Rhino Releases Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, The J. Geils Band + Jefferson Starship Classics In Quadrophonic Sound

Rhino High Fidelity got us very excited earlier this month with two new reissues featuring The Cars and John Coltrane, but does the world really need 4 quadrophonic reissues; not that we don’t love any opportunity to enjoy some Black Sabbath.

Following the success of The Doobie Brothers: Quadio (2020) and Chicago Quadio (2016) sets, Rhino will release a slew of seminal 1970s albums recorded in quadraphonic sound.

Quadraphonic sound, or 4.0 surround sound, utilizes four audio channels connected to four speakers positioned at the corners of a listening space. The multi-tracked audio is mixed dimensional, immersing the listener in an expansive soundscape.

Unavailable in quadraphonic audio for nearly 50 years, four iconic titles have been digitized from the original analog four-track Quad mixes – Alice Cooper’s Billion Dollar Babies, Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, The J. Geils Band’s Nightmares… and Other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle, and Jefferson Starship’s Red Octopus.

Steve Woolard, Director of A&R for the Quadio series, stated, “I can’t wait for these to come out! Following in the footsteps of the Chicago and Doobie Brother’s Quadio sets, these are transferred from the original half-inch four-channel masters at 192/24 resolution and sound amazing. Considering they’ve been in the vault for 50 years, the tapes were in pristine condition and needed no tweaks or fixes. They sound as fresh, rich, and powerful as the day they were created. And, of course, there’s also a 192/24 stereo program from the two-track master as well. Just because.”

The collection of Quadio releases will be available on June 23 as Blu-ray discs exclusively at Rhino.com. Each title will be $24.98, with a bundle of all four albums retailing at $79.98.

Related reading: Rhino High Fidelity’s Premium Vinyl Series Launches With The Cars & John Coltrane