Roky Erickson & The Resurrectionists - Don't Shake Me Lucifer (Live) [Original 1987 Flexi-Disc]

Roky Erickson And The Resurrectionists - Don't Shake Me Lucifer (Live)

Original 1987 Promotional Flexi-Disc

Bucketfull Of Brains ‎– BOB 13

~ThePoodleBites Rip in 96kHz/24bit FLAC + full hi-res scans~

Last month the world lost one of the greatest voices in rock music. Roky Erickson was not just the voice of psychedelic rock, he was the voice of an entirely new generation of sounds, calling with his proto-screams to the future of many punk/hardrock groups his image helped create, along with his own later "horror rock" stream of consciousness. While I do have a number of Elevators albums currently in-the-works in the forms of various mixes/pressings/etc, I just had to post this little flexi-disc single as a memorandum on this page to the man who has entered so many of our lives and given us music that influenced us at the core. This record is by nature lo-fi, loud, and twisted; it makes a statement that only one man could make.

Thanks to my friend M.S. for sharing this disc with me for ripping/scanning purposes!

Recorded: Live at The Island, Houston, Texas -- June 25/26th, 1982

Dynamic range: DR 10

Lineage:

– Audio-Technica AT150MLx Dual Moving-Magnet Cartridge
– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB Direct Drive Professional Turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)
– TCC TC-754 RIAA Phono Preamp (new regulated power supply, added LM7812 regulator)
– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)
– Adobe Audition CC 2019 (recording)
– iZotope RX 7 Advanced Audio Editor (manual declicking, additional adjustments)
– Audacity 2.3.0 (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v1.4.3 (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1D8NIgcSwNB8k4YNGEde9JPTG8PaT0QXQ?usp=sharing
Enjoy!

The Third Power - We, You, I / Snow (1968) [Original US Single] {FLAC 96/24}

3rd Power - We, You, I / Snow

Original US Single -- 1968 Baron AR 626

~ThePoodleBites rip in 96kHz / 24bit FLAC + full high-resolution scans~

The Third Power: Believe is probably my favorite Detroit psych record. Unfortunately it's getting harder to find a clean copy these days, but even more uncommon than the relatively rare Vanguard LP is this private single, released by the group a couple years beforehand. It's definitely a "loud cut" (read: distortion will be present) but the raw, garage/psych sound and relation to one of the best power trios ever to emerge from the US warrants its inclusion on this blog.

Thanks to C.F. for his assistance in finding a clean-playing copy of this 45!

Only two tracks here (obviously), but don't let the A-side turn you off. I actually prefer "Snow" of the two. That said, the band's vision would become much more refined on their full-length record to emerge in 1970.

Lundborg wrote a micro-blog-post about this 45 single which is here.

Track Listing:

1) "We, You, I" -- 3:25

2) "Snow" -- 2:49

Vinyl Condition: VG+ 

Dynamic Range: DR 12

Lineage:

– Audio-Technica AT150MLx Dual Moving-Magnet Cartridge
– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB Direct Drive Professional Turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)
– TCC TC-754 RIAA Phono Preamp (new regulated power supply, added LM7812 regulator)
– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)
– Adobe Audition CC 2019 (recording)
– iZotope RX 7 Advanced Audio Editor (manual declicking, additional adjustments)
– Audacity 2.3.0 (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v1.4.3 (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sMg_DxAVj_3bzkO-hUWWtnyI3hvIBUMi
Enjoy!

The Beat Of The Earth - "Our Standard Three Minute Tune" (1967 Sessions / Released 1994) [Original US Pressing]

The Beat Of The Earth - Our Standard Three Minute Tune

First 1967 studio recording session, officially released by Phil Pearlman

1994 Radish A.S. 0001½

~ThePoodleBites Rip in 96kHz/24bit FLAC + full high-resolution scans~

This is the first of the four Phil Pearlman records which I hope to be posting here at some point down the line. Out of his original private '60s / '70s projects, this mid-nineties first-issue of original Beat Of The Earth material is by far the most hi-fi. If you love the "Sister Ray"-era Velvet Underground or the more cohesive Red Crayola moments then prepare to be blown away by the music of this now-fabled psychedelic outfit. 

Phil Pearlman is an enigma of the '60s and a well-respected legend of the private press scene. Phil started The Beat Of The Earth project while he was an art student at UC Irvine, southeast of Los Angeles, CA. The music was produced organically, "plugging in" to the nature of self, thus spontaneous and unrehearsed, but somehow remaining surprisingly cognizant, political, and whimsical. It's obvious to any listener that Phil had been chewing on his fair share of Freak Out!, produced by a band then starting the L.A. "freak" scene, but also embracing Andy Warhol's banana, imported from the strange happenings of the East coast. Thus Phil's mind was strewn between the proto-alt fervor of the VU and the more "serious" art-rock of Zappa's crowd, producing the long, drawn out jams that most collectors now respect as one of the finest '60s rarities.

While I probably marginally prefer the mindset and focus of their first album, Our Standard Three Minute Tune features similar variations on the Beats' music in such remarkable sound quality that I might even label this essential listening. While not having exactly the distinct acid vision of the rural-psych masterpiece Relatively Clean Rivers, Phil's first session still blooms into a gaping portal to what it must have been like to jam with the Beats back in 1967.

"On Sept. 22 The Beat of the Earth played at the Fair Palace. It was a medium size building maybe 400 or 500 came that night. When we first got there we set up the projectors, pattern machines and strobe lights. Then we went on stage. First we played The Beat of the Earth, our standard 3 minute tune. We played it for about 15 minutes. Then we played our slow song. Then I realized we didn't know any more songs so we played the Beat of the Earth again. Then we took a break.

"After a half hour J.R. came up to me and said the other band wouldn't play, they didn't want to play on the same night as us. When I got back to the stage a bunch of people had gone up there and were playing tambourines bongos and maracas and whatever they could find that we had laying around on the stage. We played the Beat of the Earth again for an hour and a half until it was time for the place to close. Everyone who stayed had a great time, playing the bongos, dancing and watching the light show. 

"The manager of the fairgrounds was there. He said we put on a really good show and that a wonderful time was had by all. And he said we should always play in a place with a high ceiling. I had met the manager a couple of years before. There was a big bunch of stray cats living under one of the exhibit buildings. It was known that the manager liked them.

"This record is brought to you thanks to Joe Sidore, engineer par-excellence etc. etc. Posters are provided by Toni J. Sartotio. Person pictured on outside back cover at left is not Andy Warhol."

~Phil Pearlman

The Beats:
• Karen Darby
• Morgan Chapman
• JR Nichols
• Ron Collins
• Bill and Sherry Phillips
• Phil Pearlman

Track Listing:
1) "Our Standard Three Minute Tune (Part One)" -- 20:48

2) "Our Standard Three Minute Tune (Part Two)" -- 19:20

Vinyl Condition: M- (first time being played after opening by Phil himself)

Dynamic Range: DR 14

Lineage:

– Audio-Technica AT150MLx Dual Moving-Magnet Cartridge
– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB Direct Drive Professional Turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)
– TCC TC-754 RIAA Phono Preamp (new regulated power supply, added LM7812 regulator)
– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)
– Adobe Audition CC 2019 (recording)
– iZotope RX 7 Advanced Audio Editor (manual declicking, additional adjustments)
– Audacity 2.3.0 (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v1.4.3 (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

"Well the seagull said

Within your head

Will you tell me what you will be

And the hermit said

Within my head

You just can’t be like me"

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1tl0sa-bSiPaYSKDd0h31I39MXKBOYYWL?usp=sharing
(As usual, you can ignore the "Working Versions" folder, which exists for archival purposes only.)

Enjoy, and please feel free to comment below! :)
P.S. Lundborg did a great piece on this mysterious fellow...

Marcus - From The House Of Trax (1978) [Original US Pressing]

Marcus - From The House Of Trax

Genuine Original 1978 Private Pressing (Discogs)

plus 1990s Marcus self-released reissue

~ThePoodleBites rip in 96kHz / 24bit FLAC + full high-resolution scans~

"Hearing this on acid is like walking around inside a psychedelic cathedral ..." ~Patrick Lundborg

I discovered this gem not long ago while browsing through Patrick Lundborg's old site Lysergia, whereupon I stumbled into this incredible blog post that set me upon the usual course of tracking down the nearest CD reissue of this title, immediately blowing myself away -- "A-Trip-In Time", "Captain Zella Queen," how is this not in lists of top-10 psychedelic records all over the web? However, since the tapes no longer exist, tracking down an original pressing of the album was necessary to hear it properly, which is what I've done. Our friend J.R. has written another stellar write-up below about the acid-charged sounds of this wonderful LP, so while you're coming up you can read his essay and wait for the files to download. Definitely check this one out if you haven't experienced it before.

Thank you to my friends J.R. and C.F. for their help with research and compiling this post to make this freely available to all. 

"Marcus's From The House Of Trax is one of those anomalies of the psychedelic music world, a Kool-aid soaked surprise coming from the woodwork in 1978 when disco ruled the airwaves. That it was self-released and seemed to disappear without a trace in its time is fitting, considering the era in which it was produced and released, and according to the man himself, friends tossed the album around like frisbees to "see how far the music could go." However, this is no lo-fi amateur recording - rather, a professionally recorded and fully realized artistic statement. From the moment the needle drops we're drawn into the minor-key psychedelic realm with "Locked Inside A World."

"Marcus's vocals immediately take the tone of someone who seemingly has a a very important message to deliver. Marcus sounds almost sinister, realizing the truth isn't always a beautiful thing - it contains darkness, being trapped inside a world where so many can't realize we're all the same, a simple and uplifting message. Soaring harmonies, crystalline keyboards, and fat, winding guitar solos all wrapped in an effects-laden production style draw the listener deep into Marcus's mind.

Marcus in the mid-1970s

"Marcus began as a folky in California with just an acoustic guitar, and seeing the live video of him performing solo on a TV show in the late 1970s makes one realize just how much this music is rooted in folk and SSW. The full backing band and studio setting make him sound like an entirely different entity, yet under the layers of production there are simple songs with simple chords, and to these ears the connection must be made to Marcus's acoustic-based past. By the time he went into the studio with his crew of musician friends, he was ready to embrace the polished hardrock sheen of the day, and there are psych riff-rockers here, like "A-Trip-In-Time" and "The City Of Inbetween" which continue the acid themes and midnight vibes. Heavy on keys, and there is just enough of a discrepancy in the drumming to make nothing ever sound too "tight", which helps retain the wild speedy ride Marcus seems to be on. "Sweet Inspiration" is truly beautiful, and tears at the heartstrings of the listener, a seemingly simple song about a muse.

"The second side begins with "Gary's Song," a poignant ode to a friend of Marcus's who apparently went insane and had to be institutionalized. Whatever the cause, Marcus wrote the tune and it was given to Gary in the mental ward and after listening to it for 3 days straight, he recovered and was never seen by Marcus again. The majority of the side is a bit more relaxed and reflective, despite "Captain Zella Queen" being a short but sweet rocker with femme backing vocals and eerie keys. The somewhat cryptic lyrics deal with dream states and polar opposites, as well as the cycle of life and death. The song was actually comp'd in 2017 on Paul Major's "Feel The Music, Vol. 1" 

Marcus's mid-90s "Return" to music, with stronger Christian influences

""I Want To Fly" deals with wanting to break free from the chains of the earth, as Marcus is depicted on the front cover slick, very fitting with the theme of the record. "Right Inside Of You Baby" veils more philosophical ideas with a blatantly sexual title, a clever trick. These songs really drive home Marcus's folk roots, and lean heavily on simple strumming guitar chords. Although this record isn't obviously Christian themed, the stunning closer "Satan" (amusingly misspelled "Satin" on the record label) is a blatant denial of the Devil, with Marcus howling "You've got to be insane!" as if it's the Devil who is crazy for ever thinking Marcus would turn to the dark side. The choice of turning to God is a game the Devil can never win - "You don't play the game/Where I get to choose."  A very appropriate epic theme to end the psychedelic cathedral that is From The House Of Trax.

"The album is simply a must hear for fans of psychedelic music, and in retrospect it's one of the top examples of the "out-of-time" independently released psych records. It is comforting to think that musicians like Marcus were creating this type of music well into the late 1970s, and fortunately for us, a few were able to immortalize on wax." ~J.R.

One of the Marcus tapes sent out by Paul Major, circa 1988

This album has a bit of an interesting story. Recorded and released near Louisville, Kentucky around 1978 or 1979, House Of Trax was mostly distributed to close friends, and was basically forgotten about nearly a decade later when musician and record collector Paul Major discovered in the mid-1980s and began mentioning it in his mail-order catalog. After distributing cassette tapes to some friends and interested collectors, Paul put it up for offers, and ended up getting a bundle (it's been rumored the sum was $1200), which inspired him to track down Marcus himself to see if he had any more for sale. 

When Paul was able to contact Marcus and asked him if he had any copies of the album for sale, Paul said that Marcus was able to sell him seven copies that Marcus had rounded up from various places. Paul called back two or three years later, checking to see if there were any more. All gone, there aren't any left, sorry. Paul then offered Marcus a large sum of money for even one more copy (which blew Marcus' mind), but sorry, none left. Some people who spoke with Paul around that time state that Paul also said Marcus mentioned the possibility of doing a repressing, and that nobody could possibly figure it out. Of course Paul told Marcus to not pursue this.

Then, in the early 1990s, Marcus suddenly had boxes of sealed copies for sale. Pressed for details, Marcus claimed that there was a forgotten stash at his mother's house. Critical of this sudden "find," Paul decided to not purchase any, but sure enough, copies began to appear in other dealer's catalogs. And of course there were some inconsistencies.

The difference was that the covers and the labels on the records were not identical. Early reports say that the original sleeves were easily differentiated from the newly "found" versions. I'll spare the details here (I've added them to the Discogs page linked above), but the crux of the biscuit is that it appears the original stampers were used with replica artwork to emulate the original release and "cash out" on the high prices collectors were paying for this record.

After tracking down both a true original copy and an "original" copy sold by Marcus himself, and talking with a few experts who know much more than myself (thanks C.F. for providing most of the information above!) I've been able to verify some details and create a definitive digital version of this album, including all of the "official" artwork / label versions available to date.

Track Listing:
1) "Locked Inside A World" -- 4:01
2) "A-Trip-In Time" -- 3:33
3) "The City Of Inbetween" -- 3:37
4) "Sweet Inspiration" -- 3:35
5) "Gary's Song" -- 3:44
6) "Captain Zella Queen" -- 2:56
7) "I Want To Fly" -- 3:30
8) "Right Inside Of You Baby" -- 3:55
9) "Satan" -- 4:25

Vinyl Condition: NM

Dynamic Range: DR 12

Lineage:

– Audio-Technica AT150MLx Dual Moving-Magnet Cartridge
– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB Direct Drive Professional Turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)
– TCC TC-754 RIAA Phono Preamp (new regulated power supply, added LM7812 regulator)
– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)
– Adobe Audition CC 2019 (recording)
– iZotope RX 7 Advanced Audio Editor (manual declicking, additional adjustments)
– Audacity 2.3.0 (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v1.4.3 (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_AhqQl9bCB4RdUk0ldeYSIkE3wgVh25u

Enjoy, and feel free to leave comments below! :)

Shadrack - I Wonder Why / It Was Me (1973) [Original US Single]

Shadrack - "I Wonder Why" / "It Was Me"

Original 1973 Private Press 45 RPM Single

~ThePoodleBites rip in 96kHz / 24bit FLAC + full high-resolution artwork~

The night as I lay so sound asleep

The spirit he touched my eyes

He opened them for me to see

What lies beyond the skies

Shadrack, a psych-rock act out of Iowa, is widely known among serious collectors of private press records for the album Chameleon, which is quite a high-dollar item. Anyone will tell you that Steve Fox was the main creative force behind Shadrack, but this single apparently had a bit more group involvement than the later recordings. This was supposedly recorded about 18 months before Chameleon, but was discovered by collectors some time after its long-playing brother was known to exist. 

I've been hoping to run into a copy of this single for a long time, but none ever popped up for sale. So, my friend C.F. offered to loan me his copy for a proper transfer and restoration project. Thus we all have him to thank for this!

Unlike the Shadrack Chameleon album, this single was recorded in a professional studio, and apart from the shrill vocals on side 2 (it's in the mix) and somewhat noisy pressing, it actually sounds really good. This has only ever been reissued on Gear Fab with their usual noise reduction and bad EQ, which this blows away. I've done my best to clean up the inherent groove noise without doing any damage to the audio, but you may hear a bit of noise in the intro/outro of the tracks, and a noticeable bit of distortion from those vocals on side 2. This record also had a severe edge warp which required me to record and slower speeds and do speed & EQ correction in the digital domain. This has of course been done with the utmost care so that you can hear these recordings as they were meant to sound.

Shadrack:

- Steve Fox (bass, guitar, vocals)

- Randy Berka (guitar, vocals)

- Jon Porter (keyboards)

- Dan Dodgen (drums)

Track Listing:

1) "I Wonder Why" (Steve Fox & Randy Berka) -- 2:40

2) "It Was Me" (Randy Berka) -- 2:30

Vinyl Condition: G+ (woulda been higher without that warp)

Dynamic Range: DR 11

Lineage:

– Audio-Technica AT150MLx Dual Moving-Magnet Cartridge
– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB Direct Drive Professional Turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)
– TCC TC-754 RIAA Phono Preamp (new regulated power supply, added LM7812 regulator)
– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)
– Adobe Audition CC 2019 (recording)
– iZotope RX 7 Advanced Audio Editor (manual declicking, additional adjustments)
– Audacity 2.3.0 (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v1.4.3 (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1x7xrl2XXiTYrwHU9iBxX-NpRq_Td9w--
Enjoy!

Zerfas - s/t (1973) [1994 Master Tape Reissue] {Official 700 West}

Zerfas - Zerfas (1973)

Reissue sourced from the original master tapes

700 West ‎730710 (Discogs) (Wikipedia)

~ThePoodleBites rip in 96kHz/24bit FLAC + full high-resolution scans!~

If you've never heard this one before, you're in for a special treat. This is a rare 1994 reissue (only 375 released copies) of one of the US private press scene's greatest treasures. I was turned onto this incredible piece of music by Brent Marley of Psych Trail Mix magazine, who altruistically helped fund this project and lent his skills for writing this blog post below. Enjoy, and be sure to check out the ongoing PTM blog which is linked on the side of this page.

A big thanks to Brent Marley for his generous contributions -- and also thanks to Howard Phillips for getting this reissue together more than two-and-a-half decades ago, along with Stan Denski's excellent, extensive liner notes!

“This is perhaps THE epitome of an American private press masterpiece: created by four guys from the Midwest who scrounged up money from their day jobs to acquire the funds to record an album. Some of the most amazing music comes out of the most unexpected of places, in this case Indiana in the early '70s! However, it does kind of make sense when you think about it – the vast, more OPEN landscape of rural Indiana perhaps allows the mind to float up a bit HIGHER, thoughts allowed to expand a bit more. This is something that the big cities and other places don’t offer. For example, could the 13th Floor Elevators or the Butthole Surfers really have come from anywhere else other than the Lone Star State of Texas? Zerfas had a 40 acre farm as the band’s headquarters, so it was a good environment to let the mind float and expand across the vast acreage and open area, maybe that’s why the music and lyrics almost have a sort of sophisticated kind of maturity to them in ANSWERING some of the big questions of life that are pondered.

“Patrick Lundborg of Acid Archives called the songwriting “brilliant late Beatles style” and brilliantly penned it “Abbey Road out of Indy.” It’s hard to top that description! The spirit of the original psychedelic '60s was alive and well in the early '70s for the Zerfas brothers & co. in Indiana, this thing sounds like it could have come straight out of like '67 – '68. The album opens up with about a minute and twenty seconds of possibly the most beautiful piece of backwards music you’ve ever heard in your life before launching from that into the unsuspecting “You Never Win,” a song that sounds like it could have come straight off of some '60s psych/garage punk compilation, but (especially after hearing this reissue from the master tapes) this song is a step above a typical garage-punk comp track, the music is bit more top-notch and sophisticated and the harmonies come in separating this from a typical garage-sneer it appears to be upon the start of the song. “The Sweetest Part” is an uplifting song with a really great, simplistically delicious little fuzz guitar lead after each verse, and it’s hard to top the line “think of all the good things that happen every day – wake up to the morning, find you haven’t been blown away.” “I Don’t Understand” starts off with all sorts of great weirdness; out-there warped synth sounds (apparently created using a home-made synthesizer!), backwards laughing, then it breaks into a beautiful introspective piece with all sorts of mood and tempo changes. That’s one of the things that makes this record so great, it's got all of this wild experimentation in sections, then they transition seamlessly into these absolutely beautiful lush musical soundscapes.

Poster insert featuring photos of the band

“Don’t be prematurely turned-off by the boogie woogie sound of “Stoney Wellitz,” the music is great and there’s some delightfully trippy synth sounds interlaced perfectly within the song. The songs all have a synergy to them and flow into one another nicely, for a fully realized vision rather than just a collection of songs. You can tell the band wanted this affect too, as in many places they drop in some atmospheric-setting sound collages/effects at the start of and after songs. The longer epics like the 7+ minute “Hope” never bore, with a beautiful middle section of keyboards, haunting background harmonies, and sounds of the ocean washing over you. “Fool’s Parade” is great and contains many examples why Zerfas is such an incredible record and bursting at the seams with creativity; the backward vocals that start the song, the combo of the keyboard/ring modulator sounds melding together in the trippy middle section, all of a sudden a warped/demented voice pops in declaring “mushroom soup!” “The Piper” ends the album just perfectly with excellent lyrics, again with some answers being offered as well as a hand extended in an offering to join this piper who seems to be like some sort of psychedelic guru (Tim Leary perhaps?), beautiful keyboards, PERFECT guitar solo, abrupt ending of piano, creating the best final song and best possible way to close out this amazing album.” [Brent Marley]

For this album, original LPs are nearly impossible to find, and usually quite expensive when they do pop up. However, this reissue certainly "does the trick." Officially licensed and sourced from the original master tapes (lent from Dave Zerfas himself), the package features not only the ultimate in sound quality but boasts a promo photo reproduction, a poster insert, and an extensive booklet of liner notes, all of which has been scanned for digital archiving here. It is rumored by many that this reissue is actually a better pressing than the 1973 original.

Unfortunately, this wonderful album has yet to see a legit CD reissue, which necessitates this transfer and restoration. The Radioactive label bootlegged this album in 2004 (and again in 2009 under their pseudonym Phoenix), but the sound quality is horrid and the tracks aren't even split correctly or in the proper order. This digital version beats those CDs in every way. It's been said that an official CD remaster is in the works, but others have noted that it has been "in the works" since the mid-1990s, so I wouldn't cross my fingers.  

This copy was unplayed when I got it, but it was a bit noisy and required the usual manual restoration to bring it up to standard. I've also applied some EQ to remove my system's frequency response as best as possible. This was characterized by carefully comparing 3 different test records with known digital versions. I've done no further "mastering" and the original files are available as usual, along with the raw rips, in the "Working Versions" folder. 

Chapter I

1) "You Never Win" -- 5:19

2) "The Sweetest Part" -- 3:38

3) "I Don't Understand" -- 5:17

4) "I Need It Higher" -- 4:47

Chapter II

5) "Stoney Wellitz" -- 6:24

6) "Hope" -- 7:47

7) "Fool's Parade" -- 4:22

8) "The Piper" -- 4:16

Vinyl Condition: unplayed, but probably VG+

Dynamic Range: DR 12

Lineage:

– Audio-Technica AT150MLx Dual Moving-Magnet Cartridge
– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB Direct Drive Professional Turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)
– TCC TC-754 RIAA Phono Preamp (new regulated power supply, added LM7812 regulator)
– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)
– Adobe Audition CC 2019 (recording)
– iZotope RX 7 Advanced Audio Editor (manual declicking, additional adjustments)
– Audacity 2.3.0 (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v1.4.3 (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VmosJK1MqGQJUUqvEeXfkXhTo-6KA91S
Enjoy, and please feel free to leave comments below! :)

Mad River - Mad River (1968) [1979 German Reissue]

Mad River - Mad River (1968)

1979 German Reissue LP

Capitol Records ‎"Masterpiece" 1 C 038-85 882

~ThePoodleBites Rip in 96kHz / 24bit FLAC + Full High-Res Scans~

"A terrifying acid rock bad trip that sounds like nothing else ..." -Richard Morton Jack

"An extraordinary, groundbreaking band whose greatness has yet to be fully recognized." -Patrick Lundborg

It's hard for me to add much more to those two wonderful summaries. It's sad that this psych-rock masterpiece isn't as well-known as the band's SF-scene contemporaries, perhaps because Mad River was a little late to the party with this debut arriving in 1968. Every track is fantastic (some even hilarious: listen to the first verse in "Amphetamine Gazelle"), but the clear stand-out for me is the 12-minute epic "War Goes On," in which you'll hear rhythms as primitive as anything on Trout Mask Replica and melodies progressive as anything on In The Court Of The Crimson King, but a year before either of those records were released. If all you've ever heard is the CD reissue of this well-produced classic -- or even worse, you've never heard it at all -- you need to download this rip now. You're about to get your head blown off. 

I was turned onto this reissue by the late Patrick Lundborg, who mentions in the Acid Archives that it "is a slightly better pressing than the US original" (p. 203). After snagging a copy and comparing to a US original (borrowed from my friend Mike Somavilla -- thanks, man!), I certainly agree that it is a better pressing. The inner grooves on the original US pressing lack in the top end, while this pressing plays evenly from beginning to end. (If you don't believe me, check out "Hush Julian" from the original LP, which I've posted in the 'raw rips' folder, and hear the difference for yourself.) And this great pressing of this fantastic album can be had for less than $10!

Now, that is not to say that the original is completely worthless juxtaposed with this German facsimile. Notably, the reissue's cover is completely redesigned (and somewhat cheesy, if you ask me), and actually the first few tracks on each side are missing a hair of the "presence" found on the original pressing, notably in the crispness of cymbals. I'd attribute this to the German pressing likely being from a tape dupe of the original master; however, the difference is subtle and I think the improvements found on this pressing greatly outweigh the "cons."

One more note on Lundborg's Acid Archives entry for this album -- he made a mistake that needs to be corrected. He states that "the first LP recordings were accidentally sped up during the original mastering phase, which means that most releases including the 1968 original actually play at inaccurate speed" (p. 202). Lundborg goes on the say that the reissue CD (sourced from vinyl) corrects this, and indeed, it plays about 2% slower than the original LP and this German reissue. However, this speed difference was a mistake on the CD, not on the LPs! The vinyl transfer used on the CD sounds like it was played on a turntable with a stretched-out belt which caused it to play at an inaccurate speed. If you try to play along, everything is out-of-tune and in strange keys. On both LPs I've ripped, "Eastern Light" is perfectly in tune in Em, which would make much more sense to any human being that's ever held a guitar. The tunings also match that of the original Mad River EP, which has never been disputed in correctness. 

Personnel:

- Lawrence Hammond (vocal, bass)

- David Robinson (guitar)

- Tom Manning (guitar)

- Rick Bockner (guitar)

- Greg Dewey (drums, vocal)

Track Listing:

01) "Merciful Monks" -- 3:39

02) "High All The Time" -- 4:08
03) "Amphetamine Gazelle" -- 2:59

04) "Eastern Light" -- 7:56

05) "Wind Chimes" -- 7:17

06) "War Goes On" -- 12:24

07) "Hush Julian"  -- 1:12

Vinyl Condition: Near Mint

Dynamic Range: DR 12

Lineage:

– Audio-Technica AT150MLx Dual Moving-Magnet Cartridge
– Audio-Technica AT-LP1240-USB Direct Drive Professional Turntable (internal stock preamp/ADC removed)
– TCC TC-754 RIAA Phono Preamp (new regulated power supply, added LM7812 regulator)
– Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 MkII (96kHz / 24bit)
– Adobe Audition CC 2018 (recording)
– iZotope RX 7 Audio Editor (manual declicking, additional adjustments)
– Audacity 2.2.2 (fades between tracks, split tracks)
– Foobar2000 v1.4.2 (tagging, dynamic range analysis)

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iz37N769_tnzThPMzc_4UOESysvdBGaL
Enjoy, and pay it forward! :)