David Bash wrote:

>
> Yes, these are the new mixes done by Alec Palao.
>
> As for your point about messing with history, I am not opposed to having new
> stereo mixes of classic songs as long as:
>
> 1. The mixes are done by capable people, such as Alec.

Yeah, I've known Alec for a long time. Being the obsessive fan he is, I suspect
he'll "get it right".

>
>
> 2. The mixes are not in lieu of the original mixes, but are offered as a
> complement.

There are so many Zombies things out now, I've totally lost track. Again, my
original albums will have to do.

>
>
> I am definitely opposed to having new mixes become de facto replacements for
> original mixes, such as is the case with The Who recordings.

Now that I've shot my mouth off, I do have to 'fess up about a "remix" I was
asked to do.

A couple of years ago Deniz Tek found the master from the Passengers demo
session. He was searching the vaults looking for Radio Birdman tapes at the
time. The Passengers (Angie Pepper, Jim Dickson, Jeff Sullivan, Steve Harris
and Gerry Jones) were going to split, and decided they'd better record
something. A single was released a couple of years later, but the masters were
soon lost. In the 90's Revenge released a cd which was made from a monitor mix
cassette. Angie Pepper hated this mix. When they'd discovered the original
multi tracks, Deniz asked if I could even find a machine to play them at my
studio. As the tapes were old, they'd been baked. Rather than risk any damage,
we transferred the original 8 tracks onto my 16 track so we could work with out
having the tapes disintegrate.

When we put up the tapes we found them to be in pretty good shape, with only
one major flaw. There wasn't much we could do about this, and just worked
around it. There was another track that didn't seem to have a usable vocal
take. As Angie was upstairs, it was easy enough to have her come in and cut a
fresh track. Easy for me, but it took her a while to "get her head back into
1979 to find the emotion".

One of their main complaints about the mixes they'd been listening to was the
guitar was too loud. The first thing they said was "bury the guitar." I wasn't
about to go this far, and made it clear we'd find the right place for it in the
mix. On one another track, Deniz said "if I'd been in the studio with them, I'd
of suggested a Ramones rhythm guitar part". In a fit of mischievousness, I told
him to grab a guitar and plug it in. He did manage to blow the speakers on my
amp in the process, but we got it down.

Ok, now I think we've messed with the tapes enough. You have to understand, I
had never heard the single or the cassette mix. I just approached it like any
other album mix and listened to the songs. As there were minimal overdubs, it
was pretty easy to know what they had in mind. I was sort of conscious of the
time it was from, so I used tape delay and the echo chamber before I reached
for anything a little more modern.

As we started mixing, Angie had a listen to make sure we were keeping close to
the original intent. Must have been like a time machine for her. For me it was
just a gas to hear music that was both 20 years old, and brand new to me at the
same time.

A year ago I went down to Australia to see Radio Birdman. While traveling
around a few people came up to me and told me how much they liked the mixes. At
least one person who was familiar with the Revenge cd asked me what we'd done.
They were sure we must have done extensive re-recording, the difference was so
dramatic. I got the feeling they liked what we'd done. I've now heard the
single. but I've not heard the Revenge cd. Den made me a dub, but the cd
skipped and I couldn't listen to it!!

More recently we cut some tracks for Angie's new album with the rhythm section
from Donovan's Brain and Deniz supplying the backing. At the end of the first
session she smiled and said "that's the first new Passengers song in 20 years".

Conceptual continuity...

Rock A Hula

RS

>
> --
> Pop Rules!!!!!
> Take Care,
> David

-- Ronald Sanchez
Director Of A&R
Career Records
 www.CareerRecords.com

The Donovan's Brain Web Site
 www.Donovans-Brain.com