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I dug Hanoi rocks back in the day just heard Michael Monroe’s new song.  Last train to Tokyo.   He looks different (older of course) but thats not a bad tune from a guy pushin 60.   His guitarist Steve conte. His name seems to pop up from time to time.  Going to check him out too.  

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About a month ago I had a couple of strokes, ironically, while I was driving to the hospital to get a defibrillator implanted in my chest. I'm trying to work my way out of the stroke damage with some therapy exercises while listening to music which should help exercise my brain and re-establish my neuropaths. 

So Monday I put on a couple of albums to provide a soundtrack to some eye/hand coordination exercises. 

The first was the 2014 mono remix/remaster of Revolver by the Beatles. I think Revolver introduced the masses to psychdelic elements in pop music.

Here's the full album. It's hard to cut tracks from this collection that includes Eleanor Rigby, Yellow Submarine, Here, There, and Everywhere, and many more songs of similar status. If it gets old, you can always fast-forward to the end of the current track and the YouTube player will move on to the next one.

 

I've long been a fan of music Brian Wilson created for the album which variously became known as "Smile," "Smiley Smile," and "The Smile Sessions," and variously credited to Brian Wilson (aided by The Wondermints), The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks. I guess I'm a bit of a fan, because I saw "Smile" live in Nov. 2004 with Brian Wilson and The Wondermints, after which I bought the CD and the Blu-Ray video live of a performance at the Royal Albert Hall. Years later, my stepson bought me the Brian Wilson/Beach Boys recovery and re-edit of the Capitol session tapes, and this is what I listened to. it's variously titled "Smile," "Smiley Smile," and "The Smile Sessions." i have the "Smile" LP, and really like the musical acumen and the sound quality. I start off with "Heroes and Villians," which has been a personal favorite since it charted on my local top 40 AM radio around 1966-67:

And I love "Surf's Up":

 

And "Wind Chimes"

And of course, "Good Vibrations"

Altogether, Revolver and Smile provided me with 2-3 hours of stimulating music while I worked on hand strength and hand/eye coordination. It sure elevated my time spent from a plodding slog to an enjoyable musical experience and improved motor control. I call that a win-win.

Edited by JohnnyB
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On 9/7/2019 at 7:50 PM, JohnnyB said:

I used to be a stereo guy all the way, but reading Geoff Emerick's book Here, There, and Everywhere, changed all that for me when he mentioned that he and the rest of the crew spent 5 hours on the stereo mix of Sgt. Pepper's and 5 days mixing the mono version. It also hit home when I read that EMI designed and made their own tape machines, which is why a)they sounded so good, and b)they were slow to upgrade them to multi-channel machines, essential for getting an honest, good-sounding stereo mix.

So, when you listen to a mono album, do you use both speakers or pan to one side? Just wondering if mono sounds better from a point source vs dual source.

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20 minutes ago, killerteddybear said:

So, when you listen to a mono album, do you use both speakers or pan to one side? Just wondering if mono sounds better from a point source vs dual source.

I use both speakers, and ensure that I get the same amplitude of signal to each of the two speakers to create what is called a "phantom mode," which sounds like there's a single big, broad speaker in the middle. Actually, my two main speakers create large soundfields. They are panel speakers, each of which has an 11" x 44" radiating surface, both forward and rearward, which is reflected by the wall about 4-1/2 feet behind them. This creates a realistic wall of sound which--although it doesn't convey left-to-right sense of location--it does convey a front-to-back sense of depth. When you think about live performances, very few convey left-to-right placement except in the most general way. The sense of live precise, individual placements of instruments and voices rarely occurs, and a 2-speaker mono arrangement (especially if the speakers are dipole or bipolar) throws a realistic sense of a room-filling soundstage.

Mono LP also has some other advantages in realism and fidelity. In a stereo record, you have a V-shaped groove that holds both horizontal and vertical modulations. The vertical modulations convey the left and right stereo channels. The lateral (side-to-side) modulations convey the center, mono channel. Over time, the V-shaped stereo channel gathers dust and gunk, and become noisy, The mono channel modulates side-to-side and doesn't accumulate so much. I've rescued old mono albums from thrift shops, often for $1 each. There is so much fine dust and some gunk that these records are too noisy to enjoy with a stereo cartridge. When I swap in a mono cartridge, which doesn't pick up the vertical modulations, the noise disappears and I only hear the intended mono center channel. I have some 50-year-old mono records picked up at thrift shops for $1 each which are dead quiet when played by my mono cartridge. The mono playback has another advantage in that the cartridge only has to trace one modulation in the groove--the side-to-side mono track. A stereo cartridge has to simultaneously trace the lateral mono track  and the vertical stereo track. This can sound thin and nasal where the mono playback sounds lush and full. Of course, the mastering and pressing can determine how dramatic these differences are.  

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My record-spinning and hand-eye coordination exercises Monday must have worked, because my physical therapy session at the hospital yesterday was particularly good, specifically the balance exercises which had always eluded success. 

Edited by JohnnyB
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Especially the tracks 'Cool #9' and 'Luminous Flesh Giants' but I've been playing this album a lot the last few days.  I've loved Joe Satriani's music since a friend put 'flying In a Blue Dream' on in my car a few days after it's release and I thought 'well bugger me this is good, how did I miss this?'

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53 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

A little known piece of trivia is that the Klipsch Heresy was originally designed and sold in the '50s as a mono center channel speaker. Later as they became popular, they began to sell in pairs as stereo bookshelf speakers. 

Yeah, I thought about that when I finished posting. Also, in the early days of stereo recording, they recorded in 3-track--left, right, and center. 

In fact, here's Frank Sinatra's state-of-the-art 3-channel stereo setup back in the day:

singer-frank-sinatra-adjusting-his-hifi-

 

 

Edited by JohnnyB
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6 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

The man had great taste. Cornwalls! I owned a pair in the '80s. Beautiful sounding.

At second glance, no. They look like Cornwalls, but they're custom enclosures. NICE!

Also, the stereo LP wasn't produced until 1958, but some studios made and marketed stereo recordings on 3-track stereo tape. That's what Frank is threading up in the picture. Notice that the front panel of the R2R tape machine features controls and meters for three channels. This was cost-no-object high-end home audio in the mid-'50s.

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6 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

The McIntosh gear he's got is real sweet. If I could find a survivor set for less than a small fortune I'd be all over it. C22 tube preamp is wicked nice sounding!

Here ya go.  
Price:  US $5,695.00

You're welcome. :D

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Edited by JohnnyB
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7 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

The C22 puts that photo early-mid '60s.

I just ran the C22 in a Mac production history page. The C22 was in production from 1963-1968 and retailed for $279. Adjusted for inflation that comes to a Sinatra-sized $2339.21.

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3 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

Whadda guy!

I'm here for ya, dude. :lol:

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6 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

I bought it at Sam Goody’s the week it was released. I wanted to go to the concert but that didn’t happen.

Bruce Springsteen’s Mitch Ryder/Little Richard medley (Detroit Medley) - Devil with a Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly/Jenny Take a Ride is not only the Boss’ first live performance put on a record, but is one of the most energetic performances ever IMO! It is timeless!

                                                                                                                            It IS timeless and a great recording!

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Self-described. Love the Coop!

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If you don't move when this spins, you're a corpse.

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Reminds me of smoking bud. Classic stoner-rap.

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2LPs. Nice collection for when I don't feel like dragging out all my JC albums.

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"The Smile Sessions", 2xMono LPs. What can be said?

Edited by RobB
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This shit is cold-BLOODED!

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Yeah, I know, but I found a really clean copy on thick vinyl. No inserts, though.

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"East St. Louis Toodle-oo." I've got the original on a mono, Duke Ellington box with Bubber Miley and his muted trumpet (cornet?).

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East Bay power-poppers. Never broke out (Tommy Tutone did...), but every album is great. Gonna see them Nov. 1 in S.F.!

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The Greatest Band, pound-for-pound! Just too good.

Edited by RobB
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