Recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco and distributed by RCA ‘Sunfighter’ was the second album released on Jefferson Airplane’s own vanity label Grunt . ‘Bark’ being the first release in September followed by ‘Sunfighter’ in November and ‘Papa John Creach’ in December of 1971. All available in quad 8 cartridge. Many prominent bay area musicians appear on this album including Jerry Garcia, David Crosby, Graham Nash and The Tower of Power horns. As you may have guessed the infant pictured on the cover is the daughter of Grace Slick and Paul Kantner, China Wing Kantner who turned 46 this past January. Included for your reference and pleasure is the Libretto Booklet originally packaged with the vinyl LP.
I have wanted to post this album for several years now but only had a Q8 which was slightly damaged. Have been looking for a better copy for a long time now but none have become available so I decided to release this as is. The tape is damaged and will appear here with two spots of slight distortion. If you can not accept anything less than perfection then I suggest you avoid this release. Enjoy CB
Release: CB113
Source: Q8
Format: DVD-A/V MLP/DTS/DD
Captain Beyond's Quadraphonic Wormhole 
I know this album by heart, and listening to this Quad version was one of the big thrills of my listening life. Our good Captain has tried to temper our enthusiasm because of a few wrinkles, but they are negligible when you consider the dead silence of the background transfer (zero tape hiss) and the impressive differences in the performance. “Silver Spoon” is like a completely different, live in the studio performance. Instead of being presented in two parts over the two sides of the album, “Diana” is presented as one whole composition without the usual segue into “Sunfighter.” “Titanic” is a completely different, if similar, Phil Sawyer instrumental, and there are different Paul and Grace vocals on “When I Was a Boy I Watched the Wolves.” Jerry Garcia’s guitar solo on the latter is identical to the known studio version, so must have been in the can early on; it may be presented here with fewer post-production effects as it sounds slightly more direct. I’ll leave it to you to discover the remaining tracks on your own. This Quad mix really deserves an official release. Thanks, Captain, for bringing it into my life.
I have noticed a few differences between this release and the stereo version. Diana 1 has an extra verse spliced-in, and the segue into the next song, Sunfighter, was eliminated. There are long spaces between the songs on Track 1 of the tape, probably to bring it close to track 2 in timing. Diana 2 had synthesizes at the end on the stereo version which were eliminated, as was the segue into the next song. There are also some slight differences in the vocals on some songs. Jefferson Airplane seemed to like to make their quad releases different.
I didn’t know this was released in quad, and I am grateful to hear it despite the wrinkled tape in places. Thank you, Captain, for reproducing the booklet. It wasn’t included on the CD release.
Since was released in quad, I have to wonder if Long John Silver, Baron Von Toolbooth, or Manhole might have had quad mixes.
Thank you Rocky for your insightful and informative comparison of the ‘Sunfighter’ LP with the quad cartridge. There does seem to be quite a bit of difference between the two. It does make one ponder if quad mixes were prepared for the three Grunt releases you mentioned. In particular ‘Baron von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun’ would be most interesting to hear in quad. Thank you for you comment.
FYI related quad releases: JA GRUNT, VOLUNTEERS (lots of different mixing choices on that one), WORST (ditto), BARK, three Hot Tuna titles, three Starships, Papa John Creach and sadly only SUNFIGHTER from Paul & company.
cx JA VOLUNTEERS* all titles on Grunt