"The Magnificent Moodies: Official 50th Anniversary Edition" by THE MOODY BLUES (December 2014 Esoteric Recordings 2CD Mini Box Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...I've Got A Dream..."

Even if their 1965 debut album doesn’t musically come anywhere near reflecting the sound THE MOODY BLUES acquired circa 1967’s “Days Of Future Passed” (and stayed with for the whole of their lengthy career) – you have to admire Esoteric Recordings and their full-throated reissue of their Sixties Pop debut – it’s properly gorgeous and then some. If only some of the major labels would pay attention to the superlative presentation that’s on offer here…

Housed in a glossy 5” Mini Box Set, it features top-class remasters from original 4-track master tapes (including rare STEREO versions on Disc 2), a monstrous 43 bonus tracks (29 of which are Previously Unreleased), a lavishly annotated 24-page booklet, three black and white postcards with fan-club info on the rear and even a foldout colour poster rammed on the flip side with a memorabilia montage that will thrill fans to their little cotton socks. Both CDs are picture discs housed in different card artwork – and it doesn’t cost £49.99 but twelve quid - wow!

There’s tons of material to get through here - so onwards towards that dreamy Threshold (if you know what I mean)…

UK released 15 December 2014 – "The Magnificent Moodies" is an 'Official 50th Anniversary 2CD Edition' on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 22473 (Barcode 5013929457348) and breaks down as follows (all songs are MONO except Tracks 21 to 29 on Disc 2 which are in STEREO):

Disc 1 (74:41 minutes):

1. I’ll Go Crazy

2. Something You Got

3. Go Now

4. Can’t Nobody Love You

5. I Don’t Mind

6. I’ve Got A Dream

7. Let Me Go [Side 2]

8. Stop

9. Thank You Baby

10. It Ain’t Necessarily So

11. True Story

12. Bye Bye Bird

Tracks 1 to 12 are their debut LP “The Magnificent Moodies” released July 1965 in the UK (in Mono only) on Decca Records LK 4711

The album was issued in the USA (also in Mono only) on London Records PS 428 entitled “Go Now – Moody Blues No.1” with an entirely different track running order. Fans can sequence the American LP using the following song numbers on Disc 1:

Side 1: I’ll Go Crazy [1], And My Baby’s Gone [14], Go Now [3], It’s Easy Child [16], Can’t Nobody Love You [4] and I Had A Dream [6]

Side 2: Let Me Go [7], I Don’t Want To Go On Without You [17], True Story [11], It Ain’t Necessarily So [10], Bye Bye Bird [12] and From The Bottom Of My Heart [19]

BONUS TRACKS:

13. Lose Your Money (But Don’t Lose Your Mind)

14. Steal Your Heart Away (tracks 14 and 13 are the A&B-sides of their debut UK 45 released September 1964 on Decca F 11971)

15. Go Now! (First Version) (Previously Unreleased – Recorded 24 July 1964)

16. It’s Easy Child (non-album track, B-side to “Go Now!” released as a UK 7” single in November 1964 on Decca F 12022)

17. I Don’t Want To Go On Without You (see US album run above)

18. Time Is On My Side (tracks 17 and 18 are also the A&B-sides of their 3rd UK 7” single released February 1965 on Decca F 12095)

19. From The Bottom Of My Heart (I Love You)

20. And My Baby’s Gone (tracks 19 and 20 are on the US album (see above) and are their 4th UK 7” single released May 1965 on Decca F 12166)

21. Everyday

22. You Don’t (All The Time) (tracks 21 and 22 are non-album, their 5th UK 7” single released October 1965 on Decca F 12266)

23. Boulevard De Madeleine

24. This Is My House (But Nobody Calls) (tracks 23 and 24 are non-album, their 6th UK 7” single released October 1966 on Decca F 12498)

25. People Gotta Go (non-album track, taken from the French “Boulevard De Madeleine EP” released January 1967 on Decca 457117)

26. Life’s Not Life

27. He Can Win (tracks 26 and 27 are non-album, their 7th UK 7” single released January 1967 on Decca F 12543)

Disc 2 (77:06 minutes):

Previously Unreleased Sessions 1964-1966

1. Go Now! (Second Version)

2. Lose Your Money (But Don’t Lose Your Mind) (Early Version)

3. Steal Your Heart Away (First Version)

4. I’ll Go Crazy (First Version)

5. You Better Move On

6. Can’t Nobody Love You (First Version)

7. 23rd Psalm

8. Go Now

9. I Don’t Want To Go On Without You

10. I’ll Go Crazy (“Saturday Club” Session – BBC Light Programme Recorded 12 April 1965)

11. From The Bottom Of My Heart (I Love You)

12. Jump Back (tracks 10 and 11 “Saturday Club” Sessions – Recorded 3 May 1965)

13. I’ve Got A Dream

14. And My Baby’s Gone (tracks 13 and 14 “Saturday Club” Sessions – Recorded 1 June 1965)

15. It’s Easy Child

16. Stop

17. Everyday (tracks 15 to 17 are “Saturday Club” Sessions – Recorded 21 September 1965)

18. Interview With Ray Thomas and Graham Edge/You Don’t (All The Time)

19. I Want You To Know (tracks 18 and 19 are “Saturday Club” Sessions – Recorded 9 November 1965)

20. Coca Cola Radio Commercial 1965

The 1966 Denny Cordell Sessions (In Stereo):

21. Sad Song

22. This Is My House (But Nobody Calls) (First Version)

23. How Can We Hang On To A Dream (First Version)

24. How Can We Hang On To A Dream (Remake)

25. Jago & Jilly

26. We’re Broken

27. I Really Haven’t Got The Time (September 1966 Version)

28. Red Wine

29. This Is My House (But Nobody Calls) (Stereo Mix)

The line-up for the debut consisted of – DENNY LAINE on Vocals, Guitar and Harmonica, MIKE PINDER on Piano and Vocals, RAY THOMAS on Flute, Maraccas, Harmonica, Tambourine and Vocals, CLINT WARWICK on Bass and Vocals with GRAHAM EDGE on Drums.

It should be noted right from the word go that if you’re looking for dreamy Mellotron soundscapes (their trademark sound) – then look elsewhere because this is Beatles influenced Sixties Pop. Having said that large chunks of it are shockingly good – and the number of Laine/Pinder original compositions on Disc 1 alone comes to an impressive 14 – and this is back in a time where whole albums were composed of American cover versions because many of the British R&B bands hadn’t developed writing chops from the outset.

As you can see from the photos I’ve provided – the booklet with MARK POWELL liner notes and general presentation are top notch. The only minor thing I find odd about it is that neither of the inner card sleeves boasts the actual UK album artwork (which is left to the outer box). But quite apart from the lovely presentation – the first thing that hits you is the quality of the remaster – clean, punchy and sounding alive like never before. PASCHAL BYRNE and BEN WISEMAN – both names familiar to many collectors (hundreds of Universal and Esoteric reissues) – have carried out the transfers and both may be standing at award ceremonies soon – stunning job done.

The album is dominated by their first bona fide hit “Go Now” which hit the coveted Number 1 Slot in the UK charts in December 1964. “I Got A Dream” is pure Brill building sweetheart Pop – better is a Bluesy cover of the Gershwin standard “It Ain’t Necessarily So”. The boys go harmony Hollies with “Thank You Baby” and gritty Animals with “True Story” (both impressive Laine/Pinder originals). We get Rolling Stones R&B on the excellent harmonica driven “Lose Your Money (But Don’t Lose Your Mine)” – and identikit melodrama with “Time Is On My Side”. A genuine collector’s prize is the funky Sixties pop of “People Gotta Go” exclusive to the rare “Boulevard De Madeleine EP” on Decca France.

Disc 2 opens with a winner - in-studio chatter as the engineer tells Denny Laine to slow the vocal intro to “Go Now!” and they launch into what has all the hallmarks of a hit (even in rough form). Their cover of Arthur Alexander’s “You Better Move On” is new and worthy of inclusion – but their Sixties slow version of the “23rd Psalm” that then goes into a Gospel boogie – is just plain misplaced. Some of the BBC stuff like “I Don’t Want To Go On Without You” is preceded by fab and groovy DJ intro while they sound accomplished on “I’ll Go Crazy” and real collector’s prizes are the two recently discovered outtakes Mike Pinder’s “I Really Haven’t Got The Time” and the Laine/Pinder “Red Wine” – both aired here for the first time in 50 years. There’s even an interview two days after Denny Laine “packed up and left”…

For sure – musically - fans will be wishing this kind of luxurious 2CD Mini Box set response could be afforded to later albums by THE MOODY BLUES…

But as a starter - and as an example of how to do it right – Esoteric Recordings are looking at a reissue of the year 2014 for me…

"Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" by THE MOODY BLUES (April 2007 Universal/Decca/Threshold SACD-Hybrid Disc Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...One More Time To Live..."

As a newcomer suffers through the of-its-time near five-minute opener "Procession" with its monosyllabic three-point history of music (desolation, creation and communication are the only words doomily chanted throughout) - in the cold and brutal hindsight of 2017 those new ears might wonder how in God's name did July 1971's "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" by The Moody Blues go to No.1 in the UK and No. 2 in the USA – and stay on both charts for months on end? 46 years after the event – this prettily packaged album is of its time indeed and maybe it should stay there, mate...

But then the fantastically guitar-hooky single "The Story In Your Eyes" kicks in - which in turn is followed by the cleverly layered "Our Guessing Game" and the melodic sweep of "Emily's Song" and even a newbee will begin to get it. Their seventh studio album was the Brummie Boys hitting something of an artistic peak – embracing the huge and complexity - leaving behind the Sixties and lashing into the musically adventurous new decade – the Seventies.

And this beautifully rendered 2007 Universal/Decca/Threshold 'Expanded SACD 5.1 Hybrid Disc Reissue' of that fondly remembered album only hammers that home. You get both the Stereo album and a 5.1 Surround Mix on the same disc and when you listen to that huge band crescendo that ends "After You Came" or the majestic keyboard build up in "One More Time To Live" - you also realise why people rave about good mastering and sympathetic transfers (band songwriter Justin Hayward is joined by a group of three renowned Engineers for this project). Here are the very favourable details...

UK released April 2007 - "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" by THE MOODY BLUES on Universal/Decca/Threshold 984 550-6 (Barcode 602498455067) is a 'Expanded SACD 5.1 Hybrid Disc Reissue' with two layers - a Stereo Remaster and 5.1 Surround Sound Mix supplemented with Two Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks (Session Outtakes). It plays out as follows (47:33 minutes):

1. Procession [Side 1]

2. The Story In Your Eyes

3. Our Guessing Game

4. Emily's Song

5. After You Came

6. One More Time To Live [Side 2]

7. Nice To Be Here

8. You Can Never Go Home

9. My Song

Tracks 1 to 9 are their seventh studio album "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" - released 23 July 1971 in the UK and USA on Threshold Records THS 5 (same catalogue number for both country). Produced by TONY CLARKE (Engineered by Derek Varnals) - the album peaked at No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the USA.

BONUS TRACKS (Previously Unreleased):

10. The Story In Your Eyes (Original Version)

11. The Dreamer

THE MOODY BLUES was:

JUSTIN HAYWARD - Lead Vocals and Guitar

JOHN LODGE - Bass and Vocals

RAY THOMAS - Flute, Harmonica, Percussion and Vocals

MIKE PINDER - Keyboards and Vocals

GRAEME EDGE - Drums

Unusual for an SACD Reissue - "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" comes in a card digipak – a tactile pleasure that repro's the gorgeous Phil Travers artwork of the original 1971 LP on Threshold Records (the Moodies own label). You don’t get the mottled effect of the actual album cover – but its close enough. Inside the left flap is a 20-page oversized booklet with new liners notes from MARK POWELL - a hugely respected force in quality reissues who runs the revered Prog/Avant Garde reissue label Esoteric Recordings for Cherry Red and is listed here as 'researcher, compiler and producer' of this lovely 2008 version. The swirling, dancing faces of the inner gatefold artwork is reproduced on Pages 2 and 3 - the lyrics are on Pages 14 to 17 (an insert on the original UK LP and an inner bag on US copies) and it ends with compiler notes about the four-speaker Quadrophonic Tapes used to construct the 5.1 Surround Mix (approved by Justin Hayward and John Lodge).

Their transformation away from British R&B band into International Mellotron Prog Rock flag-holders is discussed in detail - as are the first two years of the Seventies where three successful tours began to see them become huge in America and a major chart presence there. The cohesion of "A Question Of Balance" LP from 1970 (a whole album that could be reproduced live on stage for US audiences) was essentially continued for 1971's "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour". There are colour photos, a foreign picture sleeve for "The Story In Your Eyes" with "My Song" on the flipside and period snaps of the boys looking suitably perplexed and physically jetlagged. But the big news here is the AUDIO...

ALBERTO PARODI and JUSTIN HAYWARD did the STEREO Mix for the album from original Master Tapes at Logical Box Studios in Genova, Italy - while the 5.1 SURROUND SOUND Mix was reconstructed from original Decca Quadrophonic Master Tapes by PASCHAL BYRNE and MARK POWELL at The Audio Archiving Company in London (Bonus Tracks remastered by Paschal Byrne). Always a well-produced near-Audiophile band - the combined talents of all these Engineers has brought huge presence to these songs.

Focusing on exceptional remaster moments - that piano intro to "Our Guessing Game" is beautifully clear - the acoustic guitars that open the lone contribution from drummer Graeme Edge "After You Came" are full - as are the combined wall of voices that give us its 'I've been doing my best' chorus. John Lodge offers the very Simon & Garfunkel beauty of "Emily's Song" and the flute acoustic ballad "One More Time To Live" - sweeping organ builds as it accompanies acoustic guitars and voices that sooth with "...for I have riches more than these..." The second Ray Thomas track "Nice To Be Here" has always been a bit too childlike for my tastes (Jack Rabbit and Daffodils) but fans will find that the bass and acoustic guitars are sweetly transferred. Justin Hayward gives us the superb bombast of "You Can Never Go Home" that’s now even more epic.

The 'love with all your might' song "My Song" from Michael Pinder ends the album with Mellotrons, gently plucked guitars and harps - getting a bit Genesis in that brilliant heavy breathing mid section. The two bonus tracks will please fans no end – recorded in November 1970 before they departed for yet another US Tour – the original version of Justin Hayward’s "The Story In Your Eyes" is essentially the band live in the studio. A spoken one-two count-in and that great guitar riff excites again – even coming with an extended solo in its 3:30 minutes. The Hayward/Thomas composition "The Dreamer" was recorded 9 November 1970 and promptly forgotten about for 35 years until research for this reissue located its dusty and unloved box. Called a 'work in progress' because it clearly needed further polishing – "The Dreamer" nonetheless has enough of a finished feel to it to warrant calling this session outtake a bit of a find...

To sum up – "Every Good Boy Deserves A Favour" by The Moody Blues is a beloved album around the world and its most definitely been given a very tasty 2007 sonic do-over here (both mixes gleaming).

"...Lovely to know the warmth your smile can bring to me..." – Hayward sings on the hopeful "Emily's Song". Well I’d say the favour has been returned...

"Lighthouse/Suite Feeling/Peacing It All Together" by LIGHTHOUSE (May 2017 Beat Goes On 2CD Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Peace And Love..."

Canada's LIGHTHOUSE are the very definition of a bargain-bin band - at least the first part of their career on RCA Records is.

When I worked for Reckless Records in London's Islington and Soho's Berwick Street (20 years of buying and selling rarities) - UK copies of their second and third platters - 1969's "Suite Feeling" and 1970's "Peacing It All Together" was strictly a no-no. I used to see copies of the 1969 debut "Lighthouse" too with its silver-foil cover in charity shops - but it elicited little interest (the debut was American and Canadian only). Toronto's finest pushed out two further LPs on Vertigo in the UK (Evolution in the USA) - "One Fine Morning" in October 1971 on Vertigo 6342 010 and "Thoughts Of Movin' On" in April 1972 on Vertigo 6342 011 - but in my opinion they're only sought after because 'everything' on that most Prog of spiral labels is.

A 13-piece ensemble that started out on a brassy Rock tip with some Psych and Fusion flourishes thrown in - but then went all Association and Harper's Bizarre drippy Pop - the Lighthouse sound was both hard to nail down and market. In their initial Jazz-Rock phase - to help them along their Fusion way none other than an aged but still dapper Duke Ellington introduced the group in May 1969 at Toronto's Rock Pile Club to a rapturous response. But even his legendary presence and the support of Woodstock Folk-Soul hero Richie Havens failed to ignite sales and they struggled to feed those thirteen right-on mouths and hungry wattage. And unfortunately given some of the musical evidence presented here (even though the new remasters sound fab) – it's not too difficult to hear why the public weren't really bothered.

Well here comes England's Beat Goes On Records and the determined Kaftan-wearing Aztec-spaceship moustaches within their British ranks want us to reconsider Lighthouse's musical legacy - that amidst the poor man's Blood, Sweat & Tears and Jefferson Airplane soundscapes is some great fusion Rock and the occasional hooky groove. And there is actually - but I'm afraid the direness of the 3rd album kind of takes the discovery thrill out of the first two. Here are the enlightening details...

UK released 12 May 2017 - "Lighthouse/Suite Feeling/Peacing It All Together" by LIGHTHOUSE on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1281 (Barcode 5017261212818) offers 3LPs newly-remastered onto 2CDs (two from 1969 and one from 1970). It plays out as follows...

Disc 1 (66:29 minutes):

1. Mountain Man [Side 1]

2. If There Ever Was A Time

3. No Opportunity Necessary

4. Never Say Goodbye

5. Follow The Stars

6. Whatever Forever [Side 2]

7. Eight Miles High

8. Marsha, Marsha

9. Ah I Can Feel It

10. Life Can Be So Simple

Tracks 1 to 10 are their debut album "Lighthouse" - released USA and Canada June 1969 on RCA Victor LSP-4173. Produced by SKIP PROKOP and PAUL HOFFERT - it didn't chart.

11. Chest Fever [Side 1]

12. Feel So Good

13. Places On Faces Four Blue Carpet Traces

14. Could You Be Concerned

Tracks 11 to 14 are Side 1 of their second studio album "Suite Feeling" - released November 1969 in the USA and Canada on RCA Victor LSP-4241 and in the UK on RCA Victor SF 8103. Produced by SKIP PROKOP and PAUL HOFFERT - it didn't chart.

Disc 2 (59:11 minutes):

1. Presents Of Presence [Side 2]

2. Talking A Walk

3. Eight Loaves Of Bread

4. What Sense

5. A Day In The Life

Tracks 1 to 5 are Side 2 of their second studio album "Suite Feeling" - released November 1969 in the USA and Canada on RCA Victor LSP-4241 and in the UK on RCA Victor SF 8103. Produced by SKIP PROKOP and PAUL HOFFERT - it didn't chart.

6. Nam Myoho Renge' Kyo/Let The Happiness Begin [Side 1]

7. Every Day I Am Reminded

8. The Country Song

9. Sausalito

10. The Fiction Of Twenty-Six Million

11. The Chant (Nam Myoho Renge' Kyo)

12. Mr. Candleman [Side 2]

13. On My Way To L.A.

14. Daughters And Sons

15. Just A Little More Time

16. Little People/Nam Myoho Renge' Kyo

Tracks 6 to 16 are their third studio album "Peacing It All Together" - released May 1970 in the USA and Canada on RCA Victor LSP-4325 and in the UK on RCA Victor SF 8121. Produced by MIKE LIPSKIN, SKIP PROKOP and PAUL HOFFERT - it peaked at No. 133 on the US LP charts (didn't chart UK).

LIGHTHOUSE was:

SKIP PROKOP - Drums and Vocals

PAUL HOFFERT - Musical Director. Keyboards and Vibes

RALPH COLE - Guitar and Vocals

GRANT FULLERTON - Bass and Vocals

PINKY DAUVIN – Percussion and Vocals

IAN GUENTHER – Violin

DON DiNOVO – Violin and Viola

DON WHITTON and LESLIE SCHNEIDER – Cello

FREDDY STONE and ARNIE CHYCOSKI – Trumpet and Flugel

HOWARD SHORE – Alto Sax

RUSS LITTLE TROMBONE

There's the usual classy card-slipcase - the 16-page booklet repro's the artwork for the three LPs and has new liner notes from Mojo's Jazz columnist CHARLES WARING who presents both sides of the argument - good and bad. BGO's resident Audio Engineer ANDREW THOMPSON has newly remastered all three LPs and they sound great - punchy and full of life.

The two leading lights in the ensemble were Drummer/Singer Ron 'Skip' Prokop and Keyboardist/Vibes player Paul Hoffert who wrote most of the tunes and co-produced all three records. Side 1 highlights of the debut "Lighthouse" are the pretty but slightly overdone "If There Ever Was A Time" with its soothing warbling guitar and nice lurve-song melody. Better than the frantic "No Opportunity Necessary" and the pastoral ELO cellos of the sappy "Never Say Goodbye" is the Side 1 finisher "Follow The Stars" which suddenly feels like something magical is happening. There is an epic Byrds-vibe to the song – all brass lines, clever cellos and flanged vocals – very cool and interesting. Side 2 gets neck jerking groovy with the Brass and Organ dancer that is "Whatever Forever" which in turn is quickly followed by a very complimentary fuzzed-guitar cover of the Byrds Psych classic "Eight Miles High". RCA UK tried it as an only-45 off the album in October 1969 – tucked away as the B-side to the more commercial "If There Ever Was A Time" on RCA 1884 - but it did no business. Guitarist Ralph Cole suddenly discovers his inner Cream and Hendrix with the excellent "Marsha, Marsha" – a "Born Under A Bad Sign" Rock-Blues tune with added clever moments of brass melody and vocal harmonies that take you by total surprise and make you think we may have missed something Psych-brill here. There is a very Neil Young simplicity to "Ah I Can Feel It" as a lone-guitar strums before brass, strings and voices take the song into ‘Lighthouse’ and ‘Stonehouse’ ensemble territory. And they sound like B, S & T and The Association have had a Woodstock love child on the Side 2 finisher "Life Can Be So Simple" – an accomplished Pop song that half way through unleashes a properly wild Garage guitar-solo worthy of any Nuggets Box Set.

Despite some good fuzz guitar in "Chest Fever" - the opener for "Suite Feeling" is pretty awful and the everyone's smiling peaceful vibrations of "Feel So Good" comes over as the kind of song that hippy teenagers would have played their uptight parents in 1969/1970 (get with it Mom and Pop). Better is the funky and adventurous "Places On Faces Four Blue Carpet Traces" - a near eleven-minute Brass and Drums instrumental that is similar to in structure to the longer stretches on Chicago's "Chicago Transit Authority" debut in 1969. Trumpets compete for your attention with an organ - then about five-minutes in you get a clever Vibes solo that feels like some Avant Garde Atlantic Jazz album as it builds and builds with strings and more brass and ends on a huge fuzz-guitar solo (easily their technically most accomplished piece of writing so far). "Could You Be Concerned" taps into that "Hair Musical" message - as does the very Jefferson Airplane "Presents Of Presence". We get the sermon on the mount with the cheesy "Eight Loaves Of Bread" while the coy and poppy flute and piano bop of "What Sense" is likely to elicit laughter nowadays and not for the right reasons. They end a patchy album with a six-minute cover of The Beatles "Sgt. Peppers" classic "A Day In The Life" but it feels like a frantic brass and strings butchery rather than a compliment.

The third LP is probably the worst - a record that hasn't weathered well at all. A refrain precedes "Let The Happiness Begin" - a full on Association meets The Mama's and The Papa's happy-wappy jaunt that is cringing rather than touching. Even the honest words of "Every Day I Am Reminded" can't save it from a wall of voices that make it sound like the kind of pastiche a TV program would use to slag off the excesses of the Sixties. The fiddling "Country Song" is awful and the 'come with me to the sea' pap of "Sausalito" is 1967 and not 1970. And on it goes to the busy and frankly annoying "On My Way To L.A." and the clinging "Daughters And Sons".

To sum up - the first LP is very good and the second is an improvement in places especially the stunning eleven-minute Fusion-Rock instrumental "Places On Faces Four Blue Carpet Traces" - but that third platter goes direct for the "Hair" audience and feels laboured instead of inspired.

Still - fans of the band and that big brassy Rock Sound should dive in and be thankful that BGO have reissued Lighthouse's legacy with such style...

"The Authorized Bang Collection" by VAN MORRISON (April 2017 Exile/Legacy/Sony 3CD Set - Andrew Sandoval Remasters - including the "Blowin' Your Mind" LP from 1967) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Let It Out..."

I've donned my Sherlock Holmes deerstalker, ordered in ten crates of Lucozade to replace lost energy and have a well-thumbed copy of Donald Trump's Comprehensive Guide To World Peace beside my Porta-Nuclear Shelter to calm the nerves (what can possibly go wrong). OK here goes...

As Van Morrison obsessives will know - the two sessions our rotund spiritual leader made with Bert Berns in New York in March and October 1967 after he left Belfast's THEM - have been an LP and CD compilation nightmare for decades on end.

The actual "Blowin' Your Mind" debut LP from September 1967 had only 8-tracks – but after his Warner Brothers success in 1968 and 1970 with the masterful "Astral Weeks" along with the classic "Moondance" and "His Band And The Street Choir" albums – a mad dash in the Bang Records vaults plundered the remaining recordings. They produced unsanctioned albums like the dubiously titled "The Best Of Van Morrison" in September 1970, "T.B. Sheets" in December 1973 and even as the decade was coming to a close - the British compilation "This Is Where I Come In" from September 1977 – all of which seemed to be adding and mixing up more songs and muddying the waters.

The last decent fist at sorting out this shady period of Van Morrison’s early solo recording career came with the stunning April 1991 CD simply called "Bang Masters" (the UK issue is Columbia/Legacy 468309 2 - Barcode 5099746830922). But while it was a sonic sensation at the time - Audio Engineers Mark Wilder and Stephen St. Croix had decided to Remix all the 60ts tracks for that release - and those 1991 versions have been used on everything released since.

This April 2017 Exile/Legacy/Sony Music 3CD set is the first time that the original sixteen tracks have been presented digitally in their original STEREO form – along with Session Outtakes, Mono Single Mixes and a huge swath of Previously Unreleased versions that have circulated unofficially on bootlegs for years. There is a mountain of info to get through – so let’s get red-eyed never mind brown...

UK released Friday, 28 April 2017 – "The Authorized Bang Collection" by VAN MORRISON on Exile/Legacy/Sony Music 88985424672 (Barcode 889854246723) is a 3CD Definitive Anthology remastered by the Grammy-winning Audio Engineer ANDREW SANDOVAL (he did the Deluxe Editions of the much-praised Kinks and Small Faces) and has been sanctioned/overseen by the artist himself. It plays out as follows...

Disc 1 – The Original Masters – 71:30 minutes:

1. Brown Eyed Girl (Original Stereo Mix)

2. He Ain't Give You None (Original Stereo Mix)

3. T.B. Sheets (Original Stereo Mix)

4. Spanish Rose (Original Stereo Mix)

5. Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye) (Original Stereo Mix)

6. Ro Ro Rosey (Original Stereo Mix)

7. Who Drove The Red Sports Car (Original Stereo Mix)

8. Midnight Special (Original Stereo Mix)

9. It's All Right (Original Stereo Mix)

10. Send Your Mind (Original Stereo Mix)

11. The Smile You Smile (Original Stereo Mix)

12. The Back Room (Original Stereo Mix)

13. Joe Harper Saturday Morning (Original Stereo Mix)

14. Beside (Original Mono Mix)

15. Madame George (Original Mono Mix)

16. Chick-A-Boom (Original Mono Mix)

17. The Smile You Smile (Demo)

Disc 2 – Bang Sessions & Rarities – 74:29 minutes:

1. Brown Eyed Girl (Original Edited Mono Single Mix)

2. Ro Ro Rosey (Original Mono Single Mix with Backing Vocals)

3. T.B. Sheets (Take 2)

4. Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye) (Takes 10 & 11)

5. Send Your Mind (Take 3)

6. Midnight Special (Take 7)

7. He Ain't Give You None (Take 4)

8. Ro Ro Rosey (Take 2)

9. Who Drove The Red Sports Car (Take 6)

10. Beside You (Take 2)

11. Joe Harper Saturday Morning (Take 2)

12. Beside You (Take 5)

13. Spanish Rose (Take 14)

14. Brown Eyed Girl (Takes 1-6)

15. Brown Eyed Girl (Takes 7-11)

Track 1 issued May 1967 as a US 45 on Bang Records B-545, A-side

Track 2 issued October 1967 as a US 45 on Bang Records B-552, A-side

Tracks 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

(An edited version of Take 6 inside Track 14 was first issued 1991 on the US Legacy CD compilation "Bang Masters" on Columbia EK 47041)

Tracks 6 and 9 first issued 1998 on the US Legacy CD for "Blowin' Your Mind" on Columbia ZK 65751

Track 7 first issued 1991 on the US Legacy CD compilation "Bang Masters" on Columbia EK 47041

Disc 3 - Contractual Obligation Session - 35:42 minutes:

1. Twist And Shake

2. Shake And Roll

3. Stomp And Scream

4. Scream And Holler

5. Jump And Thump

6. Drivin' Wheel

7. Just Ball

8. Shake It Mabel

9. Hold On George

10. The Big Royalty Check

11. Ring Worm

12. Savoy Hollywood

13. Freaky If You Got This Far

14. Up Your Mind

15. Thirty Two

16. All The Bits

17. You Say France And I Whistle

18. Blowin' Your Nose

19. Nose In Your Blow

20. La Mambo

21. Go For Yourself

22. Want A Danish

23. Here Comes Dumb George

24. Chickee Coo

25. Do It

26. Hang On Groovy

27. Goodbye George

28. Dum Dum George

29. Walk And Talk

30. The Wobble

31. Wobble And Ball

All tracks by Van Morrison, recorded 1967 in New York, all tracks Previously Officially Unissued

The four-flap foldout card digipak certainly feels substantial and looks the 'major' reissue part. The 24-page booklet is a very classy affair and features liner notes from the mighty Vanster himself explaining in detail the torturous circumstances in which the album and the sessions took place. He praises Bert Berns as a genius - his connection with the American going back to London in 1964 when a young Van met Berns in the London offices of Phil Solomon at Decca Records. There are loads of classy photos showing Van with Bert as they recorded - Van with his acoustic in hand and giving some at the microphone. There are snaps of the three Bang 45s "Brown Eyed Girl", "Ro Ro Rosey" and "Goodbye Baby" - a concert flyer for 7 October 1967 at the 'Hullabaloo' where the support act is The Yellow Payges and the usual detailed reissue credits.

But it's the AUDIO that excels. Grammy-nominated Audio Engineer ANDREW SANDOVAL explains the intricacies of the 'tangled tapes' in his 'Compiler's Note' – two whole pages of facts about what's what. Both Disc 1 and 2 are mindblowingly good and I think will take most Morrison fans by storm. Sure the STEREO imaging is often crude – Van’s voice to the left speaker while the drums and tambourines whack out of the right – but there’s warmth to it all. "The Back Room" is spectacular while "T.B. Sheets" is eleven-minutes of Sixties R&B bliss (Tracks 12 and 3 on Disc 1). And while Disc 3 is actually questionable in its value with its one-minute throwaway vignettes (even if it the first legal issue of these wisely bootlegged recordings) - the outtakes on Disc 2 are another matter entirely. Many actually had me tingling - unbelievable finds that have been buried in a morass of legality and acrimony that's lasted 50 friggin' years. But before we get to the content of all three discs - a word on the actual 1967 debut album "Blowin' Your Mind" contained within...

THE FOUR ORIGINAL "Blowin' Your Mind" LPS:

A 21-year old Van was in New York in March 1967 with Producer Bert Barnes to cut some single-sides across two days (28th and 29th). The sessions produced a flurry of fully formed studio-recorded material including his biggest hit (and most famous early song) – the wonderful "Brown Eyed Girl". Van returned to Ireland to work on songs that would eventually become his first album proper as far as he was concerned – 1968’s "Astral Weeks". Barnes however released "Brown Eyed Girl" in May 1967 and it became a monster smash. Eager to capitalise on the momentum of the 45 and with contractual authority – Barnes then went back to the session tapes and cobbled together 7 other tracks (without Van’s consent) to make the album "Blowin' Your Mind" released September 1967 in the USA on Bang BLP 218 (Mono) and BLPS 218 (Stereo) and February 1968 in the UK on London HA-Z 8346 in Mono-Only. It is presented here in STEREO and that American first LP can be sequenced in consecutive order from Tracks 1 to 8 on CD1:

"Blowin' Your Mind" LP in STEREO

Side 1:

1. Brown Eyed Girl

2. He Ain't Give You None

3. T.B. Sheets

Side 2:

1. Spanish Rose

2. Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)

3. Ro Ro Rosey

4. Who Drove The Red Sports Car

5. Midnight Special

After the albums "Astral Weeks" (November 1968), "Moondance" (March 1970) and "His Band And The Street Choir" (November 1970) on Warner Brothers made Van Morrison a Rock Star around the world – Barnes went at the material again and came up with a 2nd LP - the dubiously titled "The Best Of Van Morrison". That 10-track compilation LP was released September 1970 on Bang Records in the USA on Bang BLPS 222 and May 1971 on President Records PTLS 1045 in the UK. He took "Brown Eyed Girl", four other tracks from the "Blowin' Your Mind" album and a further five outtakes from the sessions. That record can be sequenced from CD1 as follows:

"The Best Of Van Morrison" LP in STEREO

Side 1:

1. Spanish Rose [Track 4]

2. It's All Right [Track 9]

3. Send Your Mind [Track 10]

4. The Smile You Smile [Track 11]

5. The Back Room [Track 12]

Side 2:

1. Brown Eyed Girl [Track 1]

2. Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye) [Track 5]

3. Ro Ro Rosey [Track 6]

4. He Ain’t Give You None [Track 2]

5. Joe Harper Saturday Morning [Track 13]

A 3rd (and final original) compilation "T.B. Sheets" was released December 1973 in the USA on Bang BLP-400 (charted at 181) and March 1974 in the UK on London HSM-5008. This 8-track LP contained two new surprises – Mono mixes and early versions of two Bang-era tracks that would eventually come out on "Astral Weeks" in 1968 – "Beside You" and "Madame George". It sequences as follows

"T.B. Sheets" LP in STEREO

Side 1:

1. He Ain’t Give You None [Track 2]

2. Beside You [Track 14]

3. It’s All Right [Track 9]

4. Madame George [Track 15]

Side 2:

1. T.B. Sheets [Track 3]

2. Who Drove The Red Sports Car [Track 7]

3. Ro Ro Rosey [Track 6]

4. Brown Eyed Girl [Track 1]

A 4th compilation came out in the UK-only in September 1977 on London/Bang 6427 625 called "This Is Where I Come In" and its generous 15-tracks featured the bulk of the previous three gathered together as follows:

Side 1:

1. Spanish Rose [Track 4]

2. Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye) [Track 5]

3. He Ain’t Give You None [Track 2]

4. Beside You [Track 14]

5. Madame George [Track 15]

6. T.B. Sheets [Track 3]

Side 2:

1. Brown Eyed Girl [Track 1]

2. Send Your Mind [Track 10]

3. The Smile You Smile [Track 11]

4. The Back Room [Track 12]

5. Ro Ro Rosey [Track 6]

6. Who Drove The Red Sports Car [Track 7]

7. It’s All Right [Track 9]

8. Joe Harper Saturday Morning [Track 13]

9. Midnight Special [Track 8]

In hindsight the 8-track 1967 album still holds up and it comes as a shock to hear "Brown Eyed Girl" in Stereo as opposed to the Mono 7" single mix we're all so used to. Bang Records made a mistake in leaving something as cool and as brilliant as "The Back Room" off the original album - but the fake studio joviality at the beginning of "Madam George" is pretty hateful stuff when you compare it with the beauty of the "Astral Weeks" version. And of the Previously Unreleased Outtakes I'm digging the Bass and Chatter beginning to "Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)" where the Producer advises "...that opening is a little bit too much man..." and a superbly atmospheric groove in the rolling on six take for "Who Drove The Red Sports Car". Fans also get an amazing Takes 1 to 11 look into the organic construction of "Brown Eyed Girl" - the musicians ironing out kinks - trying to actually play what's in Van's head. Amazing stuff – and there’s so much of it too.

"...I see the way you joke at me...from behind the door...and look into my eyes...your little starstruck innuendos...inadequacies...and foreign bodies..." – Van tells a clearly misguided Julie in the epic "T. B. Sheets". 
Morrison then adds - "...Open up the window and let me breathe..." - pleading to be made clean – get me away from the smell of sickness - away from people who don't understand me.

Well there's no need to moan any more mate - because this new way into those halcyon days of creativity is beautifully clear. Big kudos to all involved in what is surely going to be an early contender for CD retrospective 'Reissue of the Year 2017'...

"A Rainbow In Curved Air" by TERRY RILEY (April 2012 Esoteric Recordings CD Reissue – Ben Wiseman Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Back Street Luv..."

Name-checked by Pete Townshend of The Who and Mike Oldfield as influences on both "Who's Next" and "Tubular Bells" – and with the British Prog Rock Band pinching CURVED AIR as their name – Californian Terry Riley’s 1969 LP on Columbia Masterworks “A Rainbow In Curved Air” has had extraordinary influence across the decades. Everyone from Tangerine Dream, Amon Duul, Can, Neu, Soft Machine right on through to Steve Reich, Orbital and Boards Of Canada cite the man’s repetitive Electronic noodlings as seminal in the development of their sound. In fact you could say that 'all' Minimal, Ambient and Electronica music owes a debt and a nod to Terry Riley’s groundbreaking LPs. And this beautifully remastered CD (BEN WISEMAN has handled the original master tapes) digs out all those nuances and layers and keyboard flourishes as never before. Here are the Switched On Bach details...

UK released April 2012 – "A Rainbow In Curved Air" by TERRY RILEY on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2306 (Barcode 5013929430648) is a straightforward CD remaster (40:27 minutes) of his 2nd LP first issued November 1969 in the USA on Columbia Masterworks MS 7315 and belatedly released 1971 in the UK on CBS Records S 64564. Side 1 is called "A Rainbow In Curved Air" and is one continuous piece of Electronic Music at 18:47 minutes - while Side 2 is "Poppy Nogood And The Phantom Band" running to 21:41 minutes. Produced by DAVID BEHRMAN – the album was originally Engineered by GLEN KOLOTKIN and ROY SEGAL (his 1st album for Columbia Masterworks is "in C" from 1968 on MS 7178 – which Esoteric Recordings have also reissued on remastered CD - ECLEC 2305 in 2012).

Instead of a 16-page booklet – the inlay folds out into a large 16-square display that gives the smiling face artwork loads on room to shine both back and front (it includes a photo of the rare and different French LP version). There is a superb appraisal of the album, its music and its inventor by noted music writer SID SMITH. It reproduces the liner notes to the UK LP and even has the trade advert from Columbia gallantly trying to explain "What does terry Riley’s music sound like?" and managing to offer up waffle like "...the beginning...inside of you..." But better is the gorgeous remaster. 24-Bit Remastered by BEN WISEMAN at Audio Archiving in London – this CD sounds sensational – unwrapping layers in the density and making it feel like you’re hearing more (and all of it sounding better). A superb job done...

As you play Side 1 – you can so hear where Townshend got the 1971 opening ARP Synthesizer piece to "Baba O'Riley". In fact "A Rainbow In Curved Air" sounds like that "Baba O'Riley" synth pattern taken to a near nineteen-minute opus – all layers and doodles and more layers – looping – rhythmic – dance music minimal – hypnotic and kind of beautiful like the best Kraut Rock is. Riley plays Electric Organ, Electric Harpsichord, Rocksichord Keyboards, Goblet Drums and Tambourine.

Because Side 2 is so busy on the ear – "Poppy Nogood And The Phantom Band" sounds like there’s a hundred different instruments bombarding your speakers in a sort of Indian meets Classical meets Tangerine Dream – but in fact there’s only two – Organ and Soprano Saxophone. You also notice the way its compiled - as you reach seven minutes into the piece you can so hear where Mike Oldfield got the magnum opus sidelong construction ideas for "Tubular Bells", "Hergest Ridge" and "Ommadawn" between 1973 and 1975. And as the Organ and Soprano Saxophones drone at first and then overlap in a dance – the effect is magical really – the kind of music that will have customers running to the counters of records shops asking with a wide-eyed glint – "whose this!"

It’s experimental for sure and mad in places – but 45 years after the event – "A Rainbow In Curved Air" stills sounds extraordinarily contemporary and of the now (literally years ahead of his time). And the affection and dare we say it awe that Terry Riley is held in has been growing in the Dance and Sampling communities for decades now (a sort of "Back Street Luv").

At a spritely 79 years of age - Riley has a body of Electronic Work that now reaches into the 11’s. Well done to Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings for doing such a stellar job...and keep on twiddling those knobs (in an ambient kind of way you understand)...

Name-checked by Pete Townshend of The Who and Mike Oldfield as influences on both "Who's Next" and "Tubular Bells" – and with the British Prog Rock Band pinching CURVED AIR as their name – Californian Terry Riley’s 1969 LP on Columbia Masterworks “A Rainbow In Curved Air” has had extraordinary influence across the decades. Everyone from Tangerine Dream, Amon Duul, Can, Neu, Soft Machine right on through to Steve Reich, Orbital and Boards Of Canada cite the man’s repetitive Electronic noodlings as seminal in the development of their sound. In fact you could say that 'all' Minimal, Ambient and Electronica music owes a debt and a nod to Terry Riley’s groundbreaking LPs. And this beautifully remastered CD (BEN WISEMAN has handled the original master tapes) digs out all those nuances and layers and keyboard flourishes as never before. Here are the Switched On Bach details...

UK released April 2012 – "A Rainbow In Curved Air" by TERRY RILEY on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2306 (Barcode 5013929430648) is a straightforward CD remaster (40:27 minutes) of his 2nd LP first issued November 1969 in the USA on Columbia Masterworks MS 7315 and belatedly released 1971 in the UK on CBS Records S 64564. Side 1 is called "A Rainbow In Curved Air" and is one continuous piece of Electronic Music at 18:47 minutes - while Side 2 is "Poppy Nogood And The Phantom Band" running to 21:41 minutes. Produced by DAVID BEHRMAN – the album was originally Engineered by GLEN KOLOTKIN and ROY SEGAL (his 1st album for Columbia Masterworks is "in C" from 1968 on MS 7178 – which Esoteric Recordings have also reissued on remastered CD - ECLEC 2305 in 2012).

Instead of a 16-page booklet – the inlay folds out into a large 16-square display that gives the smiling face artwork loads on room to shine both back and front (it includes a photo of the rare and different French LP version). There is a superb appraisal of the album, its music and its inventor by noted music writer SID SMITH. It reproduces the liner notes to the UK LP and even has the trade advert from Columbia gallantly trying to explain "What does terry Riley’s music sound like?" and managing to offer up waffle like "...the beginning...inside of you..." But better is the gorgeous remaster. 24-Bit Remastered by BEN WISEMAN at Audio Archiving in London – this CD sounds sensational – unwrapping layers in the density and making it feel like you’re hearing more (and all of it sounding better). A superb job done...

As you play Side 1 – you can so hear where Townshend got the 1971 opening ARP Synthesizer piece to "Baba O'Riley". In fact "A Rainbow In Curved Air" sounds like that "Baba O'Riley" synth pattern taken to a near nineteen-minute opus – all layers and doodles and more layers – looping – rhythmic – dance music minimal – hypnotic and kind of beautiful like the best Kraut Rock is. Riley plays Electric Organ, Electric Harpsichord, Rocksichord Keyboards, Goblet Drums and Tambourine.

Because Side 2 is so busy on the ear – "Poppy Nogood And The Phantom Band" sounds like there’s a hundred different instruments bombarding your speakers in a sort of Indian meets Classical meets Tangerine Dream – but in fact there’s only two – Organ and Soprano Saxophone. You also notice the way its compiled - as you reach seven minutes into the piece you can so hear where Mike Oldfield got the magnum opus sidelong construction ideas for "Tubular Bells", "Hergest Ridge" and "Ommadawn" between 1973 and 1975. And as the Organ and Soprano Saxophones drone at first and then overlap in a dance – the effect is magical really – the kind of music that will have customers running to the counters of records shops asking with a wide-eyed glint – "whose this!"

It’s experimental for sure and mad in places – but 45 years after the event – "A Rainbow In Curved Air" stills sounds extraordinarily contemporary and of the now (literally years ahead of his time). And the affection and dare we say it awe that Terry Riley is held in has been growing in the Dance and Sampling communities for decades now (a sort of "Back Street Luv").

At a spritely 79 years of age - Riley has a body of Electronic Work that now reaches into the 11’s. Well done to Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings for doing such a stellar job...and keep on twiddling those knobs (in an ambient kind of way you understand)...