Dave Dexter, Capitol and the Beatles

If "Dave Dexter" is placed in the thread title, you will get at least some responses centered around Dave Dexter. If you don't like the direction of the conversation. you may wish to consider narrowing your thread titles in the future.

 

For many of us, the "music that we all love" includes Nat, Frank, Duke, Peggy Lee, and Stan Kenton.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

My post is not intended as "advice." It is simply an acknowledgment that everyone here is not a rock-centric baby boomer. We can agree that we all have diverse tastes and perspectives.

 

Please don't.

 

Hey I think they may have deleted that post rather than my OP as I had requested, but I had responded to you afterward saying that I had misunderstood your post the way that my OP was snipped and withdrawing my protest and, again, I had requested that the OP be deleted. Apologies.

 

There just is always going to be strife about the Capitol versions and Dexter is always going to be an easy piñata as representative of the old farts who didn't get what was going on.

We should be able to disagree though without being disagreeable.

 

The link to what our host posted about Dexter was very enlightening.

I'm going to don Kevlar and stick my neck out, I actually do like the Dexterized Rubber Soul which I have on a needle drop. I was surprised at how subtle the echo was, I was expecting it to be like they were stuck in a canyon but it isn't and IMO it does add depth to the sound.

And a look at oneself in the mirror question ... wouldn't it be unfair to expect someone in Dexter's position to do anything other than try to make the music sound as best it could for the playback capabilities of that specific point in time, not to try to anticipate changes in tastes and technology a half century later?

 

I’m not sure Dexter was involved in the Capitol Rubber Soul tracklisting. And I think the reverb is only on a minority of pressings.

Edit: just checked and apparently Dexter did take credit for the revamped tracklisting.

 

Funny thing was, ever single one of those acts (plus Georgie Fame) was signed to Capitol Canada by Paul White.
Who released "Love Me Do" back in Febuary 1963.

 

Could you post a short sample please? I’d love to hear it.

 

Re: the US Rubber Soul LP

I know it’s all a matter of taste and opinion and all that, and I grew up on the US version, but once I purchased and heard the UK version, I never looked back...

I love that that the LP named “Rubber Soul” opens with “Drive My Car,” and I like where “If I Needed Someone” sits.

For all the folks that say they enjoy the “folk rock” angle of the US version — how could a track like “If I Needed Someone” be removed from that “concept”?

I think that whole theory that “the US edition was programmed to accent the folk-rock aspect” is completely suspect.

 

...This goes into something else that I think I've meant to bring up here and may yet on my own - " remixing " used to mean more what " remastering " means today (later).

 

Better quality audio..........
On a mono 6 gram plastic phono with a ceramic cartridge......????.
Your full of Schmidt!
Revisionist history which does not support the facts in that era.
Like when you were 14 you really gave a Schmidt about sound quality, give me a break.
Beave

 

And Bill Miller sneaks out the back, thanking goodness that he avoided the SHF yet again...

I grew up on the US mixes and formats, these were my albums. That said, hearing I Feel Fine and She's a Woman in their proper mixes was a revelation to me. That's the sound I like!

I think @PRW94 said it best - or something like - we shouldn't judge or hold accountable a man for not seeing the Beatles for what they would become, and that's quite right. He wasn't the only one either!

What I really bristle at (and this isn't his fault) is how much credit Capitol takes for The Beatles when the reality is, they did nothing to nurture or develop their talent, never took a risk on the band, and did nothing but second guess everything about them from their sound to their image to their album covers - from day 1! They were forced to take them, at a time when their popularity was spreading all across Europe.

Again, that's not Dexter's fault...it continues to this day. One could argue they were taking more of a gamble on Sinatra...

 

I still remember the first time I heard She's A Woman and I Feel Fine..(think it was on Collector's Items)...that started the quest for the English LP's.

 

Not to sidetrack, but I remember getting a calendar (1988...I remember because that was the year I lost my grandfather) with the U.K. album covers on each month and being absolutely perplexed!! Please Please Me - I know that picture but not for that album...With the Beatles...not *Meet*?? Beatles for Sale?? What was up with Rubber Soul and why didn't MY copy of Revolver have Doctor Robert and I'm Only Sleeping?? That was when my quest for the U.K. versions began!

 

Yesterday and Today was current.

 

The amount of revisionism around here that occurs whenever the topic of the Beatles and Capitol/ Dexter comes up makes me just shake my head. First, for all of you those that didn’t grow up with it in real time give it a rest. And for those of us who did 99% of us were clueless kids about the behind the scenes maneuvers and decisions.

We were nuts over the music and didn’t give a gnats ass about how the sausage got made until years later. And 99% of us didn’t give two hoots about Sinatra, Cole, Kenton etc at the time. ( many would as they got older though). Capitol gave us what we craved. They were in business to make $$, which they did. Could they have done it in a more refined fashion? Maybe, but it was 63-65. They didn’t. They did what they knew as everybody else did in the US record biz then. The rest they made up as they went along.

The coulda, shoulda, woulda talk reminds me of people that have regrets about stocks they were going to buy that became monster winners. Except they didn’t pull the trigger. Talk is cheap.

These guys were doing their jobs and risking company $$ and their butts all at once. And guess what? It actually turned out to be wonderful. It could’ve gone the other way. I wake up every day grateful for that music I/we have and what came out of those years.

 

Beatles VI is a great cover and 2nd album and '65. maybe cuz of memories too. but none of was ugly. and the UK help was not any better than the US help. US help had more photos and color one too. and at least US meet the beatles had 2 pictures, rather than one. i agree about the hyperbolic text.

 

Yes, fairly!
Photo taken in March, LP released in July. That's current compared to the most of other Capitol-produced comps.

 

I'm certainly not forgetting what Capitol did for the Beatles at all!
Everything was timed just exactly right as it turned out!
But, for ME, once the UK versions of the LPs were more easily available, I stopped listening to the US LPs except as a nostalgic novelty once in a while.

 

Amen Brother. To add to your comment, the entire stereo Beatles Second Album is a far more enjoyable listen than the boring dry stereo With The Beatles IMO. Dexter's liberal application of reverb really does turn that Second Album sound into 'electrifying big beat performances'. And I love the Duophonic treatment of tracks like 'She Loves You', 'I'll Get You' and especially 'Ticket To Ride' (although I admit the duophonic I Feel Fine and She's A Woman did not turn out so well). And let's give Dex props for the superb song sequencing on the early Capitol albums including the Help soundtrack which is a total joy to listen to start to finish, especially with all the sitar tracks.

A few other great Dex mixes:
I'll Be Back - the original Beatles '65 stereo mix is bathed in reverb and sounds awesome. Too bad Capitol stopped using it in the 70's and thus it never made it to the Capitol Years Vol 1 CD set
4 By The Beatles EP - Dex sweetened all four songs with a bit of reverb and bright EQ. I'm A Loser in particular sounds awesome. In fact the intro sounds so much fuller than the mono album mix, an early 70's discography actually listed it as a different version with 'extra guitars' on the intro

Great article by Richie U. His massive 'Unreleased Beatles' is one of my favorite Fabs reference books

 

I had that same edition calendar, and what I remember about it was the slight differences to the recently-released Capitol Parlophone LPs that had slightly-modified artwork to cover up the old EMI boxes on top.