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| "I am just a garden gnome on the lawn of life." |
George Harrison's first album is not only the finest work by a solo Beetle, a bar not as high as some would argue, it's an astonishing album by any standard. Ignoring the perhaps over-generous third disc of jamming, there's not a bad track on it. Nor an even ordinary one.
It was unaffordable for many on release, me included, but I picked it up second-hand soon after. The thing is, and hear me out, I don't remember anyone whining about Phil Spector's production back then. It was a massive album, and sounded that way. The kind of massive that wouldn't be heard again until Born To Run. You weren't meant to hear individual instruments in clinical separation, you were meant to be overwhelmed. And everyone was.
The Grumpy One said "I didn't have many tunes on Beatles records, so doing an album like All Things Must Pass was like going to the bathroom and letting it out" And it was good shit.
So why and wherefore is this appearing on th' IoF©? Because this is the original vinyl mix, which is strangely hard to find these days. Not only that, it's pbthal's needledrop (if you know, you know). Not only that, I am rendering a pubic cervix by offering both flac - no, really, it should be available, consarn it - and the Baby Jesus Bitrate of @192, for th' jes' plain folks sudge as like I. Om shanti, bitches!
An unnecessary note on the title: All Things Must Pass has a nicely philosophical and comforting ring to it, and we can imagine it intoned by the lamasery abbot as we genuflect before him. Let Abe Lincoln tell the story: "It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a
sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate
in all times and situations. They presented him the words: and this,
too, shall pass away. How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour
of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!" This iteration of the phrase is preferable to Harrison's tombstone dogmatism. All Things Must Pass? Things are already passing, dude. There's a paradox at work here: In the future, this thing must pass into the past, which is like the present. I prefer the beautiful phrase (which I got from a Shpongle record) nothing lasts, but nothing is lost, quoted in the blog header, which is the entrance to a very spectacular wormhole.
This post made plausible thru a nice cup of homegrown cannabis tea this morning, as I watch the cranes - they're birds, ya doofus - feeding in the pool behind my house, with the ecstatic What Is My Life blasting from my cheap-ass speakers. Life is swell, and I hope yours is too.
BabyJesus™ Bitrate: https://workupload.com/file/Gcu4h7NqkPK
ReplyDeletePerhaps this reassessment is more to do with Phil Spector's reputation and conviction than with the actual sound of the album.
ReplyDeleteOh, for sure. That and the audiophile trend toward pristine stereo separation that's become the accepted norm. Growing up, I didn't give a shit about the "issues" that obsess the snowflake-eared today. I heard Good Vibrations on a totally shit transistor radio and it changed my life.
DeleteTotally agree. I never understood Neil Young's diatribes agains the mp3 standard. If only he knew the equipment where I heard After The Gold Rush for the first time.... So many nights under the sheets listening to a single speaker radio at extremely low volumes (I wish I could hear at those volumes now!)
DeleteI never bought this when it came out and I still don't own it. And I can't really put my finger on the reason why I'm 54 years late to the party!! Many thanks for the invitation.
ReplyDeleteBrian
Agree with everything you posted (shocking!), except that it wasn't his first lp. Was more like his 3rd (or 2nd, if you discount a soundtrack he scored). Spector gets rightfully blasted for not knowing when to ease up on on the overproduction, like he did on Get Back.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. I discount Wonderwall because it's a half-assed soundtrack to a a half-assed movie, with minimal input from him, but I also discount Electronic Sounds, because half of it is lifted direct from The Nonesuch Guide To Electronic Music, a demonstration recording by Margouleff and Cecil (later to form Tonto's Expanding Headband). I don't buy this "overproduction" thing, either - you hire Spector because his records sound like Phil Spector records, and you want your record to sound like a Phil Spector record. I really don't remember anyone at the time clutching their pearls and saying "this is ruined by Phil Spector's over-production". Certainly nobody I knew was complaining.
DeleteIt was Bernie Krause (of Beaver and Krause) on "No Time or Space", and that was just a recording of Krause showing Harrison what the Moog could do.
DeleteThanks. False memory time! Yes, it was just a recording of Krause showing Harrison what the Moog could do. A bit sketchy presenting it as his own work on a solo album, you ax me.
DeleteShould have followed my own advice and searched here first, where Harrison's appropriation is mentioned:
Deletehttps://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2020/11/fountains-of-dept-of-water-power-dept.html
Story here: https://www.beatlesbible.com/people/george-harrison/songs/no-time-or-space/ (and no, George doesn't come out of it well).
DeleteGlad I could help, no intention of one upping the III'd. Thank you for your exemplary work.
DeleteCorrections always 'preciated!
DeleteThis is so beautiful. Thank You.
ReplyDeleteYour tea? was it a bit strong? What Is My Life is not a song from this album. The Blissful Typo.
My life at the moment is less blissful, with cranes (mechanical) closing a pond nearby.....
This music sure makes it right.
You're welcome, Richard! It's good to make it available again. All the other versions I could find online were either ripped from the first CD, which are universally panned, or the thirtieth/fiftieth anniversary remix.
DeleteOh! Yes, Thank You Very Much... sonically panned but the right sequence : CD 1 - Side A-B-C , CD 2 Side D-E-F . Listening CD 1 hundreds of time, CD 2 occasionally. All subsequent releases, I've re-arranged to 1-14 of CD 1. When it came out, we transferred to 8-tracks to listen in the car as we decided to go down in Florida for the Holidays... 3 weeks in Key West, magic... before being gentrified decades later.
DeleteLike you I couldn’t afford this album, and I realise I’ve only ever heard a CD copied onto cassette, hopefully this will be splendid, thanks. Even from that cassette I loved this album more than any Ringo, Paul or John albums.
ReplyDeleteTry this - tracks one to twelve.
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/7HnMj7TTPjk
... and the rest:
Deletehttps://workupload.com/file/QjYBNDeNGYN
your knowledge of things "if you know you know" never ceases to impress...
ReplyDeleteThanks Farq. They work beautifully...
ReplyDeleteI bought the original cuz they said the 3rd LP would be discontinued after the first pressing. Hardly ever played the jams, but they're still there!
ReplyDeleteI lost this mix when I sold all my vinyl. I have the de-Spectored CDs. They're not too bad, but the original still sounds pretty good to me. Thanx, Farq!
DeleteWeird!! ..or are we simpatico!!?? .. for some reason ..can't remember why!! .. just this morning thinking I should have a looksee and d'load this for a listen!! Thanks, Farq, old boy!!
ReplyDeleteGreat minds think along the same crooked line!
Deleteanyone got Ringo's 'Beaucoups Of Blues' to hand? TIA
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Grumpy, if you had spoken to me about it at the time You would of heard some complaints about Spector's production on this and Lennon's LPs as well. I'm not a Spector fan but that's another topic. As for Hi-Fi, I also had low-fi equipment for years when I was young, but because I had friends who had better I knew better.
ReplyDeleteAudio production (and film as well) is a place where art and technology come together. The technology has a beauty of it's own but it also enhances the art. I first noticed this through the work of one Brian Wilson.
I've always loved the production on Plastic Ono Band -- didn't know it was Phil Spector until just now
DeleteI'll add that I also enjoyed the hell out of that lo-fi stuff just like others who have commented here. My point is that better sound is more rewarding than many (apparently) want to acknowledge.
ReplyDeleteI'm far from being a lo-fi nut, or a mono-is-best nut, or a high end audiophile nut. But what sounds good, or best, is dependent on a lot of factors outside "audio fidelity". The biggest factor that gets overlooked is what the Lovin' Spoonful described as magic.
Delete"The magic's in the music, and the music's in me."
If the magic's there, it's in me too. I heard so much music that transformed my tiny mind back then in the 'sixties, and none of it on high end equipment. Didn't occur to me that the dynamic range was crippled, or the soundstage non-existent. The magic was working, and still does.
I'd be a fool to deny that technical advances have resulted in greater audio fidelity. I went through an expensive near-high-end separates phase a few years back, rebuilding my vinyl collection before Millennials got all Millennial on our asses. The sound was deep and rich and bright and high, but it didn't make the magic any more or less potent, and I found I was worrying about stuff I really shouldn't even be thinking about. Tone-arm tracking, cartridge upgrades ... so it all went. My room full of vinyl and CDs went. Or rather I did. Now I listen to mp3 files through my iMac, and some supermarket TV speakers, carefully tweaked with Boom 3D, and the sound is way better than any set-up I had before I went high-end (back when I wore Hugo Boss and Armani). I don't think I'd enjoy the music any more if that rack of separates reappeared in a puff of genie smoke.
You may have noted that I don't claim that this vinyl rip is inherently better than the anniversary remix. It's different, is all. And that difference is due to changing tastes in audio. Harrison suddenly claiming he was never happy with the mix? He employed Spector, he knew what he was getting, and he signed off on it. But it started to sound dated as record production tended towards a common set of tech standards; clarity and separation, dynamic range ... none of this makes the original mix a mistake. It's still magic music.
I can invoke the transistor radio I had in my early teens with hallucinogenic clarity, down to the smell of the plastic. The gilt front panel, the rotary tuner. The deaf-aid earpiece I used in bed. Flesh-colored, so nobody would see it - design genius! The reception was crackly, the fidelity lower than a phone call, but that audio set up will always be the most important, and most loved, in my life. Pure magic.
I also experienced magic on small transistor radios and because AM radio was the only game in town at the beginning there was more variety among them and some were quite good.
DeleteFor me better sound equals even more magic. If it doesn't work that way for you our experience is different and that's that. BTW, I don't do vinyl and don't believe in it's superiority. I don't consider it inferior either, just problematic. I listen to CD, FLAC and mp3 and love it all.
As for Spector, his mental deterioration was already evident by the time he produced for the Beatles. They were fans who had the misfortune to meet one of their idols.
Increase the audio fidelity, increase the magic? This means that the magical quality of music is the same as, or dependent upon, audio fidelity?
DeleteNo, the magic of RECORDED music increases with better fidelity.
DeleteWe're talking about recorded music, aren't we? No caps needed. You're saying what I thought you were saying, so no "no" required, either.
Delete"The magic of (recorded) music increases with better fidelity."
So: increase the audio fidelity, increase the magic. This means that the magical quality of music is the same as, or dependent upon, audio fidelity.
I'm not throwing your words back at you, just clarifying a point of view. Audio fidelity is quantifiable; hi-i nuts love their numbers and measurable wavelengths. Magic is all about quality, not quantity. You can't measure the magic in (for instance, just one example) the first time I heard Good Vibrations. You could have measured the performance of that ear-piece, the standard of reception, any measured units of sound transmission. That's not where the magic is. Magic is quality, independent of quantity. And that's what's important, that's what it's all about.
The caps were there because I'm frustrated by the lack of italics or underline options in this interface.
DeleteI'm not claiming that the quality of the music increases with better playback quality. I'm saying that the experience improves. That's because music production is an artistic process in and of itself and part of the creation. Brian Wilson is a good example of someone whose reputation is built in part on his innovation in this area. Better playback aids in even more appreciation of that element of the final result.
BTW, I'm not rich or even affluent and have pretty modest gear. It's the best I can manage though, and I find the improvement to be very worthwhile.
I'm fighting a losing battle here. 90 plus percent of humanity agrees with you on this and it's beginning to feel like an ideological disagreement. There hasn't been any of that here in the U.S. recently so maybe I'm trying to keep those muscles in shape.
Yeah, lack of typographical intensifiers like italics means that I use capitalization CAN BE INTERPRETED AS YELLING.
DeleteThere's been a big change in how "we" listen; the Young People don't see a living room stereo as something they want to own, for the most part. My son has a turntable as a hipster display object, not as something to play music. Most of my listening is either headphones or car speakers, neither is audiophile.
When I digitize radio shows, I output them in flac from a wav file, but I'm no "flac snob." Convert 'em to 192, or play them through a tin-can telephone...who cares? So there's no "DO NOT CONVERT TO A LOSSY FORMAT UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH" line in my text files.
I aim toward the highest fidelity, but there's also budget. Do I really need a Japanese platinum SHM-CD of an album I'm going to play once every two years, when I'm 68 years old? Let's see...$158.95.... even if I live to 100, that works out to $2.50 every time I play it. Jeez...what's wrong with my SACD version that I have to buy it again?
I stand, pleat-free, with @psychfan on this.
DeleteIf "the magic" is a property of the music recording, we all agree it is there regardless of the playback apparatus used -- but one may be able to better appreciate the nuance and artistry that went into the actual recording and production of the music on two speakers rather than one, at the most basic level for example, and onwards from there (with ever diminishing returns of course; there ain't no magic to be squeezed from $1000 cables). Those sonic details may reveal even more (not necessarily "greater") magic in a recording to a listener than they may have been able to previously discern (similarly think of how other technologies of observations such as the microscope and telescope have furthered our ability to discern and appreciate the incredible rich tapestry of existence -- all of the magic was always already there but the mysteries continue to unfold unabated by our pursuit of them).
If "the magic" is purely phenomenological -- i.e. part of the experience of listening to the recorded music -- then it's a bit more complicated as that experience is always mediated by personal and cultural contexts. From that perspective, the magic -- as an experiential phenomenon -- of hearing "Good Vibrations" on a specific apparatus will invariably be shaped by the specific time and place of the event. Certainly hearing a fantastic song on the equipment of the day will trigger all the dopamine one might be able to process -- all the magic! Having grown up with a (very modest) stereo system, I would have experienced significantly less magic from hearing Good Vibrations on a transistor radio than I would likely experience on a stereo system since my sonic expectations had already been set to expect a certain level of fidelity. And so it goes. This is the way.
But it does make one wonder whether the lack of concern for audio fidelity is heavily correlated with the lack of concern for men's fashion. It seems like pleated pants dull one's senses?!?
p.s. FWIW remastering and better playback equipment has done nothing to improve "the magic" or my pleasure derived from listening to the poorly recorded music released on SST, Dischord, Slash, Twin Tone, etc. that changed my life -- if anything, increased clarity and separation has wrung some of the magic out of the recordings that used to have blunt force impact so I get the argument that better fidelity doesn't equal increased magic. For recordings with nuance and high production values like the Beach Boys however I can definitely see how one might derive pleasure from hearing details they didn't notice before, especially if that type of discovery is something that provides pleasure to them. For me, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't and sometimes it just plain ruins the listening experience.
DeleteI'm not advocating a race to the top. As draftervoi points out that means too much money for diminishing returns. Somewhere between three and five levels above rock bottom is a nice place to be. Also, I'm talking about many different types of music that benefit in conspicuous ways. Most 70's soul and funk LPs (for example) have really beautiful production.
DeleteI think we've reached a beautiful space - perhaps uniquely on the internet - where we all understand, and respect, where each of us is coming from. Points of view have been expressed without rancour or contumely, even without the benefit of italics. Or boldface. To sum up, then, if I may, what we're saying is: pleats are an elegant addition to the vocabulary of men's sartorial vernacular. Although we would defend, if not to the death, then to minor irritation, the right to not wear pleated pants, we do wholeheartedly approve of those who do.
DeleteWe should be proud that in such times of division we have arrived at such a balanced and just consensus. Proud of ourselves, and yes, proud to belong to the lively online community that is, or are, neither sounds right, th' Four Or Five Guys©. Pleat Pride, people!
Arggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteCurses, foiled again!!
Delete^MrDave
Delete... and a note to Psychfan: you've mentioned being a lone voice fighting a consensus a couple of times. I don't see it that way, and I'd be surprised if others did. There is no consensus here, just points of view which necessarily differ. Nobody is "wrong", except MrDave, who appreciates the lenience granted him here.
DeleteI'll riff on a couple of things Psychfan said....my youngest brother used to work for Pro-Audio, a local "high end" audiophile stereo and home theater emporium. They sold insane stuff; I'm still using a $300.00 set of AudioQuest cables he gave me for Christmas. He had a big theory: the history of music is the search for greater and greater fidelity, and it would never change. When I explained lossy formats to him, he predicted NO ONE would listen to them.
DeleteAnd now he drives around listening to MP3s. Yeah, at 320, but still. So, yeah, the lower resolution won out. It was "good enough." I'm still gonna work producing flac files of my radio shows, but I'm not gonna waggle my index finger at the end users and say "no no no don't convert to mp3!" Do whatever you want to, just listen to the music!
The other...is that the increase in fidelity, the improvement in recording techniques, the ability to reproduce sounds accurately... that had a huge impact on the artists and not if not the end users. A couple of examples...you don't get to the sound of the Beastie Boys without a huge improvement in recording low end frequencies. Similarly...could we have had disco without improvements in recording drums and bass? The less said about AutoTune, the better, but still...I may eventually get to sing that "epic rock ballad" I've been writing...
To some extent...I'm with PsychFan and my brother: people should listen to the highest quality reproduction possible! At the same time, a lot of my favorite records are sonic sh*t.
Like this: Green Fuz by Randy Alvey & the Green Fuz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxB3coEbli4
Mono. The drums are mush, there may be a bass but it's lost in the mix, the whole thing's a mess. "BUT I LOVE THIS RECORD," he yelled.
Would it have been better if Phil Spector had produced it?
Farq is correct to warn against hints of dogmatism. I delayed getting into mp3 because I assumed that they would sound awful. I should have remembered the first time I heard a high end cassette system in someone's van back in the mid 70's. Technology advances in lots of ways and I love listening to good music on mp3.
DeleteI also listen to 20's blues, lo-fi bootlegs, etc. My only point in all of this has been that, all other things being equal, good audio is more fun and satisfying to listen to than crappy audio. Your mileage may vary, though I don't really understand how.
(Again, not throwing your words back at you, zero antagonism or even opposition ...)
Delete"My only point in all of this has been that, all other things being equal, good audio is more fun and satisfying to listen to than crappy audio."
This is your only point, right? Well, and excuse me, duh! Who's saying it's not? Not me. (Incidentally, I don't listen to "crappy audio" and I doubt anyone else does, at least not out of choice. I know how to get great sound from mp3 played through cheap equipment.)
If it is your only point, then you really have missed mine, which you admit - "your mileage may vary, though I don't really understand how." Nobody's mileage is differing from yours. We're not "agreeing to disagree."
I don't want to repeat myself, it's all already up there, and even rewording it wouldn't help. Better audio is better audio is better audio is better audio. There's something else happening here, something more than "fun and satisfying". Something about quality (the magical nature of stuff) working independently of quantity (the technical measurement of stuff), and how Good Vibrations worked its undiminished magic through the worst (technically speaking) audio I ever heard. Shall we agree to agree?
Agreed that music is magic and that the magic was just as powerful on those tiny radios we all had. What's more, that level of technology was pretty magical itself. You know the rest so now it's me who won't repeat himself.
DeleteI was talking about All Things Must Pass about an hour ago with my wife. We were talking about the packaging and the 3-LPs. Was this the first "pop/rock" box? Was it the first 3-LP set?
ReplyDeleteYes, the jams were disposable, but the SIZE of this thing at the time...well, don't let any shrimp tell you that size doesn't matter.
It was the first three album set by an "act". The Woodstock triple preceded it.
DeleteI played the jams yesterday, and they soundtracked the domestic routine nicely. Better they exist than not, which you can't say of everything.
In terms of packaging...Woodstock was a three LP fold out affair, if i remember correctly. ATMP was a BOX. There weren't a lot of boxes... was it the first pop/rock act that was packaged in a box?
DeleteAnd yeah, the jams are not bad. If they hadn't been released, an obsessive collector like me would have paid a LOT of money up to the present day to buy a bootleg sourced from a multi-generation hissy cassette of the rare "Unreleased All Things Must Past Jams" (Numbered, limited edition) on Mid-Valley. I agree that they're better released than not. The record's reputation is huge, the inclusion of the 2nd rate jams doesn't sully the fact it was a big deal in the post-Beatles mythology.
But they're also not great jams, they're not INSPIRED jams where the live magic sparks like lightning like on the (one out of three) Grateful Dead jams. But for background music while I do the housework? Right up there with "Swastika Girls" by Fripp & Eno.
To this day...I remember the first time I heard "My Sweet Lord" on the radio, and the B-side "What Is Life," and how my "sort of" girlfriend (hey, I was 14 and not ready to commit...) Sharon Dickenson was deeply disturbed by the Hindu content in Harrison's records. (As a side note from over 50 years out, atheists should not date fundamentalists). :)
I know what a BOX is! I was replying to your question "was it the first 3-LP set?". I don't know the first pop/rock BOX set. But wait! I do! It was Donovan's A Gift From A Flower To A Garden!
DeleteYeah! That one! Wiki says "one of the first" which leaves a little wiggle room in case someone thinks of something earlier, but for me that was the first one. In a rack at Mortenson's Drug Store in the Encina Grande Shopping Center...I am transported through time to that moment. It was adjacent to that first Quicksilver LP... Mortenson just jumbled the pop in rock albums in a three bins in no particular order.
DeleteWiki also claims the Donovan box included "one disc of acoustic and electric soul music." Really. Donovan. "Soul music?" Hey, he could have been Dusty by a year and done "Donovan In Memphis."
Hey, he could have "BEAT" Dusty by a year and done "Donovan In Memphis. Thank you, Spell Chunk. :)
DeleteWhen I was in 7th grade (1965?), I snuck me cheesy "pocket" transistor radio to school so I could listen to the cool top 40 tunes on my walk home. At home, I had a clock-radio with a massive 3 or 4 inch speaker! HiFi in the day!
ReplyDeleteMy dad, and maybe yours, had a Crystal Set as a kid. This technology was truly spooky. Cat's whisker?
DeleteWhen I was about 15 years old, I made two crystal-radios myself, two earphones - it's kinda fake stereo effect! lol No need of batteries. I listened to Far East Network (I was in Japan back then) Ultimate Lo-Fi. But music was magical.
DeleteI remember a crystal radio that u clipped to a lamp (for an antenna?) Couldn't really tune & had that damn ear piece & no fidelity. Dad probably got it for me. He was in radio corp. in WWII.
ReplyDeleteMy grandpa, who used a hearing aid, would unplug the earpiece and feed his transistor radio up to his ear and listen to the ball games, and smile while we visited with grandma. I later had a transistor radio I would take to the beach. Technology moved slower in those days.
ReplyDeletesteVe
DeleteAlso- had a neighbor that said he had built crystal sets for his family, but later, after moving to the desert, that the crystal sets broke due to the heat or dryness.
ReplyDeletesteVe
notBob - Had to laugh. Upon first reading I thought you said "clipped to a lamb".
DeleteIt may have worked better with a lamb...
Delete"The Grumpy One" had an awesome, wry sense of humor. C'mon! "this Song" is a giant middle finger to the music industry in general, and Allen Klein in particular, and the video is great
ReplyDeleteExcellent video!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0i9rjTxhpY
Turns out it was directed by him, too. The wiki page is well worth a read:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Song
Best thing about that video has to be Ronnie Wood in drag. So fetching.....
DeleteThanks for the PBTHAL rip! At least the Grumpy One wrote some songs that were a bit humorous.. Paulie was the same way for a time--to wit: "Girl's School which consisted of porno movie titles, but that goes back aways as well.. The Spector produced albums of "Plastic Ono Band" and "All Things Must Pass" couldn't be any more stark and pretty much at the same time..
ReplyDelete"Unburdened by what has Been" just didn't have the same ring to it, either.'
ReplyDelete'.'
excellent
Delete