I've nabbed a few of these via BT (the greatest invention of all time). The tracks are pretty interesting and the sound is good (cue David Goodwin posting here, telling me of the many things wrong with them).
Anyway, I'm not up on my Beatles boot lore. Where did these things purportedly originate from?
Beatles Ultra Rare Trax series
OK. Here's my lore as I understand it (this is Clinton Heylin's version, I think).
a) Guy has a super duper collection of EMI out-takes. He's hesitent to trade them.
b) He makes a tape for cool guy #1, who has been active in the Beatles bootleg scene (as "Disques du Monde"). Guy #1 promises not to trade them.
c) He makes an ABBREVIATED tape for Guy #2. Guy #2 decides to put them out. He mixes the excellent-sounding EMI outtakes (which still sound pretty good even today) over two discs, throwing a few of his acetate transfers in for good measure. Voila! Two thirty minute "Ultra Rare Trax" volumes.
d) Guy #1 gets kinda cheesed off, so he puts his longer reel (with no acetates, but unfortunately no-noising the sound quite a bit) as "Unsurpassed Masters." Later, he acquires better, more complete reels of entire segments of studio outtakes. These're later issued as the amazing "Studio 2 Sessions at Abbey Road" series, still IMO the best source for these things (some run a bit slow, but I've never heard a better *source*).
So what's wrong with Ultra Rare Trax? Well, the tracks obviously sourced from acetate appear better elsewhere, but otherwise, 1 and 2 provide a nice cross-section of excellent-sounding outtakes. The rest of the series, however, is kind of a hodge-podge, esp. as Swingin' Pig starts using NR after a certain point. Swingin' Pig was much more of a bottom-dollar operation than Yellow Dog, preferring to keep their discs *really* short, and spreading out little material over as many volumes as possible (e.g. "Handsome Girls" by the Stones, which is 2.5 discs of material spread out over 4, and that ridiculous '67 Byrds show that's only 20 minutes!).
As to where they originated from...some people claim the Barrett dubs, but this doesn't sound right, as this stuff isn't from cassette. That said, it probably leaked either around that time or around the time Lewisohn was screwing around in the vault. Insofar as out-takes go, it's mostly reels of stuff that were bootlegged; the one-off stuff ("What You're Doing" Take 11, etc.) comes mostly from the more scattershot Barrett collection.
Some of the later period material ("SFF" sessions) is a bit unclear, though, as it doesn't sound nearly as good as the early outtakes, but is still in entire-session-reel form.
-D
a) Guy has a super duper collection of EMI out-takes. He's hesitent to trade them.
b) He makes a tape for cool guy #1, who has been active in the Beatles bootleg scene (as "Disques du Monde"). Guy #1 promises not to trade them.
c) He makes an ABBREVIATED tape for Guy #2. Guy #2 decides to put them out. He mixes the excellent-sounding EMI outtakes (which still sound pretty good even today) over two discs, throwing a few of his acetate transfers in for good measure. Voila! Two thirty minute "Ultra Rare Trax" volumes.
d) Guy #1 gets kinda cheesed off, so he puts his longer reel (with no acetates, but unfortunately no-noising the sound quite a bit) as "Unsurpassed Masters." Later, he acquires better, more complete reels of entire segments of studio outtakes. These're later issued as the amazing "Studio 2 Sessions at Abbey Road" series, still IMO the best source for these things (some run a bit slow, but I've never heard a better *source*).
So what's wrong with Ultra Rare Trax? Well, the tracks obviously sourced from acetate appear better elsewhere, but otherwise, 1 and 2 provide a nice cross-section of excellent-sounding outtakes. The rest of the series, however, is kind of a hodge-podge, esp. as Swingin' Pig starts using NR after a certain point. Swingin' Pig was much more of a bottom-dollar operation than Yellow Dog, preferring to keep their discs *really* short, and spreading out little material over as many volumes as possible (e.g. "Handsome Girls" by the Stones, which is 2.5 discs of material spread out over 4, and that ridiculous '67 Byrds show that's only 20 minutes!).
As to where they originated from...some people claim the Barrett dubs, but this doesn't sound right, as this stuff isn't from cassette. That said, it probably leaked either around that time or around the time Lewisohn was screwing around in the vault. Insofar as out-takes go, it's mostly reels of stuff that were bootlegged; the one-off stuff ("What You're Doing" Take 11, etc.) comes mostly from the more scattershot Barrett collection.
Some of the later period material ("SFF" sessions) is a bit unclear, though, as it doesn't sound nearly as good as the early outtakes, but is still in entire-session-reel form.
-D
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"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911
"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911
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lukpac
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Xenu wrote:As to where they originated from...some people claim the Barrett dubs, but this doesn't sound right, as this stuff isn't from cassette. That said, it probably leaked either around that time or around the time Lewisohn was screwing around in the vault.
Are you sure about that? It would certainly make sense, and to me some of that stuff *does* sound like it could come from cassette. Good cassette, mind you, but...
"I know because it is impossible for a tape to hold the compression levels of these treble boosted MFSL's like Something/Anything. The metal particulate on the tape would shatter and all you'd hear is distortion if even that." - VD
Xenu wrote:Well, I assume you're burning 'em 2 on 1 if possible?
I haven't bothered. The stuff generally isn't posted in any kind of order, anyway.
BTW, my "Why no .cue sheets?" thread pretty much went nowhere. Apparently, people can't be bothered. But they can be bothered to include .md5s, .txt files, EAC log files, SHN log files, and the kitchen sink.
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Rspaight
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'Cause, you know, including the file that is automatically generated by EAC is just too much hassle.
There was a guy that was posting all the MFSL and DCC gold stuff on Usenet a while back. He was posting 'em as one big 256K mp3 file and a cue sheet. (Along with those PAR file things I could never really understand.) If you wanted an copy of the source disc with all between-track timings intact, it was point-and-click easy. If you wanted individual files for each song, just use one of the many mp3-cutter apps out there that use the cue sheet to create them. Win-win.
Of course, people hated it and flamed him constantly for not posting the individual song files until he finally got tired of it and stopped.
Ryan
There was a guy that was posting all the MFSL and DCC gold stuff on Usenet a while back. He was posting 'em as one big 256K mp3 file and a cue sheet. (Along with those PAR file things I could never really understand.) If you wanted an copy of the source disc with all between-track timings intact, it was point-and-click easy. If you wanted individual files for each song, just use one of the many mp3-cutter apps out there that use the cue sheet to create them. Win-win.
Of course, people hated it and flamed him constantly for not posting the individual song files until he finally got tired of it and stopped.
Ryan
RQOTW: "I'll make sure that our future is defined not by the letters ACLU, but by the letters USA." -- Mitt Romney
lukpac wrote:Xenu wrote:As to where they originated from...some people claim the Barrett dubs, but this doesn't sound right, as this stuff isn't from cassette. That said, it probably leaked either around that time or around the time Lewisohn was screwing around in the vault.
Are you sure about that? It would certainly make sense, and to me some of that stuff *does* sound like it could come from cassette. Good cassette, mind you, but...
Most of it sounds like at *least* good reel dubs to me. Do you think the "Studio 2 Sessions" stuff sounds cassette-like?
I compare that to, say, the "Dead Man" material, which is *definitely* from cassette.
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"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911
"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911
(not to start a new thread.. )
I'm checking out something called It's Not Too Bad, which traces the evolution of SFF from the roughest of John's home demos to an almost-finished state. It's truly fascinating.
The copy I grabbed is allegedly a straight CD>WAV job, it's not even FLAC or SHNed.
Yet I keep noticing a slightly annoying metallic-sounding edge to what little hiss is left on many of the cuts. I'm assuming this is just NR from the original bootleg- correct?
I'm checking out something called It's Not Too Bad, which traces the evolution of SFF from the roughest of John's home demos to an almost-finished state. It's truly fascinating.
The copy I grabbed is allegedly a straight CD>WAV job, it's not even FLAC or SHNed.
Yet I keep noticing a slightly annoying metallic-sounding edge to what little hiss is left on many of the cuts. I'm assuming this is just NR from the original bootleg- correct?
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lukpac
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I don't know what sources that uses, but I believe most/all of the material that has come out from tape sources came out originally without NR.
"I know because it is impossible for a tape to hold the compression levels of these treble boosted MFSL's like Something/Anything. The metal particulate on the tape would shatter and all you'd hear is distortion if even that." - VD
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Mike Hunte
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I had originals of the 6 CD volumes - bought 'em when they first came out. I also had (still have I think) the original 2 LP set - which might have appeared before the CD's as I recall.
At the time, of course, volumes 1 & 2 of the CD's (and maybe 3 & 4) were the essential ones in terms of material. I seem to recall a problem with some of the stuff on 3 & 4 being a hair off speed wise. Volumes 5 & 6 were the ones that had the Sonic Solutions No-Noise designation emblazoned on the cover. By the time they got to these volumes, they were scraping it a bit...issuing stuff like the soundtrack "voice over" version of Magical Mystery Tour (the song) with heaps of NR all over it.
A label called Genuine Pig tried to keep the series going with a Vol. 7 & 8 - no relation to SP.
There was also a series called Backtrack that reissued most the Ultra Rare stuff around the same time.
I'll just add that time has blunted the impact that these first two volumes had when they were first issued - they were the holy grail of Beatles' boots!
At the time, of course, volumes 1 & 2 of the CD's (and maybe 3 & 4) were the essential ones in terms of material. I seem to recall a problem with some of the stuff on 3 & 4 being a hair off speed wise. Volumes 5 & 6 were the ones that had the Sonic Solutions No-Noise designation emblazoned on the cover. By the time they got to these volumes, they were scraping it a bit...issuing stuff like the soundtrack "voice over" version of Magical Mystery Tour (the song) with heaps of NR all over it.
A label called Genuine Pig tried to keep the series going with a Vol. 7 & 8 - no relation to SP.
There was also a series called Backtrack that reissued most the Ultra Rare stuff around the same time.
I'll just add that time has blunted the impact that these first two volumes had when they were first issued - they were the holy grail of Beatles' boots!
damianm wrote:(not to start a new thread.. )
I'm checking out something called It's Not Too Bad, which traces the evolution of SFF from the roughest of John's home demos to an almost-finished state. It's truly fascinating.
The copy I grabbed is allegedly a straight CD>WAV job, it's not even FLAC or SHNed.
I seeded a really fun "update" of that in the waning days of Sharing the Groove, with all of the subsequently-surfacing takes inserted into the running order (i.e. the Barrett stuff, etc.)
Yet I keep noticing a slightly annoying metallic-sounding edge to what little hiss is left on many of the cuts. I'm assuming this is just NR from the original bootleg- correct?
I think Vig0Tone generally uses a little NR on all of their releases, many of which have that "edge" you're talking about (see: Turn Me On, Dead Man). I love what Vig0Tone sourced, but generally preferred the sound quality on other labels.
-D
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"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911
"Fuckin' Koreans" - Reno 911
Xenu wrote: FWIW, I've heard that after Volume 4 they start getting *seriously* worthless, but I've never heard anything past 2.
-D
The later volumes aren't as good as the first few, but not "worthless" by any means. Eg., Volume 5 has the first take of Strawberry Fields WITH some great backing harmonies not in the Anthology version.
John
