Rhino's Quadio series continues to grow with a new quartet of Blu-ray Audio releases that are sure to excite devotees of the four-channel surround format.  This time, vintage quad mixes from Bette Midler, Bread, Duke Ellington, and Graham Central Station are returning to print for the first time in decades.  All Blu-rays also include the original stereo mixes in high-resolution.

Few debuts packed the power of Bette Midler's The Divine Miss M.  The singer, who'd appeared on Broadway in Fiddler on the Roof before teaming with musical director Barry Manilow for a stunningly original stage act, assembled an eclectic array of songs touching on multiple eras and genres.  A sultry reimagining of Bobby Freeman's "Do You Want to Dance?" (with rhythm arranged by Manilow and strings and horns by Philly soul maestro Thom Bell) took its place on the LP along Buzzy Linhart's brassy yet poignant "Friends," a faithful "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" (with Midler singing the parts of every Andrews Sister!), a devastating rendition of John Prine's "Hello Out There," and forceful take on Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell's "Superstar."  A top ten hit on the Billboard 100 and longtime favorite here at Second Disc HQ, The Divine Miss M (produced by Manilow, Geoffrey Haslam, Ahmet Ertegun, and Joel Dorn) earned Midler a Grammy Award for Best New Artist and nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.  It's since been certified Platinum.  Its quadraphonic mix is a splendid one, with extended mixes of "Do You Want to Dance?" and "Delta Dawn" among the highlights.

Bread's Baby I'm-A Want You, the fourth studio LP from the Los Angeles band, was their first record to welcome Wrecking Crew veteran Larry Knechtel, replacing founding member Robb Royer.  Despite the change in personnel, the band's trademark sound didn't change much on the LP.  The fertile pen of David Gates yielded two more top ten smashes, "Baby I'm-a Want You" and "Everything I Own," while James Griffin penned six songs including one with Gates, one with Knechtel, two with Royer, and two solo.  Though Bread's chart fortunes were almost exclusively the result of its buttery ballads, the group's often-ignored, more rocking side could be heard on such tracks as ""Mother Freedom," the lone song held over from sessions with Robb Royer.  Baby I'm-A Want You reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and the Gold-certified album remains one of the band's most beloved.

Duke Ellington (1899-1974) hardly slowed down in his later years.  In 1970, he was commissioned to create the New Orleans Suite for that year's New Orleans Jazz Festival; his Grammy Award-winning recording of the suite for Atlantic Records proved to be his final recording with alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges. Ellington's work incorporated the sounds of the Delta as well as a pronounced Creole influence, and also found room for extensive soloing by Hodges, tenor saxophonists Paul Gonsalves and Harold Ashby, and trumpeter Cootie Williams, among others.  With musical tributes to Mahalia Jackson, Louis Armstrong, and Sidney Bechet, New Orleans Suite is recognized as one of the greatest late-period works of the pianist-composer-bandleader.

Lastly, Rhino revisits the 1974 debut of Graham Central Station, founded by Sly and the Family Stone bassist Larry Graham.  Blending soul, pop, jazz, and funk, the album featured tunes sampled by hip-hop artists such as Das EFX, KAM, and Da Lench Mob; "Can You Handle It?" became a top 10 R&B hit.  Graham was joined in his big band by Sly's brother Freddie Stone, Hershall "Happiness" Kennedy, Willie "Wild" Sparks, David "Dynamite" Vega, Robert "Butch" Sam, and Patryce "Choc'let" Banks.  Tower of Power's vocalist Lenny Williams also contributed along with session percussionist Milt Holland and arranger Clarence McDonald.  Though the personnel would change, Graham Central Station would ultimately release seven albums through 1979 and another three decades later, including a 1998 collaboration with fan Prince.

All four new Quadio titles are available now directly from Rhino.com at the links below, either individually or as a bundle.

Bette Midler, The Divine Miss M (Atlantic QD 7238, 1972)

1. Do You Want To Dance
2. Chapel Of Love
3. Superstar
4. Daytime Hustler
5. Am I Blue
6. Friends
7. Hello In There
8. Leader Of The Pack
9. Delta Dawn
10. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
11. Friends

Bread, Baby I'm-A Want You (Elektra 8Q/ESTQ 5015, 1972)

1. Mother Freedom
2. Baby I'm-A Want You
3. Down On My Knees
4. Everything I Own
5. Nobody Like You
6. Diary
7. Dream Lad
8. Daughter
9. Games Of Magic
10. This Isn't What The Governmeant
11. Just Like Yesterday
12. I Don't Love You

Duke Ellington, New Orleans Suite (Atlantic QD 1580, 1974)

1. Blues for New Orleans
2. Bourbon Street Jingling Jollies
3. Portrait of Louis Armstrong
4. Thanks for the Beautiful Land on the Delta
5. Portrait of Wellman Braud
6. Second Line
7. Portrait of Sidney Bechet
8. Aristocracy a la Jean Lafitte
9. Portrait of Mahalia Jackson

Graham Central Station, Graham Central Station (Warner Bros. BS4 2763, 1974)

1. We've Been Waiting
2. It Ain't No Fun to Me
3. Hair
4. We Be's Gettin' Down
5. Tell Me What It Is
6. Can You Handle It?
7. People
8. Why?
9. Ghetto​