The Monkees: The Monkees (1966) MONO Vintage Colgems LP Transfer

Here it is, the Monkees terrific debut album in it's original MONO format, straight from a vintage Colgems vinyl pressing. Sure, the Monkees didn't do much more than sing on this record, but Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, the producers and writers behind the vast majority of the tunes on this record made sure that the music was concise, catchy and played by top notch session musicians who weren't just there to phone it in and get their check. The instrumental tracks are full of razor-edged jangly guitars, wild drums and just the right amount of psychedelia and fuzz sprinkled throughout. And you can't forget to include the fantastic vocal performances from Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones. The result is a dizzying cocktail of bubblegum, garage rock and pop balladry that gave the group major chart and commercial success.

Ripped to HQ .mp3 @ 320vbr using EAC's .WAV editor and dbpoweramp w/ LAME 3.97. Flat transfers, no pop removal, surface noise reduction or EQ changes.

Get the album HERE

Enjoy!

-Casey

The Monkees: "More Of The Monkees" & "Headquarters" in MONO Vintage Vinyl Rips

It's been a while since I've done a podcast so I thought I'd share something in the meantime. I recently ripped to mp3 my vintage vinyl copies of the Monkees 2nd and 3rd albums More of The Monkees and Headquarters, respectively. Both albums here are presented in their original and superior mono mixes. More of The Monkees in particular sounds miles better than my remastered CD copy, Jeff Barry's crisp pop production really comes to life on these vintage vinyl pressings in ways CDs can't quite replicate . Chip Douglas's production on Headquarters was never that great to begin with but the sound of the original vinyl pressing is significantly less dulled down than the CD reissues. However, Douglas's production would improve tenfold on the Monkees next album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd., which is generally considered to be among the best Monkees LPs.

Ripped to HQ .mp3 @ 320vbr using EAC's .WAV editor and dbpoweramp w/ LAME 3.97. Flat transfers, no pop removal, surface noise reduction or EQ changes.

Get the More of the Monkees HERE

Get Headquarters HERE

Enjoy!

-Casey

The Way Podcast: Paul Revere & The Raiders "Revolution", The Rainy Daze "That Acapulco Gold"

On tonight's show, get your kicks from Bubblegum Proto-Punks Paul Revere & the Raiders. I played tracks from their excellent 1967 LP Revolution! where they were once again teamed up with producer Terry Melcher who gave the band a muscular but crystal clear sound. I also played songs from Denver Soulful/Psych Garage Rock outfit The Rainy Daze's one and only LP That Acapulco Gold. The link to stream the podcast is below the pics. Enjoy!

THE WAY 11/19/2012

The Way 11/8/2012: Every Mother's Son Back Vinyl, The Cyrkle "The Minx" OST

On tonights show I played my vinyl copy of Every Mother's Son's 2nd and final LP called Every Mother's Son's Back, which came out just six months after their first LP was released in early 1967. I played the entire album after showcasing a few tunes from their excellent bubblegum debut. Technical glitches around the 11 to 12 minute marks didnt allow me to play the first 2 tracks from Back so I used my .mp3 copies for those two tracks before I could get the turntables working again. But the sound quality is just as good and I was able to play the rest of the album from my vintage vinyl copy after the turntable fiasco (probably a bum cartridge).

After EMS I played select tracks from the Cyrkle's soundtrack to the X-rated 1969 film "The Minx". The album essentially constitutes as the 3rd Cyrkle LP after Red Rubber Ball and Neon. The soundtrack is performed and written entirely by the group and their trademark mellow soft-pop/psych sound remains very much intact. Links to stream or download the podcast are below the pictures, enjoy!

THE WAY 11/8/2012

Tommy Roe: Phantasy (1967) Original ABC Mono Vinyl

After the success of his early pop-rock singles like "Sweet Pea", "Sheila" and "Hooray For Hazel", Tommy Roe felt like doing some a bit more...adventurous, so he teamed up with the Our Productions crew and recorded two psychedelic bubblegum classics in 1967. Who were the Our Productions crew?  Simply put, they were wheeler -and-dealer Steve Clark's music production company, that could be hired by any record label to record an artist. This differed from the more typical approach to production, where labels would usually have an assemblage of staff producers under contract to record music specifically for that label. In '65/'66 Steve Clark, who really was more of a businessman than anything, tapped the then relatively unknown Curt Boettcher to be the "in house" producer for Our Productions. Rounding out the company were some of Curt's cohorts, including song-writer Sandy Salisbury and session musicians and Jim Bell, Ben Benay, Toxie French, Michele O'Malley, Dotti Holmberg and Lee Mallory, who all went on to record on Curt's other projects like the Ballroom, the Millennium and Sagittarius.

Curt was first teamed up with Tommy Roe on the chilly '67 psych-pop record It's Now Winter's Day, which was Roe's first foray in to more experimental territory, spearheaded mostly by Boettcher's wildy unorthodox production. The album's title track was a minor hit, but didn't quite compare chart wise to Roe's previous singles. Nevertheless, the album sold relatively well and ABC had to have been at least somewhat pleased with the performance of the single, so Our Productions were tapped once again to record the follow up LP. There were problems though, according to certain sources, there was something in Curt Boettcher's contract with OP that basically did not allow him to receive royalties and even credit for his work as producer (the production credit for It's Now Winters Day, while actually produced by Boettcher, was given to Steve Clark). Not surprisingly, Boettcher and Clark parted ways after the release of Winters Day and it was the last time Curt would record for Clark's company. 

So who would produce the follow up record? Steve Clark of course, presumably with more than a little help from some talented engineers (Gary Paxton maybe?). Luckily though, the session musicians Curt used on the Winters Day record came back to record on this album. And oddly enough, as strong an album as Winters Day was, Phantasy ended up being the best of the two albums. Curt's heavy emphasis on psychedelia and studio trickery employed on Winter's sounded very unique and often quite good, but at times clashed awkwardly with Roe's straight ahead bubblegum melodies and song structures.

On Phantasy, Clark gives Roe's crystal clear sugary melodies more room to breathe, unlike on Winter's Day, where they were often buried underneath Boettcher's relentless percussion and intense multi-layered and intricate harmony vocals. Most of the material here is written by Roe, the exception being the two extraordinarily sweet and bouncy bubblegum numbers "Goodbye Yesterday" and "These Are The Children", which were written by the aforementioned Sandy Salisbury. Roe's songs range from the sun-kissed and introspective on "Visions", to the flower-poppy and beatles-esque on songs like the leadoff track "Paisley Dreams" which comes complete with a full orchestral treatment, sitar runs and spacey harmonies. "Plastic World", a statement on the "phoniness" of modern society, strikes a perfect balance between the power-bubblegum Roe was soon to be known for and the arty experimentation that was in vogue at the time, showcasing found sounds and dramatic tempo changes between verse and chorus. Roe also delivers some material reminiscent of his early teeny-bopper rock 'n' roll with songs like "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Mystic Magic", albeit with a dash more of sugar and perhaps a bit of marijuana smoke thrown in for good measure. "The You I Need" may be the highlight of the record though, as Roe delivers one his most earnest vocals ever along with one of the most sublime melodies he ever penned on this uptempo baroque-bubblegum charmer.

Unfortunately, and somewhat suprisingly, this album tanked completely when it came to chart action, as no singles charted and the album itself went almost unnoticed by the public and music industry. Roe wasn't out of action for too long though, as two years later he would release the smash hit "Dizzy" that came to define him as one of bubblegum's most successful artists.

This record was given a bootleg treatment by Fallout Records a few years ago, their CD version is an obvious needle-drop that had the life sucked out of it in the mastering process. The songs here are also available on Rev-Ola's compilation called Paisley Dreams (which I recommend you purchase if you like my upload), which also includes tracks from the Winters Day album. But as far as I know this record has never been re-issued in it's original mono format. So, I present to you my personal vinyl rip, flat transferred from an original MONO vinyl copy with zero EQing and zero pop removal. I've never heard Rev-Ola's compilation so I'm not sure whether the sound on that is any good, but I can definitely say that my rip blows Fallout's out of water. This is the best way to listen to this record. Ripped using EAC's .WAV editor and converted into high quality 256 kb/s .mp3's. Download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?0gi3ykzka8q236x

Enjoy.

-Casey

Cherry People: Cherry People (1968) Original Heritage Records Stereo Vinyl Transfer

Despite the dark and trippy album cover, this record is East Coast sunshine pop at it's cheeriest, verging in on bubblegum territory at times even. Cherry People were a psychedelic-rock band from the DC area and were considered a reputable live act, known for their intense, guitar heavy sound. But you wouldn't know it having listened to their album. They were signed to legendary producer Jerry Ross's label Heritage Records, a subsidiary of MGM, and set about recording their debut album under the guidance of their producer Ron Haffkine. Apparently Haffkine and the execs at Heritage weren't interested in letting the Cherry People unleash their acid rock sound on the world. I'm guessing that Heritage, particularly Jerry Ross, were looking for a semi-established psychedelic act they could convince to record some tunes they had published and that they wanted to release, potentially as singles material, that they could market to a "hipper" audience.

One song they did manage to get the Cherry People to record was the Left Banke composition "And Suddenly", a swingin' pop song that managed to break the Billboard top 50 in early '68. It's a very upbeat tune, with a really ornate instrumental blend featuring a string section, organs galore, big vocal harmonies, pretty much all the bells & whistles (literally, there are bells and whistles on this track). Great song. Somewhere along the line Cherry People decided they weren't gonna play ball with Haffkine and record the pop and radio-oriented material that was presented to them and there must have been some confrontation between the two parties, as the band were basically kicked out of the studio and studio musicians were brought in to play all the instrumental parts on the album. Is this a good thing? In my opinion, yes. I love the studio sound of the 60s and this album is chock full of that sound.

The album's sound is pretty similar to what we heard on "And Suddenly", lots of orchestral flourishes and neat studio tricks that give these simple, cheery bubblegummy songs alot more depth. There are some psychedelic moments as well, particularly on the band penned track "Imagination". It's a barely two minute piece of dazzling psych-pop, with great orchestral work and tripped out vocal effects, one of the best songs on the record. Another band penned tune "I'm The One Who Loves You" is also a highlight, with a tight, grooving chorus, all kinds of audio treats and a cool disco-y string section. "Mr. Hyde" is another good one, really nice flute section on the intro and tons of high Harpers Bizarre-esque harmonies throughout song. Also on the album is a really cool cover of Tommy James' funky-soul bubblegum number "Do Something To Me."  The majority of the tunes are pretty lightweight, lyrically and musically, but the inventive production and top notch studio musicians keep things interesting. I'd say theres definitely a resemblance to early Cowsill's and alot of Jerry Ross's productions like Spanky and our Gang and Keith, as it's got that very "east coast" pop vibe, distinctly different from the sunshine pop that was coming out of L.A., with more of an emphasis on bubblegum than on psychedelia.

I believe this album was reissued by Collectables, who usually do a pretty mediocre job at remastering and reissuing in general, and the disc hasn't really been in print since the 1990s. So, I present to you my rip of an original near mint copy of the LP. Ripped using EAC's .WAV editor and converted down to 320vbr using LAME 3.97. Really nice sounding stereo copy, no EQing, no pop removal just a flat transfer from vinyl to mp3.  Enjoy! http://www.mediafire.com/?0vzdmubwopx2b7i

-Casey

Marshmallow Way: Marshmallow Way (1969) Original United Artists Vinyl Transfer

Marshmallow Way was a "band" I know very little about, aside from the fact that they released a really fun bubblegum-psych LP on United Artists records in 1969. What I can tell you is that the band was essentially a front for the songwriting and production duo of Billy Carl and Reid Whitelaw. Who were they? Well, all I really know is that they were briefly part of the infamous bubblegum pop empire known as Kasenetz and Katz (aka Super K). K&K basically had a hand in almost every bubblegum single and LP released in the late 60s outside of the Archies and Tommy Roe, they produced all the Ohio Express, the Music Explosion and 1910 Fruitgum Co. stuff and even had a project of their own, the Kasenetz and Katz Super Circus.

Carl and Whitelaw had written a hit single for the 1910 Fruitgum Co. in '68 called "Goody Goody Gumdrops", a prototypical bubblegum song released on the Buddah label that reached #37 on the Billboard Hot 100. Somewhere down the line Carl and Whitelaw must have wanted their own project, but Super K weren't interested so the two parted ways. Carl and Whitelaw eventually landed a deal with United Artists and released this album in 1969.

In terms of the actual sound, this album is similar to the kind of material 1910 Fruitgum was putting out at the time, but this Marshmallow Way LP seems to have an air of sophistication that the Fruitgum Co. didn't. Where the Fruitgum Co.'s songs were impossibly simple boogie-ing bubblegum tunes, Carl and Whitelaw seemed to be striving for smart, studio crafted pop, with tighter harmonies, more dense and even exotic instrumentation and percussion. There's plenty of organ, silly lyrics, handclaps and punchy drumming commonly found on bubblegum records of the era, but theres also vibraphone, marimbas, organ, congas and some nice jangly electric 12 string found on several of the songs on this record. The vocal harmonies seem to also possess a complexion that wasn't often found on your standard Super K release but was more typical of sunshine pop bands like the Turtles. But make no mistake, at it's core, this album is pure, chewy bubblegum, it's just dressed up nicer. This record also shows a consistency from song to song that was lacking on most bubblegum LPs as bubblegum was almost entirely a singles based genre.

Highlights from this 12 song album include the blissful and super jangly "Good Day", the sugary, chug-a-lug rocker "Sweet Thing", the wistful "Romeo and Juliet" and the proto Power Popper "Come On Kitty". But there really isn't a dud track on record, just fun, sunny pop music.

This album has never been reissued on CD, and I really doubt that it ever will be. Original LPs are hard to track down but I bought one a few years ago and transferred it to mp3 using EAC's .WAV editor. Ripped in 256 kb/s. There are a couple of different vinyl rips around on the web of this record, but mine is definitely the superior sounding rip, as my copy of the album is essentially mint. No EQing or pop-removal, just straight from vinyl to mp3. Download here: http://www.mediafire.com/?0xuqe1h5v7kd8vs

-Casey

Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart: It's All Happening On the Inside (1969) Original A&M Records Vinyl Transfer

Conceptual bubblegum? Is there such a thing? Well, I guess Kasenetz and Katz tried to pull it off a couple times with mixed results but Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, hit makers for the Monkees and who had a hit record of their own a few years earlier with "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite", give it a go here with good results. Boyce and Hart, while known for their single material were actually quite adept at assembling a cohesive album, as all three of their LPs have a distinct and quick flow, leaving very little space between tracks giving the impression that many of the songs flowed together, when in fact, much of the time they really didn't (the exception being this record, as this album has a real concept and theme). Their material was often a balancing act of bubblegum pop and trippy studio creations, and that is certainly the case on their last LP It's All Happening On the Inside, released in 1969 on A&M records.

The album starts off with "Prelude" some phased-out old timey carnival sounds and some carny announcing "Step right up! It's all happening on the inside!", when all of a sudden the album takes off on a rollicking ride of soul inflected bubblegum, complete with faux crowd noise and gospel singers. The albums quickly quiets down with the next two tracks "Change" and "Maybe Somebody Heard". These two sugary soul ballads flow seamlessly together, its tough to even distinguish when one track ends and another begins. At the end of "Maybe..." Bobby Hart goes on some LSD induced preacher rant, while the studio sound effects swirl around him he declares "If we could just all just hit the same cosmic chord!..." or some such nonsense. And then in a burst of even more studio effects the title track that was hinted at in the "Prelude" comes rushing out at full force, an extremely catchy slice of soulful, bubblegum with a delightful, fat piano track. The first side concludes with a Moby Grape-esque psych jam written by the backing band called "Abracadabra" which segues into a completely unnecessary but kinda cool version "Jumpin' Jack Flash" done in the same pseudo psychedelic-soul fashion as the rest of the tracks on the first side. The first side of this record is definitely something you could call a 'song suite', with the tracks all sharing lyrical and musical similarities and flowing together with impressive ease. Very fun listening experience.

Side 2 is less conceptual, with a lack of the soul accents that dominated the first side, instead focusing on headier psychedelic material. But the flow among songs still exsists on this side of the record. "We're All Going To the Same Place" is haunting harmony number, with lyrics ruminating on the inevitability of death. Pretty heavy for a supposed bubblegum act. "Strawberry Girl" is a fuzzed out acid-pop tune, with a searing guitar solo and big harmony vocals accompanying the hooky chorus. "Thanks for Sunday" is another great fuzzy bubblegum number, pretty reminiscent of the Strawberry Alarm Clock's trippier material. The record ends with another dose of bubblegum soul, an acidic take on the Holland-Dozier-Holland classic "Standing in the Shadows of Love", Boyce and Hart's version includes another blaring fuzz guitar solo and emphasizes the epic, haunting background vocals. The song abruptly segues into the closing number, "Alice Long", a return to the bouncy bubblegum that Boyce and Hart were known for, a relentlessy catchy vocal hook propelled by stomping drums, handclaps and a thick, punchy brass section.

Really cool album, better than their second album Test Patterns and definitely on par with their awesome debut I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite?. The production is crisp and interesting, utilizing studio trickery and psychedelic sound effects efficiently and concisely. Boyce and Hart's vocals are great, as are their harmony parts. This album has not been re-issued on CD in it's original format, but some of the songs have been included on various 'greatest hits packages'. So, I'm presenting here a complete vinyl rip of the entire album. I did not seperate the tracks individually, instead just ripping two tracks, side 1 and side 2, as this record is most definitely intended to be listened to from start to finish. The vinyl copy I used was not exactly perfect as there are some moments where surface noise is audible, but in terms of actual audio quality this is best sounding rip of these songs I've heard. Ripped by EAC .WAV editor and converted into 320vbr using dbpoweramp with LAME 3.97. Enjoy: http://www.mediafire.com/?551w1n837jq62tc


-Casey

P.S. Listen to my podcast @ http://kpsu.org/ at 5pm Pacific Standard time 17:00 GMT, tomorrow, Thursday the 15th for more Boyce & Hart on original vinyl!