It turns out that in the mid-’80s a true stereo version of “Satisfaction” appeared on Japanese and German editions of Hot Rocks 1964-67, which are long out of print.
The acoustic guitar is even MORE prominent on this version than on the remastered mono version. And it turns out that there’s piano underneath the guitars too, played by Jack Nitzsche.
I know Mr. Mod is going to love this, but what about the rest of you?
This news courtesy of Townsman cherguevara:
XTC Skylarking Better Than You’ve Ever Heard It Date:
In the course of world renowned mastering engineer John Dents [sic] work on preparing the new double vinyl set of XTC’s Skylarking for release, an interesting and wonderful thing has been discovered. John has informed us that that somewhere in the chain from Todd Rundgrens [sic] Utopia sound studio and Londons Master room studio, way back in 1986, a fault has occurred that means all of the versions of Skylarking you’ve ever heard, on CD or vinyl, have sounded…how shall we put this?… wrong. Read complete story here.
I usually cringe when I read about any significantly “restored-to-the-creators’-intent” reissue, but I’m a longtime XTC fan who’s always found Skylarking to sound a bit thin and cold. I always blamed it on a combination of Rundgren’s tight ass constricting Partridge’s increasingly tight ass, with an assist to Todd’s boy and former Tubes drummer, Prairie Prince. I’m curious whether any amount of added warmth and low tones will spark up some of the codified songwriting that has set in by that late date in the band’s career.
[NOTE: cher may have a different take on this and, most likely, can assess the veracity of the supposed technical glitch.]
UPDATE: cherguevara has called… Continue reading »
Thanks to Townsman Al for passing along this important development!
Townsman andyr and his wife have reported the following series of Rock Crimes. Sensitive viewers are cautioned before proceeding to the video evidence, which was captured by the iPhone of an anonymous audience member. The authorities are currently interviewing witnesses. Please feel free to provide your own testimony in the Comments section for this post. Thank you, andyr family, for your bravery and good citizenship in reporting these crimes.
Watch video evidence of Rock Crimes of flash mob proportions…after the jump!
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Supergrass announced their breakup today. As a memorial, please enjoy the above video, which never fails to cheer me up. I really enjoyed their stuff. Early on, they sounded like the Buzzcocks. Later on, they sounded like T.Rex and Bowie.
To be honest, though, their most recent album, Diamond Hoo Ha (2008), was easily my least favorite. Maybe this is mean, but I’m kinda relieved they’re breaking up, because I couldn’t really see myself buying any more of their albums. To put it a nicer way, they’re getting out just in time. Any other artists you feel that way about, glad they’re splitting because you can feel their inspiration waning?
MusicRadar.com reports that Led Zeppelin‘s earliest known live recordings have surfaced.
Follow the link for the whole article and some YouTube audio. It’s a terrible recording, but still of interest.
Led Zeppelin, in 1968, back when they were still being called “The New Yardbirds” by some…
Led Zeppelin’s earliest known live recordings have surfaced on YouTube for the first time. The three audio clips, recorded during the band’s maiden voyage to America, are taken from their fifth US show, which took place at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington on 30 December, 1968.
They were opening for groups like Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge and Country Joe And The Fish at the time, and Led Zeppelin, their eponymous debut album, was still weeks away from release when they embarked on a rather ambitious 34-show run that took them from Denver, Colorado to North Miami Beach, Florida.
US rock fans were familiar, to some degree, with Jimmy Page from his work with John Mayall And The Bluesbreakers and The Yardbirds, but it’s interesting – and downright quaint even – to hear Robert Plant announce the name of the brand-new band to the barely receptive audience. Read more…
I never used the guitar distortion stomp box The Rat myself, but here in Philadelphia I’ve long associated it with Townsman saturnismine,* who’s always had it ready to boost one of his solos whenever I’ve seen him play live and the few times I’ve played alongside him. I’m pretty sure he’s the only guitarist to have used a Rat on one of my own band’s recordings, when he overdubbed dualing solos on what we hoped would go down as the shortest seemingly long guitar jam in rock history. In other words, I hated The Rat for whatever weird aesthetic reasons I’m prone to hating inanimate things until I heard being stomped on and played through by my friend.
I learned from another friend of the Hall today that Charlie Wicks, the creator of The Rat and the founder and CEO of musical equipment manufacturer Pro Co died of cancer a couple of weeks ago. This other friend is also a cool guy and cool musician. I may have to re-think The Rat…
In honor of Mr. Wicks and his Rat, what’s your favorite stompbox? No digital plug-ins, please! I wrote about my favorite a few years ago, here.
Also in honor of Mr. Wicks, Rock Town Hall’s Official Eulogy follows the jump!
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