I have more posts to publish, but a couple of things have come up, including a surprise bit of correspondence from somebody who I have featured prominently here. I’d like to say more, but I don’t know yet what direction this exchange will take, so for now the prudent thing for me to do is remain silent.
P.S. (24-hours later): Now it can be told. The mystery correspondent is none other than the stunning PRUDENCE BURY herself. I kid thee not. Prue has some things she would like to say, as you will soon see for yourself.
I bought The Beatles CD’s when they were released over twenty years ago, but I’ve never much cared for the sound of them. I greatly prefer the British Parlophone LP pressings done by Garrod & Lofthouse, that I collected in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
The first taste of the potential improvement in audio quality was, ironically, the release by Capitol of the American versions of the Beatles records on CD. Later, Love came out, with a further promise of future sonic delight. Which is why I’m pleased that the Beatles catalog has been remastered, and is slated for release on 09/09/09 — the day before my birthday. Once again, as I like to do whenever I talk about the Beatles studio recordings, I recommend to you the brilliantly conceived and superbly realized book, RTB: Recording the Beatles, by Brian Kehew and Kevin Ryan.
Details about the coming CD releases are available on BeatlesNews.com. I am, however, slightly concerned by this comment.
Finally, as is common with today’s music, overall limiting — to increase the volume level of the CD — has been used, but on the stereo versions only.
As I’ve discussed a couple of times before, to cater to the portable music crowd, popular music today is highly compressed. I think CD audio should be kept as close to the original recording as possible, without additional compression. Leveling out the loudness levels for the iPod generation should be done when conversion to lossy compression is done, and not before.
As an example of just how different a recording can sound, depending on the source and equalization, I’ll provide a couple of versions of the Beatles’ first EMI single, ‘Love Me Do’.
This recording was ripped at 192 Kbps from the Beatles Compact Disc EP Collection.
Both of those recordings feature Andy White on drums, with Ringo relegated to tambourine. Ringo on drums can be heard in this somewhat muffled sounding recording.
Most of the Parlophone LP’s I have were bought at a long defunct shop in Amherst, MA called Backroom Records. I spent many happy hours in that store, scouring the import and used bins. Buying compact discs never held the same gleeful delight for me, which I guess means I’m showing my age.
The demise of the record store as an entity, and the lamenting of the loss of same by owners and customers alike, is the subject of a documentary called I Need That Record, by Brendan Toller, who is a mere 22 years old. I heard about it last week on WBUR in Boston.
One of the faces seen in that video clip is Mike Dreese, co-founder of Newbury Comics, the granddaddy of Boston record stores, which began as a comic book shop. I happen to have a couple of Newbury commercials, shown during Star Trek re-runs on UHF TV in the 80’s, at the dawn of the CD age.
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Another name associated with Newbury Comics is that of Boston rock/punk scene legend Kathei Logue (yes, “Kathei” is the spelling). I made this video a few years ago to show to Kat, who I had hung out with when I was in high school and she was living with a guy in my town. That was before the days of Punk. Before the days of Disco, even!
Alan Livingston with The Beatles at the Plaza Hotel, NYC, February 7, 1964
Alan Livingston died a couple of days ago. He was with Capitol Records on-and-off over a period of twenty years, and he happened to be its president when The Beatles were tossed in his lap by EMI, which had bought Capitol in 1955. Many news sources have stated that Livingston signed the Beatles, but that’s simply not correct. The man who best knows the American side of the Beatles saga is Bruce Spizer, and at this link he explains Livingston’s role in their story. The band that Livingston really deserves credit for signing is the Beach Boys.
Hey, who played the yeoman with Dr. McCoy? The one in the ultra mini skirt who meets Don Juan on the planet where your wishes come true!
Good question, Denny! That’s Emily Banks. There’s a little something about Emily at this link. She seems to have dropped out of the TV acting scene in the mid-80’s. Emily appeared in an episode of Dragnet 1970, as an English teacher at a junior college which, thanks to Netflix Watch Instantly, I was able to watch instantly.
And following a train of thought, the Pink Floyd song “See Emily Play” was produced by Norman “Hurricane” Smith, after he left his position as EMI recording engineer for The Beatles.
As I pointed out before, Davy Jones, of the pre-fab four band The Monkees, was on The Ed Sullivan Show the very same night that The Beatles first appeared. You’ll find him on the video player as the Artful Dodger in “Oliver!”, followed by a bit of “Making the Monkees,” recently shown on the Smithsonian Channel. Last year I highlighted Jack Nicholson’s involvement in the making of the Monkees movie “Head.”
Back at this link I showed the comedy duo Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall on the Ed Sullivan show, stuck with the unenviable task of being the lead-in act to The Beatles. I’ll plop it here again, for your viewing convenience.
Earlier I said there are two connections to Star Trek in the video. One of them is Sally Kellerman, who did the voiceover for the Pillsbury cake commercial. Kellerman was in the second Trek pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, which I think is, for a sci-fi/comics fan, one of the best hours of TV ever made.
The second Trek connection is Charlie Brill himself, who appeared as a Klingon agent in one of the most popular of all episodes, “The Trouble With Tribbles”.
