Fleetwood Mac "Oh Well" Parts I & II..is there a stereo version?

One Sunny Day and Without You - are these the same recordings that are on the compilation album English Rose?

 

Yes. These tracks seem to be owned by Mike Vernon, their former producer.
Maybe this is why they were not on the CD release.

I think the reason for 'Oh well' only existing in mono is simply because it was intended as a single only. The single was released in sept 69 and the lp followed one or two months later.
It was the record company who decided that this track should be on, and they created a version from the two parts.

Menno

 

The latter is true enough, it was Reprise who probably wanted it added on. Regardless, that doesn't explain its mono-only existence, since there are quite a few 45-only cuts all over the place that later turned up in stereo, too many to mention. Why this one's multis or stereo master(provided there ever was one, which would seem unlikely)are MIA is the big question. That it was issued in mono in the first place was probably due to the fact it hadn't been mixed to stereo at that time, which shouldn't have precluded its being mixed to stereo at some later date(or perhaps, for the UK GREATEST HITS Lp). But then, look how long it took to get something like "Yes It Is" in stereo, which could have been done much sooner than it was.

 

Unless the Oh Well tapes disappeared, they should be able to do a stereo mix. The Vaudville Years have the raw taped for "..Madge" in stereo. I too wish WB would do a 2-disc Deluxe version. One with the original album as is (w/ Oh Well in stereo, Dragonfly, Purple Dancer, Green Manelishi, Sandy Mary, and World In Harmony) as bonus tracks; then two, the raw stereo mixes including the long studio version of Rattlesnake Shake and ther tracks w/out fade ins/outs.

 

English Rose (the vinyl) was on Columbia Special Products (now Columbia/Sony). I think it was also on Epic as well if memory serves me correctly. These two particular tracks are available in wonderfully raw outake form on 'The Original Fleetwood Mac' - the Columbia/Sony-Blue Horizon CD. Mike Vernon wrote the liner notes on the complete Blue Horizon Mac releases (6 total). Since 'Then Play On' is a WB/Reprise release I can't imagine we'll see any Columbia material on it - if & when its ever properly re-done.

BTW has anyone read the scathing review Then Play On gets on Amazon? Not about the album - no, the reviwer clearly loves it - but about the poor quality WB release. On one hand it well written - but the reviewer unfortunately disses the hiss, and while I must admit the CD version of the album is pretty muddy (like a 3rd or 4th gen. tape source was used) I hope WB doesn't take the hiss issue to heart....or worse - to a Mew protoge.

 

Oh yes, but I guess the reprise just didn't care too much about having a stereo version on the album. It probably would have delayed their release schedule, if they had to wait for the remix to be done. It seems to be a cause of lameness and saving money.

The TPO cd does not sound good, but then the LP doesn not sound too good either.
The sound lacks brightness and is quite hissy. But I love this album and I would blindly buy a new remaster.

 

More likely because it was a very recent single, Reprise just took what they were given--Part I & II of the single master--and fused it into one long Lp cut. They very likely never had the multi or stereo master, which CBS/UK *should* have had, and should still possess, unless they weren't given it, and got the mono mix only, which is also very possible.

 

I'd like to add that, while the original UK & US releases of Then Play On appear to be similar, the flow of the LP's is completely different. Not only did the US company remove two cuts, they shortened a few more and rearranged the album, to the point where it makes no sense. I remember that I first heard the US version when a friend of mine bought it on the strength of the Oh Well single, which was all over the FM radio in the SF Bay Area. I hated the LP and considered it a mess. Years later, I heard the UK version, also on the radio, and couldn't believe my ears! It flows together, and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. A revelation! I immediately (literally, as I was actually driving around at the time!) drove to my local import record shop and ordered it. I was on pins and needles for weeks, waiting for it to arrive. If you have never heard this LP, you have no idea what you are missing! A lost masterpiece if ever there was one. If and when I can get my stereo equipment in the same room as my computer, I intend to make a CD-R of it, complete with the singles tacked onto the end. Of course, as soon as I go to all that trouble, I will read in ICE that the remaster is on the way!

Regards,
Ralph

 

Actually this track does not belong to CBS's catalog.
FM had already signed to Reprise when Peter Green recorded this song all by himself (yes, even the drums and bass are played by him) and CBS UK borrowed it for their 1971 greatest hits album (together with green manalishi and rattlesnake shake).

If reprise really wanted it they could have had a Stereo version, I'm sure.
But as Ralph said, Reprise(US) already messed up the album.
They didn't care about artistic decisions and put out what they though would sell.
So why bother to demand a stereo version of Oh well ?

That was then. But the fact that this album has not been properly reconstructed on CD untill this very day bothers me a lot more...

 

True, it doesn't appear on the Blue Horizon 6-disc box set. Yet the tracks One Sunny Day and Without You that appeared on the UK version of Then Play On (and also on English Rose) are on the box set and are the only Then Play On tracks included. Very confusing.

 

So does the current CD have these extras?

 

Heck, no! The current CD is a combination of the two versions of the US LP's. One Sunny Day and Without You are still missing, and the tracks are in the "wrong" order. It's a mess, and sounds like dog doo, to boot. As for the bonus 45 cuts, forget it!

Somewhere along the way, we got off track here. So, to get back to the title of this thread, I too, never realised that Oh Well was in mono all this time. Such a great performance, I never noticed.

Regards,
Ralph

 

Digital stereo version

You can find the short stereo version on this DVD:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/6305301956/104-7853713-0394327?v=glance&n=130

It sounds great!

 

The CD does sound terrible. The problem isn't the hiss but the analog tape saturation which is painfully evident throughout. My original LP is not here right now, so I can't check it, but I don't remember hearing all that distortion on the LP editon. Given that there is all this saturation plus a ton of hiss, I'd guess that the tape from which the CD was mastered was several generations old and that the saturation occurred in an earlier copy. This bums me out no end, because I love this album. This deserves a reissue, but I doubt that it would happen because I think that Reprise would like us to believe that anything Fleetwood Mac did before Buckingham/Nicks joined is worth listening to. I, for one, love both incarnations of the band, and I would kill for a box set with the cream of their work starting with "Then Play On" and "Heroes Are Hard To Find."

 

Sorry, but I gotta press this some more, since this is all news to me.

You say the UK version of the LP has longer versions than the US tracks. Are there mix differences also? Different takes? If I were to take the CD along with the two missing tracks, and resequence them, would I have the UK LP?

 

I used to have the old UK CD of Greatest Hits with the weird "redundant edit" of Oh Well Pts I and II. Then I replaced it with the "30th Anniversary Limited Edition" that came out in a digipack in the 90s because I was sucked into the Sony "SBM" hype .

The point is that the 30th Anniversary edition had an edit that did not repeat anything. Is that unique to this disc? Still mono - and why not. Some of my best friends are mono.......

 

I swear I remember a 6:45 stereo of "Oh Well" on a WB 12". Maybe not.
I'll check at work tomorrow.

 

The anniversary disc has a beatiful digipack. But apart from that it has
the exact same (not so good) soundquality as the older 80's CD version.

 

I think he played the cello, too, and his girlfriend played flute or recorder...

 

It would be nice if Warner would treat the pre-1975 Mac better in general (or let someone else do it). I don't think it's very high on their to-do list, though, and the situation is probably compounded by their not wanting to confuse the unwashed multitudes who salivate over the Buckingham-Nicks era...

 

I totally agree with Ralph here - you haven't heard "Then Play On" until youve heard the original 14 track UK vinyl. Yes, some of the songs are edited diferently and run right into each other (you won't be able to peice together the proper LP with the CD and American vinyl) and some run longer as well. The vinyl actually has the songs all running togther as one continuious groove (like "Sgt. Pepper" and the white album) except for the last track "Before The Beginning" which is seperate from the rest of the album - don't know if the US version does this. There's all sorts of bits and bobs moved around and the "English Rose" tracks even sound different (to these ears anyway). The whole thing flows and makes sense, much more so than the American tracklisting and mix. The songs are in a different order and work much better.

 

Wow.

I had no idea. So these ARE different mixes. Last question: Which songs are longer, or the most different from the US CD?

 

Off the top of my head, I remember "Under Way" going on slightly longer, it doesn't fade out either - just goes right into "One Sunny Day" at the end of side one. The Madge instrumentals are different - "Fighting" on side one, "Searching" on side two. I think the laughter comes the end of "My Dream" right before "Like Crying" (could be wrong, have to listen to it again). I think the only edits that are the same are "Coming Your Way" into "Closing My Eyes" and "Although The Sun Is Shining" into "Rattlesnake Shake". The album sounds a bit less muffled and hissy than the CD as well. Hope this helps.

 

Strange - mine certainly sounded different. Plus the edit of Oh Well Parts I & II is completely different and much better for it.

 

I still can't believe that I never realized Oh Well is mono!!
I've never listened to Then Play On with headphones, but still... I'm very ashamed.

Martin