BLACK SABBATH’s ‘Paranoid’ Available In Quadraphonic Sound For First Time In Nearly 50 Years

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BLACK SABBATH's 'Paranoid' Available In Quadraphonic Sound For First Time In Nearly 50 Years

Rhino is a respected name in the audiophile community, renowned for their exceptional and quality catalog releases. Following the success of “The Doobie Brothers: Quadio” (2020) and “Chicago Quadio” (2016) sets, Rhino has released 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”.

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

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 BROTHERS‘ 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.”

BLACK SABBATH‘s “Paranoid” is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavy metal albums ever, peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 and being certified four times platinum. It features the classics “Iron Man”, “War Pigs” and the title track.

“Nightmares” showcased THE J. GEILS BAND’s unique blend of blues-rock and R&B. The album features the track “Must of Got Lost”, which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974.

“Billion Dollar Babies” saw ALICE COOPER at the height of their power, mixing theatrical stage shows with hard-hitting rock anthems like “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and “Elected”. The album went No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and the U.K. Album chart and later earned a platinum certification.

JEFFERSON STARSHIP‘s “Red Octopus” marked their creative peak with hits like “Play On Love” and “Miracles”, which held the No. 3 spot for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.

Rhino‘s Quadio series will continue to dig deep into Warner’s archives to reintroduce the greatest hits from rock, blues, R&B and more in their highly anticipated quadraphonic sound. Audiophiles can expect more amazing quadraphonic experiences from Rhino in the future.

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