Archive for July, 2011

Trans – Neil Young’s Magical Vocoder Adventure

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Neil Young – Trans
Little Thing Called Love
Computer Age
We R In Control
Transformer Man
Computer Cowboy (AKA Syscrusher)
Hold On To Your Love
Sample And Hold
Sample And Hold (Vinyl Version)
Mr. Soul
Like An Inca
Like An Inca (Vinyl Version)

I love this album.

That is not something often said when people are talking about Trans, Neil Young’s much-maligned 1982 electronic/New Wave effort. It bombed when it came out, most critics hated it, and it was the first of several records that eventually led to his label at the time, Geffen Records, suing Young for not sounding enough like Neil Young.

But I love it.

I find the damn thing fascinating, and I think it may be one of the bravest records ever made. At the time everyone wanted Neil Young to record another Harvest (shit, most Young fans still do), but he chose to follow his heart and try something different, critics and fans be damned.

It seemed to shock everyone  at the time, but looking back it shouldn’t have been that big a surprise. Young had toyed with some New Wave elements on his previous release Re-ac-tor, and he even made a comedic film, Human Highway, with New Wave pioneers Devo around the same time that Trans came out. It’s obvious that Young felt some sort of kinship to the New Wave movement for whatever reason, and wanted to contribute in his own little way. I respect any artist that is willing to adapt and move along with the times, artists who stick to the same schtick for decades on end just become boring as hell after a while.

There are also stories that the album was Young’s way of trying to communicate with his disabled son at the time. Supposedly his child liked the vocoder effects, so Young decided to base a whole album around the device. If that’s true then the story of Trans becomes even more touching and interesting; as it shows that Young was willing to pretty much commit career suicide if it meant he could get through to his son.

A lot of people attacked Young when Trans came out, angrily asking him to just record another “rock record.” He responded in 1983 by releasing Everybody’s Rockin’, a 25-minute collection of rockabilly tunes. If “fuck you” is a genre of music, that record is an example of it. Shockingly, that record is available on CD in America, while Trans is not. As of right now, Trans is only available in America on CD as an import. And that CD in question is a little different than the original vinyl version that came out in the states Both “Sample And Hold” and “Like An Inca” have been extended and remixed.

The CD version of “Like An Inca” is very similar to the vinyl version, clocking in at just about a minute longer. However, the CD version of “Sample And Hold,” the best track on the album in my opinion, is drastically different. It’s almost over eight minutes long, a full three minutes longer than the vinyl mix, and the pounding drum machine beat is brought to the forefront of the mix, giving the song much more of a dance feel. I think it is a much better version. Download both and judge for yourself.

Finally, even if the idea of electronic Neil Young sounds horrible to you, download “Like An Inca.” It’s the most “traditional” Young song on the album, with no noticeable electronic effects, synthesizers or vocoders. It’s a nine-minute epic about Mexican Indians, and could stand side-by-side with Young’s  “Cortez the Killer” not only thematically, but in terms of quality as well. It’s an amazing song.

Posted in Complete Albums, Neil Young | 12 Comments »

Wilburied Alive

Monday, July 25th, 2011

I planned a super-big, in-depth post tonight, but I’m in physical pain (read on for details) so instead here are some random scraps of awesomeness. Hopefully I’ll be less disabled in a few days.

The Traveling Wilburys
Handle With Care (Extended Version)
End Of The Line (Extended Version)
Not Alone Any More (Remix)
It’s weird to me that the Traveling Wilburys aren’t more fondly remembered, or remembered much at all for that matter. I mean, this was a band with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison (…and Jeff Lynne) but they’re rarely mentioned when people talk about the best music of the 80s. Never mind that their first album is one of the finest examples of pop-rock to come out of the decade.

Well, maybe it’s because their music was out of print for so long. It’s hard for people to discover a band when no one can get a hold of the damn music. In 2007 both of their fantastic albums were finally re-released in a super-convenient  2CD set, and I highly recommend picking it up if you have not. There  even re-issued them in a vinyl box set which I finally picked up this weekend while I was trapped in Toledo. It’s funny, I recall that store trying to sell a used copy of the Wilburys’ first release for over $100 when it was out of print, but I scored the LP box set for a measly $45.

The LP box set sounds great, comes with a bunch of cool books, posters and other nifty stuff, and also includes an exclusive 12″ with bonus tracks and B-sides. Most of these tracks are also on the CD set, but the remixes I’m posting tonight are exclusive to the vinyl-only set.

Sadly, there was no extended dance mix of “Tweeter and the Monkey Man” as that only exists in my dreams.

The Stone Roses
Fools Gold (Rabbit In The Moon’s Message To The Majors)
Fools Gold (Rabbit In The Moon’s Straight Beat Pyrite Dub)
Fools Gold (Grooverider’s Mix)
Today I was working out, doing leg lifts, when I heard something crack in my side. That’s never a good thing. Turns out I sprained a ligament in my ribcage. This happened to me once before, during an aquarium-moving mishap, and you know what? It fucking hurts like hell. I went to the doctor today, hoping to at least get some hardcore painkillers out of the ordeal, but he denied me.

And man, these remixes of “Fools Gold” would totally sound awesome if I was on one pain meds right now, but vodka and V8 are just going to have to do I guess.

These are taken from a 12″ single. The “Grooverider’s Mix” is on a Stone Roses remix compilation, but that version isn’t the same as this version, so I’m including it here.

Posted in remixes, Traveling Wilburys | 3 Comments »

Check out my Thing…soundtrack

Monday, July 18th, 2011

Ennio Morricone – The Thing: Music From The Motion Picture
Humanity (Part 1)
Shape
Contamination
Bestiality
Solitude
Eternity
Wait
Humanity (Part 2)
Sterilization
 Despair
 The Thing remains the only horror film directed by John Carpenter that he did not also contribute the score to. But I think it’s fair to say that he found a good replacement in Ennio Morricone.

Morricone is a god of film scores, having written approximately 800 billion in his 82 years (Okay, so it’s more like 500. Still, that’s fucking insane). Even if you don’t know the name Morricone, you are familar with his work. He did this. And this. Also this and this. Some notable Hollywood films he did the scores for include Brian DePalma’s The Untouchables and…Exorcist II: The Heretic.

Hey, they can’t all be bangers.

Morricone’s score to The Thing perfectly captures the claustrophobic feel of the film, although it doesn’t work that well as an independent piece of music. Most of it is so quiet that it is barely audible, and just when your ears have become accustomed to the muted music, it explodes in a menagerie of plucking strings and bombastic horns.

After a while, the soundtrack itself becomes kind of scary, as you wait for it to jolt your system with another sonic blast. While it’s not easy listening, I imagine it would be a great way to liven up your day-to-day activities. Work in a cubicle? Play this on headphones and you’ll have the most intense numbers-crunching session of all time. Clean your home while listening to it, and be prepared for your humdrum dusting to turn into a terrifying battle against microscopic dust aliens.  Listen to it at the bus stop and you’ll slowly start to suspect that everyone around you is really an alien shapeshifter – well, that might happen at the bus stop no matter what you’re listening to, but you get my point.

A word on the technical aspect of this rip. Like I said before, this is a QUIET soundtrack. One limitation of vinyl is that quiet music can be overcome with surface noise, and that was the case with my original recording.

To make it a little more listenable, I cleaned it up using Audacity’s noise removal tool. While the quiet parts are crystal clear now, some of the loudest parts of the score have some very slight distortion. I still think it’s more than a fair trade-off though, considering the ration of quiet-to-loud parts. And besides, I wasn’t about to chuck out 40-plus bucks for a used CD copy.

Posted in Ennio Morricone, soundtrack, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Rick Wakeman’s Burning Sensation

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

Okay, so I wrote this huge post and THEN I found out that the album is finally available on CD in the states. I don’t like to post in-print music, so I’m putting up one track from the soundtrack as a teaser. If you like it, go buy the rest.

 

Rick Wakeman – The Burning Soundtrack
Variations on the Fire

If you’ve never heard of The Burning, don’t be surprised. Although the plot has some curve balls, it’s still your typical, forgettable 80s slasher flick, complete with horny teens in the woods and special effects by fake blood guru Tom Savini. It’s pretty much remembered today for two things; This scene (WARNING: incredibly graphic violence) and the people who were involved in the production.

The Burning was produced by Harvey Weinstein and co-written by his brother Bob. That’s right, The Burning is the very first Miramax Film – the studio that later brought you Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love and Clerks.

You think that’s nuts? Just wait, it gets even odder. Bob Weinstein didn’t write the script to The Burning by himself. Oh no, a flick of this high quality requires some serious collaboration. For help he turned to a man named Peter Lawrence, who later went on to write for such classics of 80s animation as Thundercats and Silverhawks. So we’re just one degree of separation between Cropsy (the killer of The Burning) and Lionel.

It’s a small world.

But that’s not even the most whacked out bit. A dude by the name of Brad Grey also worked on the story of The Burning. He later went on to serve as an executive producer for The Sopranos as well as The Departed. Now he’s the Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures!

So if you’re ever at a horrorcon, be nice to the guys who wrote the piece of shit indie slasher flick playing at 4PM on a Sunday, because you never know.

The talent in front of the camera is pretty forgettable, except for a supporting role by Jason Alexander and a super-quick bit part by Holly Hunter (seriously, if you blink you will miss her).

About the only person who worked on The Burning who didn’t go on to fame and fortune was the director and co-writer, Tony Maylam. He was primarily a documentary filmmaker before the release of The Burning, and he returned to that shortly thereafter. One notable exception being Split Second, a great/awful piece of 90s sci-fi/horror shit with Rutger Hauer and Kim Cattrall.

But give Maylam some credit, it is because of him that we have this stellar soundtrack by Rick Wakeman from Yes. The two previously worked together on White Rock, a 1977 film about the Winter Olympics. It was that relationship that led to Wakeman coming in to do the score for The Burning. 

I would have loved to sit in on the phone call Maylam made to Wakeman that convinced him to do the score to The Burning:

Maylam: Hey Rick, I might have some more soundtrack work for you if you’re interested.
Rick: Oh yeah? You doing a documentary on the summer Olympics?
Maylam: Not exactly, it’s a slasher film called The Burning. It’s about horribly burned camp groundskeeper who murders teenagers with a pair of hilariously large garden shears.
Wakeman: …can I work in some “shear terror/sheer terror” puns into the track listing?
Maylam: Sure thing!
Wakeman: I’m in! I’ll plug in 50 synthesizers and get to work immediately!

The first side of the LP is labeled as “The Wakeman Variations,” so I don’t think it’s a straight-up recording of the actual score. That half works better as a standalone recording, while the second, with its diversions into instrumental pop-rock and even some banjo-country jamming, are probably only of interest to fans of the film.

As I said before, the full soundtrack is now available in America for a pretty fair price. If you like Rick Wakeman or keyboard-fueled scores ala Tangerine Dream or John Carpenter, I suggest checking it out.

Posted in Rick Wakeman, soundtrack | 3 Comments »

Waiting For My Audio Man – The Velvet Underground Acetates

Monday, July 11th, 2011

In September of 2002, a dude from Canada bought a record at an NYC yard for 75 cents. It was an acetate record with a handwritten label that read “Velvet Underground. 4-25-66. Att N. Dolph.”

On the acetate were nine cuts from the Velvet Underground’s 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. (The N. Dolph in question was Norman Dolph, an engineer on the record.) That alone would have made the record quite the find, but it turned out that the nine tracks on the acetate were not the same versions that were on the final album. Some were different mixes of the album cuts, while others, like “Heroin” and “Waiting For My Main” were completely different takes. In 2006, he sold the record on eBay for over $25,000, which I think we can all agree is a pretty damn good R.O.I.

A month or so after the record was sold to an anonymous bidder, alleged MP3 rips of the acetate started to make their way online. Casual Velvet fans downloaded them en masse, eager to hear a version of the album that was previously unavailable.

Except that they weren’t previously unavailable and that the MP3s in question weren’t actually taken from the Dolph acetate.

While the Canadian dude bought the Dolph acetate in 2002, he didn’t actually sell it until December of 2006. During that time another acetate copy of the same recordings were found and released on a Japanese bootleg. Allegedly, this acetate was discovered in either Mo Tucker’s or Sterling Morrison’s basement (it’s commonly referred to as the Mo Tucker acetate). Regardless of the source, they appear to be taken from the same recording sessions found on the Dolph acetate.

Every download I’ve seen claiming to be a rip of the Dolph acetate have really been rips of Mo Tucker’s acetate. To the best of my knowledge, no copy of the Dolph acetate has made its way online, if anyone wants to prove me wrong please do.

Regardless of the source, these recordings are an amazing find for hardcore Velvet fans . Unfortunately, they sound like shit. They’re filled with pops, crackles and even a few skips. The poor quality of the recordings make them hard to tolerate, even for the most die-hard of Velvet Underground fans.

Ever since I downloaded them in 2007, I have been hoping that someone, anyone, would put a little effort into restoring them properly so they would at least be listenable. Four years later and I’m still waiting, so I guess sometimes if you want something done you just have to get up and do it yourself.

The Velvet Underground – Mo Tucker Acetate (April 25th, 1966)
European Son (Different Take)
Black Angel’s Death Song (Different Mix)
All Tomorrow’s Parties (Different Mix)
I’ll Be Your Mirror (Different Mix)
Heroin (Different Take)
Femme Fatale (Different Mix)
Venus In Furs (Different Take)
Waiting For My Man (Different Take)
Run Run Run (Different Mix)

This is what I did:

First I converted the tracks to WAV so I could run them through an audio editing program called ClickRepair. Like its name suggests, ClickRepair goes through a WAV file and removes anything it perceives to be a click, pop or crackle. I have yet to find an affordable program that can do this as good as ClickRepair. I used the default LP settings, and did not crank it up to it’s maximum settings in fear of giving the tracks noticeable digital distortion.

With most of the loud clicks gone, I moved on to the omnipresent hum that is present on all the tracks. Hum can be caused by both a poor source (like, let’s say a 40-year-old acetate record) or from poor recording equipment picking up DC interference. I think the Tucker rip has both. To remove as much of the hum as possible, I used Audacity’s “noise removal” feature. I think it did a pretty good job.

Finally, I opened up each song in Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio and manually removed as many of the remaining clicks, pops and other audio detects as I could. Sound Forge has a much more intuitive interface than Audacity, which is why I chose it for this task. After I was done editing the tracks to the best of my ability, I saved them as MP3s.

The results aren’t perfect. Although I was conservative with my use of ClickRepair, it was impossible to use the program in an effective way on a recording as damaged as this one without leaving some digital distortion behind. In my opinion, the digital quirks left behind by ClickRepair are preferable to the loud pops and crackles. Furthermore, there were some skips and many other audio problems that I could not fix. But I still think it sounds a hell of a lot better now, and can more easily be appreciated by both obsessive and casual Velvet Underground fans.

I hope you all enjoy them, and if you have any suggestions on how to improve them even more so, please let me know! I would love to make these sound even better, I consider this project a work in progress.

Sources for this post:
Portland Mercury
WFMU’s Beware of the Blog (Note: the tracks there are NOT taken from the Norman Dolph acetate)
Popsike

Posted in The Velvet Underground | 2 Comments »

In A Big Funky

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

Apparently there’s this awesome music site called turntable.fm.

I run a website called Lost Turntable.

Who the hell do I have to talk to get a damn invite to that place? Seems like a travesty of justice to me if I ever heard one.

Big Country
In A Big Country (Live)
I found this on a strange record called Vertigo Sampler. It’s a 2LP sampler, with one label each getting a side. Phonogram got the A-side, Beggars Banquet the B-side, Polygram the C-side and 4AD rounding out the collection with the D-side. That means you get an album with Colourbox, Mark Knopfler, Big Country, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, ABC and The Cult all together. And the whole thing originally cost the price of a 12″ single.

It was probably a great way to expose music fans to new artists they might not hear otherwise, so it’s a safe bet that record companies today would never try it.

According to the linear notes, this live version was recorded in Austin, Texas on March 22nd, 1984.

Herbie Hancock
Chameleon (Special ’83 Dance Remix)
This shit is funky with a capital UNKY.

Okay, so that didn’t make much sense. But that’s how good this jam is, it destroys your ability to form complete sentences. It’s a 14-minute funkgasm that will have you funking the funky night away until you can’t funk no more. If case you were wondering where this funksplosion came from, I found it off of a super-funky 12′ single for “Autodrive.”

Funk.

Belinda Carlisle
Band of Gold (Extended Mix)
Band of Gold (Dub Mix)
Band of Gold (Single Mix)
Most upbeat song about a downbeat topic ever? I think so.

While I get the basic gist of this tune, does anyone know what the hell this song is actually about? I’ve heard two prevailing theories. One, put forth by original singer Freda Payne, is that the woman singing the song is “frigid” and unwilling to consummate the romance on the couple’s wedding night. However, I’ve also heard another theory that it’s about the how the husband is either impotent or gay, and that’s why they can’t get it on. Either way, that’s a weird topic for a disco classic.

These remixes from from a 12″ single, and the also feature Freda Payne as a ringer on backup vocals.

Posted in Belinda Carlisle, Big Country, Herbie Hancock, live, remixes | 3 Comments »

I Pity The Blog – Mr. T’s Commandments

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

More Mr. T, because more fools need to be pitied. Enjoy.

Mr. T – Mr. T’s Commandments
Mr. T’s Commandment 
Don’t Talk To Strangers
The Toughest Man in The World
Mr. T, Mr. T (He Was Made for Love)
The One and Only Mr. T
No Dope No Drugs
You Got to Go Through It

My first Mr. T post didn’t set the world on fire it seems, but no matter! I am committed to this endeavor of utter stupidity.

Mr. T’s Commandments came out in 1984, the same year as the Be Somebody album and video. It’s much more Mr. T-centric than the Be Somebody though, while that was more of a soundtrack that featured Mr. T, this is a Mr. T album, for better or worse. All but one of the tracks feature the great mohawked one rapping, the sole exception is “Mr. T, Mr. T (He Was Made for Love)” which is a spoof of “Monsieur Lee.” According to Wikipedia (which we all know is never wrong), the vocals on that track are handled by one Tata Vega. She’s best known to most who know her for her performance of “Miss Celie’s Blues (Sister)” on the soundtrack to The Color Purple. She’s most known to me for being in Howard The Duck. Guess which is the only one she mentions on her official website?

The rest of the tracks on Mr. T’s Commandments mostly just Mr. T rapping his tough-love tips to the kids, such as saying no to drugs, saying no to strangers, and doing what your parents tell you. However, the best track on the record is “The One and Only Mr. T” which drops the education/motivational bullshit in lieu of four minutes and forty-five seconds of Mr. T detailing exactly how bad-ass he is.

Now, if I was a little kid in 1984 (and I was), this is what I would want from a Mr. T record! I don’t need Mr. T to tell me to wash my fucking hands and do what my teacher says, I got my parents for that. I want Mr. T to tell me that he can kill a cougar with his bare hands, all while pitying the fools who doubted his cougar-battling abilities. I want a Mr. T song where he just lists the multitude of fools that he pities. And I really want a Mr. T track about how much B. A. Baracus hates flying. Cuz that dude totally hated flying. Sadly those Mr. T songs only exist in my mind.

Anyways, this album is fun, and shockingly worth a good deal of money. I’ve seen mint copies of this record and Be Somebody go for over 50 bucks on eBay and other auction sites, and that just blows my mind. I guess one can never underestimate the value of novelty. I’m also willing to bet that since these records were primarily for kids, that most copies were torn to shit. Mine sure are, both of these took some heavy digital editing in order for them to be even somewhat presentable to all of you. So I hope you all appreciate that I probably spent two hours cleaning up these records, each of which look like they were dragged through a sandpaper factory. I’ve spent less time restoring out-of-print Depeche Mode B-sides, but hey, you got to have priorities.

Posted in Complete Albums, Mr. T | 5 Comments »

I Pity the Fool who Doesn’t listen to Be Somebody by Mr. T

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

It’s hard to explain to kids today (and by “kids today” I mean anyone under 25″) just how awesome Mr. T was in the early ’80s.

Growing up the ’80s I didn’t just idolize Mr. T, I wanted to be the dude. I wanted the gold chains, the awesome mohawk, and the unending ability to pity fools. I loved Mr. T because he was ALWAYS Mr. T. There never seemed to be an “off” switch on that dude.

Even as a little kid I knew that Slyvester Stallone was just an actor. Rocky wasn’t real, it was just a movie. I even had some doubt as to how real wrestling was – I knew Hulk Hogan didn’t just walk around the house tearing his t-shirts off and rocking out to Derringer, he saved that shit for the Main Event.

But Mr. T was Mr. T 24/7. Even when he was playing a role like on The A-Team or in Rocky III, he was still fucking Mr. T. No bullshit there. Not much acting there, what you saw was what you got, all the time.  The dude didn’t even change his act when he met Nancy Reagan or guest starred on Diff’rent Strokes. He even had his own cartoon where he played himself as a gymnast/detective. No matter what you say about Mr. T, you have to admit – that is a commitment to a lifestyle.

The kids loved Mr. T and he loved them back, so in 1984 he made an educational/motivational video for children called Be Somebody…or Be Somebody’s Fool. You should watch it. It’s pretty epic, filled with some great sage-like advice from Mr. T, as well as some “amazing” musical performances.

After you’re done watching it, you’ll probably be jonesing for that epic soundtrack so you can relive the magic and the music wherever you are.

Don’t worry. I have you covered.

Mr. T – Be Somebody
Be Somebody
Treat Your Mother Right
Stylin’
Love Each Other
I Am Somebody
Peer Pressure (New Edition)
Poppin’ and Breakin’
Try
Be Somebody…or Be Somebody’s Fool is a weird and wonderful artifact of the 80s, but the  Be Somebody album is even weirder and more wonderful, this is despite the fact that Mr. T only contributes to three of the eight songs on the album: “Be Somebody”, “Treat Your Mother Right” and “I Am Somebody.”

As you might expect, these are the best/worst songs on the album. Both “Be Somebody” and “I Am Somebody” are message songs (shit, a sample of a dude yelling something that sounds like “Message!” is looped throughout the latter track) about the power of self-esteem and doing your best. “Treat Your Mother Right” is a slow-jam about maternal love, and the less I say about that one the better.

The rest of the album is crazy mixed bag. “Love Each Other” is a ballad about loving each other (duh) sung by someone who is credited as “The Dimples.” A Quick IMDB search reveals this to be Marta Marrero AKA Martika, who appeared in Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo (not a surprise) and Disney’s Kids Incorporated (really not a surprise) before going on to one-hit wonderdom with “Toy Soldiers.”

The other ballad on the album is “Try”, featuring lead vocals by one Valeria Landsburg, who played Doris on the Fame TV show. While the titular fame seems to have eluded Valeria, she has managed to carve quite the small career for herself in Hollywood, working as an actress, singer, writer and director. Go Valeria!

NOTKB prototype New Edition make an appearance on Be Somebody with “Peer Pressure.” Guess what? It’s about peer pressure and how bad it is. It’s not “Candy Girl” I’ll tell you that much.

The two weirdest tracks on Be Somebody are “Stylin'” and “Poppin’ and Breakin.'” These are straight-up old-school instrumental electro tailor-made for breakdancing. What’s even more amazing is that they’re both pretty damn good too. They also feature a fairly impressive line-up of amazingly talented and diverse session musicians.

The percussionist on both tracks is a dude who goes by the name Munyungo. And if his webpage is to be believed (and why wouldn’t it be) that dude has quite the resume, working with Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, Sting, and about every Motown band worth a damn. Bassist Michael Henderson, another frequent Miles Davis contributor, joins him on “Poppin’ and Breakin'” as well. When Michael Henderson isn’t rocking the bass on Be Somebody, fellow session musician Kevin Brandon is. A man whose work you may have heard on OutKast, Justin Timberlake and Mary J. Blige records. He’s not a household name, but he’s big enough to have a page on M-Audio where I found this information!

Finally, there’s guitarist Greg Poree, who produced most of the record, and appears on nearly all the tracks. He also worked with Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder, as well as Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin. Today he can be foun as the guitarist on Dancing With The Stars. A show that should totally have Mr. T as a contestant next season.

So that’s a lot of talent, but most of them aren’t really well-known.

Okay, how about Ice T?

That’s right, the Ice T (I assume no relation to Mr. T), served as the “associate producer for Mr. T’s vocal” on Be Somebody. I assume this means he just tried his damnedest not to make Mr. T sound any worse than he already was. It’s crazy the think that he was only three years away from Rhyme Pays when he helped on on this record. You think Coco knows about this skeleton in T’s closet?

Enjoy the Mr. T. There will be more later this week.

That’s right. You’ve been warned.

Tags:
Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments »

Holy Hypnotic Light Show of Hate! Also, Aerosmith

Monday, July 4th, 2011

Two people who know more about music and audio quality than I have said in recent weeks that the quality of my recordings could be better. Thoughts?

After being told, even I’ve noticed the lack of treble in them as of late, and I think I’ve managed to fix that problem via some EQ adjustment, bu I’m always open to new ideas on how to improve my setup. In the coming week or so I should be getting an Ortofon Arkiv cartridge. I’ve read numerous reviews on that one, and the general consensus seems to be that it’s the perfect cartridge for recording vinyl, I’ll let you all know if that’s PR bullshit or if it’s the real deal when I get it and test it out.

In the coming months I plan on getting an honest-to-goodness high-end pre-amp if need be as well as an internal M-audio soundcard (as well as a whole new computer, but that’s another topic entirely). After I do that, then it’s time for the final step, a Technics 1200.

Then if anyone tells me that my recordings sound like shit they can piss off.

Aerosmith – Look Homeward Angel (Bootleg)
S.O.S. (Too Bad)
Somebody
Dream On
Write Me A Letter
Walk This Way
Train Kept a Rollin’
Toys In The Attic
Okay, these songs sound kind of like shit, but it’s not my fault! They are all from a bootleg after all. While the quality might not be top-notch, as bootleg LPs go, this record sounds fucking amazing. According to this fan site, it was taken from a 1975 FM radio broadcast, which would explain the better-than-average sound quality. The fact that it’s an Aerosmith recording from the mid-70s (before the drugs stopped working) is the reason why the performance is fucking mind-blowing. How mind-blowing is it? Well, it has a version of “Train Kept a Rollin'” that’s  nine-minutes long, complete with a brief detour into the 1960s Batman TV show theme! Did you know that Aerosmith also covered the Spider-Man theme song? DC, Marvel, it doesn’t matter. Aerosmith breaks down barriers, man.

Posted in Aerosmith, bootlegs | 5 Comments »