Spinners: New and Improved Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Spinners: New and Improved Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 9, 2026

Rhino’s latest aggregation of Quadio Blu-ray releases includes four artists who have all had previous Quadio releases. Curtis Mayfield: Roots, Spinners: Spinners and The Spinners: Pick of the Litter, Graham Central Station: Graham Central Station and The Modern Jazz Quartet: Blues on Bach have already seen the lossless four channel light of day, and kind of interestingly if tangentially, several of the above linked efforts were released almost exactly a year ago in that particular bundle of Quadio offerings. Orthographers or other language nerds (ahem) may notice that the group's definite article is not included in this album's title (nor was it on their previous 1973 release that's out on Quadio Blu-ray), but there's another curiosity about this album's biggest hit, and arguably the biggest smash of the Spinners' entire career, Then Came You. Those with long memories or a love of trivia may recall that when this song was originally released Dionne Warwick was still spelling her last name Warwicke on the advice of an astrologer, and that fanciful change is included in the insert booklet's reproduction of the track listing.

The album's track list can be seen in the screenshots of the (static) disc menu I've uploaded to accompany this review.

Spinners: New and Improved Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As mentioned above, while there is video content here, like most of Rhino's Quadio line of audio Blu-rays, it's simply a static menu. Longtime readers of my reviews know one of the bugaboos that tends to bother me is inconsistent authoring of these discs in terms of toggling between audio codecs, and in this particular instance, you can not use the color buttons on your remote to choose which audio codec to utilize. Just as unfortunately, navigating to the links on the main menu then starts the song over if a different codec is chosen. If you parse through the screenshots, you can see how the font colors change depending on whether your use the chapter skip or toggle down buttons on your remote to navigate from track to track.

Spinners: New and Improved Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Spinners: New and Improved features DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. Surround activity is noticeable from the get go with acoustic piano placed rearward and other instruments largely forward in Sitting On Top of the World, and that tendency continues through several songs, with keys often emanating from the rear speakers and other supporting instruments (including the orchestral forces) coming from the front. Even the crunchy keyboards at the opening of Then Came You explode from the rear channels, and the later use of wah wah guitar is discretely placed in the right rear channel. I frankly wouldn't have minded if vocals had been mixed just a tad bit more forward, but that said, there's an appealing balance and no lyrical content is ever buried in the mixes.

Spinners: New and Improved Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As usual with Rhino's Quadio line, there are no on disc supplements. The insert booklet reproduces cover images and also includes credits and the typical verbiage on "bass management" along with the traditional photos of master tape boxes.

Spinners: New and Improved Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The seventies weren't an especially fertile time for Dionne Warwick(e), and this album's hugest single hit may be its biggest calling card for a number of reasons. Warwick's vaunted collaborations with Bacharach and David had come to a disastrous end a couple of years prior to this album, and she really hadn't had much of a chart presence after having moved to Warner Brothers records. I've actually jokingly called one of her last Scepter singles, Amanda from The Love Machine, the best Bacharach-David song for her not written by Bacharach and David (Artie Butler wrote the music, and Mark Lindsay -- yep, that one -- wrote the lyric). The rest of this album is genuinely enjoyable and shows the fine production polish that would help define Spinners and/or The Spinners throughout this decade. Recommended.