UK Psychedelia Discussion Forum

Regal Zonophone 2

General Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: A Is For Acetates - A selection of acetate recordings from the Apple era CD comp

Hi there. I did record other songs at Apple Studios. Also had a song featured on a British entry to Cannes Film Festival in 1977 - called 'Living on the dole' - I'm still composing - although at my age I'm trying not to decompose!

Re: A Is For Acetates - A selection of acetate recordings from the Apple era CD comp

Just played this for the first time and have reviewed it below. Gian - do let us know your opinion of it once you have had a chance to play it.

PM


A Is For Acetates: a selection of acetate recordings from The Apple era CD.

This is a nifty looking package. A gatefold plastic free digipak, it has incised slots inside where the neat booklet slots on one side while the black vinyl effect CD slots into the other. It also illustrates reproductions of the labels of the Apple acetates featured. The booklet has useful annotated liner notes that give some context to the artists where known.

There’s two things to note at the outset with this collection. Firstly, eight of the songs are from tapes rather than acetates (all by the marvellous Slow Dog). Secondly, of the actual acetates, most were recorded at the Apple Studios (as of September 1971), a commercial enterprise open to all, rather than by in-house Apple signed acts or writers at their Baker Street studios.

The nineteen songs and one spoken word piece (The five-minute long Iveys Xmas disc) cover 71 minutes in total and are by and sonically large good to very good (the majority of them) sound quality. Only two of the three tracks by Jackie Lomax have surface noise as loud as the music (and then in part because these just feature Jackie’s voice and a lone electric rhythm guitar) and even these are historically important as they were not commercially recorded. Some are in mono some in stereo and as a collection they are a good selection; other than perhaps track 12 by unknown ‘Kiss of Life’ which seems to be a flute led orchestral piece that sounds like it belongs in a mid 60s romantic soap opera TV series.

A very capable band called Slow Dog won an Apple sponsored battle of the bands competition in Cambridge in 1969, the prize for which was an Apple recording contract. But as the liners note this never materialised because: ‘…the contract got lost in the post-Klein chaos and no contracts were signed or honoured’. They had though recorded some songs on tape in advance to play for Apple and that’s what you get here. They have wonderfully strong blended harmony vocals and sometimes sound very much like Badfinger (track 13 ‘Gimme Love’; track 17 ‘She’s Got Love’) as do a few of the others (e.g. Track 16, Ron Hendrek – ‘Stormy Weather’ – not the one you’re thinking of!).

The stand out track for me though is ‘Mac’s Café’ by Unknown (or if you believe the label ‘Porridge’). It is described as a progressive rock song and it does have strong prog-pysch elements, though it reminds more of the outer reaches of junk shop glam. It put me in mind of fellow Apple artist at the time Chris Hodge’s ‘We’re On Our Way’ single though with more moves in it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gb_Z5Zk4D4 or possibly Eno era Roxy Music. I love how the moog is used on it.

There’s one or two that are but fragments or ends of songs we are told that last a minute and a half (Robert & Miles Priestly for instance) but which still sound like they belong here. There’s also a Radha Krishna Temple track – Vande Haim which apparently was left off their George Harrison produced LP. This version is 5.15 but there is a 16 minute version too!

In total, although there are elements that seem random, this would not seem that alien to the 94 Baker Street / Revisited series on RPM. There’s nothing you could call popsike as you could in that series perhaps but it does speak to what came after it and largely compliments it. So if you are an Apple label fan I think you will enjoy this.

PM

Get it from:
http://www.apcor.net/a-is-for-acetates/

Re: A Is For Acetates - A selection of acetate recordings from the Apple era CD comp

Superb review!!!

Re: A Is For Acetates - A selection of acetate recordings from the Apple era CD comp

Great of you to get involved here Trevor. Would be great to see your work from the time getting a reissue and good luck with the non decomposing. Know how it feels.

Re: A Is For Acetates - A selection of acetate recordings from the Apple era CD comp

Did anybody get this, and is it still available?

Re: A Is For Acetates - A selection of acetate recordings from the Apple era CD comp

This CD, "A Is For Acetates" is available to download from SoulSeek. I downloaded it today. There is only one user sharing it, so you have to keep searching for it until you find it.

Re: A Is For Acetates - A selection of acetate recordings from the Apple era CD comp

Is SoulSeek on the up and up? I mean regarding the software, downloads, viruses, etc?