Question About The Monkees LPs on Sundazed Vinyl

Does anyone know if The Monkees LPs on Sundazed are from analog or digital tapes? I was thinking of buying a few titles but would rather not if they are from digital tapes, since I already have the Rhino CDs.

I'm guessing that the LPs are from the digital tapes used to make the CDs because they have bonus tracks.

Does anyone know the real story?

Thanks in advance.

 

Not sure of the answer, but I do know that the Sundazed vinyl of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn And Jones, Ltd. does not come from the same master as the CD. Rhino hadn't located the true master tape in time for the CD mastering, which used a safety copy, but they did use the real master tape for the Sundazed vinyl version.

 

According to our resident Monkees expert, Yellow Balloon:

Sundazed Albums

The Monkees: Original first generation master tapes
More Of The Monkees: Original first Generation master tapes
Headquarters: Original first generation masters tapes
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones : First generation master tapes, only LP or CD that features the entire masters. These tapes were presumed lost, but were first used on tracks for The Monkees Anthology CD.
The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees: Master tape used, no sure if it's the original tape or not.
Head: YB wasn't sure if the original master tapes were used
Instant Replay: YB says safety copies were used for the Rhino CD, no info on LP
Present: Same as above
Changes: Original master, possibly substituting a German master for the song Oh My My which is defective on the US master

Hope this helps, Ron

 

Thank you very much, Ron.

 

Thanks for the info.

I didn't realize that Sundazed released any of the LPs after "The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees". I haven't seen those yet.

 

I just went to the Sundazed web site and it does not show the LPs after "The Bird, The Bees & The Monkees."

 

They only did the first five albums and those are taken directly from Rhino CD's. I know there is some talk they used the PAC+J analog master, but BMG would not return it in time and it is my understanding it was not used.

 

Pick one:

 

Thank you for the informatoion Andrew. You just saved me about 80 dollars!

 

Hi Andrew,
Nice to see you chime in....Sorry about the misinformation forum members, perhaps I misunderstood Yellow Balloon Is there a way to determine what tapes were used for PACJ? If the Rhino digital masters were used, why are there some alternate mixes on the LP's? Hopefully, you can poke around here more often, as time permits, there are many Monkee fans here on the forum, but as you can see, misinformation still gets out there....Humbly, Ron

 

Hi David....If you had bought the Lp's based on my incorrect information I would have refunded your costs...I'm very sorry, Ron

 

You learn something new every day...

 

Here is the transcript of a couple of e-mails I had back and forth with Sundazed this morning. There seems to be a problem or at least a lack of understanding about The Monkees LPs.

My first e-mail:

I have a question about the five (5) Monkees LPs that you have
available on your web site. I seem to remember seeing them a few
years ago on colored vinyl, but your web site doesn't mention this.
Are these LPs on black or colored vinyl?

The Monkees LP5045
More of The Monkees LP5046
The Monkees Headquarters LP5047
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. LP5048
The Birds, The bees & The Monkees LP 5049

Thank you very much for the information.

David Schwartz


The first reply from Sundazed:

Hi David,

Thanks for your e-mail. They are now all on 180 gam black vinyl.

Best regards,

Tim Livingston
Director Sales/Publicity
Sundazed Music
PO Box 85 - 1 Reed Street
Coxsackie, NY 12051-0085
www.sundazed.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 518-731-6262 Fax: 518-731-9492




My second e-mail to Sundazed:

Tim,
Can you tell me if these LPs were cut from the digital CD masters or
from analog masters?

Thank you very much.

David Schwartz

The reply to my second e-mail from Sundazed:


Analog masters.

Best regards,

Tim Livingston
Director Sales/Publicity
Sundazed Music
PO Box 85 - 1 Reed Street
Coxsackie, NY 12051-0085
www.sundazed.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 518-731-6262 Fax: 518-731-9492

To Andrew Sandoval,
Do you know Tim Livingston? Maybe you need to inform him about the Monkees LPs.

 

Tim is Bob's product manager and a very good one. His job is to make sure the product is out there, hyped and so forth. I don't doubt he was sincere in trying to give you the best information available. I recall the phone conversation I had with Bob about these titles ten years ago (which involved Rhino contacting BMG for the PAC+J masters), and he explained to me it was easier to use the CD's for the first three albums. Then he asked me if the Rhino CD of PAC+J was a disc dub cause he thought it sounded lousy, to which I said no. He then said we should get the original tape from BMG for his vinyl. I started that process, but the legal channels did not move fast enough. I remember this becuase Bob called me again and was miffed that we hadn't be able to get him the tape to meet his deadline. That's what I recall. Bob may have some different info, he's very good at what he does and puts a lot of time and thought into his releases.

 

Andrew,
Since the LPs have obviously been repressed, now being on black instead of colored vinyl, do you think there is any chance that Sundazed re-cut the LPs from the analog masters when they switched to 180 gram?

 

To my knowledge the analog tapes have never left Los Angeles, but I'd have to ask Bill Inglot to make sure.

 

Thanks again for your help Andrew. I'll hold off buying the LPs

 

I'd really like to hear what Bill says about PAC&J. It sure does seem to me that there was a sticker on the LP saying that the original masters were used for the first time on the Sundazed LP.

 

The 180gm LPs were released in 2001, not 1995.

 

Yes; what does this mean? Are you saying that the LPs were recut from the analog masters?

 

Well that would be a shame David because these LPs sound better then the Rhino CDs. As stated these are new pressings. PACJ is a much improvement over the Rhino CD and the 1995 colored vinyl released. I would say Sundazed is not lying when they're saying the analog masters were used. I have yet to hear of any instances where Sundazed is fabricating what they are putting out.

Andrew, is it possible between 1995 and 2001 all masters requested were sent and used? You seem to be talking about a phone conversation in 1995, not 2001, otherwise, the stickers on the LPs are a lie.

Chris

 

Thanks for your reply Chris. I'm also not jumping into buying the LPs because I don't understand how Sundazed could have used the original master tapes AND put bonus tracks on the LPs UNLESS the bonus tracks were actually spliced onto the original master tape reels. I wouldn't think that ANYONE would be allowed to splice additional songs onto the master reels thrity years later.

 

Well David it wouldn't be the master tape they used to cut the LPs because you can't cut LPs from a master tape. You have to create a cutting master to cut vinyl by taking the original tapes and transferring them, adding equalisation and adding compression, to make what's called the "cutting master". That means that the records were actually cut from a copy of the original master tapes. If they had tried to cut the record using the original tapes, the cutting stylus would not have been able to track all the information, so the cutting master usually would have the low end chopped off and the high end chopped off and the mid-range exaggerated, meaning the stylus would be jumping off the record. I don't see what you're talking about adding bonus tracks, what does this have to do with what tape they used?


Chris

 

This is not true at all. Steve has said here many times that vinyl can be cut using the master tapes. You do all the eq moves while the record is being cut.