THE SIGNAL from David Katznelson
“The question is not how to get cured, but how to live.” ― Joseph Conrad
It has been a great week for the record collection. Yes, I am still trying to get rid of more records than I bring in. But once a collector always a collector….or as William Burroughs once discussed, true addiction only comes after years of practice. And I have been collecting records since before I knew the meaning of the words COLLECTION or RECORDS or even ROCK AND ROLL.
On Jimi Hendrix’s birthday last week I purchased the original mono French pressing of ARE YOU EXPERIENCED (the French cover features a “?” after the words). It is considered the holy grail copy of the record, complete with a totally different cover and a clarity in the mastering that brings out the electric distortion Hendrix ignites with his guitar. And then there is the mono mix of the record, which is just a rawer, more alive and visceral than the stereo mix…as if you are duct-taped to his amplifier, feeling the air pushing out of the woofer as his guitar soars through each song.
Last night after the kids went to sleep I got a really good listen.
But that is not all, also arriving this week from Jamaica was a copy of Derrick Morgan’s Development. Derrick Morgan was one of the rock steady musicians who broke through in England in the 60s with hits like I Am The Ruler and Seven Letters (which some think is the first real reggae release). Development was released in 1972 and while a great record, for some reason did not get distributed at all. It is one of the rarer records in the reggae canon and despite licensing it from Morgan over a half year ago (it blew my mind to talk to him) it took me six months to actually get my hands on a platter.
When reissuing a record, the best practice is to master the vinyl with the original tape that the music was mixed onto. David Hyman will always tell you that the best sounding records are the original pressings in the country where the music was mixed…where they were mastered closest to the tape of origin.
Unfortunately, many times the tape cannot be found…and then there is the Jamaican recording industry’s general disarray…it makes it tough to find what you need. The next best thing is to do a needle-drop mastering of the record: to do a high-end recording of the record while it is played, and to master it, taking out the pops, scratch-sounds, distortions—readying it for a new vinyl reissue. For a record like Development, which never had a real release in the first place, this is the less optimal direction we will have to go in (it does not help that during this process the record’s producer, Bunny Lee, passed away and with him any better knowledge of where the mixed tapes are).
So I am finally holding a copy of Development. And it is in OK shape….not the best. I am handing it off to mastering guru Gary Hobish today to see if it is in good enough shape to use for our purposes. If not, the search for a better version will continue…I just heard there might be a cleaner copy in Holland…
Don Everly Gets Boost as Brothers’ ‘Cathy’s Clown’ Trial Looms
Ahh….to sing well together and hate each other. A hate that lasts beyond the grave, at least for one Everly. I am a big fan of Don, who some suggest was the less-kind brother. His solo record post-initial break-up (after the hugely influential Lenny Waronker-produced Roots record) has been a hit around this house for the past decade. The current trial is around the songwriting credits and ownership of the duo’s biggest hit: Cathy’s Clown. Don says he is the sole proprietor, and his brother’s estate does not agree. Over the past few weeks, the case seems to be leaning in Don’s corner, but regardless, I cannot help but feel sorry for both of these sad sack artists whose success—showcasing an innovative style blending folk and rock that changed the sound of pop music— could not keep them from despising each other.
John Waters’s Top 10 Recent Films
The legendary film director runs down his favorite films from the recent, and as expected, this is not your usual list.
No writer was better suited to chronicle the Depression than John Steinbeck
On the new Steinbeck biography: “William Souder reminds us not only of Steinbeck’s empathy for the dispossessed but of how deeply he researched his novels, living for months in migrant camps”
THE WORLD’S FIRST PSYCHEDELICS HOTLINE COULD HELP YOU WORK THROUGH A TRIP
“Fireside Project, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization, is launching a psychedelic peer support hotline — the first of its kind.” This is a great idea AND I want to be able to hear the conversations. Maybe they get Dan Aykroyd to take calls….or obviously the Rock & Roll Doctor.
PREHISTORIC ORIGINS OF DNA
by Timothy Leary
Its rising is not bright
nor its setting dark
Unceasing, continuous
Branching out in roots innumerable
Forever sending forth the serpent coil
of living things
Mysterious as the formless existence
to which it returns
Twisting back
Beyond mind
We say only that it is form from the formless
Life from spiral void
