Canned Heat - "Poor Moon" / "Sic 'Em Pigs" (1969) [Mono Mix]

Canned Heat - "Poor Moon" b/w "Sic 'Em Pigs"

Original 1969 mono 45 RPM single mixes
Liberty – LBF 15255 (U.K. pressing; Discogs)
~ThePoodleBites rip at 96 kHz / 24 bit FLAC + full hi-res scans!~
"Poor Moon" is, for me, both the Heat's best and their most underrated (or perhaps most unjustly forgotten) single. Released just after the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969, the lyrical themes echo quite a distinct message from the typical awe of space-age inspiration: guitarist and songwriter Al Wilson, a well-known environmentalist, feared that the moon's natural beauty will someday be scarred and irreparably damaged by the same capitalistic pillaging and man-made pollution which plagues the Earth today. Reading the news nearly 60 years later, this message sadly continues to resonate... Now imagine what the Blind Owl would have thought of Elon Musk!

Unfortunately its historical timeliness and great musical depth did little to propel "Poor Moon" into the charts. It skyrocketed (pun intended) to a whopping #95 in Cash Box before disappearing within a month. As a result, this 45 has become the rarest out of the Canned Heat catalog (at least of the singles that are worth tracking down). Nonetheless, I did my duty to search for and secure a top-playing copy so that both dedicated mono sides can be preserved here, for those rare souls like me who still care about such things.

Artwork from the original German picture sleeve

"Poor Moon" was released nearly simultaneously with the band's Hallelujah LP, perhaps just a week or so before. The A-side, however, was not included on the album nor on any of the band's other LPs. Nonetheless, separate mono and stereo mixes were prepared. The original stereo mix is the rarer of the two, and exists only on the 1972 History Of Canned Heat vinyl compilation outta France, which surprisingly sounds terrific; this mix was also reissued once on CD in 1989 (Let's Work Together: The Best Of Canned Heat), though with nasally sound quality, as if sourced from a high-gen copy tape and then EQ'd into submission. An extended digital remix produced in 1994 has since replaced this version on all subsequent reissues. As with other Canned Heat releases, the mono mix exists only on 45, and is likely to be the version preferred by collectors.

The B-side of the 45, "Sic 'Em Pigs," is an excerpt from the then-yet-to-be-released LP, but appears here with a dedicated mono mix which is significantly truncated from the LP version. At the point where the 45 ends, the album version continues on with a tongue-in-cheek LAPD advertisement absent from the single's fade-out. Frankly, I find any version of this song tough to listen to: the Heat had every right to distrust authorities ("pig" is old American slang for a policeman), but the squealing and snorting sounds scattered throughout come off as incredibly immature following the hard-hitting lyrical masterpiece which graces the A-side.

Blurb from Cash Box, 19 July 1969

Blurb from Billboard Magazine, 26 July 1969

Review in Billboard Magazine, 09 August 1969

The American pressings of the Canned Heat catalog are far from ideal, as mentioned in my post for the "Time Was" / "Low Down" single. In this case, the American mastering is lower-fi than any of the Heat's previous releases, which may in fact have contributed to this record's poor sales. As such, foreign pressings are necessary to explore, and frequently offer some unique experience, if not an outright improvement.

For the aforementioned "Time Was" post, I opted to use the German release, which appeared to have used a nearly identical master to the American one. For "Poor Moon," this is again the case, but the German "Sic 'Em Pigs" is instead an edited fold-down from the stereo LP version, which is unusable for me. And anyway, the American mastering is stunningly poor, with essentially no real frequency response above 9 kHz or so. It was understandably aiming at AM radio, but to the modern ear it's a sonic disaster, so mimicing its sound is not really a good thing.

More variants were explored. The French edition sounds like it features the U.S. master, but the French engineer tried to restore some treble with EQ, which made it sound brighter but not much clearer. "Poor Moon" on the Swedish single sounds much like the German one; the Danish edition is similar too, but more muted. The Italian 45, which sports a picture sleeve quite similar in design to its German cousin, sounds totally different: high frequencies in the cymbals can actually be heard, though are also somewhat masked by high levels of noise from the inadequate pressing quality.

The best-sounding edition that I found was the one issued in the U.K., which offers a remarkable improvement over the American and continental European versions. Unlike "Low Down," where the U.K. pressing apparently contains a fold-down of the stereo mix, a fold-down of the stereo "Poor Moon" sounds nothing at all like the mono edition found on the British (or any other) pressing of this single. I was also able to verify with some tinkering that a heavy dose of EQ can reproduce the lo-fi American version, proving that they are in fact the same mix. It's not clear why, but the U.K. seems to have received an unprocessed master unlike other countries (except perhaps Italy, though the British edition is certainly clearer than theirs). Though the pressing still suffered from various levels of pressing fog causing light background hiss throughout, I was able to use the best-sounding sides from three copies that I procured to make a terrific-sounding master of these two mono mixes. Though the Brits didn't include picture sleeves on their Canned Heat releases, here are some other countries' artwork to enjoy!

Artwork from the Italian picture sleeve, featuring a picture similar to the German edition

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French picture sleeve, with pig-inspired pink artwork

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Picture sleeve for the Swedish edition

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Cover artwork from the Danish edition of the single

Track listing:
1) "Poor Moon" -- 2:51
2) "Sic 'Em Pigs" -- 1:57

Vinyl condition: M-
Dynamic Range: 11

Equipment / Lineage:
– Audio-Technica VMN40ML stylus on AT150MLx dual moving-magnet cartridge
– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB direct drive professional turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)
– Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 Ultra preamp with dedicated Zero Zone linear power supply
– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)
– Adobe Audition CC 2024 (recording)
– iZotope RX 11 audio editor (manual declicking, EQ subtraction, additional adjustments)
– Audacity 3.x.x (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v2.x.x (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

Thanks for taking the time to read my posts and check out my blog. I'd greatly appreciate it if you leave a small comment below. Notes from my readers are what inspire me to keep going. Thanks!
MEGA: https://mega.nz/folder/0islhIZK#9P6mEe3YmAmAxTOQNuH2aQ

Enjoy! :)

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Canned Heat - "Time Was" / "Low Down" (1969) [Mono Single]

Canned Heat - "Time Was" b/w "Low Down"

Original 1969 mono single mixes
Liberty 15 200, German pressing (Discogs)
~ThePoodleBites rip at 96 kHz / 24 bit FLAC + full high-res scans!~
When Canned Heat released their new single "Time Was" in late February / early March of 1969, it immediately began climbing in the pop charts, and for good reason -- even these nearly 60 years later, it is easily recognized as one of the band's best songs. However, its burning flip side, "Low Down," has not gained the same public accreditation, which is a shame. I suspect this injustice originated because, for reasons unknown, "Low Down" was left off the band's fourth studio LP Hallelujah, released later that July. Appearing only on 45, the dedicated mono "Low Down" was then never reissued; in fact, these 50-some years later, all the song's appearances on YouTube (previous to my post) stem from a digital remix prepared for the 1994 Uncanned! compilation CD, a remix which has been used by all contemporary reissues since. As the original mono mix is the only one that was approved and released during the lifetime of guitarist Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, who unexpectedly passed away at just 27 years old the following year, and since these versions were the first and only ones available to anyone in the world for most of 1969 and afterwards, I think this excellent single is worth preserving in the best possible sound quality.

Many thanks to C.F. the Record Phantom for contributing some rare editions of this single
for audio evaluation and hi-res scanning!

Vintage stereo and mono mixes were prepared for both tracks on this 45. The A-side, "Time Was," was released in stereo on the Hallelujah LP late in the summer of '69, whereas the mono version -- abridged and about 50 seconds shorter than the LP -- appeared only on 45, as the Hallelujah record was never released in mono. As good as the mono version sounds, it also sounds largely the same as a mono fold-down of the stereo mix.

On the other hand, the B-side "Low Down" sounds more like a dedicated mono mix, with a louder instrumental track to supplement the vocals than its stereo counterpart; though it's admittedly possible that the difference is solely due to a huge EQ adjustment between them. The song only appeared in this mono form, except for two cases: notably, the stereo mix was issued in full on a rare French compilation LP from 1975, History Of Canned Heat, with excellent sound quality. Secondly, an unedited mono fold-down of the stereo variant seems to have been released on the original 1969 British 45, instead of the punchier American mono version: unless I am wrong about the "main" mono version being dedicated, this was the only edition of the "stereo" mix available that year. Either way, neither original mix was ever reissued again, and only the aforementioned 1994 stereo remix persists in the digital era. Overall I feel (and C.F. agrees) that the mono mix is the tougher one, though the stereo mix has better fidelity, and the more recent remix has an extended psychedelic ending unheard elsewhere.

Full-page ad from Billboard, 05 Apr 1969

German 'Platten-Pass' that came with some copies of the 45

German "Platten-Pass" text (English / Deutsch)

RECORD PASS No. 15 200 A

Special Features

The American blues-beat prophets strike back with their latest record. After their tracks "On The Road Again" and "Going Up The Country" became international big hits, "TIME WAS" also immediately landed on the U.S. charts. Al Wilson, lead singer of Canned Heat, bespectacled, avid reader, and nicknamed "The Blind Owl" due to his chronic nearsightedness, once again interprets this song with his haunting, hit-worthy voice. This was the third installment...

PLATTEN-PASS Nr. 15 200 A

Besondere Kennzeichen

Die amerikanischen Blues-Beat-Prophe-ten holen mit ihrem neuesten Platten-produkt zum 3. Schlage aus. Nachdem ihre Titel "On The Road Again" und "Going Up The Country" internationa-le Big Hits waren, konnte sich auch "TIME WAS" wieder auf Anhieb in der US Hit-Parade plazieren. Al Wilson, Liedsänger der Canned Heat, Brillen-träger, Vielleser und wegen seiner chronischen Kurzsichtigkeit "The Blind Owl" genannt, interpretiert abermals diesen Song mit seiner ein-dringlichen, hitträchti-gen Stimme. Dieses war der 3. Streich...

Vintage U.S. Liberty pressings leave much to be desired in the sound quality department, and this 45 is no exception. Stateside it was pressed both on styrene (cut by various mastering facilities) and on vinyl as a promo, with vinyl copies surprisingly sounding worse than styrene ones -- a truly perplexing, uncommon phenomenon. So poor is the vinyl that chunks of music repeatedly cut in-and-out on side 1. This significant gaffe, especially from a major label like Liberty, can only be described as a head-scratcher. The styrene editions, on the other hand, are highly prone to wear, and quickly developed groove damage after a few plays, rendering modern playback without distortion a pipe dream.

Multi-year searches for a better source of this 45 ensued. C.F., himself a major fan of "Low Down," procured a rare Japanese edition, which came with an awesome mini-booklet and was pressed on quiet Japanese vinyl, but nonetheless sounds extremely muted, having been sourced from an obviously low-quality copy tape. I set out to procure every European edition that I could get my hands on, and successfully tracked down unsatisfying editions from France, Italy, and the U.K., all with various problems. The U.K. copy was the most confusing of these, sounding quite different from the others, with better dynamics and frequency response but a quieter instrumental track beneath the vocals; I later attributed this to it being a mono fold-down from the stereo mix (see above).

Following suspicions from the Record Phantom, I eventually landed on a copy of the German edition. I did not expect much at all from this Deutschepressung, so imagine my surprise to find that it sounds virtually indistinguishable from what the U.S. pressing would have been if it'd been pressed on higher-quality plastic. The near-identical frequency response between the German and U.S. spectrograms is striking. After many comparisons verifying these astonishing conclusions, I opted to use this German 45 for the bulk of this restoration: I think it cannot be bested by its peers.

All editions of this 45 have slightly different fade-outs, indicating that individual mastering engineers were responsible for adjusting the volume before the tape cuts. The German 45 has marginally earlier fades than some U.S. styrene variations; nonetheless, the styrene discs play conveniently clean in the fade-outs, where quieter music was not damaged by groove burn. This feature, along with these U.S. 45s' perfect match of sound quality to the German edition, allowed me to carefully splice the U.S. fades onto the otherwise German-sourced audio at the single-sample level, while carefully matching the waveform volumes such that the edit is completely indistinguishable to the ear. I believe, therefore, that this is the ideal version of these mono tracks, mating the sound quality of the German vinyl with extended fades from the U.S. styrene.

Front cover for the Japanese 45, utilizing the same artwork as the U.S. "Going Up The Country" 45 and the Living The Blues LP

Japanese 45 release notes (English / 日本語)

New Rock Best Hit Series

Time Was (2' 35")
Low Down (2' 30")

Canned Heat

Born amidst the waves of rock music and raised with its currents, Canned Heat showed little interest in actual music, instead becoming captivated solely by various thoughts, creations, and ideas centered on the unknown, yet unfinished, music of the world. This was because they sensed that there was "another ocean" in the world.

To become a great pioneer is, so to speak, to become a navigator to a destination, not to be a Columbus' egg. Just as the human brain doubles its function only when the "new cortex" is added on top of the "old cortex," when a new type of musical adventure is undertaken upon the old musical tradition, it is possible to give people incredible emotions. The "dramatic" imagination that elevated the easily produced picture-story shows into drama is a characteristic of youth.

For the past few years, the creation of new rock music, which had always started in Britain and spread to America, is about to be reclaimed by America once again. The dark messages of white bluesmen are now exploding everywhere, like the surface of the moon. American modern blues groups such as the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Iron Butterfly, The Blues Project, The Doors, The Moby Grape, The Grateful Dead, Electric Flag, The Amboy Dukes, Country Joe and the Fish, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and The Young Bloods, in conjunction with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Cream, The Jeff Beck Group, Ten Years After, Traffic, Fleetwood Mac, and Joe Cocker's Grease Band, heralded the dawn of modern blues.

For Canned Heat, these groups cannot be unknown. This is because blues rock, which is reaching an "artistic" level, cannot be understood as isolated points, but rather as interconnected lines; without that, it will not only fail to reach completion but will inevitably collapse.

The Heat's blues is certainly built upon traditional blues, but its significance lies in drawing it into a new current and elevating it to a modern blues brimming with contemporary sensibilities. Their confidence, passion, and soul are infused into it, captivating even younger generations who didn't previously listen to the blues as blues. This is a product of their flexible musical spirit.

They didn't ignore the fact that their peers were riding the wave of commercialism. They tried to find out what their peers and female fans were doing in Times Square, New York. They either gained or rejected certain nourishment from that whirlwind of temptation. In an age of surplus, it's natural that there's a lot to discard. Perhaps they weren't consciously striving for this, but what they always achieved was a genuine blues, human emotion, and empathy for the communicative methods that humanity should emphasize. They sought it in the middle ground between R&B and folk blues. Their belief was that true blues should exist not only for black people, but for white people too, and their assertion was that they would continue to pursue the blues until the fire in their hearts for music was extinguished.

At 26, Bob “The Bear” Hite perfected the technique of using vocals as an integral part of the instruments. Similarly, 26-year-old Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson taught people the essence of blues harmonica. 25-year-old Henry “Sunflower” Vestine established the Vestine style of guitar playing, while simultaneously pouring everything into their music, imbuing it with emotional as well as social implications. 27-year-old Larry Taylor revolutionized bass guitar playing. And finally, Mexican-born Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra, who replaced original member Frank Cook on drums, added yet another fresh element to Canned Heat's music.

They combined boogie, shuffle, and blues, constantly pursuing a new modern blues until the day they die.

Canned Heat Records

"Time Was" and "Low Down" are their fourth single. Following "Rollin' And Tumblin," "On The Road Again," and "Going Up The Country," both A and B sides are original numbers, released in February 1969. Three LPs were released: "On The Road Again" (July 1968), "Living The Blues" (November 1968), and "Boogie With Canned Heat" (September 1968).

[TBS - Mikio Kitayama]

ニュー・ロック・ベスト・シリーズ

タイム・ウォズ （2' 35"）
ローダウン （2' 30"）

キャンド・ヒート

ロック・ミュージックの波の中に生まれ、ロック・ミュージックの流れと共に育ったキャンド・ヒートが現実の音楽にほとんど興味を示さずに、まだ完成されざる未知の音楽を主題としたさまざまの思考、創造、観念にのみ心を奪われたのは、世界には「もうひとつの海」があることを予感していたからにほかならない。

偉大なる先駆者になることは、いわば目的地までの航海者になることであり、コロンブスの卵になってはいけないのである。「古い皮質」の上に「新しい皮質」が加わった時、はじめて人間の脳はその働きを倍加するように、古い音楽の伝統の上に新しい型の音楽の冒険が行使された時、人々に信じられぬ感動を与えることが可能なのである。それまでたやすく作られた紙芝居をドラマにまで止揚してゆく「劇的」想像性こそは青年の特性である。

こ、数年、常にイギリスが口火となってアメリカに飛び火した新しいロック音楽の創造は、再びアメリカの手にとり戻されようとしている。白人ブルースメンの黒っぽいメッセージは今や月面のようにそこかしこで爆発している。ポール・バターフィールド・ブルース・バンド、 ビッグ・ブラザーとホールディング・カンパニー、アイアン・バタフライ、ブルース・プロジェクト、ドアーズ、 モビー・グループ、グレートフル・デッド、エレクトリック・フラッグ、アンボイ・デュークス、カントリー・ ジョーとフィッシュ、ブラッド・スウェットとティアーズ、クイック・シルバー・メッセンジャー・サービス、 ヤング・ブラッズなどのアメリカ・モダン・ブルース・ グループがジョン・メイオールとブルース・ブレイカーズ、クリーム、ジェフ・ベック・グループ、テン・イアーズ・アフター、トラフィック、フリートウッド・マック、ジョー・クッカーズ・グリス・バンドなどと呼応して、モダン・ブルースの夜明けを告げたのである。

キャンド・ヒートにとってこれらのグループは知らない存在であってはならないのである。それは「芸術的な」 域にまで達しつつあるブルース・ロックが点として理解されずに、線としてのつながりを持たずしては、完成はおろか崩壊もまぬかれないからである。

ヒートのブルースはもちろんトラディショナル・ブルースの上に立つものだが、それを新しい流れの中に引き込み、現代感覚の溢れるモダン・ブルースにまで昇華させたことに意義がある。そこには彼等の自信と情熱と魂がこめられているから、ブルースをブルースとして聞かなかった若い世代の人をもその魅力のとりこにしたのである。それは彼等のフレキシビリティのある音楽精神から結果として与えられた産物である。

彼等は他の仲間がコマーシャルの波に乗るのを無視はしなかった。他の仲間やファンの女の子がニューヨークのタイムズ・スクエアーで何をやってるのか知ろうと試みた。その誘惑の渦の中からある種の糧を収得し、または拒否した。何もかもが余剰の時代にあって、捨てるものが多くあることは当然である。多分彼等はそれを意識して努力したのではないだろうが、しかし、彼等の成し得たものは常に真のブルースや人間感情、そして人類の強調すべき伝達方式への感情移入であった。彼等はそれをR&Bと民謡ブルースの中間点に求めた。黒人だけではなく、白人にだって本当のブルースがあったっていいじゃないかというのが彼等の考えであり、自分達の音楽に対する心の火が消えるまでブルースを追い続けようというのが彼等の主張である。

彼等が最も忌み嫌うものが音楽の動脈硬化である。「我々はいつか必ず我々の音楽をものにする。伝統はたしかに大切なものだ。しかし、それを成功させたいのなら、 常に前進しなければならない」――この哲学のひとつの結果として、彼等は永遠にまったく同じ方法で演奏はしないのである。

26才のボブ“ザ・ベア”ハイトは楽器の一部としてのヴォーカル手法を完成させた。同じく26才のアラン“ブラインド・アウル”ウィルソンはブルース・ハーモニカの神髄を人々に教えた。25才のヘンリー“ブリーチャー”ベスティンはベスタイン・スタイルというギター奏法を確立すると同時に彼等の音楽と社会的な含みと同様に感情的な含みを感じさせるまでにすべてを投入した。27才のラリー・テイラーはベース・ギターの奏法と一変させた。そして最後にオリジナル・メンバーのフランク・クックに代わってドラムスを叩いているメキシコ生れのアドルフォ“フィト”デ・ラ・パーラはキャンド・ヒートの音楽にもうひとつの新しさを加えた。

彼等はブギーを、シャッフルをブルースに結びつけ、 常に新しいモダン・ブルースを死ぬまで追求するのである。

キャンド・ヒートのレコード

この“Time Was” と “Low Down”は4枚目のシングル。“Rollin' And Tumblin" "On The Road Again" "Going Up The Country" に続くもので、1969年2 月に発表されたA・B面ともオリジナル・ナンバー。L P& "On The Road Again" (1968年7月)、“Living The Blues" (1968年11月)、“Boogie With Canned Heat" (1968年9月)と3枚発表されている。

〔TBS-北山幹雄〕

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Picture sleeve and labels of the French edition

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Italian pressing, again using the same artwork as the Japanese edition

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Track listing:
1) "Time Was" -- 2:38
2) "Low Down" -- 2:36

Vinyl condition: M-
Dynamic Range: DR 10

Equipment / Lineage:
– Audio-Technica VMN40ML stylus on AT150MLx dual moving-magnet cartridge
– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB direct drive professional turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)
– Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 Ultra preamp with dedicated Zero Zone linear power supply
– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)
– Adobe Audition CC 2024 (recording)
– iZotope RX 11 audio editor (manual declicking, EQ subtraction, additional adjustments)
– Audacity 3.x.x (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v2.x.x (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

Thanks for taking the time to read my posts and check out my blog. I'd greatly appreciate it if you leave a small comment below. Notes from my readers are what inspire me to keep going. Thanks!
MEGA: https://mega.nz/folder/gvsRhQqa#qPQytkuq9_2ZeNQG6BgaoQ

Enjoy! :)

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