Another "Worst Recording Of All Time" thread...

I think that the worst album I have heard would have to be the live "Earthbound" by King Crimson. Recorded on a cassette recorder in 1972 (and let me tell you, it wasn't a Nakamichi!) So bad that Atlantic refused to release it in the USA. Great performance, however.

 

Grant, for an even larger slice of Joe, try Joe Meek- The Alchemist of Pop on the Castle label. 56 tracks, including Emile Ford, Mike Berrys-Tribute to Buddy Holly, Tornados, John Leyton, and the hard to find US 45 version of the Honeycombs-I Can't Stop. Sonically, terrible, he recorded the stuff in his small apartment flat, but a lot of the music is fantastic!

PapaJay

 

Here is the link for Joe Meek's original demo for "Telstar". Check out his "out of this world" singing...

http://www.audiodrome.net/TelstarDemo.mp3

 

I notice the SHAG music doesn't have super fidelity either. My vote for poor recording of a great song would be, "Give Me Just A Little More Time" by Chairmen Of The Board. Of course I haven't heard too many different recordings other than an off brand Shag comp CD and Time/Life.

 

dough1981, you're hearing the stereo mixes of the Invictus hits. Some were good--by 1971, they began to get some of them right--but, overall, having been run by H-D-H on the sly, the stereo mixes were often just lousy--the isolated drum on Freda Payne's "Band Of Gold," a classic example of stereo as an afterthought(at the time, Invictus was distributed by Capitol, and apparently that label wanted stereo, which they got, at the price of diluting the power of the 45s). "Give Me Just A Little More Time" even briefly goes mono before the horns come back near the end. Remember the Invictus 45s used to say something like "Recorded and mixed for best sound on the air," or some such, which I took to mean the stock singles replicated the AM 'hot' mixes they went after(being from Motown, why wouldn't they?)and which, of course, were used for the DJ copies, too. On my wish list is a H-D-H 2-CD set(ala the PIR LOVE TRAIN UK comp)except all mono 45 mixes, just for those who forgot how hot those hits really were. Some of the H-D-H stereo is okay, of course, but they really put much more work into the 45's(also right out of the Motown playbook)and I don't remember stereo for any of them until the label went to CBS distribution(which was brief--folded not long after). The individual acts' comps I have were all issued either by Fantasy(under the H-D-H banner)here, or by Demon in the UK. Usually, they opted for stereo except for predictable things like 8th Day's "She's Not Just Another Woman"(which is actually hard to find in stereo but good fun, except the extra horn overdub is intrusive, either lost or buried on the mono 45).
Like a fool, I always live in hope. But I wouldn't categorize "Give Me" or most of the H-D-H stuff as sounding 'bad'; guys from Motown simply took what they helped create and went with it on their own. The flaws aren't that hard to live with.

ED

 

It may not be anywhere near audiophlia, but the original Capitol 45 on my first Zenith stereo phonograph back in '72 really had that certain charm.

 

Ed,

Interesting post. I have a promo 45 of Give Me Just A Little More Time Mono/Stereo that sounds "hot" on both mixes. As I recall the Stereo mix is quite narrow - great song!

Bob

 

The most poorly recorded B side of all could be "I Don't Care Anymore", George Harrison's flip side of the "Dark Horse" single.

Bad recording and his voice was in bad shape as well. Shame.

 

Wow! Just like Pavarotti! Such purity of tone ...

 

Steve, I'm not putting him down at all, but isn't this version a great record in it's own right? I just smile every time I hear it. The Man... The Marvel... The Meek shall inherit the Earth...

 

Really? I've always wondered why "Give Me Just A Little More Time" sounds like it does. During the verses the drums drop out of the track and come back during the chorus and instrumental break. Another record that has that kind of odd stereo/mono mix is "Judy In Disguise".

 

Ed,
Thanks for the excellent history. I had no idea. I agree the flaws aren't that hard to live with, but I guess I hoped it was just the copies I had heard that made me think the recordings were bad. I just hate to have such great music have to fight its way through the recording to come out. "Give Me" is one of my favorite songs!!
Doug

 

Jeff,

Sorry my post was not more clear. On my promo 45, one side is Mono and the other side is Stereo - a very narrow Stereo mix, at that.

Regards,

Bob

 

Great H-D-H thread here! Another thing about Invictus/Hot Wax was that certain songs had mono/stereo Dj promos, others had mono/mono, and even some B-sides were issued to test the waters, without the hits that eventually cracked the charts(I believe London tried this occasionally in the '60s over here; I 've seen a few Marianne Faithfull's listed with B's as the double side. Can't imagine why, but who could ever figure out record companies?

ED

 

Worst sounding record in my collection was "Split end"
by The Move. Terrible muddy distorted mess.
WVK

 

It was quite common for DJ copies to have the same song on both sides, presumably to make sure the DJ didn't play the wrong side by mistake. Before stereo FM caught on they were mono on both sides, sometimes the same version, sometimes different edits.

 

Rolling Stones "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby"--even on the new remasters, it sounds freakish and congested.

The Troggs "Love Is All Around"--great song, lousy recording.

The Animals "Sky Pilot" "San Francisco Nights" and "Monterey"

 

Have You See Your Mother Baby sounds so bad I can't listen too it. The vocals are just TOO shrill. Never heard the backing track or underdub/pre-bounce mixes on which I'm told sounds pretty good.

Chris

 

I vote for "Toast And Marmalade For Tea" by Tin Tin, an Australian band produced by the Bee Gees.

 

I always thought the Bee Gees WERE Tin Tin--it's a dead-on Bee Gees imitation if ever I've heard one, and since the Gibbs were involved, I wouldn't doubt it was a Wonder Who? type of thing. True, publicity and Lp covers showed an actual group, but that proves nothing. Just think of all those faux-pop acts Tony Burrows fronted in England for so many years.

ED

PS: "Toast" has never been issued in stereo, a genuine mystery.