Blossom Toes - "Peace Loving Man" (1969) [Mono 45 Single]

Blossom Toes - "Peace Loving Man" b/w "Just Above My Hobby Horse's Head"

Original 1969 German 45 RPM mono single
Polydor – 59 291  (Discogs)
~ThePoodleBites rip at 96 kHz / 24 bit FLAC + full hi-res scans!~
Unlike their first long-playing record, the Blossom Toes' second LP for Marmalade, If Only For A Moment, was released too late to appear in mono. By the end of the decade, mono was being phased out, even outside the US. However, a mono 45 capturing two tracks from the LP did appear, and it surprisingly contained dedicated mono mixes. Like the LP, this 45 opens with "Peace Loving Man," a monstrously heavy hard-rocker marked with equally heavy lyrical irony. Released as the record's lead single in both the UK and Germany, it may be surprising to the reader that the German pressing sounds significantly better than the UK one, with much better frequency extension in the high-end and lower distortion on the pressing. It also came with a terrific picture sleeve, which makes it all the better.

The mono mix of "Peace Loving Man" is quite different from the album version that we are all familiar with. Several of the interludes between the bombastic heavy-metal verses have specific instruments mixed completely out (or overdubs missing), which greatly enhances the perceived dynamics and the psychedelic effects. The biggest difference, however, is probably that the guitar solo which comprises the last minute of the song appears here with a clean guitar tone. On the album version, the same guitar solo was put through a fuzz pedal.

The good, but slightly inferior, "Just Above My Hobby Horse's Head," is a cover of a Richie Havens track from his Richard P. Havens, 1983 LP. The singer did his best Richie Havens impression on this re-recording. The vocals on the stereo LP are double-tracked and laden in heavy reverb, but a single vocal track dominates on the mono single, and is much more dry. The sitar is more forward in the mix, which is punchier overall. The label must have been concerned about the length of the song, as they sped it up by more than 7.3% as compared to the LP, and faded out slightly earlier. This is true not only on the German 45 but also on the UK 45, which (again) has inferior sound to the German disc.

Blossom Toes live on stage in 1969

Track listing:
1) "Peace Loving Man" -- 4:55
2) "Just Above My Hobby Horse's Head" -- 2:40

Vinyl condition: M-
Dynamic Range: DR 12

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)

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