Category: Music

Take a Sad Film and Make it Better

Ah, 1968. A unique, transitional year in popular music, with some of the best-ever Adult Contemporary records.

Like this one…

… and this one, from later that year.

To me, the piano opening of the second song seems to owe something to the start of the first song. Also, take notice of the picture quality of the Beatles video. England’s PAL television system had significantly better detail than America’s NTSC system.

The big Beatles news today is that Peter Jackson’s re-imagined and extended cut of ‘Let It Be’ will be out later this year, and it’s rumored to have a more balanced and happier view of the band in its final year. The announcement coming from Disney has me recalling the early Beatles song ‘Do You Want to Know a Secret’, that John Lennon said was inspired by a line in Walt Disney’s first cartoon feature, ‘Snow White’.

Fake Out

From that most glorious period of recorded music, 1967-’68.

In stereo…

… and in mono.

The same recording, different mixes, both superbly realized, each one with its own unique sound. The ending seems to owe something to ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. “I buried Paul…Simon.” 😉

Got Dem Old Audio Blues

When the Robert Johnson CD set came out in 1990 I bought it immediately for myself, but then promptly gave the set to my best buddy. Why? Because the sound was awful, and I knew it wouldn’t matter to him as much as it did to me.

I wasn’t expecting miracles from those old records, but it was apparent to me that the engineers did an unforgivably lousy job. The proof is heard in the remastered 2011 Centennial Collection, and it takes only a few seconds to hear the difference.