Richard Harris' MacArthur Park question

I'll have to get this ERIC CD sometime and compare it with the Half Moon UK twofer of the Webb albums.

 

I found an early Monarch pressing of a Ttamp Shining in good shape for cheap recently and picked it up.
McCarthur still sounded like crap on it unfortunately.

 

I remember reading about the recording of MacArthur Park years ago in Mix magazine but always wondered why the finished product had such poor audio quality. Through your insights, I now know the rest of the story!

In that Mix magazine article, engineer Armin Steiner recalled that the 8-track machine used to record MacArthur Park was a modified Ampex 200 deck fitted with four Ampex PR10s and a custom 8-track head built by a company in Chicago (IEM) that specialized in making multichannel data heads for telemetry for satellites.

The musical backing for MacArthur Park was recorded at Sound Recorders in one take, with the rhythm section (Hal Blaine on drums, Joe Osborne on bass, Tommy Tedesco and Mike Deasy on guitar, Larry Knechtel on piano, and songwriter Jimmy Webb on harpsichord) playing the piece in its entirety. The tape was then shipped to London where Richard Harris recorded his vocals at Landsdowne Studios using an 8-track machine made from Scully parts. String, woodwind, and brass overdubs were recorded in later sessions at Sound Recorders.

The lacquer for the 45 of MacArthur Park was cut manually rather than by variable pitch at Sound Recorders by Steiner and fellow engineer Cal Frisk.

Those interested can read the entire interview with Armin Steiner here:

Armin Steiner | Mixonline

 

The new Eric CD says "MacArthur Park, Brilliantly Restored!"

They got the brilliant part right. This one will keep small insects away, it's so bright.

 

In other words, you do not like what they did on the ERIC CD, to each his or her own but it is still proof that it was poorly recorded.

 

I'll take that sound any day over the mud on the other CD's....I can finally hear the band on this version....

 

I sampled the ERIC mastering and it is much better than the muddy sound on either the original Tramp Shining CD or the Half Moon twofer.

 

According to Jimmy Webb's interview for Bill Drake's the History of Rock and Roll radio show, he recorded the instrumental back up and the choir in Los Angeles and took the tapes to London where they recorded and added Richard Harris' voice.
I think the original vinyl pressing sounds better than any version on CD.

 

Have you sampled the ERIC CD mastering of it yet?

 

Based on this thread's information, I splurged on the Eric CD and got it today. Listening to "MacArthur Park" is like a whole new experience, yet it is the familiar recording, now sounding the way it always should have.

I did a comparison to the A TRAMP SHINING version on CD and this Eric version wins hands-down. The old MCA version has an odd sound identifiable with headphones - it sounds as if Richard Harris' vocals are mostly centered, but the backing has an odd sound, kind of like the way a CSG recording might sound.

There are a number of other tracks on this CD that I didn't own, among them the stereo version of "You Were On My Mind" by We Five.

 

This thread instantly reminded me of the great SCTV sketch where Dave Thomas/Richard Harris did the 'Disco' version of MacArthur Park on Mel's Rockpile...I'm warped.

 

I finally got a copy of this CD earlier this week, and I have to agree that now it probably is the best version of A Tramp Shining available. A lot of the bass seems to be restored, and there is better overall clarity than on any other version I've heard. I think this album suffers greatly from what Steve talks about in a previous post. There's no mistaking A Tramp Shining for an audiophile masterpiece, and I would find it hard to imagine this album sounding a whole lot better.

On this CD, MacArthur Park seems to be sourced from the same tape as the one used for the recently released above mentioned Japanese SHM-CD. I didn't do any measurements, but it sure sounds rather close.

 

In other words, for the album, get the SHM-CD but if one only wants the hit single with comparable sound quality, IMO, get the ERIC CD.

 

I'll never find that recipe again".
Jim Webb's songwriting chops seemed to dry up when the sixties ended.
The Highway Man is good,but.

 

I got the SHM CD based on the above recommendations. MacArthur Parks doesn't sound very good here, to much midrange and a crackling sound throughout. Maybe it's a flat transfer, but of the same tape that was used on prior CD releases. The version on "Hard To Find 45s on CD, Vol. 17" is far superior.

 

Then I guess I made the right decision and bought the Eric CD.

 

I still remember listening to radio late at night in 1968/69 and two great, long songs play regularly: MacArthur Park and Eloise. Both have major changes in tempo and mood and both impress me still after 50 years.

Eloise, btw, is by Barry Ryan, composed by his brother Paul. Another magnificent record.

 

No time to check to see if I've already weighed-in on this one years ago...but for all Richard Harris' fabulousness and scenery-chewing...how I would have loved to have seen what The Association could have done with that piece.
(And oh, for enough clever flairs and flourishes to have made the multis worth remixing to 5.1)

 

Harris and Webb met, I believe, at a charity concert in Los Angeles in early 1967. As Webb was still largely unknown then and would contine to be so until Up, Up & Away became a hit in the summer of that year, I imagine his involvement was via Johnny Rivers (to whose production company he was signed as a songwriter and whose touring keyboard player he was at the time).

Webb's recollections of this period are frustratingly contradictory and bleary: I've read one account that Harris did the vocal overdubs in a small studio in Southern Ireland. I think it was far more likely to have been recorded in London, though (the sleeve does credit 'our London engineers John & Peter, the latter presumably being Peter Oliff).

I don't agree that Webb declines as a songwriter in the 60s: he did arguably his best stuff in the 70s.

 

One might check out his website & The Fans/Jimmy Webb Community section.

(I saw him this summer in a free concert in small park in Pasadena,CA - bought his bio book)

 

Terry Kirkman:

"Bones Howe brought Jimmy into the studio at the end of the end. [..] We were on the 36th day of the 40 days finishing this really complicated album, the Birthday Album, and we’re almost in an entire new kind of music that’s a real departure from any song that anybody else was doing, in terms of voice and everything. We’re on a whole new ground and Bones Howe at about 10:00 on Sunday night brings Jimmy in and says, “Jimmy wants to play this for you [..] He sat down at the piano, and he sings “McArthur Park” for us, 10:00 at night on the 35th day of a 40-day schedule. We’re listening to this incredible piece of music and we looked over and we said, “What do you want to do?” Bones said, “I want to do this on the album.” I said, “You’re talking about 15 minutes of music.” [..] “You’re talking about a whole concept for an entire album here.” [..] We had like three days to finish this album, and he wants to bring this in to put it on that album? I said, “We can’t do that.” I mean, we all said that. “Jimmy, there’s nothing wrong with this song. This is an incredible song. We can’t do it.” All of a sudden it became the Association turning our backs to a great musical composition. I have actually looked into suing people who printed that story, over and over again. Look magazine had a special issue that was on the sound makers, and it wasn’t just the acts. It was eight or ten of the top record producers from pop music… Bones Howe was one of them. He did us; he did the Mamas and the Papas. He did the Fifth Dimension. His interview in Look Magazine wasn’t about all the great acts that he recorded. It was about that story that we had rebuffed him on McArthur Park.

I’ve gone up to Jimmy Webb, and Richard Harris to ask about it.

It just so happened that one day Richard Harris was at Pink’s Hot Dogs in Hollywood. I had just heard him on the air telling this story about the assholes that turned down this great song. I’m at Pink’s, and I look up and there he is, sitting and eating a hot dog sitting across the patio from me. I thought, “Well, here I go.” I stood up and I walked over, and I’m standing above him which is the wrong idea to do with a man like Richard Harris, and I said, “I’m a member of the group, the Association, and you told a story again on the air that’s absolutely not true.” He essentially said, “I’m going to give you three seconds to get the **** out of my face.” I thought… “I’ll leave.”"

 

Granted, that voice is far from perfect. But Richard could act, and bring that lyric and the song cycle aspect of the song forth very well. The arrangement helps carry the vision of Richard Harris and Jimmy Webb through, and is well executed and works around any vocal limitations of Richard Harris. It's musical comfort food to these ears. And it's a nice period piece. It was conceived and created by human beings. My Tan and Brown MCA label 45 is just fine, warts and all. I like it just fine the way it is. If you don't like it, it is your loss.

 

I have the same 45 and it is fine. It is my go to when I want to hear this song.

The flip side, "The Yard Went On Forever", is also excellent. A great single with two incredible recordings.

 

Richard Harris is certainly not a conventional vocalist but you can feel the emotion very clearly in this song, and it lacking a certain polish makes it more 'everyman' and personal. I have the orig 45 with the early Dunhill label and it sounds pretty good to me, but a 7 minute single is always going to be compromised.