Sir George Martin - All Quiet On The Mersey Front

Of all the well known producers that have graced recording studios over the last 100 years, none can compare to the exhaustive résumé of Sir George Martin, who sadly passed away yesterday aged 90.

George will always be synonymous with The Fab Four, but even before George Harrison insulted his tie, Martin had successfully turned round the fortunes of the Parlophone arm of EMI. Taking over  as A&R Manager of what was regarded as a label for EMI's insignificant acts in 1955, Martin had released a discography of hugely successful comedy acts from Peter Sellers, The Goons to the groundbreaking satirical "That Was The Week That Was". It was this pedigree of comedy and tape effects that would cement his relationship with The Beatles, who were themselves huge Goons fans.

 

The Rubber Soul to White album "golden years" contains many of the tape effects that many believe where at the vanguard of a new sound. In fact, Les Paul had used different recording speeds back in the 1950 on his album "The New Sound". The first Beatles track to use a tape different speed was also the first Beatle song that George Martin performed on.

Misery was recorded on the infamous day long session of February the 11th, on which the bulk of their debut album was recorded. On February 20th, with the Beatles out touring with Helen Shapiro, George Martin added some piano embellishment first heard after the line "I Remember all the little things we done..."  The standard speed for the twin track EMI BTR tape machines was 15 ips (inches per second). To facilitate playing the tricky piano run, the track was bounced onto another machine that ran at 30 ips, the overdub was then performed an octave lower at half the speed (15 ips), which when played back at the original speed gives the piano sound a unique timbre. Martin would again use this approach for the baroque piano solo in Rubber Soul's "In My Life".

His creative input into The Beatles is immeasurable, it was his idea for the crashing chord at the start of "A Hard Day's Night" which he also played piano on and starting "Can't Buy Me Love" with the chorus.

Together with a long and winding list of artists and industry awards that would need eight arms to hold them, George's work as an arranger and composer, leaves behind a staggering legacy of achievement.

Old faces, new records

At the dusty end of of the year, it's usually a spartan offering of new releases that will generally be long forgotten by the end of year, in polls that themselves will be written in early November and often with a Goldfish view of the years music.

2016 kicked off with the beautifully packaged Blackstar from David Bowie, followed almost immediately by his untimely passing. It's impossible not to listen to this album without one ear in the grave and if any musician was going to make his own mortality an artistic statement it would be Bowie. I can't think of another performer with the breadth and commitment to his work than David, on his final album with the black on black printed font, a stunning book and the record itself neatly but securely behind a cut out star, this is a fitting farewell to us all, albeit with the suitable humour somewhere between Spinal Tap and  Disaster Area. 

The music is stark and moving without any overt sentimentality, this is by far my favourite Bowie album since nineteen eighty something.

It's been over twenty years since Britpop and twenty since Kula Shaker joined it's ranks. After the first two albums; both of which I still love very much, like many other sailors of the good ship Dadrock, Kula Shaker went down by the end of the decade, their buoyancy not aided by front man Crispian Mills making some foolish and ill thought out comments regarding Hitler. Having resurfaced in the mid 2000's and released several new albums, I made a pretty easy prediction about the new release K 2.0 - It'll have some sitar on it. Getting it on the turntable my guess was instantly confirmed, however the Deep Purple vibe has been replaced with a Ronnie Lane / Dylan one, which in itself is no bad thing. So while it's missing the great organ playing of Jay Darlington and in my view isn't as strong as thier first two albums, this is still a fine and worthy record to add to the collection.

The sight of another new live Who release in the record rack brings about mixed feelings. Does a record of Pete & Rodger's appearance in Hyde Park last year really add anything new to the Who cannon? Apart from those who were there who would want it, who is buying this stuff? Clearly people like me! Whilst there is nothing new or even vaguely outside of the park, the inclusion of "Pictures Of Lily" & "I Can See For Miles" make the set list partially enticing (just). 

What is clear from the outset is that both Pete & Rodger were on form that day and the sound is fairly accurate, lovingly reproduced on yet another Abbey Road Half Speed Mastered release, although live sound of bands today is another moan for another day. The only clunker is Pino's buried in the mix bass solo on My Generation. It's not an essential Who purchase, but with the inclusion of a DVD this is a fairly good value triple LP version of The Who's last gasps.



Spring is on it's way and with it two red hot releases are available for pre-order from State Records. The first being Thee Jezebels follow up to last years fine single and it's a 4 track EP. The second is The Galileo 7 Cruel Bird, available on purple vinyl. Get your orders in now at http://staterecs.com

Pet Sounds as Brian Intended

Analogue Productions Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys As Brian Intended

 

While I’ve recently lamented over some huge holes in mono re-issues, The Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” has one of the most thorough re-issue program of any album ever. So why are Beach Boys fans slavering at the thought of another batch from Analogue Productions?

Released back in the spring of 1966, Brian Wilson cites The Beatles “Rubber Soul” as an inspiration and a call to arms to write what he described as “sophisticated feeling music”. With The Beach Boys band on the road, Brian Wilson worked with lyricist Tony Asher to create songs that sent a seismic shock across the world of pop. At the epicentre, the rest of the band upon returning from tour were worried that such a departure would be too radical, despite these reservations they threw themselves into the project and worked hard embellishing & augmenting the songs. The album’s backing tracks were recorded on a 4 track recorder, which was then “bounced down” to one track on an 8 track recorder, from which other tracks were recorded & bounced down.  Due to Brian being deaf in one ear, He only produced a mono mix of the album with which Capitol also created an electronically reproduced stereo version for the much larger American stereo market. In 1997 Mark Linett would create the first genuine stereo version from the various tapes that were at his disposal, however due to technical reasons there were some variations over the original mix. Linett’s remix is highly regarded and is certainly worth having, but I feel there is a certain “photo-shopping the Sistine Chapel” feel to it. Mixing is as much a valid part of the artistic process as any other so I’m happy to stick with Wilson’s vision rather than what is admittedly a very good approximation of it. 

My original copy is from 1966 on the Capitol label that was pressed at EMI’s Hayes factory. I always thought that the lack of clarity & bass of Wilson’s multi-layered masterpiece was due to poor masters supplied from US Capitol; however I’m assured by several people that the US version sounds pretty much the same, along with the 2008 vinyl re-issue. 

About 4 years ago someone put me on to the infamous “two-fer” version.  Released as a bonus LP with “Carl & The Passions” 72 Album “So Tough”, it has long been regarded by Beach Boys aficionados as the finest sounding version. I picked up a clean copy soon after and they were right on the money.

  

So when I read the news that Analogue Productions were going to re-release limited editions of the Beach Boys catalogue, my ears certainly pricked up and now Pet Sounds has arrived it’s time to see if it was worth the wait. 

The high quality record sleeve comes in the Stoughton tip-on jackets & is to American Records what Garrod & Lofthouse are to British ones, the inner sleeve is a high quality “rice paper” style and the record is a quality pressed 200 gram beauty. 

Getting the record on the turntable I’m stunned by how much detail you can hear and the clarity of Wilson’s lavish mix, along with bass that I never thought was there.  At many points throughout the album I’m convinced that I’m listening to a stereo mix, the gold standard of great separation and recording expertise. The first song recorded for the album “Sloop John B” was the only one that initially was put down on three track and subsequently treated to more bounce downs than most of the others. Like every track on this re-issue, it sounds better than ever. An often repeated myth about “Sloop” is that Capitol forced Wilson to include this song on Pet Sounds. Beach Boys historian Brad Elliott points to the fact that Wilson had this song included from the outset and it being on the LP was completely his choice. Analogue Productions Pet Sounds is sourced from the original master tapes and produced with the attention to detail throughout the whole record manufacturing process that simply wasn’t a commercial option 50 years ago. This is such a great improvement on the original release, I’m forced to use the word “lush” in describing the sonic package. More importantly the emotions that Brian wanted to load this music with, gushes forth even more than I did in those previous sentences. Being able to connect with music takes many elements, dynamics is certainly one of them and itself a big looser to current “brick-walled” limiting. When the timpani bursts in on “I’m Waiting For The Day” you should feel it’s entry dynamically, rather than it being another sound. Trust Me, on this re-issue you feel it. “God Only Knows” is moving in any format but I’m moved literally to tears hearing it on this album, Brian’s aim of making a “feelings” album has been achieved in this household. 

Amen

 

Full marks to Analogue Productions on this package, I will certainly be upgrading other Beach Boys albums this year.

 

Notes- 

Due to the limited run of this version, it’s not available at your usual run of the mill outlets, for example Amazon are still selling the 2008 Capitol version. 

2016 Analogue Productions version available From:  Acoustic Sounds - http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/95587/The_Beach_Boys-Pet_Sounds-200_Gram_Vinyl_Record

 

For a more detailed read about the making of this album, Brad Elliott’s liner notes for the 1999 Mono/stereo CD re-release are here: http://www.bradelliott.com/writings/ps.html

This 1999 CD release is a very good version of the Mono/Stereo mixes which can be picked up for sub £5, there is a more recent Mono version on gold HD CD from Audio Fidelity (2009) that is supposed to be superior, but be prepared to dig a lot deeper - £30 and upwards.

2015 - I salute you.

Happy New Year Record Lovers.

I spent Christmas & New Year in New York, since getting back its been a roller coaster of shows & rehearsals. We're slowly gathering some new songs for the return of Billy Wears Dresses, it could be a while though. On a far more productive band, The Gallileo 7 have just recorded two new songs for a new single along with some other tracks for a live release. There are lots of upcoming shows for the UK & Europe this year so I'm looking forward to seeing you there. 

I've also been busy on a completely unrelated to music project too, which is why I've taken so long to write another blog update. More about that another time.

2015 was a phenomenal year for turntable sales, with HMV reporting the sale of a record player every minute in the week up to Christmas. It was also a terrific year for new music & re-issues with record sales continuing to soar.

As always I shy away from proclamations of the BEST of 2015 with all the fanfare of arrogance that that entails but I’m happy to shine the light on my favourites of the year.

New Albums  

Noel Gallagher, The Libertines, Gaz Coombes, Weller & The Family Silver all released superb slices of wax, there are though two albums I keep coming back to.

Squeeze’s “From The Cradle To The Grave” is the long awaited follow up to 1998’s patchy Domino and is a real return to form LP, with the added bonus of exclusive to vinyl songs on side four – Nice touch lads.

Joe Jackson’s “Fast Forward” is also a welcome return to pop after a long period of jazz, classical & film music, producing a haunting and alluring album that isn’t a million miles away from later XTC albums.

 

New Singles

With so many other polls raving about The Optic Nerve’s “Penelope Tuesday”, plus it being label mates (State Records) I feel it could be seen as bunking on the bandwagon to pile yet more praise on this 45, but it fully deserves it so I will. Make sure you order it asap as stocks are running dangerously low. 

Just making it in time (it literally arrived on Christmas Eve) was Phoenix “Alone On Christmas Day” a great version of Beach Boys Mike Love’s unreleased song. Plus the added “Bill Murray” factor (who appears on backing vocals) makes this a strong contender for 2016’s alternative festive records.

Re-Issues 

On the album front The Zombies “Odessey and Oracle” is head, shoulders and ankles above everyone on the long player front, lovingly half speed mastered in mono at Abbey Road it’s another triumph & wake up call to all the other mono albums in waiting. 

Of the 7 inch-ers, The Who singles box sets have come close to being what the Beatles mono set was last year, certainly the Brunswick Box is sonic perfection and an absolute must for any Who fan, even if you do own the originals these sound so much better.

 

Christmas Eve saw the debut of The Beatles on streaming services, Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Tidal, Amazon Prime, Slacker, Groove, Rhapsody and Deezer all currently have the Fab Four on their roster. 

Quite a number of people thought I’d be angry about this! Let me say this again: - I’m not anti-digital!

I download music, I have about 6 iPods and I stream films & programs. I think it is good news that subscribers to these services have access to great music; it’s just a shame that they are using the stereo versions. Streaming is a great way to discover new music, however just like Prince did last year; all of a sudden you can find your favourite albums have been pulled from the service. Streaming also seems to be driving the upturn in record sales, in some part due to the reasons I just mentioned. 

 

2016 has begun with the sad news of the passing of the great David Bowie, my Dad is a huge fan and our house regularly rang with the sounds of these great albums in the seventies. The world has lost one of its greatest artists and will be sadly missed but gladly remembered.

Festive alternatives

Festive Alternatives

 

Christmas comes but once a year, but like a junkie relative who turns up to sleep on the couch, each visit seems to be a longer and more unpleasant intrusion. Having to endure Macca’s “Wonderful Christmas Time” & Mariah Carey’s “All I want For Christmas is for you to shut the f*** up” since October, it certainly puts the Christ back in Christmas every time I walk into a shop. 

Fear not vinyl lovers, for here is a feast of alternatives with not a hint of Slade or Wizard to sour the cranberry sauce.

 

Christmas Carols From St Paul’s Cathedral – The Choir Of St Pauls Cathedral Conducted By Dr J Dykes Bower

Whilst I’m not what you would describe as a religious person, the sound of a Choir recorded in St Paul’s Cathedral in 1967 is so beautiful as to be a spiritual experience in itself, the music masterfully invokes the festive season without the need for descending major scales or the jingling of bells. 

Scrooge & Scrooged – Original Soundtrack Recordings

Two completely different takes on one of my favourite Charles Dickins stories. The Wonderful Albert Finney musical version is a film I watch every year and is a genuinely moving and fun adaptation of the book. It features a rare moment of Alec Guinness’ vocal ability, not too dissimilar from Oliver Reed’s musical delights from Tommy. It’s not been re-issued since its release in 1970 due to contractual issues but it’s still available on the second hand market for around £5. The Bill Murray Scrooged album features some fairly good covers, the highlight being Miles Davis, Larry Carlton, David Sanborn & Paul Shaffer performing “We Three Kings Of Orient Are”.

 

The Beatles Christmas Album

Members of the Beatles fan club would get a flexi disc around Christmas time with various well wishes, songs and skits from the fab four. The 7 discs from 1963 to 1969 were put on a compilation in 1970 for fan club members, my version is an unofficial 2010 pressing on green vinyl. If you want an original 1970 pressing, be prepared to dig deep and watch out for counterfeits. 

Squeeze – Christmas Day

Whilst not Squeeze’s finest moment by any stretch of the imagination, for anyone who enjoyed Christmas in the seventies this will bring some memories back and a welcome diversion from Mum playing Wham’s ” Last Christmas” again.

A Charlie Brown Christmas – Vince Guarldi Trio 

For me this is the ultimate Christmas album, festive but without choking on the tinsel. Released  50 years ago in December 1965, this album on the San Francisco based Fantasy label still sounds amazing on this green vinyl re-issue. Give the “Now That’s What I Call A Repetitive Christmas” CD a short vacation and enjoy this wonderful album. 

Which just leaves me to wish you all a Merry Christmas, I’ll be returning in the New Year so until then, thank you for reading. 

Paul

 

 

Groundbreaking Singles - The Boiler ~ Rhoda with the Special AKA

Groundbreaking Singles – The Boiler ~ Rhoda with the Special AKA

 

The Specials in their classic recording form lasted a brief but bright two years from 79 to 81, releasing some of the finest British pop to ever land on the turntable. Along with bands like The Clash and The Jam, The Specials were not afraid to confront and challenge their audience and released songs that tackled many issues including racism, birth control, social deprivation and drunk driving. 

Following the exit of Terry Hall, Neville Staple & Lynval Golding who went on to form the Fun Boy Three, Jerry Dammers continued with the renamed Special AKA in 1982 with a more fluid lineup similar to Paul Weller and Mick Talbot’s Style Council. Rhoda Daker who had previously been in the Two Tone signed band The Bodysnatchers and had sung on “I Can’t Stand It” from the  More Specials LP, joined on a more permanent role. The first song the Bodysnatchers had written together was the song “The Boiler” which they and Dammers  wanted to record as their first single. Label owners Chrysalis baulked at the lyrical content of the song and forced them to record the more poppy “Let’s Do Rocksteady”. The Special AKA issued The Boiler on the 23rd of January 1982 after protracted recording sessions and despite the A side getting no airplay it reached number 35, the instrumental version on the B side was the version that was used on radio. The Special AKA would continue to issue subversive singles such as “War Crimes”, “Racist Friend” and “Free Nelson Mandela” until Dammers dissolved the band in 1985. 

In the early nineties I was thumbing through a friend’s record collection and came across a Specials compilation that had “The Boiler” on it, I’ve never heard it before and I asked him what it was like. “I can’t listen to it” he said “It’s horrible; it’s brilliant but just makes me feel sick”. He refused any more information than that and naturally my interest was piqued. Shortly after this I picked up this copy of the single, listened to it and understood exactly why he had made these extraordinary remarks about a pop song. 

The BBC argue that they have never officially banned any songs, but clearly directives like this one issued in 1942 show that they had a clear policy over what was acceptable to broadcast over the airwaves during World War 2.

"We have recently adopted a policy of excluding sickly sentimentality which, particularly when sung by certain vocalists, can become nauseating and not at all in keeping with what we feel to be the need of the public in this country in the fourth year of war."

Sourced by Stanley, Bob (6 August 2008). "The music the BBC banned". The Times (London).

So various songs over the years, whilst not banned have been outside acceptable policy and either not played or put on the restricted list which meant it could not be played on general entertainment programs. Barry Maguire’s Eve Of Destruction (too political), The Who’s My Generation (offensive to stutterers), The Beatles’ Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (drugs), Split Enz’s Six Months In A Leaky Boat (Falkland’s War) The Sex Pistols’ God Save The Queen (it might cause offence) & Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Relax (overtly obscene) are just a small number of censorship casualties of their times. All of these and virtually all the other records that have been banned or restricted have subsequently received radio airplay; “The Boiler” has not.

 (Further research and some wisdom from Allan Crockford has revealed that the mighty John Peel did indeed play this at least once on his show, The Bodysnatchers had already recorded an as yet unreleased version of this song on an earlier Peel Session.)

The song is without doubt the most uncomfortable and disturbing records I have ever heard, listening to it before I wrote this blog entry is only the 4th time I’ve ever played it. The song tells the story of a woman who has a low self-image and refers to herself as an old boiler, she subsequently goes on a date with a man who rapes her, the song concludes with her harrowing screams and crying. 

I believe the time for this to be played on radio is now, in a world that believes it’s acceptable to tap its feet to Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines whilst humming along to “you know you want it”, at a time where rape culture continues to thrive, “The Boiler” is a powerful antidote to a sick industry.

Happy 50th Birthday Rubber Soul and My Generation

Happy 50th Birthday Rubber Soul and My Generation

Two great albums released on this day in 1965, it must have been a great time to be a teenager.

Listening to the Rubber Soul’s original mono mix on the 2014 reissue is a real treat, if you’ve only heard the 87 mix (from which all stereo CD’s & vinyl are sourced from) you are missing out. 

Over the past several years I’ve heard people remark that the US Rubber Soul is better than the UK version. Due to the fact that Capitol were late to the Beatles party and to wring some extra cash from the US fans by putting 12 tracks on a LP (rather than 14), the US Rubber Soul had four tracks removed and replaced by two from Help (I’ve Just Seen A Face & It’s Only Love) each one respectively opening side 1 & 2. Sonics, different mixes and false starts aside (all peculiarities of the US Stereo version) this sets a very different tone for the whole album that could be appealing to the folk rock crowd. 

Here’s someone making the case for the US version

 Whilst I respect his opinion, he is completely and utterly wrong.

The loss of “What Goes On” isn’t a deal breaker, however without “Drive My Car”, “If I Needed Someone” and “Nowhere Man” this album stops sounding like one of the greatest albums of all time and might even be considered a stop gap. Whilst the US version does tick all the boxes of “folk rock” and I’m sure it’s a great stoners album, without those three key tracks it begins to sound bland. That’s not to say it still contains some of the finest Beatles songs ever written, but the strength and legacy of the Fabs albums was always their diversity and contrast. Whilst it’s fun and often educational to hear tracks out of sequence, part of the genius of these albums is the way tracks set up the next one. I would argue “I’ve just seen a face” undermines “Norwegian Wood” rather than setting it up. 

A similar though less dramatic fate occurred with the US version of My Generation, renamed “The Who sings My Generation” released by US Decca in Stereo & Mono  (and on 8 track cartridge too) with the omission of “I’m A Man” (apparently considered to risqué for the American audience), swapping “The Ox” with “Legal Matter” and closing side two with “Instant Party”. Whilst it’s difficult to make a case for what is a fine cover against a stonking good Townshend original, the UK sequencing makes it sound like a far superior album. 

Both Rubber Soul & My Generation are currently available in mono on vinyl and both these reissues are highly recommended. 

For downloaders My Generation is available in mono, there is also a stereo version that whilst is not as kick ass, it is superior to the 2002 CD reissue in that it has all the overdub parts that were on the original ( for more on this see http://paulmossbassblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/who-knows.html )

Sadly digital listeners have a tougher ride with Rubber Soul, all of the CD’s & downloads are sourced from the 87 remix, which whilst it’s better than the Help remix of the same time, it’s still a pale version of the originals. The only option are the 2009 mono CD boxset (but beware as there are quite a few fakes of this about) which contains the original Mono & Stereo mixes. Although there is a rare Canadian CD issue that contains the original stereo mix.

If you want to hear the original Capitol versions on CD then you need the original Capitol Boxsets (2004 & 2006) as the current US re-issues are sourced from the 2009 re-masters so you would be better off re-sequencing  your own tracks from the comfort of a warm playlist. 

1965, what a year, I wish I’d been there.