Master Tape of Unreleased Van Morrison 1975 Studio Album [Only $10K!]

Discussion in 'Third Party Sales & Auctions' started by aficionaudio, May 3, 2018.

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  1. aficionaudio

    aficionaudio Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Holland, MI
    The origins of this tape are best explained by the accompanying letter of authenticity from record producer Sunny Levine:

    “In the fall of 1975 Stewart Levine (my father) began work on an album with Van Morrison (then signed to Warner Bros. Records). Levine assembled a stellar cast of musicians to play on the record and they spent two weeks recording at the legendary Record Plant studios in Sausalito, California.

    Levine, Morrison and the thoughtfully casted band got along great and the sessions were a joyful experience. Morrison was very relaxed and sounds extra soulful as you can hear on the tape. The whole tracking experience was a pleasure with no drama in sight.

    They went away for a week and planned to put the finishing touches on the record, which would have been the Tower of Power horns, followed by mixing. When they returned to the studio, Morrison and Levine had an argument that abruptly ended the sessions and that was that! The record was never released…

    I have had this tape since we packed up my childhood home 20 years ago. I had it transferred to digital at the Bernie Grundman mastering facility. It is the only known evidence of these recordings.

    Personel:
    Joe Sample - Piano, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer
    Jim Gordon - Drums
    Ed Brown - Bass
    Mel Brown - Guitar
    Arthur Adams - Guitar


    I hereby declare this tape to be authentic, one of a kind and not a copy.
    (Signed) Sunny Levine

    ***********

    A high quality digital transfer of the tape is included. This tape is sold as a collectible only, for the buyer’s personal use. Copyright remains with original rights holders; no transfer of rights of any kind are implied or included.

    Van Morrison – Master Tape of Unreleased 1975 Studio Album (9 Completely Uncirculated Studio Tracks)

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
    Dave, melstapler, tmtomh and 3 others like this.
  2. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member

    Location:
    Michigan
    WowZ
     
    kronning likes this.
  3. aficionaudio

    aficionaudio Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Holland, MI
    PRICE DROP:

    The tapes are now just $7,500. :laugh:
     
  4. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    7.5 IPS? Not a master tape.
     
    tmtomh likes this.
  5. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    It's also a 1/2-track.

    Most likely a rough mix.
     
    melstapler and tmtomh like this.
  6. tmtomh

    tmtomh Forum Resident

    And let's hope the digital transfer was done with properly calibrated Dolby decoding.
     
  7. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    The tape box suggests Dolby was not used.
     
  8. signothetimes53

    signothetimes53 Senior Member

  9. 56GoldTop

    56GoldTop Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nowhere, Ok
    If I was Mr. Morrison, I might have something to say about this.
     
  10. joshbg2k

    joshbg2k Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    If a private citizen bought this, could he/she legally have listening parties where entrants pay a fee to hear it?
     
    melstapler likes this.
  11. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    I think that comes under "Public Performance" and no.
     
  12. joshbg2k

    joshbg2k Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    I'm just trying to come up with some reasons why I need to buy this.
     
  13. Mssisem

    Mssisem Forum Resident

  14. melstapler

    melstapler Reissue Activist

    Hard to say, but Van probably wouldn't allow these to be officially released in any form. What a shame.
     
  15. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    If you buy this, you are in a catch-22 situation: You legally own the tapes. The rights holders (Van Morrison and/or Reprise Records) controls the rights to release this material. If you can't come to terms, neither party can unilaterally do anything with this material.

    If Van has legal say-so over this material, it's not coming out. If Reprise has the legal say-so, you might be able to arrange a deal for the tapes.

    THAT SAID, the fact that A) They are 7.5ips and B) no one bought them at $10k suggests that there's another copy of this material somewhere, probably at 15ips.
     
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