Rhino Records Summer of Love issues, July 2017

Thanks so much for responding! I missed your post at first, then went back and saw it. Will be picking up my copy this Friday at my local store because of your feedback! I also ordered the Dusty Springfield In Memphis title, they were $22 per, but that sounded like a decent price.

One last question for you if I may...I have an original stereo of the first Love on vinyl in great shape. I am a big fan of mono recordings, is the Love mono vinyl worth me getting as well?

 

I think the new mono "Love" is great. Others here have said the same thing about it. I don't have an original mono on vinyl so I can't compare but this one sounds terrific.

 

Bob J, thanks for starting this thread, missed a couple of these that were given great feedback on here.

So I ended up getting four of the SOL titles...

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (clear) which I had gotten earlier. This title sounds incredible (as good as the standard black version) and of course this release screams the Summer of Love! His best album IMO.

Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis...had not listened to this album since the 70s, and oh how this baby has aged well. I can't quit playing it, and the sound is great!

Love - Mono...have the first stereo pressing which sounds fine, but I love classic mono releases and this one comes across better in that format, nice job on this one.

Vanilla Fudge - White mono...thanks to Bob J's feedback, I took a chance on this as I had already gone through multiple early pressings as well as the Sundazed and all had so much surface noise they were not listenable. As described, this version is full of bass/bottom end and just sounds wonderful! Got this album when I was 10 back in 1967 and have loved it ever since!

Awesome thread!!!

 

Scotti, glad to hear that you're happy with the releases you picked up. It's always a bit risky to recommend things to people but in this case, the Love and Fudge issues were so good that I wasn't as hesitant. I actually have the Dusty and Young Rascals "Groovin'" and haven't played either one yet. I'm a little backlogged here....

 

Picked up the mono reissue of Judy Collins' "Wildflowers" today. My pressing is a little noisy, but hopefully a good cleaning will help.

 

Good that you didn't mention "certain people" by name, thus avoiding getting sued yourself.

 

So how good is Sefchick's mastering for these? He's a new one to me...

 

Matthew Katz Matthew Katz Matthew Katz
Will the Bloody Mary Curse get me?

 

True enough. What's worse, when the Buffalo Springfield CD box came out years ago, it included both the stereo and mono of the S/T debut album, which was already available on a CD with both versions, and has all of the ten tracks from "Again" TWICE (once on discs 2 and 3, and again on disc 4), and BOTH times in stereo(!). Better to have mono only of the first LP and stereo and mono of the second. I don't care about all the redundancy that much as long as we get what we need, but to include the useless stereo mix of the debut album along with the better mono, both of which we already had, then include only the stereo mix of "Again", TWICE for each track in the same box, while NOT including the better mono mix that we really have always wanted, I just don't get it. But Neil Young was heavily involved, even squelching some tracks from "Last Time Around" (he apparently had a bug up his *ss about Messina's mixes). Given Young's track record of sitting on "On the Beach" for years, not allowing its release, I wonder if he had something to do with that decision.

 

Probably. Wouldn't surprise me a bit. I understand that Neil Young was actually in the room when Moby Grape signed their rights away, trying to signal them not to do it by shaking his head. And there is It's a Beautiful Day. The biggest career move that Jefferson Airplane made was getting clear of him after their first album and departure of Skip Spence. Who knows what would have become of them had they not done so?

 

Ian Sefchick did the mastering for Capitol. As for AAA vs digital source, if it's hard to tell the difference, who cares? Digital, after all, is mainly a problem because one usually CAN tell the difference, and not in a good way. So just enjoy the mono!

 

As for the live title track, as it was stage miked live with just Arlo and his guitar, there should be no reason to expect the mono to sound different than properly summed stereo. It's not like there were eight or more tracks to mix differently to stereo and mono, like there might be with studio tracks.

That said, it also points up necessity of a mono version in the first place, at least for the live title track.

 

Curious why you feel a mono mix is a necessity for Alice.

 

I think Ian Sefchick cuts from hi-rez file. Why do I say that ? Only because I have seen mentioned in this forum that when you see "mastered by capitol" in the groove, there is apparently some digital involved in the chain at Capitol. That said, I have mixed feeling about the rhino mono records I have bought done by him...The best one is certainly the first Love lp. That record alone is for me the proof it's sometime difficult to feel with your ears and your senses if a record is cut analogue or digital...I am very partial on that subject (in a quasi dogmatic way) in the sense if a record is not cut AAA, I prefer not to buy it, but that one was cheap, so I thought I will have it on vinyl for the price of a cd, so why not ? and it's superb...On the other side of the spectrum, I think the Tim Buckley's Goodbye and Hello is very disappointing, very ear piercing and not a pleasure listen at all...The other ones I bought, like the beau brummels triangle, were just in the middle, obviously lacking some air and that analogue feel but pleasant nevertheless for the price...

 

I meant my point to be the opposite. There being so little difference for one man and guitar with a live stage mike. Too late to edit.

 

???

You have Arlo dead center with his guitar (and the live audience), bass to one side and drums on the other (both sounding like they were overdubbed after the fact), and a horrible audience loop that was faded up and down when they wanted to beef up the sound. There is *way* more than just Arlo & his guitar as you oddly claim.

Still, though. With that said....the ALICE side (to these ears) sounds like a fold. I completely agree with you that this LP in mono, while somewhat scarce, was not exactly screaming out for a reissue.

 

Guess it's been a while since I heard that piece.

What would have been MUCH more useful, if not truly screaming for reissue in mono, would be Buffalo Springfield "Again", which was inconceivably left off the CD box set in mono but included TWICE in stereo (what on EARTH were they thinking?!?!), even though the box included the mono of the debut album which was already easily available on CD. They even played Monterey Pop (though without Neil Young) fer crissakes, the stone cold signature music event of that summer of love. For the price I'll gladly take Arlo, but "Again" was TOP priority. It is the one remaining key album from 1967 that isn't part of the Rhino series and/or hasn't been released in mono by Sundazed or some other reissue label in recent years. Not even on CD. It has me wondering whether Neil or somebody else is sitting on it. Otherwise just flat inexplicable.

The debut by Moby Grape, also on the bill at Monterey, would be another obvious omission, but just as obviously understandable at least, as nobody wants to get sued (again) by that old so-and-so.

 

Strange, I found the album was very bright, compared to my other Monkess releases.

Found it sealed for clearance for $10 today.

Sorry to hear about the the Pleasant Valley Sunday being the album version. That really sucks.

 

Excellent post that accurately reflects my opinion. I think The Association Inside Out from this Summer of Love reissue series is an excellent example of a quality Ian Sefchick cut. It sounds like its all there, middle highs, mids, some tight, punchy bass, but then again, I have not a gold label original to compare for this title. For my money, though, well worth $21. This is a great record! Red vinyl, clean and flat pressing, relatively noise-free for a colored one.

Second, I was interested especially in yr estimation of the Tim Buckley title (also in Summer of Love series), which I have come to love as much as the stunning Starsailor over the years. Clean mono copies of the self-titled are not easy to come by. A differing, more positive, opinion was shared earlier in the thread. I shall find out for myself: bought it earlier today at Barnes & Noble. Will report back.

 

I've added Sefchick to my list of mastering engineers who I trust. I haven't heard a bad cut from him.

 

Great...I am very interested in your opinion on the Tim Buckley one...

 

Any more reviews on the Beau Brummel’s Triangle? I have an original stereo copy and it’s no sonic marvel, though I am reading that many (most?) prefer the stereo mix over the mono. That surprises me, as I tend to prefer mono mixes for almost everything pre-1969. And although I know it is probably digitally-sourced, so was the Bradley’s Barn Deluxe Edition and I thought that was noticeably better sonically than my green label WB original (CSG Processing may also have something to do with that). Anyway, more opinions of the new press are welcomed.

 

I picked up the Rhino Mono of Triangle and it sounds pretty good. A little muddy maybe (which could be a characteristic of the mono mix), but an enjoyable listen.

 

Glad to hear that. Just bought it at Barnes & Noble. But before breaking the shrink I thought to get on the forum and find out more.

There is one post from a guy who said "Wildflowers" is a fold down mono, his source apparently not based on HEARING it, but on seeing somebody post that on another thread. When I went to that thread, it was nearly fifty pages and I couldn't find the "Wildflowers" claim, but after reading through about ten pages I saw some pretty inaccurate statements about when the mono phaseout began and/or ended, one post even speculated that Columbia was "still on the fence" about discontinuing mono in 1968(!) when in fact both Columbia and RCA led the charge with a joint announcement in the May 25, 1967 issue of Billboard about the mono phaseout, which would take about a year (until early June 1968). It consisted mainly of re-educating the public that it was now safe to play stereo records on "modern" or "newer" mono players without damage (after years of consumers being told otherwise) and dropping the $1.00 price differential between mono and stereo of the same album. US based artists were still released in both mono and stereo for another year, until early June 1968, but mono became increasingly hard to get because retailers couldn't jump on that "stereo only" bandwagon fast enough. During the phaseout, the options for those who really had to have mono were either special order or being in one of the record clubs. The US mono phaseout first hit me in the face June 3, 1967, the day I walked in to buy none other than Sgt. Peppers the day after its release. Stereo only.

"Wildflowers" was released October, 1967, well before the US mono phaseout ended for all intents and purposes in June 1968 (with two or three notable strays like "Cheap Thrills" in August). With all of the inaccurate assumptions and statements on the thread cited by that other poster in this thread, I just can't trust the claim especially since I couldn't find it anyway.

It does seem to me that if this Summer of Love "Wildflowers" is a Kevin Gray cut, then why would he of all people be brought in for a fold down, to say nothing of why would he agree to do it? But that is just a question by me, not an answer.

I additionally note that on the Rhino website it says for the "Wildflowers" release "mono MIX". A fold down would be mono, but made from the stereo mix. But if it says mono MIX, then that means it is the mono mix and not a mono fold down of the stereo mix. But that's being super technical, right? And in this day and age, not much to hang one's hat on unfortunately.

So what do you think about this "Wildflowers"? Fold down stereo mix to mono? Or the mono mix as issued in October 1967?

 

Thanks for your very educational post on the phase out between mono and stereo perceived in real time inside record stores...I am sure a lot of us are in a way "jealous" (in a positive way) of you to have had the privilege to go inside a record store the day Sgt pepper was out to buy it...