“This is in no sense a  stunt record. Let the record speak for itself.”

Says that right here on the back. Of course the record starts with the sound of a train, moving from left speaker to right.

“In spite of the high
degree of perfection
reached hitherto in the art of commercial disc recording, especially
since the advent of the long-playing record, the  monaural or one-channel system has certain limitations. The listener is deprived of any real sense of perspective in the sound.”

 

But wait, there is something astonishingly beautiful and perfect about some monaural mixes: and that beauty is called “clarity.”  To my weary, tinnitus-filled ears, the mono mix of the Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle is perfection, even in headphones. There’s separation. The piano, the organ, the harpsichord, the guitars, drums, the vocals, the reverb … it’s all there sounding just about what you would like these things to sound like, without the sugar-coated, frosty-haze of full frequency stereophonic sound creeping into your left and right ears, ping-ponging one at a time!  Another great psyche classic, Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn also benefits from a mono mix,  as it was originally released in mono. There is something distracting about the gamesmanship of  “The Piper” stereo mix. That’s right … the gamesmanship.

Coincidentally, (then again, like I’ve written here before,
there are no coincidences …) according to the Pink Floyd
official website, the 40th anniversary edition will be
released on September 4th, 2007, as both a two CD set
and a three CD box set and with both the stereo and mono
versions. Unfortunately The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
has been “newly re-mastered.”

Lightning Video 9970

So, there's all these awfully tense feelings around the stuff like the ice mountains-- melting on the north and south poles? I forget what they're called but they sank the Poseid-no, wait that was a big wave. They sank the one that Leonardo DiCaprio was on. Ironically, he is really into green causes. Go Leo!

I bet all that drowning made you run out and buy a Prius. I rather like a Toyota myself, in general. If they were a band, I would buy their music. Beep beep. But that's bad because I am supposed to want to bicycle. Always. Everywhere.


Where was I? Okay, so there's going to be this really big show, a concert - about this global heat problem we have all of a sudden? (Like Live Aid, but it's about the sun burning us all up I guess. It's why we take your old AA batteries and sundry and recycle them, see?) Anyway, everyone is quite serious about this now that we aren't really being able to have Satsuma Mandarins, best fruit in the world, now that there's all this global warming. The damn growing season was iced out. Scary!

So, anyway, the big pop show with the fantastic Spinal Tap is happening over at Wembley - an English thing, if I got that right? Let me tell you, I've been there - not Wembley Arena - just the old UK, and they didn't like me one bit. I want some of you Brits to pop on here and let me give you what for. I'm just as cute as a button, there's no explaining your ways to me. Tsk, I say. (Except Pi. We miss you sweety.honey.baby.)

I admit that there's other save the planet shows going on (I just pictured Bob Geldof making out with Al Gore and it weren't a pretty sight) around the old globe, even up in Antarctica they say. Believe that when I see it! All under the same moniker.

But, we're talking about Spinal Tap. So this time they're calling the big show Live Earth, which is after all what we're aiming for. Gets right to the point, doesn't it? We're not likely to have a big show and call it Dead Earth if you catch my meaning. Say, have you seen that blazing TV show called Planet Earth? Discovery Channel!! If you were a car, you'd be a Toyota! That, people, is a big compliment. If you haven't seen it yet, you should buy an IMAX theatre and invite me over. I'll bring pop. Not really, I'd bring bottled water, but it's all the same, isn't it?

i'm not for global warming at all, but aren't you all as tired of being COLD right now as i am?  sf is freezing these past few days....and apparently compared to the northeast we've got it easy here.

anyway, today since it's so blustery all i have been listening to has been the Zombies' Odyssey and Oracle.  it's a fantastic record, makes me feel like it's fall for some reason (even though it's supposed to be spring right now).  the Zombies had so much promise as a 60s english rock band, but they broke up soon after this record was made in 1967, i think even by the time it was released.  i feel that this record is their penultimate statement though-- it's their only fully realized album.  maybe anything else they would have done would have seemed lesser after reaching such heights anyway.

the thing that is so great about Odyssey and Oracle is that every song is fantastic in its own way. it seems like all the songs on this record tell detailed stories and that's part of what sets the album apart and elevates the music. as with all favorite records, my favorite track changes often-- first, years ago, it was "A Rose For Emily", or maybe "Beechwood Park".  both songs are completely catchy and yet also melancholic.  i guess that is part of why i connect this record with an autumnal feeling-- it's that bittersweetness that comes over me about every september as the seasons change.  that said, there is optimism and hope on the record too, esp in "This Will Be Our Year" and "I Want Her She Wants Me", two more favorite cuts of mine.  right now and for the past year or so my favorite song on Odyssey and Oracle is the bizarro "Changes".  it's got overwhelmingly huge choruses with swirly harmonies and odd yet evocative lyrics describing a girl from the past who wears "strawberry clothes"-- it's all hung together strangely and yet it works and stands out.  clearly "Time of the Season" is the most famous track on the record, but i tend to forget it is even there, coming as it does at the very end of the whole eloquent thing.  it's like a little extra treat after you've heard and digested all these other wonderfully melodic nuggets.  yeah the Zombies were kinda obviously trying to be the Beatles (the record was made in 1967 after all, same as Sgt. Pepper)....but they did a great job of constructing a gorgeous pop album all their own.