Jethro Tull ‘This Was’ Collectors Edition - June 10

This Was (Mono only) Jethro Tull Disc one: UK
The mono sound of this recording is new to my ears. (2008)
I knew Mick Abrahams was great here...but sounding this good for the era, surprise wow.

EMITed...some may want to tame the top end a bit.
Listening on a few too many systems - for me the mono sound is killer perfect for the era...even at low levels...from a distance you can tell the quality of this mono sound. (great background music)

Thank you to Peter Mew for the CD transfer.

Because of the the glorious mono sound...this easily surpasses the first Peter Mew stereo remaster for me.
I have not listened to the stereo remix to date...maybe some day.

This was back to mono.

-tootull

 

UK CD Jethro Tull ‘This Was’ Collectors Edition - June 10

I've heard "A Song for Jeffrey" a zillion times, no, two zillion times.
My caution was lame. heh - I find the voice effect on track 9 (disc 1) to be torture as it is turned up, on this CD for the first time to these ears. I fear for my ears here.



1. "My Sunday Feeling"
2. "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You"
3. "Beggar's Farm"
4. "Move on Alone"
5. "Serenade to a Cuckoo"
6. "Dharma for One"
7. "It's Breaking Me Up"
8. "Cat's Squirrel"
9. "A Song for Jeffrey"
10. "Round"

 

Did you get the pictures?

 

I guess it's just Ian being funny. What i've heard is that he doesn't like "Sailor" at all, and that's why it wasn't on Nightcap.

 

I picked this up today and really like it. Mick Abrahams is quite the guitar player. Time to get some Blodwyn Pig now.

 

I only know that "Sailor" exists on a cassette copy of the "Chateau Disaster Tapes" that made the rounds just after the 20th Anniversary Box Set was compiled. So it was still on the original tapes at that time. A couple of days after I heard the tape, the friend who sent it called and asked me not to circulate it further. Apparently, Ian had found out that it was going around and was upset about it.

I guess when Ian did the overdubs and editing for the finished product he decided to edit rather than complete the "Sailor" portion of the tape. It does sound like an unfinished fragment of a song, but it would still have been nice to have a good copy of it for us maniacs.

 

The worth of "Sailor" is found in Martin Barre's wonderful guitar work. He is playing in a more Steve Howe-type of style for the long solo. It fits nicely between Skating Away and No Rehearsal (I think that's where it is on the original recording).

 

The original vinyl "Flute Cake" was a different edited performance from the same tour (Anaheim or Santa Monica, some sources appear to conflict), meaning they're VERY similar. Carnegie Hall seems to have been an "unscheduled" night, and to be honest, is not quite as tight as "FC" (particularly that pointless Barre 1000 Mothers solo), but by God, I didn't hesitate and don't regret buying the cigar box specifically for that disc. (I've strapped LITP's Dharma on my "listening" cd-r for completeness.)

BTW the original Freebooter FC had an idealized design, home silk-screened (as in t-shirt) cover.

 

Agreed.

The mono disc sounds good, but the vocals on "A Song for Jeffrey" are real ear-blasters... in a bad way!

Very hard to have a volume level that lets you enjoy the instrumentation, that doesn't blow your brains out when the vocals come in.
.

 

So why the difference in packaging between the U.S. and the U.K. versions? I think I'd prefer to have the slipcase (U.K.) rather than not (U.S.) I see the slipcased versions in the stores here but got mine from DDDVD yesterday which is, of course, the U.S. Hmnnn.

 

In my case, I remove the albums from the DE plastic slipcases so that the covers won't marked from repeated extractions from the plastic slip. I rather like the Collector's Edition - the new mix is OK and is not as bright as the old mix. Not sure about the mono compared with the original vinyl, but that sounds good too.

 

Song For Jeffrey

Murder mono vocal - why did they release it like this?

The MoFi CD will do for "Song For Jeffrey"


Listening to the "new" stereo version - I'm surprised that it is liked - The cymbals are too bright for me = not too natural.

The knock against previous Peter Mew remasters is the brightness and to me it continues here.

Referring to the original album tracks only:
1. "My Sunday Feeling"
2. "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You"
3. "Beggar's Farm"
4. "Move on Alone"
5. "Serenade to a Cuckoo"
6. "Dharma for One"
7. "It's Breaking Me Up"
8. "Cat's Squirrel"
9. "A Song for Jeffrey"
10. "Round"

 

I managed to trade a sealed U.S. for a sealed U.K today. The slipcase has plenty of play in it so getting the digipac in and out takes no effort or skill, unlike all the Brian Eno digipacs I have. Now on to the music ...

 

I haven't heard the stereo tracks on this new release, but I was happy enough with the mono tracks.

 

I just finished listening to the stereo disc and the cymbals sound bright to me also, especially in the Cat's Squirrel.

Overall though, the sound is much better than I expected.

The MoFi "Song for Jeffrey" in the Living in the Past sounds beautiful.

 

That's the 45, a different mix, only available on LITP. My favorite version, also.

 

So, as the 45 mix, does that mean Song for Jeffrey has been in MONO on LITP for all these years?!

If so, or even if not, any other mono mixes on LITP (I have the MFSL CD and the U.K. vinyl)? Is it any longer or shorter than the Stereo LP version?



BTW, on the plus side for the new Mono + Stereo double CD release, the U.S. digipak is one of the very few where you don't have to wrestle-with-and-potentially-break the discs to remove them... they slip out like butta'.

 

Thanks Larry, to be honest I did not know that the single "A Song For Jeffrey" had a different mix from the one in the album.

 

Known mixes for "A Song For Jeffrey":

1968: Mono for 45 and mono LP. In the US this mix was issued heavily compressed as a single.

1968: Stereo with more reverb for the original UK stereo LP.

1969: Stereo with less reverb for the US stereo LP. This mix became the standard stereo mix worldwide, including the UK.

1972 (?): Stereo remix for "Living In The Past" LP? This could be the original UK stereo mix, it's been a long time since I listened to it.

1976 (?): Quad remix for "MU" LP? This LP was scheduled for a simultaneous quadraphonic release, which was canceled, but the stereo LP had the quad version (in stereo) of "Aqualung". I can say that I get different results running this LP's version of "Jeffrey" through SQ and QS decoders than I do with other stereo mixes.

 

After a thorough listen of the set (US version), a few observations and Qs:

- How much this new Mono master owes to the original one? (Have never heard the mono album before)

- Are this or the original mono mixes really dedicated monos? I have little experience with mono mixes from that era, but I find that this one don't reveal anything much new (as opposed, say, to the Beatles' stereos vs monos), except that it sounds simply collapsed or folded down, with reverb and loud vocals here and there...

- On the new stereo CHRISMAS SONG, is the military snare drum figure coming in 3 or 4 bars late an artistic decision on the part of the remixer? In other words, is it standard nowadays to decide such drastic changes in remix jobs? It sounds to me as if he left the drum track fader down and simply forgot about it for a while! The drum normally (and correctly IMO!) comes in dead on the word "think" (in the line "not what you think"), which is beat one of the bar. Here instead it sort of fades in ("Oops"?) a few bars later... for a much less dramatic effect! (Oh how much do I prefer the US Living In The Past CD version!)

- Was the "Hey Santa..." line originaly omitted from the MONO, single mix?

- How can Ian Anderson say in the liner notes that they played the BBC material live, without any overdubs? There is plenty of impossible overlaps between flute and vocals, on MY SUNDAY FEELINGS for instance! Or between electric mandolin and flute (both had to be played by Anderson) on LOVE STORY!

 

I'm curious about this as well. Anyone ..........?

 

My guess here is a failing memory of something that happened 40 years ago. It was very common for BBC recordings to have an overdub or two. I haven't noticed the overlap that you describe.
I'll have to give these recordings another listen.

 

street legal: >My guess here is a failing memory of something that happened 40 years ago.<

I am alright with that... But don't IA even give a listen to this stuff before it gets released? Or are these just EMI projects he don't care about anymore?

 

I wouldn't be surprised at all if he didn't listen to the final product.
I'm not saying he DIDN'T, but .......... he may have just been asked to write some nifty new notes, & that *may* have been the extent of his involvement, who knows.

 

The difference in mono vs stereo has long been the 'punchy', in your face mix, not something so drastic like the White Album mono vs stereo. Outside of Round and Jeffery (which are noticably different), the main thing is the mono's reverb on the vocals. This reverb was also present on the first stereo mix found only on the UK vinyl. The mono single of Love Story is also very different, and thankfully that is here, also. To my ears, the cd sounds very close to the original mono, I also have a friend who has played the mono for 20 odd years and he is alos pretty satisfied. I don't recal reading that anyone here felt the mono vinyl was trashed by the cd, but we'll see what your questions bring out.