Free Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn Hitchcock has a newly revamped website (mostly) up and running, and to celebrate he has made two songs available as free downloads (all you have to give him is an email address).

Robyn calls this giveaway a "Phantom 45," and I would not be surprised to see future Phantom 45s featured on his website. Personally, I'm looking forward to storing these in my nifty Phantom 45 carrying case.

In addition, Hitchcock has a new album, Propellor Time, scheduled to be released by Sartorial Records on March 22. Propellor Time was recorded in 2006 with the Venus 3 (Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin) and features guests appearances from Johnny Marr, Nick Lowe and John Paul Jones. No word yet on if the album will be released on LP, but one can safely assume it will be available on CD and as a download from the usual suspects (perhaps we should call this a "Phantom 33.3"?).

My apologies for not posting more often recently...I just haven't felt like it.

File under WTF?

I've been getting a lot of weird spam emails like this one recently:

Hello,
This is Shiela from ThumbJointPain.net.
We stumbled on your blog while searching for Thumb Joint Pain related information. We operate the largest Thumb Joint Pain website featuring more than 30,000+ blogs. Our site averages 200,000+ uniques visitors per month. As a kind note We have featured your blog at http://ThumbJointPain.net/blog_awards/index.php?id=1216 We would be grateful if you could add the following details to your blogs main page.
Thumb Joint Pain
Looking forward for your confirmation.
Thanks
Shiela
ThumbJointPain.net.

I'm proud of a lot of things that I've done over the past 40 years, but this award from ThumbJointPain.net ranks considerably below the "participant" ribbon I got in a sack race I entered when I was six.

[Please don't follow the links above.]

All Going Out Together

I came across this Big Dipper 12" single the other day at my local record store. It was still sealed and only a $1.99. What the heck? I remember this 12" from back when it came out in 1987, mostly because of the memorable cover, which was very similar in layout to both Robyn Hitchcock's Element of Light and The Jazz Butcher's Fishcotheque, all of which came out around the same time. But I can't remember if I owned it, or if I had a friend who owned it, or if I just heard it at the radio station. Or maybe I had it on cassette. Whatever. Either way, I didn't have it in my collection a couple days ago and now I do.

"All Going Out Together" appeared on the the band's first full-length album, Heavens. "He Is God" recently reappeared on the Merge Big Dipper anthology, Supercluster. But there are two tracks here that I believe are not available anywhere else. The first is "Which Would You Rather," written by Big Dipper, but with vocals from former Modern Lover/Rockin' Robin Ellie Marshall. The other is an uncredited, untitled collage of sounds, songs and live recordings, including a cameo from Shonen Knife. It's, um, interesting, but I can see why Merge decided it wasn't essential enough to include it on Supercluster.

I wrote about Big Dipper before. I thought it was an amusing--but clearly fictional--little story about my desperate and ultimately futile search for Ron Klaus (of "...He Wrecked His House" Fame). Anyway, when my wife first read it she told me she was worried I might be losing it. Ouch.

B Stiff

I found a nice copy of Devo's first EP, a collection of independent singles released on the Stiff Records label in 1977, entitled Be Stiff (or possibly B Stiff) yesterday at the Providence Rock 'n' Roll Yard Sale. The event continues today (November 8th), so if you are in the area stop by and check out the vinyl goods, crafts, and aging hipsters carrying their babies around the vaguely unwholesome environment.

Be Stiff is a nice reminder of what a great band Devo really was/is. The EP contains early, possibly superior, versions of four songs that appeared on their first album, along with two tracks that didn't. The spud boys from Akron's robotic take on the Stones' "Satisfaction" remains one of the great moments in rock history, even if the Residents did it first.

Speaking of rare spuds, Devo's two most popular albums, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo and Freedom of Choice, have recently been given the deluxe reissue treatment. Both albums have also been reissued on LP (on colored vinyl). Oddly, nothing from this great EP appears on either deluxe edition as bonus tracks. I have no word on whether there will be deluxe reissues of the Devo leisure suits originally made available by mail order with Freedom Of Choice, but I promise to keep you informed if I hear any news.

Lord help us all if the music industry ever reaches such an advanced state of Devolution that we see a deluxe reissue of Shout.

Update: Devo leisure suits are indeed available at Devo's website, so you can still protect yourself from dangerous human elements and stay cool during meltdowns. For spuds with spare change there is also an Ultra Devo-lux Ltd. Edition reissue of the two albums with lots of other goodies.

Click Repair

My friend Pete has mentioned to me a couple of times that he thinks it would be interesting if I put together a post, or series of posts, on how to transfer records into the digital domain. I've been reluctant to do so for a number of reasons, the most important being I do not consider myself any kind of expert on the subject. The internet is full of "experts" who can tell you what you should and shouldn't do on any variety of subjects with absolute certainty. I can really only tell you what I've done, and what I think has worked best for me.

One recommendation I can make without any hesitation is that, if you are doing "needledrops" of LPs or 78s, you should give the program Click Repair a try. Click Repair is a reasonably priced "shareware" program written by a mathematician named Brian Davies that uses sophisticated algorithms to identify and "clean" clicks and pops from digitized vinyl and shellac records.

I was initially very skeptical about any program that "automagically" repairs clicks and pops in a recording, assuming that it would necessarily affect other parts of the recording for the worse. But after having tried the program, I learned that with a little experimenting it was not difficult to keep "false positives" (instances where music, not noise, is "fixed") to an acceptably low level, while vastly reducing the amount of clicks, cracks and pops on a recording. The important thing to note here is that Click Repair is not a "filter" that affects the sound of an entire recording, but rather a program that seeks out samples that it identifies as clicks or pops, and "repairs" them. In other words, it basically leaves the music alone. (You can read many more details on how the program works at the program's website).

Below you will find a link to a sample from a copy of Frank Sinatra's In The Wee Small Hours I recently picked up for 25 cents. The record looked a little beat up, but I figured it might clean up nicely. Unfortunately, I was wrong about that, as you can hear in the initial, unrepaired, selection. The raw file is followed by the same selection after having been run through Click Repair. To my ears the results are pretty remarkable. Take a listen and see what you think.

Now, admittedly, I've picked a rather extreme case (an LP that was pretty much trashed) to emphasize what Click Repair is capable of, but I've found that even LPs in reasonably good condition can also benefit from a run through Click Repair (for records that are in better shape you can use a lower sensitivity setting to further minimize the likelihood of "false positives.")

You can demo Click Repair for free for 21 days, after that you will need to purchase a $40 license. I did so happily.

In The Wee Small Hours (excerpt) [click to download]

R.I.P. Damon Crowdy

I got some sad news from my Mom today when I learned that an old school friend of mine, Damon Crowdy, passed away recently. I was sad to learn that Damon died of heart failure after a long struggle with kidney disease.

I hadn't seen Damon in twenty years or so, but I never forgot him. It's not possible to forget a guy like Damon. I was entirely unsurprised to learn from his obituary that as an adult Damon dedicated his life to helping others. Damon was one of the funniest people I've ever known, but unlike so many other children, there was never a hint of cruelty in his humor. And while Damon had a rowdy side as a child, there was also always an almost spiritual quality about him.

If Damon liked you, he would invent a funny nickname for you--I was "Squeaky Mongueeky"--a silly name that nevertheless always made me feel special. I can remember reading the book I Wish I Had An Afro, a story of a young boy's emerging sense of black pride, with Damon in Elementary school, and how Damon created a musical version of the story to the tune of "If I Were A Rich Man" from Fiddler On The Roof. Maybe you had to be there, but it was genuinely hilarious. Most kids are not nearly so clever in their attempts at humor.

I'm sure that Damon touched many lives after I last saw him, and I'm sure that many people are better off for having known him. I know that I am. I will always remember him as a warm, funny, cheerful kid, and regret I didn't get to know the man he became. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

The Feelies - The Good Earth Reissued

I wanted to provide yet another Feelies update now that my vinyl reissue of The Good Earth has finally arrived.

I will admit to a small amount of consternation when I first learned that the vinyl reissues of Crazy Rhythms and The Good Earth would not be mastered from the original analog master tapes. Now that I have actually heard them, I will also admit that any sense of concern about that was totally misplaced and misguided. Major kudos are due to Andreas Meyer from Tangerine Mastering for the magic he has worked in remastering these albums for vinyl.

In my previous post I noted that I was hard pressed to hear any differences between a Stiff original pressing of Crazy Rhythms and the Bar/None reissue. I could hear differences between a Coyote/Twin-Tone LP pressing of The Good Earth and the Bar/None reissue, and they were mostly in favor of the reissue. First off, the reissue is a better, quieter pressing than the Coyote original, which is a helpful thing because there are some long quiet passages on the album. Beyond that, the reissue has a subtly crisper, more open sound without changing the essential sonic character of the album in any way.

I also had an original Coyote CD on hand for comparison, but the less said about that the better, because it is an absolute sonic disaster. The old Coyote CD turned an album with a warm, inviting sonic character into something shrill and unpleasant. The old CD only reminded me of why I hated CD sound for such a long time.

As with Crazy Rhythms, I downloaded the album plus bonus tracks in WAV format, and once again, while they sounded good, it was obvious they were slightly dynamically compressed compared to the LP. Nevertheless, the new digital version sounds far better than the original CD. The download-only bonus tracks are not quite as interesting as was the case with Crazy Rhythms. The two covers were previously available on the No One Knows EP, and a recent live version of "Slipping (Into Something)" once again proves the reconstituted Feelies have not lost a step.

The only quibble I have with the reissue (and it is a minor one to be sure) is that about ten seconds of silence present on the original LP between "Tomorrow Today" and the album closer "Slow Down" has been removed. I always kind of liked the way "Slow Down" came in after such a long quiet period ("Tomorrow Today" also features a very long, slow fade out). Curiously, this silence is also not present on the original Coyote CD, so it's arguable whether it is necessary for the sake of "authenticity." I always kind of liked the effect, but its absence is not enough to prevent the reissue from becoming my new "go-to" version of the album.

Finally, a few words about the music itself. If I haven't said much about it to this point it's because I assume you know it's great. Crazy Rhythms seems to be the album that has gotten the most attention over the years, probably in part because it has been out-of-print longer. It would be a shame if The Good Earth were overshadowed by the earlier album, because its charms are at least equal to those of its predecessor.

The Good Earth showcases a less jumpy and nervous version of the Feelies. The rhythm section of Brenda Sauter (bass), Stanley Demeski (drums) and Dave Weckerman (percussion) was less aggressive than the Crazy Rhythms-era combo of Anton Fier and Keith De Nunzio. This, combined with a greater amount of strummed acoustic guitar, led to a more relaxed, pastoral sound which is beautifully reflected in the cornfield photo and earth-tones on the album cover.

Despite the more laid-back vibe, there is still plenty of interesting stuff going on rhythmically, but it emerges from the mix in a more subtle fashion than previously. Some of the songs reflect Mercer and Million's longstanding interest in Brian Eno's ambient music, but the influence of country and folk music is just as clear. All-in-all, it makes for an entirely unique, and highly appealing sonic concoction.

I simply cannot recommend both of these long-overdue reissues highly enough, even to those who already own the albums in other forms. The LPs sound absolutely gorgeous, and the digital tracks sound very fine as well. Both albums, as well as a limited edition 7" of "Fa Ce La," are available directly from Bar/None.

Feelies Reissue Update

I just wanted to provide a quick update on the Feelies reissues. I finally got my vinyl copy of Crazy Rhythms (still waiting on The Good Earth). In terms of sound quality, the LP reissue is outstanding. I had an original Stiff pressing of the first album on hand for comparison. As hard as I tried, I could not hear a difference between the two, which was kind of surprising considering we know the reissue was digitally sourced. The digital source must have been better than CD resolution, because I could see frequency content extending all the way up to 40 kHz. The pressing was very quiet, which is a really good thing considering that some of the song intros feature extended periods of near silence.

The LP comes with a cute little business card with a code for a digital download. The download is administered through Domino, who offer the option of downloading the album as a CD resolution WAV file. The download sounded fine as well, although I believe it was slightly compressed. The download-only bonus tracks are terrific. I had never heard the 7" version of "Fa-Ce-La" or the demos of "The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness" and "Moscow Nights" before. What struck me about these versions was that although the sound quality and performances were cruder than the later versions, the arrangements were very much locked into place early. These versions also apparently date to a period before Glenn Mercer hit puberty, because he really sounds like an awkward teenage kid on these cuts with a far different voice than what would appear on Crazy Rhythms in 1980. (I guess if I want to hear the b-side version of "Raised Eyebrows" I will have to shell out for the Insound exclusive 7"). The live tracks from 2009 show the band has not lost a step in terms of energy and tightness despite the long hiatus.

Well done and highly recommended!

For anyone bummed the cover of "Paint It Black" included on the 1990 A&M reissue was omitted from the new reissue, here it is:

Paint It Black [click to download]

Step into the wayback machine...

For a little perspective today's The Beatles reissues, check out this article published in The New York Times in 1987; "Beatles On CD: Yeah, Yeah, Nah." Reviewer Allan Kozinn grumbles about the fact that both the mono and stereo mixes were not being made available for each album, but in general he is very complimentary of the sound quality of the CDs:

On the four CD's just issued, the sound is magnificent - solid, crystal clear, beautifully textured and fully detailed. One hears very little in the way of tape hiss or extraneous noise; heard side by side with their equivalent mono Parlophone LP's, the CD's sound, for the most part, as bright or brighter on top, and a good deal richer in the bass.

As much as people have complained (rightly to my mind) about the sound of the 1987 remasters in the ensuing years, as far as I remember at the time of release, the original Beatles CDs were considered state-of-the art. Most reviewers commented on what a revelation it was to finally be able to hear the music of The Beatles in the shiny new CD format.

Anyway, it's worth keeping in mind how perspectives can change over the years as you read contemporary reviews of the new remasters.

Finally! Feelies Reissues Coming Sept. 8!

You might remember that I passed on the news that The Feelies classic first LP, Crazy Rhythms, was going to be reissued by a label called Water Records back in early 2008. To the disappointment of many, that reissue never materialized (although a worthwhile reissue of the group's third album, Only Life, appeared in its place). But good things come to those who wait, and I am very pleased to announce that The Feelies first two albums are going to be reissued by Bar-None Records with full approval of the newly reunited band.

I made an inquiry with the band's management and got the following details about the upcoming reissues.

First of all, the really important part:

Release date for both The Feelies re-issues on Bar None: September 8, 2009.

No fooling around this time, this is really happening (honest).

The albums will be reissued on both CD and LP. Bonus tracks will be download only:

Both albums will be issued in original sequence with download cards included in each package that will give purchasers access to bonus tracks as well as the original albums. The band felt that the original records functioned as discrete works on their own that should not be compromised with additional tracks not part of the original sequence, hence offering bonus tracks thusly

Crazy Rhythms CD/LP reissue track listing:
Side One:
1. The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness
2. Fa cé-La
3. Loveless Love
4. Forces At Work
Side Two:
5. Original Love
6. Everybody's Got Something To Hide (Except Me And My Monkey)
7. Moscow Nights
8. Raised Eyebrows
9. Crazy Rhythms
*** NOTE: Their cover of "Paint It Black" was left off the reissue as per the band's request. A&M added it without the band's permission and it was a recording from the late 80s with a different line-up than what was the "Crazy Rhythms" line-up.

Crazy Rhythms bonus tracks:
1. Fa cé-La [single version] - originally released as a 7" on Rough Trade.
2. The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness [Carla Bley demo version]
3. Moscow Nights [Carla Bley demo version]
4. Crazy Rhythms [Live] - From the 9:30 Club (Washington D.C.), recorded March 14, 2009.
5. I Wanna Sleep In Your Arms [Live] - From the 9:30 Club (Washington D.C.), recorded March 14, 2009. Modern Lovers cover.

The Good Earth CD/LP reissue track listing:
Side One:
1. On The Roof
2. The High Road
3. The Last Roundup
4. Slipping (Into Something)
5. When Company Comes
Side Two:
6. Let's Go
7. Two Rooms
8. The Good Earth
9. Tomorrow Today
10. Slow Down

The Good Earth bonus tracks.
1. She Said, She Said - originally on the "No One Knows" vinyl EP on Coyote Records through Twin/Tone Records (US). Beatles cover.
2. Sedan Delivery - originally on the "No One Knows" vinyl EP on Coyote Records through Twin/Tone Records (US). Neil Young cover.
3. Slipping (Into Something) [Live] - From the 9:30 Club (Washington D.C.), recorded March 14, 2009.

Download cards will be included in each respective CD & LP reissue. The full album + bonus tracks will be included on each. Domino will be the hosting site for the downloads as they have the rights to the albums outside the U.S. & Canada.

I have heard some grumbling about the fact that the bonus tracks will not be included with the physical packages, but I agree with the band's decision. The Feelies have always had their own way of doing things, whether it was only playing holiday and weekend gigs in the early years, taking 6 years before releasing their sophomore album, or refusing to sell t-shirts ("because a t-shirt is something you wear under a shirt"). The band is very sincere about not wanting bonus tracks to interfere with the artistic integrity of the albums. Some might find it pretentious, but the band really thinks of their albums as complete artistic statements (and having listened to these albums hundreds of times over the past decades, I happen to agree). The Feelies probably consider offering bonus tracks as downloads a pretty big artistic compromise.

Personally, I have always found The Feelies' absolute commitment to their artistic vision (even if it meant less money) refreshing, and inseparable from the their overall appeal. If this is the way they want to present their work to the public after it's been out-of-print for so long, I respect that absolutely. Just because there is space on a CD for bonus tracks doesn't mean they belong there, and these albums really do work best as cohesive entities, or "discrete works," if you prefer. Just because it sounds pretentious to say so, doesn't mean it isn't also true. I also agree that "Paint It Black" was best left off Crazy Rhythms altogether. It never made any sense to include a track recorded so much later by a different line up. I always strongly suspected that A&M tacked the track onto the album without approval from the band, and we now have confirmation that was the case.

I also got a few details on the vinyl pressings:

Bar/None's LP reissues were mastered by Andy VanDette at Masterdisk in NYC
www.masterdisk.com
Pressings will be handled by Rainbo Records and will be 180 gram
www.rainborecords.com

Now for a little bit of bad news:

Original tapes were unfortunately not found. Andreas Meyer from Tangerine Mastering used digital files for both.

Tapes obtained from the band were used for the Fa cé-La [single version], The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness [Carla Bley demo version] and Moscow Nights [Carla Bley demo version]. The live tracks were recorded by their live sound engineer Andy Peters.

It's disappointing to know the original analog tapes for these albums could not be located, but if mastered properly (and Masterdisk usually does a good job) they should still sound very good. Honestly, I've always felt that because of the extremely quiet and long intros, that Crazy Rhythms was best appreciated on CD anyway (that's not something you will hear me say often by the way). I also really appreciate that the band's management was so forthcoming with information about the sources used for the reissues, as that is not always the case.

Collectors will want to keep their eyes open for a limited edition reissue of the "Fa cé-La" single:

Insound will be exclusively carrying a limited
edition 7" reissue of the original "Fa cé-La" single.
Side A:
Fa cé-La (single version)
Side B:
Raised Eyebrows (album version)

Pressing for this single will also be handled by Rainbo Records.

Steet date for the single is October 8, 2009, and it is available for pre-order from Insound now.

All in all, this is fantastic news. Not only are two of the best albums of the 80s finally being reissued, but long-time fans can also get some interesting bonus material.

Crazy Rhythms and The Good Earth are two of my favorite albums and it is great to see that they will be available again after being unavailable for far too long. I only hope that the reissue of Crazy Rhythms does not overshadow the reissue of The Good Earth. The first album has acquired more critical cache over the years, and the band will be performing it live in its entirety at an upcoming All Tomorrow's Parties event. But perhaps because it was my introduction to the band, but I've always felt The Good Earth was the artistic equal of its more celebrated predecessor. The album has its own pastoral charm that stands as a nice counter-balance to the jumpy nervousness of the debut.