Gerry called in sick today so here’s a best-of rerun featuring the original line-up of CSNY.
Aug 202007
Aug 192007
Yet another way in.
Aug 182007
After receiving word that RTH’s Senior Correspondent in New Orleans, Townsman BigSteve, was flummoxed by the strange noise heard at roughly 2:40 in the “true stereo” mix of “Fool On the Hill,” RTH Labs engineers donned their white lab coats and went to work.
Upon cursory examination, it was clear to our engineers that the sound was a highly sped-up sample of something — but what? After applying industry-standard pitch manipulation software to the problem, RTH Labs has come to the conclusion that the Abbey Road engineers and/or producers simply grabbed a few feet of existing tape of a single instrument — possibly a guitar track, though horns are not out of the question — and, prior to speeding it up by perhaps as much as two octaves, applied a very heavy tape flange to the product.
Attached is our vastly slowed-down sample for your consideration. As always, we welcome your comments and questions.
Yours sincerely,
Milo T. Frobisher
Chief Engineer
RTH Labs
Aug 182007
This interview and post is dedicated to Mr. Mod and Mr. Ismine, whose Italian ties precede them this summer! Enjoy Italy to its fullest, whenever you are able to visit it, my friends!
AN INTERVIEW WITH MARCO FASOLO
of the band JENNIFER GENTLE
Catch them live:
TUESDAY AUGUST 28TH @ The Vacuum (Philadelphia PA)
2nd and Tilghman {Google Map!}
wsg/ The Soft People, The Dodos & Birds of Maya
Please enjoy the following email interview with Marco Fasolo of Padova, Italy’s fantastic psych-rock band Jennifer Gentle!
Aug 182007
A Wizard, A True Star
On Day 2 of Rock Town Hall’s groundbreaking series on a reappreciation of The Beatles’ long-dismissed Magical Mystery Tour album on the strength of the 1971 German true stereo release we ask you to open your minds and hearts to the pleasures of one of the most-despised Beatles songs, Paul McCartney’s cloying “The Fool on the Hill”.
The Beatles, “The Fool on the Hill” (German true stereo mix)
The space that the true stereo version grants to the arrangement of this song helps greatly. I’ve always thought of this album as the most psychedelic of Beatles albums (and please don’t Pince Nez me on the album’s history as a collected ep and singles), and the true stereo mix increases the “head” appeal, let’s the mood of each song better seep into one’s consciousness, man. Previously unaccessible nooks and crannies of “The Fool on the Hill” – the slightly out of tune mellotron parts, the woodwinds and whatnot, the gentle rhythm guitar and piano – open up. Suddenly, it’s like one of those weird, wonderful songs from Roy Wood’s Boulders that only I and another half dozen people on the planet seem to get. McCartney actually delivers a heartfelt vocal, although I can do without the second “Ohhhhh…round and round…” part on the fadeout. Even in true stereo the song has worn out its welcome by this point.
The true stereo mix does not help the lyrics. It’s too bad he couldn’t have written some gibberish; this would have topped most of the filler songs on Pink Floyd’s Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Speaking of McCartney lyrics, I’m reminded of a morning last week, when I played my wife the recent McCartney album for the first time, and four songs in she said, “OK, enough of this! When’s he going to try to write lyrics that have something to do with an adult man’s life?” Then she quoted a particularly bad lyric that just pushed her past her limits. “Can’t he take lessons from Nick Lowe?” God, I love my wife – in true stereo, fake stereo, mono, you name it.
Aug 172007
Roll up!
The Beatles, “Magical Mystery Tour” (German true stereo mix)
My promise of a slightly mind-expanding take on The Beatles’ oft-derided Magical Mystery Tour album is likely to be met with skepticism on Day 1, as I roll out the title track for review. Listeners who are familiar with the conventional release of this album may notice a little added brightness and definition in the horns and string – and the rhythm guitar is a little more distinct – but this song is still what it is, a poor man’s “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. Perhaps you will hear more than even I hear. Hold tight for tomorrow’s first dramatic ear-opening selection!
Aug 172007
A gentleman by the name of “Kronik King,” a YouTube commenter, suggests that this will make a lot more sense if you “spark up a bud.”
