Category: Music

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-47747351

“A band who secured success in the United States… was only a one-hit-wonder in the UK.”

Talk about damning with faint praise! I just don’t get what Britain doesn’t get about the Zombies. For that, the UK deserves the painful hard Brexit that now seems to be inevitable! The very reasonably priced “Zombie Heaven” is the collection to get. I love LP, but CD is still the best audio format.

Hal Blaine, the keeper of the beat at the heart of the Wrecking Crew of studio musicians, has passed away. Hailing from Holyoke, Massachusetts, the irrepressible Blaine’s drumming can be heard on an uncountable number of recordings, including these favorites.

All three records were produced at the now-defunct Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles. There it is, the glamorous home of the enormous Wall of Sound, around the corner on the left.

A fantastic too-short newsreel from 1964, featuring the Rolling Stones.

I’ve been listening to, and blown away by, a 96 kHz/24-bit download of The Rolling Stones in Mono. Some detailed background information on the technical work that went into mastering the set is at this link.

With Peter Tork gone, Mike Nesmith and Micky Dolenz are the two remaining Monkees, and I will be seeing them tonight at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. Andrew Sandoval, everybody’s friend in 60’s Production Pop music, is managing the tour.