Steve: CSG single: It's A Beautiful Morning" question

Do you know if the Rascals' "A Beautiful Morning" is a CSG tape like "Fool On The Hill" by Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66? I never liked the sound of it, and it sounds kind of "diffuse" to me. Is there a true mono mix of it out there?

 

So both "White Room" and "Fool On The Hill" were both CSG processed but left in mono? Wasn't CSG developed to enable mono radio stations to play stereo mixes without phase problems? Why bother making a mono mix "compatible" with a mono board?

 

CSG (Compatible Stereo Generator) seemed like a great idea at the time it was developed (mid-'60s), but didn't work out. All too often, CSG made stereo records sound sh**ty on both mono and stereo phonographs.

 

OK, folded down to mono, although I think the UK single of "White Room" was a dedicated mono mix, was it not?

 

Was the original mix of the first Neil Young album (the one Neil insisted they remix shortly after it's release) CSG?

 

Now whilst Atlantic (in the case of "A Beautiful Morning") at the time used cutterheads from HAECO (Holzer Audio Engineering Co., which is responsible for foisting the controversial "CSG" unto all of us), the copies of that 45 that were subcontracted to Columbia's mighty pressing operation used lacquers that Columbia's New York studios cut themselves -- and I.I.N.M., Columbia at the time used Westrex and/or Ortofon stereo cutterheads. I wonder, those of you out there who have different pressings, if any of you could tell the difference between the Columbia-pressed copies and those from, say, Monarch or Specialty Records Corp., in the sonic department.

 

Well, the picture sleeve for the 45 had the CSG logo printed right on it, so all copies probably were.

 

Although I doubt that, when originally sold, Columbia contract pressings had the picture sleeve.

Furthermore, on 45's in the next year that had the "CSG Processed Mono Master" notice on the label, such language was conspicuously absent from Columbia contract pressings of Atlantic singles - perhaps an indication of Columbia's cutting their own lacquers?

 

If I may please ask a question which shows my ignorance, what did the Compatible Stereo Generator do?

 

Piss off Steve to no end!

 

Let me try to put in my $.02. Listening through phase-cancellation, HAECO-CSG's sounded like crystal-clear mono (i.e. no silence) . . . which reminds me of the way in which old Edison 78's were cut, e.g. vertically instead of laterally. (And I know, I have two such uber-thick Edison releases . . . including a song called "Homeward Bound" which preceded the Simon & Garfunkel classic of the same title by nearly five decades - but was by no means the same song, yet rather was about the aspirations of World War I 'doughboys'.) Stereo, the sonic quality at times had an effect which reminded me of some sides cut at RCA's infamous Hollywood studios at the time (that is, hollow).

 

Thanks Steve.

 

A couple of other common CSG atrocities are the stereo mixes of "I've Gotta Be Me" by Sammy Davis,Jr. and "Turn Around, Look At Me" by The Vogues.

 

Steve, do you know if existing "pure" stereo mixes could have also been CSG'd? I ask because in that other thread you posted the link to here, one of the CSG'd albums listed is Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66 Greatest Hits. For something like that, would they just CSG the existing mixes for the songs that weren't mixed with CSG to begin with (say the material on there NOT from Fool On the Hill in this case), or would they have had to do new mixes for those previously non-CSG songs for the hits album?

 

Nope, folded. The stereo edit of "White Room" did turn up on the 1969 comp BEST OF CREAM, but hasn't been floating around much since.

 

That was the first version I ever heard of "White Room", when I borrowed my uncle's Best Of Cream album in the early 80's. I was quite shocked when I heard it on the radio a few years later and it had that "extra" verse... In fact, I'm still having a hard time getting used to the long version.

 

This question has haunted me too. In addition to Sergio's GREATEST HITS, several other artists had entries in that series, Baja Marimba Band, Sandpipers, Wes Montgomery. They're all CSG'ed too, yet contain songs from non-CSG'ed albums.

Later too, in the '70s, A&M continued to release CSG'ed versions of songs on 45s, when the stock versions and album releases were not CSG'ed. Curiouser and curioser.