Twittering Machines

The George Mitchell Collection

We can thank Jonathan Halpern for the heads up on this one. You’re looking at a limited edition (300) box-set full of field recordings made by George Mitchell from the late 1960′s to early ’80s in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. An astounding collection put out by Fat Possum Records of forty five 7″ mono records (33 1/3RPM) of some known, less known and never before known blues players.

Includes a booklet with details on each performer, their photo and colorful comments by Mitchell. And you get all this for only ~ $4.42 per record. From what I’ve heard so far, recording quality varies but its direct and powerful. A big slice of America in a little cardboard box.

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Even though I don’t own this I can tell it’s bad-ass.

I love old gear. I love the way it looks, sounds, smells, feels. I love how cheap it can be. I love the labor intensive build quality. One real problem is that I just have too much of it. It seems to me that this is a result of another problem with old gear: it breaks.

Lou Reed meets Ry Cooder in a tiny Mexican border town bar during the filming of Until The End Of The World while a heroin-drenched mariachi band wastes away outside in the midday heat.

Jimi Hendrix
Are You Experienced

Inspired by John’s Miles entry, I decided to buy a first stereo pressing of my earliest and bestest record; Are You Experienced from 1967. I waited and watched eBay for a few months. The original mono recordings, both American and British pressings are the most valued going for three figures while the US stereo version was significantly less in the $30 to $75 range. I picked up my very clean copy for $58.

I also own the 2nd US pressing. Luckily the visual differences are straight forward: the first pressing (above) uses the three color pink-gold-green Reprise label (used 1961-mid ’68); the second pressing (below) uses the two-tone gold-orange (1968-1970) label. Later pressings have the solid brown Reprise label. This same label distinction holds for Hendrix’s 2nd LP Axis Bold As Love released in ’67 in the UK and ’68 in the US.

Listening: The first pressing is totally fucking psychedelic. Hotter, better dynamics, separation, tone and it just jumps out and into the room. By comparison the 2nd pressing sounds muddy, underwater and closed in. Just for kicks (as in kick me in the head) I put on my new Japanese pressing of Axis Bold as Love and I bet it’s not nearly as bold as the first pressing. It doesn’t seem to tickle that adrenaline rush like the good ol original. I will have to find out.

The first British mono pressing on Track Records. I bet this is bad-ass.

Research: Beyond the cover design, this release also has a different song line-up. The UK version includes “Red House”, “Can You See Me” and “Remember”, while the US traded these for the Experiences first three singles – “Purple Haze”, “Hey Joe” and “The Wind Cries Mary” – which did not appear on the UK release. The mono and stereo mixes also differ slightly in their arrangements. The US version is a true stereo re-mix and not some crappy mono enhanced for stereo stuff. So oddly enough the US stereo and US mono versions of Are You Experienced include different mixes of some songs.

The Hendrix completist would want the UK mono and US stereo versions. I’ll start saving up.

Panda Bear
Person Pitch

Candy-colored Brian Wilson stuttering soundtrack to your dreams (the good ones). Or lovely lullabies. Or, imagine Animal Collective cut open and all the sweetness sucked out and spit into its own vinyl. In 2007 Panda Bear/Noah Lennox got married, moved to Lisbon had a baby and recorded this double LP. It sounds like he’s really happy. Listening to Person Pitch makes me really happy.

Morton Feldman
Rothko Chapel | For Frank O’Hara

Rothko Chapel is the most beautiful and touching work of Morton Feldman’s I’ve heard. Austere and deceivingly simple, Feldman’s “crippled symmetries” are the perfect sonic counterpoint to Rothko’s canvases.

“The Rothko Chapel is a spiritual environment created by the American painter Mark Rothko as a place for contemplation where men and women of all faiths, or of none, may meditate in silence, in solitude or celebration together.”

Rothko in his studio with two of the Chapel murals

I was watching a film from 1930 called Our Blushing Brides. In two scenes Gerry, played by Joan Crawford, was being introduced to a fabulous apartment. And in both cases she was shown the hi-fi as high point. And in one case by her girlfriend. Yes. Her girlfriend was bragging about the fancy new hi-fi her rich boyfriend got her. It could play multiple records.

Here’s some dialog:

Gerry: [indicating a built-in radio] I like that. I think it’s very clever.
Tony Jardine: Thank you. I always like a woman who appreciates – and accepts – a man’s ideas.
Gerry: With… reservations?
Tony Jardine: Oh, you don’t believe in inhibitions, do you?
Gerry: [moving away] When a man begins to talk about inhibitions, it’s time to look at the view.

Music on a hi-fi, art, love and deco. All wrapped up in a witty and oh-so-modern package. Ah. The good old days (in mono).

Powered up the system with the intention of listening to some 70′s jazz, starting with Herbie Hancock’s minimalist funk jams, Headhunters, Thrust and Man-Child. Got the platter spinning and saw that the tonearm was terminated with a mono cartridge. It’s a 1 minute operation to swap them out (really!) but laziness overwhelmed and I eased into mode-mono.

A new pile of classical had recently appeared containing a number of monos. Best guess connects the pile to a recent trip to Housing Works. Mmmm”¦ 50 cent treasures”¦

Including:

It melted me in my seat. Marian’s butterscotch contralto imbuing the music with a modern emotive richness Bach never imagined. No period performance here””the final cut, from Bach’s St. John Passion just poured out of the speakers and broke my heart.

Spotted these on eBay:

“Each amplifier has power output 5 Watt by 4-16 Ohm load impedance by SE pure class “A” power stage with 30 pieces Aa Valvo tubes connected parallel, and additionally one RES964 Telefunken tube as driver and Siemens Aa in the preamplifier stage. Each amplifier is supplied with two double tube rectifier Valvo 1701.”

Captain Beefheart
Safe as Milk

Don Van Vliet’s killer 1967 debut with a killer band that included Ry Cooder and theremin. I love this LP because it hints at Trout Mask’s outness but its roots are showing. John Lennon liked it so much he bought 2.

Sometimes a poor memory is a blessing – at last Friday’s Analog Drunkfest I was telling Jeff Wong about that Hermine single I got and how I was looking for her EP. The problem was I couldn’t remember her name. So I described the cover. The next day Jeff sent over this cover pic wondering if it was the one. Who woulda thunk there’d be 2 record covers that fit the description “a woman in a dress loading records into a dishwasher”? Now I have 2 to find.

Sleepy John Estes 1962

Wonderful photos of country blues players by George Mitchell taken on his Brownie .

Messiaen
Turangalila Symphony

Seiji Ozawa and the Toronto Symphony climb this practically insane Everest of “love song, a hymn to joy, time, movement, rhythm, life and death”. Messiaen can’t seem to avoid accessible even with an enormous 100 piece orchestra and some non-traditional instruments including a wild theremin-sounding electronic Ondes Martenot. Jeanna Loroid plays the Ondes which she learned from its inventor Maurice Martenot.

A long wild story and ride of the once or twice a year variety.