Two queries: Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis

Having scoured the forum archives without success, I guess I'll have to post these enquiries myself:

1) Can anybody point me toward a legitimate digital source for the mono single mix of Hendrix's "The Stars that Play with Laughing Sam's Dice," apart from the old German Polydor Smash Hits CD, which clips the opening note? (And yes, I know the CD packaging indicates that it's stereo--it isn't.)

2) Is there any possibility that Sony's forthcoming Bitches Brew SACD will include the original stereo mix? And if not, what would be the best digital source for that original mix?

Thanks in advance!

--Paul Curtis

 

Let's see....there was a Jimi Hendrix comp back in the '80s titled THE SINGLES ALBUM or some such, had a lot of sides like that, and "Laughing Sam" should be on it, but as it's buried at the moment, can't tell you if it's flat mono or the intro's clipped or what...I DO remember that "Stone Free" was--and this is a pattern--rechanneled. Is that one in flat mono anywhere except my old 45's?


As for Miles, you might have some luck there. I'm pretty sure the old Columbia Jazz Masterpieces set--with the fat red lettering on the spine--should be the original mix, and if you look around for used imports, any of the older ones should be the original mix, too. All the new remasters are remixes for the most part, though in many instances, I really don't know why(if they were doing multi-channel, that would be one thing; but Sony's only done two of those so far, and seem in no hurry to offer up more).


ED

 

I believe that the current Japanese SACD of Bitches Brew is the original mix. The reissue most probably will be the remix just as they did with In a Silent Way.

 

Re: Re: Two queries: Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis

I might wonder about the Japanese SACD being the original mix. The Japanese SACD has the same track line-up as the most current re-mixed and re-mastered US version of the album.

Here is a blurb from the official Miles Davis web-site - www.miles-davis.com:

"The same 20-Bit Digitally Remixed & Remastered sources from the box set have been used for this reissue, which now includes one rare bonus track - "Feio" by Wayne Shorter. "

And here is the track listing from www.hmv.co.jp regarding the Japanese SACD:
"disc 1
1
Pharaoh`s Dance (Album Version)

2
Bitches Brew (Album Version)


disc 2

1
Spanish Key (Album Version)

2
John McLaughlin (Album Version)

3
Miles Runs The Voodoo Down (Album Version)

4
Sanctuary (Album Version)

5
Feio (Album Version)"


Now the fact that the SACD also has the bonus track FEIO would lead me to believe it was taken from the same exact sources that created the re-mixed and re-masterd redbook version.

Maybe someone can give more insight here, as I do not own the Japanese SACD (since I passed on it in lieu of the pending October release of the US SACD).

 

Stone Free has never been released in mono on CD. A BIG gaff by EH/MCA IMO. You would think that Eddie Kramer and George Marino would know that mono is better than fake stereo wouldn't you......

 

Re: Re: Re: Two queries: Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis

It should be a safe bet they're using the remix. The bonus track is usually a dead giveaway that's just what they're doing. While a fine job was done in the sound department, like many of the Miles remixes, you can generally pick up on it fast. The title track here is very obvious: the reverberation of Miles' trumpet just doesn't match the original stereo mix(nor the Quad, for that matter); and probably, no way it could have. Which is why, in a perfect world, the 5.1 mix would be used for the domestic CD, but the original mix for the stereo track. But of course we know they'll use the stereo mix from the box for that, too, although I don't think anyone's explained what's so bad about the original mix that it had to be redone.

ED

 

What I don't understand is this. Guys like Kramer and Marino just have to know the difference between true stereo and a cleverly contrived rechanneling, right? Yet time after time the SMASH HITS rechanneling of "Stone Free" continues to rear its ugly sound, as if it were the only tape in existence they have available. This can't possibly be true since, around the world, the song was issued in mono on 45! There has to be ONE acceptable mono source tape for this one, so what's the problem? And more to the point, where are the multi-tracks? One of the very few Hendrix recordings left unissued in true stereo("51st Anniversary" is another), "Stone" is also one of the last rechanneled holdouts of the digital age, most other fake stereo junk long since relegated to the junk heap of history.

ED