Dave Dexter, Capitol and the Beatles

Dave should have been fired. The man with the fat ego....professional mangler of music.

 

I'll repeat what ShockControl said at post 58: Dexter signed to Capitol, among others, Frank Sinatra, Stan Kenton, Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman and Kay Starr. He could have run the Beatles' master tapes through a shredder, and his reputation would still be secure.

 

See post #72.

 

Dave Marsh? I agree.

 

In defense of the previously mentioned Mr. Dexter, there were some British artists who were "the next Elvis" who were on "major labels" who were a footnote in the U.S. chronology of major music. British groups were seen to be unlikely targets for American fans. I'll grant you that he's not George Martin, but once he finally was given marching orders he didn't botch up the works, either.

Plus, only Mr. Dexter's "Dexterized" LP had "HIT SINGLES". Sure, there were fewer hits, but we didn't have to buy an additional album to get those hit singles (or buy each and every single).

Finally, I agree with ShockControl and PRW94, while Dexter missed the Beatles in the initial vetting (and so did several other major labels), he signed many significant artists who went on to record many significant LPs and singles. Indeed, several of them are as significant as the Beatles in the development of Western music. And, yes, I have representative selections from all of them, and all of the Beatles cannon (in LP and CD).

 

OK...he should have been removed of his responsibilities sometime in 1964 instead of 1966. The times were beyond him.

 

And this is why I prefer most of the Capitol albums to the UK Counterparts.

 

1966 seems about right. No one back then could have imagined the incredible longevity of Freddie and the Dreamers. Oh, I meant the Beatles.

 

I know. But how would you call his addition of reverbs to the songs then?

 

I, for one, actually LIKE what Dave Dexter did to some of those singles.
I grew up on them and they were all we knew for many years.
Upon hearing the dry Martin versions of those same hits, I always found them to be not nearly as exciting.

 

EQing/Remastering/Improving? ; )

 

Indeed!

 

Okay, let's call it Reverbing.

 

just think of it; NO BEATLES!...

 

Indeed!

 

I can live with that! Indubitably!
"Improving Reverbing"

 

exactly, except sound quality...some yes, some no...

 

incredible line up!

 

The book is actually pretty good...i have it.

 

wiki has this one right...In addition, Dexter rejected the following British EMI artists on behalf of Capitol in 1963 and 1964: Parlophone's The Hollies and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, HMV's The Swinging Blue Jeans and Manfred Mann, and Columbia's Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Animals, The Yardbirds, Herman's Hermits and The Dave Clark Five, all of whom had major U.S. success on other labels beginning in 1964.[7] In a memo dated Feb. 20, 1964 to Capitol Records head Alan W. Livingston, Dexter viewed most of these artists as unsuccessful, praising only Freddie and the Dreamers, whom he signed to Capitol.

 

Just think how he could have rui....reverbed the White Album!

 

that's reaching...he was out of it by then and the WA didn't need reverb ...the early albums benefited by the addition of...as it was a different world where AM radio was king...

 

Dunno why every Beatles discussion has to be so binary.

I personally dislike all the revisions Dexter made for the US market — I don’t like the whole concept of “The Beatles Second Album” in stereo or mono; I like an album called “Rubber Soul” to begin with a track in the style of “Drive My Car”; the “Yesterday and Today” LP annoys the hell out of me; and I think the US “Revolver” is ridiculous.

That said, I understand exactly why Dave Dexter made these revisions and why they made sense at the time from a business perspective.

The only real dick move he made was writing that article about Lennon in Billboard about two weeks after Lennon was murdered.

 

But they are not the Alpha and Omega or the Sine Qua Non of every note of popular music that's ever been performed on the planet Earth.

and most if not all BEATLES FANS agree with this...it's the Beatles haters that put those words into our mouths!

 

Maybe you could quote any post that makes such a claim.