[78-L] 78-L Digest, Vol 89, Issue 13

Thu Feb 18 00:48:56 PST 2016

I had a listen to these with interest, and also lined them up against the version heard on "Up and at 'em -  The Hottest Of The California Ramblers On Edison", Retrieval RTR-79067, as transferred by Nick Dellow.   This version is listed as being 10574-C.  Put up against the "Diamond Disc" take, it's exactly the same (when you get them running at the same speed)

The sync of the "LP take" moves around a lot compared to the retrieval version - i'm guessing this is due to the producers cutting out clicks, tapes stretching, imperfect tape machine mechanisms, or some other analogue domain issue. 

But I noticed something before the clarinet solo which suggests the LP and the DD/Retrieval could be different takes. When the band comes back in after Rollini's solo (2:11 on the DD take, 2:02 on the LP take, and 2:08 on Retrieval), I hear the trumpet entering bang on the beat on the LP take but just a smidgen late on the DD/Retrieval take. You wouldn't call it "late" if you heard it without reference to the version that's spot on, it doesn't sound like a mistake, it sounds juuuust off the beat in a good, jazzy way. 

So perhaps they were human after all! Pop the headphones on and have a listen, and reassure me that i'm not dreaming!

Cheers,
Evan. 

>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
>> [mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Rodger Holtin
>> Sent: 17 February 2016 05:09
>> To: '78-L Mail List'
>> Subject: [78-L] California Ramblers Edison mystery
>> 
>> 
>> All that chat about flanging a couple days ago reminded me of a story I've
>> been intending to share with the Board of Experts for a while.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I guess it was last spring when 78-Listmember Dave Blue Pages Diehl paid me
>> a visit here in West TN on his way to ARSC.  He pulled a box from the trunk
>> and said they were just some souvenirs of Arkansas.  Indeed.  One was a
>> Diamond Disc of Sweet Man by the Golden Gate Orchestra.  This has been a
>> favorite of ours since we heard Bill Givens play it on WHAM in Rochester, NY
>> on April 4, 1965.  We taped that and wore the tape out.  Fast forward to
>> 1970 and it showed up on Biograph BLP-12020 as Miss Annabelle Lee - The
>> California Ramblers on Edison, Vol 1.  We put that on cassette and enjoyed
>> it in the walkman or the Buick until the cassettes croaked.  Fast forward to
>> 2007 when I got my first computer that allowed me to burn my own CDs and
>> that track was among the first 100 CDs I burned.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> We knew this record well - very well, and count it among the best of its age
>> by any band.  But when confronted with an original Edison, we did what we
>> would have done as teenagers - washed it and played it, regardless of the
>> fact we had it on CD.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Well..as it played, we noticed minor differences and chalked it up to EQ
>> settings, for it all sounded so "right" - the solos were all familiar, note
>> for note, lick for lick, the attacks the same - until we got to the clarinet
>> passage at the 2:30 mark and that sent us looking for the CD.  Marked
>> differences.  The old DD says it is take C, and the liner notes to Biograph
>> BLP-12020 says it, too is take C.  So we slapped 'em both into a digital
>> file to get a "stereo" version, the LP transfer in one channel and the old
>> DD in the other.  (It sounds a bit "flanged" and that's what prompted my
>> memory of this to pass on.)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Easier said than done.  The LP version was brighter, played faster, and
>> consequently, shorter.  The assumption here is the LP transfer may have been
>> a tad fast, my original dub of the Lp to digital may have been too fast,
>> etc., before I got the nice turntable I have now.  So, anything's possible.
>> The DD transferred at a flat 78.26 and we used the software to perk it up
>> appropriately and that helped to even the score, but not completely.  Not
>> wishing to waste all night on this project, we got it pretty close by
>> dumping the first two minutes or so and centering it around the middle of
>> the clarinet passage, and there you can really hear the difference.  One
>> break is ascending notes, the other is descending.  No amount of EQ
>> difference is going to produce that.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Take a listen.  I've put the LP and DD files in Dropbox as mp3 files and our
>> crude composite of the final 1:20 or so is also there, marked "sample
>> 2-edit."   Every other solo is exactly the same.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> It amazed us that such a group as this would ever be able to play the same
>> arrangement note for note twice and make a near carbon-copy performance -
>> especially Adrian Rollini on bass sax.  He could be counted on for fresh
>> stuff on every take.  The DD has the complete title, the Lp is obviously a
>> rip from the CD and marked with "LP" as part of the file name.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Could the LP be mismarked as -C?  Could there be more than one -C?  The DD
>> wax is pretty clear.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Here's the link:
>> 
>> https://www.dropbox.com/sh/btnr2p84qpwg6z5/AABSUvIRSflT2GLXtJiMrmBya?dl=0
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Footnotes:
>> 
>> 1-At first I thought the clarinet passage was a solo, but now I believe it's
>> two guys trading off, one takes 16 bars of the refrain as a subtone and then
>> trades 8s for the last half with a guy playing alto in a higher register.
>> My son the band director thinks they trade positions for the two takes!
>> 
>> 2-Also noted that the LP liner notes said "Original sound qualities have
>> been retained and no artificial echoing or rechanneling has been
>> introduced."  But I think I hear a little echo here on the LP transfer, and
>> I had no way to add any.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Rodger
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> For best results use Victor Needles
>> 
>> 
>> 
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