The Doobie Brothers: Quadio Boxed Set Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.5

The Doobie Brothers: Quadio Boxed Set Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 28, 2020

Having grown up largely in Utah, I can tell you those of us born and/or raised there who were also interested in music could get pretty excited when some band or solo artist would surprise us with a song about our state (not exactly the "go to" locale for hip rock tunes). The Beach Boys had a novelty song called “Salt Lake City” that got huge airplay in the Utah market in the mid-sixties, and around a little over a decade later, the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir also had his own tune with that same title. Sandwiched in between these two efforts The Doobie Brothers offered a somewhat opaque tune by Randy Newman entitled "Beehive State" which was one of my personal introductions to the band when it was featured on their eponymous 1971 debut album (it was sometime later that I heard Randy Newman's original version of the song, which came out in 1968). The Doobie Brothers actually subverted the frequently referred to phenomenon in the music industry where an artist's or band's first album is a sensation, only to be followed by a so-called "sophomore slump" with their second release. In the case of the Doobies, that first album which contained their version of "Beehive State" didn't really make much of an impact on the albums chart (according to Joel Whitburn's typically authoritative Billboard chart compilations, it only got to a pretty lowly 210), and it also produced no hit singles (evidently "Beehive State" was among the singles released from the album, but it, along with its "siblings", didn't chart). All of that changed with Toulouse Street, the second album from the band which just missed getting into the Top 20 on the album charts, and which provided significant hit singles with both "Listen to the Music" and "Jesus is Just Alright" (both of which are of course included in this set).

The Doobie Brothers Quadio features the second through fifth albums from The Doobie Brothers, Toulouse Street, The Captain and Me, What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits and Stampede. If Toulouse Street didn't quite crack the Top 20 on the albums chart, its three follow ups did quite a bit better, with each making the Top 10, and What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits and Stampede making the Top 5, with both albums getting to the fourth position on the charts. These three albums also produced some of The Doobie Brothers' best remembered hit singles, including "Long Train Runnin'", "China Grove", "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me)", and what is arguably the best remembered tune from their "first" iteration (i.e., pre-Michael McDonald), and their first Number 1 single, "Black Water." (Perhaps surprisingly, given their long tenure as hit makers, The Doobie Brothers only captured the top spot on the singles chart one more time, during the Michael McDonald era, for the great McDonald-Kenny Loggins tune "What a Fool Believes".)

If that very McDonald era was typified by his distinctive soulful voice and chunky piano style, these four albums feature a more straight ahead rock efforts that frequently offer some outstanding guitar(s). The band's vocal backups are understandably legendary, and in the quadraphonic mixes in particular they are really amazingly vivid and colorful.

The Doobie Brothers: Quadio Boxed Set Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

There's really no video element on this release to speak of, other than static menus for each of the four albums as shown in screenshots 1 through 4, which are in 1080p delivered via the AVC codec. In fact, this is another audio Blu-ray release where you don't really even need a monitor, as long as you remember that the red button on your remote accesses the DTS-HD Master Quadio 4.0 track and the yellow button accesses the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo track. Toggling between the tracks with the basic "Audio" button on your remote doesn't work (or at least didn't work for me on two different systems), only the colored button will allow toggling. All of the discs default to the DTS-HD Master Audio Quadio 4.0 track.

The Doobie Brothers: Quadio Boxed Set Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Doobie Brothers Quadio features DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks. An insert in the box has the following information for those who want to make adjustments on their receiver:

These discs were mastered using the original 4-track Quad mixes as the source material. The original format of the master was a 4-track, 1/2-inch analog tape running at 15 ips. There is not a separate or "discrete" LFE (subwoofer) track, although one can hear (or not hear) the LFE channel based on what settings the consumer chooses on their integrated amplifier.

These discs can be played back two ways: with Bass Management or without Bass Management. Bass Management send the sum of the low frequency information (frequencies below 80 Hz) of the four main speakers to the LFE speaker. If your surround speakers are of the satellite variety, you will want to engage Bass Management on your system to hear the full range of the recording. If your surround speakers are the large, full-range type, then we recommend turning the Bass Management off.

I had never heard anything other than the standard stereo mixes for any of these albums, and while the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks on this set all offer beautifully clear, crisp and solid accountings, with some added nuance in both vocals and instrumentals, it was really the quad mixes that continually delighted me on this album. While some of the surround effects arguably weren't quite as aggressive as those on some of the tracks included on Rhino's Chicago: Quadio release from several years ago, there are still clear moments when separation is exceptional and fun interplay between the front and rear channels is established.

Over and over again the quad mixes offer the guitars in discrete channels, often quite widely imaged even further. The overlay of guitars on tunes like "Slack Key Soquel Rag" offers exceptional clarity and spaciousness. There's fantastic directionality in "little" moments like the clear entrance of the guitar at the head of "Listen to the Music" in the right channels, with later envelopment offered with the electric guitar and bass panned pretty aggressively respectively toward left and right. That same appealing separation is evident in both the guitars in "Long Train Running", but perhaps even more noticeably with regard to the percussion, with the trap set forward and left and the Latin percussion (which is almost startlingly clear) toward the rear and right.

There are some fun "surprises" in the quad mixes, as in the sudden burst of backup vocals in "China Grove" from the right rear channel. Classics like "Black Water" attain some really beautiful new nuance in the quad mix, where even "minor" effects like the opening bell tree shimmer appealingly and almost waft forward from the rear to front channels. Kind of interestingly in that tune, Patrick Simmons' lead vocals are sometimes splayed through several channels, while being front and center at other times. The a capella section that caps the song has absolutely wonderful separation, with the separate sections placed around the soundstage (for example, the punchy bass line emanates from the right rear channel).

There are occasional moments where I personally actually preferred the 2.0 mixes. The brass on "Song to See You Through" actually sounded a bit more cohesive to me in the stereo iteration, and some may prefer the prioritization of the backup vocals with regard to the lead in "Another Park, Another Sunday", since in the quad version the backups kind of envelope the whole soundstage at times.

One way or the other, though, both versions of these great albums sound fantastic throughout, with impeccable clarity and precise fidelity. The quad mixes offer a really nice balance between the low end and midrange, and vocals rarely if ever get subsumed by the surround activity.

Note: See the video section, above, for a bit more information on utilizing your remote to navigate the audio options on these discs.

The Doobie Brothers: Quadio Boxed Set Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While there are no on disc supplements, this is another really handsomely packaged release from Rhino that comes in a slipbox measuring approximately 5 1/2" tall by 5 1/2" wide by 1" deep. The box holds mini LP recreations of the original covers, including gatefolds for the albums that had them. Inside Toulouse Street, The Captain and Me and What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits, there are recreations of what I assume were original informational sheets included on Warner quadraphonic releases about quadraphonic sound (and LP discs). (I don't think I actually ever had a Warner quadraphonic LP, and so can't state authoritatively that these inserts were included, but they bear a copyright date of 1973, which suggests to me that they were.) The informational inserts bear text (in an impossibly tiny font, given the size of the recreation) by Ivan Berger helping to educate the listener about the benefits of quadraphonic recordings. Stampede's insert is a reproduction of the original's sleeve which featured a lyric sheet. The poster that was originally included with What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits is also included in a miniaturized version. The discs are all silk screened with the classic Warner Brothers records "palm tree" labels.

The Doobie Brothers: Quadio Boxed Set Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I've long been a champion of audio Blu-ray releases, and The Doobie Brothers Quadio simply continues my love for this format unabated. Even if you grew up listening to some of these albums to the point they were virtually inscribed on your memory centers, you'll find the quadraphonic mixes to be continually appealing, frequently offering "unheard" or at least under heard elements that are more noticeable simply because of the expanded sound stage. Fidelity on all these discs is outstanding, and the reproductions of the original LP covers will be a real added boon for those of a certain age (ahem). Highly recommended.