The Dutton Vocalion label has announced its first batch of hybrid SACD releases (playable on all CD players) for 2021 including another group of long-out-of-print quadraphonic surround mixes.

First up is a three-for-one release from Ian Hunter and Mott the Hoople.  The first disc of this 2-SACD set presents 1974's The Hoople (the band's highest charting album in the U.S.) in stereo and quadraphonic; followed by a stereo-only presentation of 1972's All the Young Dudes (featuring David Bowie's classic title anthem) split across both discs; and concluding with the stereo-only Mott (their highest charting set in the U.K.) from 1973.  These albums followed Mott the Hoople's Island Records years and ushered in a brief but thrilling period in which the band blazed brightly.  Following The Hoople, CBS would issue a live album which would conclude Hunter's time with the group (barring a handful of reunions decades later).  His bandmates Pete "Overend" Watts, Dale Griffin, and Morgan Fisher would carry on as, simply, "Mott" for another two albums before rechristening themselves British Lions for another pair of LPs while Hunter launched a successful solo career that continues to this day.  Michael J. Dutton has remastered these three albums from the original tapes.

Next, Vocalion offers two collections from two key members of The Guess Who, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings.  Randy Bachman departed the band he co-founded at the peak of their success in mid-1970 on the heels of the American Woman album.  Bachman first resurfaced with another ex-Guess Who mate, Chad Allan, as part of Brave Belt.  But after two unsuccessful LPs - the second of which welcomed vocalist C.F. "Fred" Turner to the lineup - Brave Belt morphed into Bachman Turner Overdrive - and the rest is high-octane rock history.  Vocalion has brought together BTO's first two albums Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Bachman-Turner Overdrive II (both from 1973 on Mercury Records) in high-resolution stereo and quadraphonic as one two-SACD set.  The second of these albums introduced the hit "Let It Ride" and BTO's signature song "Takin' Care of Business" with the latter peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 6 on Cash Box, and No. 3 on the Canadian RPM chart.  Michael J. Dutton has remastered from the original tapes.

Joining Randy Bachman in the Vocalion catalogue is Guess Who vocalist Burton Cummings.  The singer carried on with the band after Bachman's exit, recording such hit tracks as "Share the Land," "Albert Flasher," "Star Baby," and "Clap for the Wolfman" before the leaving the group following 1975's Power in the Music.  With his departure, The Guess Who would come to a close until being reactivated three years later by co-founder Jim Kale.  Cummings struck out as a solo artist on CBS' Portrait Records imprint, releasing three albums between 1976 and 1978: an eponymous album (1976), My Way to Rock (1977), and Dream of a Child (1978).  His solo debut yielded the hit "Stand Tall" (No. 10 Hot 100/No.  2 AC/No. 4 Canada/No. 1 Canadian AC) and other hits soon followed including "I'm Scared," "Timeless Love," "Break It to Them Gently," and "I Will Play a Rhapsody."  Vocalion's new release has Burton Cummings in high-resolution stereo and quadraphonic on Disc 1 followed by the first part of the stereo-only My Own Way to Rock.  That album concludes on Disc 2, with Dream of a Child in stereo only closing out the set.  Once again, Michael J. Dutton has remastered from the original tapes.

Jazz great Grover Washington Jr. (1943-1999) crossed genre lines of jazz, soul, and funk with his lithe, smooth saxophone.  His third album as a leader and second of seven consecutive No. 1s on the U.S. Billboard Jazz chart, Soul Box, was released on Creed Taylor's Kudu label in 1973.  Soul Box found Washington and his A-list sidemen (among them Bob James, Richard Tee, Eric Gale, Hubert Laws, Ron Carter, Idris Muhammad, Billy Cobham, Airto Moreira, and Ralph MacDonald) reinventing such familiar tunes as Bread's "Aubrey," Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man," The Temptations' "Masterpiece," Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," and the standards "Don't Explain," "Easy Living," and "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do."  Soul Box is presented here in both high-resolution stereo and quadraphonic, but Michael J. Dutton notes that "the original discrete quadraphonic master of Soul Box no longer exists; therefore, the best available discrete quadraphonic sources have been used for this release."

These four pop-rock releases are joined by five more Dutton Vocalion/Epoch hybrid SACDs of classical repertoire:

• Pierre Boulez/New York Philharmonic - Conducts Falla, "The Three Cornered Hat," and Dukas, "La Peri" (1976) (All tracks in stereo and quadraphonic);
• Leopold Stokowski/London Symphony Orchestra - Conducts Beethoven, "Symphony No. 3 - Eroica"/"Coriolan Overture" plus bonus: Stokowski/New Philharmonia Orchestra - Brahms, "Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80" (1975) (All tracks in stereo and quadraphonic);
• Leopold Stokowski/London Symphony Orchestra - Mahler, "Symphony No. 2: Resurrection" (1975) (All tracks in stereo and quadraphonic);
• Leonard Bernstein/London Symphony Orchestra - Stravinsky, "The Rite of Spring" (1972, all tracks in stereo and quadraphonic) & Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic - Poulenc, "Gloria"/Stravinsky, "Symphony of Psalms" (1977) (new stereo and quadraphonic mixes by Michael J. Dutton from the original tapes); and
• Pierre Boulez/New York Philharmonic, Conducts Ravel, "Daphnis et Chloe" (1975, all tracks in stereo and quadraphonic) plus bonus: Stravinsky, "The Song of the Nightingale" (1987, new stereo and quadraphonic mixes by Michael J. Dutton from the original tapes).

All of these titles can be ordered now from Dutton Vocalion's website or on Amazon.com!

Mott the Hoople, The Hoople/All the Young Dudes/Mott (Dutton Vocalion 2CDSML8578, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Dutton Vocalion)

CD 1

The Hoople (Columbia S 69062/PCVQ 32871, 1974)

1. The Golden Age of Rock 'n Roll
2. Marionette
3. Alice
4. Crash Street Kidds
5. Born Late '58
6. Trudi's Song
7. Pearl 'n Roy (England)
8. Through the Looking Glass
9. Roll Away the Stone

All the Young Dudes (Columbia S 65184, 1972)

10. Sweet Jane
11. Momma's Little Jewel
12. All the Young Dudes
13. Sucker
14. Jerkin' Crocus

CD 2

All the Young Dudes (Columbia S 65184, 1972) (continued)

1. One of the Boys
2. Soft Ground
3. Ready for Love/After Lights
4. Sea Diver

Mott (Columbia S 69038, 1973)

5. All the Way from Memphis
6. Whizz Kid
7. Hymn for the Dudes
8. Honaloochie Boogie
9. Violence
10. Drivin' Sister
11. Ballad of Mott the Hoople (March 26, 1972 - Zurich)
12. I'm a Cadillac/El Camino Dolo Roso
13. I Wish I Was Your Mother

Bachman-Turner Overdrive / Bachman-Turner Overdrive II (Dutton Vocalion CDSML8584, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Dutton Vocalion)

Bachman-Turner Overdrive (Mercury SRM-1-673/MQ8-1-673, 1973)

1. Gimme Your Money Please
2. Hold Back the Water
3. Blue Collar
4. Little Gandy Dancer
5. Stayed Awake All Night
6. Down and Out Man
7. Don't Get Yourself in Trouble
8. Thank You for the Feelin'

Bachman-Turner Overdrive II (Mercury SRM-1-696/MQ8-1-696, 1973)

9. Blown
10. Welcome Home
11. Stonegates
12. Let It Ride
13. Give It Time
14. Tramp
15. I Don't Have to Hide
16. Takin' Care of Business

Burton Cummings, Burton Cummings/My Own Way to Rock/Dream of a Child (Dutton Vocalion 2CDSML8583, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Dutton Vocalion)

CD 1

Burton Cummings (Portrait PR 34261/PRQ 34261, 1976)

1. I'm Scared
2. Your Back Yard
3. Nothing Rhymed
4. That's Enough
5. Is It Really Right
6. Stand Tall
7. Niki Hokey
8. Sugartime Flashback Joys
9. Burch Magic
10. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet

My Own Way to Rock (Portrait PR 34698, 1977)

11. Never Had a Lady Before
12. Come on By
13. Try to Find Another Man
14. Gotta Find Another Way
15. My Own Way to Rock

CD 2

My Own Way to Rock (Portrait PR 34698, 1977) (continued)

1. Charlemagne
2. Timeless Love
3. Framed
4. A Song for Him

Dream of a Child (Portrait JC 34581, 1978)

5. Break It to Them Gently
6. Hold On I'm Coming
7. I Will Play a Rhapsody
8. Wait by the Water
9. When a Man Loves a Woman
10. Shiny Stockings
11. Guns, Guns, Guns
12. Takes a Fool to Love a Fool
13. Meanin' So Much
14. It All Comes Together
15. Roll with the Punches
16. Dream of a Child

Grover Washington, Jr., Soul Box (Kudu KUX 1213/KSQX 1213, 1973) (Amazon U.S. / Dutton Vocalion)

1. Aubrey
2. Masterpiece
3. Trouble Man
4. You Are the Sunshine of My Life
5. Don't Explain
6. Easy Living/Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do
7. Taurian Matador