Peter, Paul & Mary on Warner Bros., first album from 1962 coming on SACD from Audio Fidelity

Yes, these are beautiful photos!

 

Reminds me to the young Gwyneth Paltrow

 

Certainly were striking! I can remember as a kid listening to FM radio on my parents Magnavox console stereo and when "Leaving on a jet plane" would play the bass would make the lattace work covering the front of the speakers buzz like crazy! Always thought that "I dig rock & roll" was a Mamma's and Papa's song too!

 

And while we're on the subject of PPM may I draw your collective attention to Live in Japan, a 1967 Japan only release, that Rhino expanded to a double CD in 2012. Its been played a lot this summer at our house and is strikingly good. Mary's voice has a expanded maturity when attempting the older songs and the overall sound and recording are excellent.

 

Related questions: The 2005 compilation The Very Best of Peter Paul and Mary has the "single version" of "If I Had a Hammer," but it's in stereo. Would the stereo version have been on a 45 rpm single at that time? Did the stereo single version appear on vinyl? And has the mono single version appeared on CD?

 

The sound on the Warner Brothers CDs is fabulous. It's my understanding that these have never been remastered so what you buy today is the same as it was in 1985 or so. I'm not totally sure - and I have old originals. Boy, listen to "Peter, Paul and Mary" WB 1449-2 US and it's just beautiful.

 

I have that CD, the original WB 45 is much faster than what is on that CD (at least the 2005 version, unless it's been updated since then) (1:58 vs. 2:10), not sure it is the same mix. I think it's odd to have the voices mixed like that, I think I would rather have more of a blend of voices rather than each voice coming from a separate speaker, very hard to listen with headphones lol. Were the original stereo mixes like that too?

 

The trouble with the CD versions of the debut album and "Moving" is that they were remixed with the participation of Peter Yarrow in the 80s and a heavy amount of digital reverb was added that wasn't present on the original mixes. In addition, a couple of tracks on the CD version of the debut album, "Cruel War" and "This Train", sound so different that I would swear they were different takes...compare the guitar fills on the intro to "This Train" for example.

The 60s PP&M albums were reissued on CD recently in Japan using the original stereo mixes.

 

My Back to Back Hits 45 is in mono. I don't have it handy, but I'm pretty sure that the mono mix of "Lemon Tree" is on the other side. It's interesting to compare the mono 45 of "Lemon Tree" with the mono LP mastering...the 45 has a lot of compression compared to the LP, I guess to make it sound more "exciting" for AM radio. Kind of an odd treatment for a gentle folk song, but I suppose they were trying for a radio hit.

With regard to "If I Had A Hammer", the LP version sounds like a limp dishrag after you have heard the 45 version. The 45 version is much closer to the way it was performed in concert with its much faster tempo.

 

Wow... I never realized there were 2 versions; I just knew what was on my Dad's "Ten Years Together" LP.

Doing some Youtubing, I see that in addition to the speed difference, the guitar is generally bouncier on the single version and the whole thing feels more energetic. Album version just feels gentler, which is sort of the vibe I always got from them.

Stereo remix of the single version

 

LP version

 

Steve, since the album version came first, then the single version... and they hated the single version... do you know why the single was cut like that?

 

My go to version:

 

These photos make me want to stop Time.

 

I like the photo of them in California, by the pool. Is that Sausalito or the Hollywood hills?

 

Woah! This album was HUGE! Put me down - my money's on the table!

 

They sure are--those photos just pop. Lot of groups were uniquely photogenic like that--for some reason I don't see so much of that these days...could be I'm a codger (nah), but I think it may have more to do with 'musician images' hardening into Archetypes/Stereotypes.