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Re: blossom toes

AAhhhhh,i understand your thinking Joe,as far as i'm aware most music nuts like us would rather have thee "orignal"album,as presented and released at THAT time,some would say the musicians/group vision,but as we know even BACK then the record execs would force a change on that vision,so you do get cd or even vinyl reissues that state as INTENDED to be the group or artistes vision,so the group are saying the "real" original album that was say released in 1970,is NOT the album they as a group wanted released because of record company or producers involvement and obstruction off their orignal concept,so in their REALITY,it.s not the product they wanted to release,but it did.What do you think about that scenario Joe?Or is this because musicians look at their past works,that are being planned to be reissued,but cant help themselves in wanting to improve parts,or remix certain songs,because they as an individual has never been happy with that guitar part or that bass part..........i'd rather they leave the albums released as they were,NO matter the reasoning by the musicians or act 55 years later,to change its mix or any part off it.....even down to the artwork,though i know in cases with reissues on cd and on vinyl where the "original"sleeve artwork has been replaced,like the Its A Beautiful Day debut album and its follow up "Marrying Maiden"for copyright reasons, can not use either image in certain countries. So even that changes the originality of thr original one.......buy i suppose when deals where made in 68 they weren't thinking off demand or reissues in 2022.So many deals with copyright etc mave lapsed and so on.So i suppose some can not be helped legally in the artwork depsartmdengt.

But the music for me has to be the same as thee original 67 release of an album,ok with a good
re-mastering of improving sound on cd etc ,but a remix is subtly changing things in the original mix,bringing up a guitar part higher,or lowering a vocal etc.....sp THAT is not in theory a reproduction original release of the album!!It can be a minefield,with all those terms record companies use,on reissuees like remixed from the original master tape,so its not what is on the original master used for the original finished released album,because now they are able to use,those tapes to EQ it,add more compression,or add noise reduction methods not avalable then ,or dampen this musical part ,or mix something low into the new reissue,so it's a subtly bastardised remixed version off the original album.Typical musicans or creators who can never let go of a thing theyve disliked for years,so when given the opportunity to change that part,many can't help themselves to hide it in a new mix.....its NOT want their fans wangt,they want what was the original album in sound and in natural running order,because if it's neither,it's NOT the real thing!!!

As for bonus tracks,i'm a massive fan of extras on cd,but DONT put some off those extras in the running order off the original album ,which i've also saw,always at the end off a cd,bonus tracks,NEVER in the original running order.

As for Roger Bunn and his weird but excellent album reissue on cd "Piece of Mind",on Roadrunner,i can imagine Roger wanting to kick off the in between stuff,like small faces with Ogdens nut gone flake and The Ends "Introspection"albums......yes very irritating and interrupts the flow of music,after the third time of hearing it,i'd rather it wasnt there,because it is a bloody pain and NOT funny at all on the 100th listen,but it was THEIR vision,their idea at something differnt,unique and humorous at that time,and does now i feel really date them,which in a way i love too though.In a listening experience its an interruption to the music..i feel.A fine example of this is the cd reissue of New Zealands La De Das album "The Happy prince"where you get the original version with the horrendous pompous narration,in between songs,really off putting and naff to be truthful,but you also get a version WITHOUT the narration and for me as a listening experience is more enjoyable...so it really is a personal choice ,will i buy or not...and that is mine or your decision,whether its thee original mix etc or not.

Re: blossom toes

Joe McFarland
I think that changes from vinyl to CD are a pet peeve of mine. Another example was the first Gerry Rafferty album “Can I Have My Money Back.” The CD stuck on a different version of “Mary Skeffington”, which is a fine track, and even a good version (re-recording? single mix?) But don’t remove the lp version of the song!! Stick the different version in as a bonus track!! That kind of thing is annoying.
I remember when Roger Bunn was putting his “Piece of Mind” out on CD snd he was toying with the idea of getting rid of the spoken bits and little passages between songs and I strongly advised him to keep the CD like the record at the time and resist the impulse to “improve” or edit the original release. If you need to do bonus tracks, that’s fine, but I think most people want to hear the music that was made at the time. I was glad he kept the CD the same format as the original lp, adding a number of bonus tracks but not messing with the original set of songs.๐Ÿ˜€
I think Grapefruit did the right thing in 2019, restoring the original Mary Skeffington too
https://www.discogs.com/release/14169879-Gerry-Rafferty-Who-Knows-What-The-Day-Will-Bring-The-Complete-Transatlantic-Recordings-1969-71

Re: blossom toes

Thanks Gian. I just ordered that collection. I guess I figured I had a lot of it already, but it will be nice to have all in one place, and as you say, they got the Mary Skeffington song in both versions. Looks like a nice set.
You make very good points, Stu. Indeed, when the band has their own vision that the producers or record label squashed, that’s a different deal. I just bought a bunch of 13th Floor Elevators, for example, and I notice on one we of their albums their intended running order is different from the original release, and they’ve restored the original order on one of the discs.
This sort of debate crops up all the time in the land of Beatles reissues (Benefit of Mr. Kite was supposed to be earlier on side one! The Beatles only cared about the mono Sgt. Pepoer! etc.)
I take all that with a grain if salt, I guess. But the idea of “improving” the records is a contentious and difficult topic. I mean, do you fix the channel mistake on “Eleanor Rigby” in stereo? (Answer: Yes, on the Yellow Submarine Songtrack!๐Ÿ˜œ).
There’s a thin line between “fixing” poor stereo separation to making a new “remix” but where that line is can ba hard to determine.
I will say, in general, I find Giles Martin squarely crosses that line and I don’t listen to his “remixes”. I do give him credit gor making clear versions of the White Album Sessions and Esher tapes available, but I never listen to his mixes of the proper albums. If you find a good pressing of any album from the 60’s, 70’s, or even ‘80’s you get a much less heavy handed version if any of the records.
I see what you mean about the spoken word bits in so many psych albums like the ones you mention. I think they just give it period charm, but I can totally understand wanting to get rid of them on some listens. And I do find myself skipping tge one shlocky or novelty song on a lot of those records (The Move—Zing Went the Strings it The Twilights—The Cocky Song, etc.)
In that way CDs are helpful …just a quick oress on the fast forward๐Ÿ˜œ

Re: blossom toes

Totally agree - don't like remixes or modern music by band members added to the original.

I personally love the narration on Ogden's, it's still fun to me and an essential part of the whole. The narration on Happy Prince is also priceless, very camp and fey, but it is an Oscar Wilde story, so it couldn't be voiced any other way. Strip that out and it is a lesser experience, even if I would never listen to it in polite company. The 2 short tales on the End LP for me really ground it and seem to link between old east end London and the new swinging psychedelic era a bit like the film Performance, and I think the contrast adds something. The only narration I can't stand is on Fire's Magic Shoemaker, which I find really tedious and cringe-worthy.

Re: blossom toes

Ogdens is fine but another I don't like is Jigsaw-Leatherslade Farm.

Re: blossom toes

Just out of curiosity is there any good spoken word psych albums? Maybe with psychedelic background music. I'm sure there are some but I can't think of one at the moment ๐Ÿค”

Re: blossom toes

No unfortunately not Paul,i can think off 2 though not psych,but still may interest some who come here,there is the Gullivers Travels featuring Mike D'Abo,that was released on the Instant label,the short subdsidiary of Immediate.

There is one story i love that was narrated with the beautiful and rather relaxing voices of Judi Dench and Michael Hordern,of The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshoppers Feast,and the music and vocals on this rather beautiful album is no other than Edwards Hand,ex of Picadilly Line,Rod Edwards(also in Jade too) and Roger Hand.It was recorded and put together between October 1974 to August 1975 at Decca Studios,and features musicians like Gerry Conway and Tony Carr,the narration was done at Air Studios and was engineered by one. Geoff Emerick.

It's a totally different beast to the Roger Glover version,and i do enjoy the Roger Glover and Friends version.........the music on the Judi Dench and Michael Hordern version,is just sublime,mostly soft and gentle acoustic with beautiful harmonising from Edwards Hand,while Judi and Michael give us their voices that you could quite easily slip into.

This all entailed with the new verse written by William Plomer to go with the 28 beautiful new illustrations by Alan Aldridge,resulting in the illustrated book of The Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper's Feast .This album was released in tandem with the release off the new illustrated book,with the poems set to lovely music by Rod Edwards and Roger Hand,and off course the immistsakable voices of Judi and Michael...it really is a lovely album to listen to,and the cd i have is WIZZ 0801,with the website "info@wizardpresents.co.uk",the cd is immaculate,you could hear a pin drop ,it really is that good,sounds fabulous.

Thr only other things that come to mind are the Timothy Leary albums,where he talks over music for meditating or taking a trip.

Re: blossom toes

Joe,yes there is going to be an extended 2 cd set of BB Blunder "Workers PLaytime",as far as i know set for April,with 2 additional BBC tracks never before released,but apart from that it seems to be the exact same tracklist as cd 2 on Sunbeams cd reissue,this new version is coming from Esoteric Records..

Re: blossom toes

Interesting, Stuart. Maybe this time we’ll get an uncut “New Day,” although I have yet to hear one on any CD. I did enjoy the long bonus tracks on the Sunbeam release a while back.