strong. I love It! The mix is discrete 4-corner quad which is how I like it.
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