Hi there... I'm a troll !
Well, I'm not really a troll, but I figure that if I dare to question or challenge any statements attributed to the
groups overseer... some of her mindlessly adoring minions will immediately classify me as such. Oh well... :(
So Spidey.... In one of your recent (July 9th in a Gene Pitney thread to be precise) pontifications you wrote:
"... it's only natural that you begin to see top 40-type music come around again and again. How many copies of Pretty
Woman does one person need?"
The answer (although I'm sure you asked that rhetorically) is: As Many As It Takes !
I was also curious as to your inclusion (and use of) the term "Top 40" but since you did not qualify it (ie "genre",
"era", "style", etc) it is meaningless and therefore irrelevant. Just another one of those buzzwords you like to toss
about, presumably to make yourself look Intelligent, authoritative, intellectual or possibly even knowledgeable.
Before I qualify/explain "As Many As It Takes".... from comments you've made about "Wondrous Old Time Music"... one
could deduce that much of the music in this group (and the 50s group) is not really "your" music. By that I mean (a) I
don't think you were fortunate enough to grow up in the 50's and 60's (when Rock n Roll was really new)... (b) if you
did, then possibly you weren't paying attention or (c) you grew up in some [possibly thrid world] country, other than
the USofA, where R&R was banned and if/when you were finally allowed to listen to it... it dribbled in, in small
censored quantities and/or way after the initial release.
From your rather naive "how many copies" question one could easily arrive at the conclusion that, for you, as long as
you have a copy... the quality, or whether or not it is the "original" release (the one you'd remember if you were
really there) is of no significance [to you]. Heck... If it's not important to you then it shouldn't be anyone else
either... right?
Rock & Roll, starting with early Be-Bop and Rockabilly, spanned (approximately) the years from "about" the mid to early
50's to "about" 1968 and during that time recording processes and techniques changed drastically. From cutting small
grooves in a flat, circular piece of hard "wax" (henceforth the term "to cut a record") by a method not unlike the
entire "playing a record" process in reverse to the advent of "tape".... there was no consistency and quite often the
cut (then pressed to vinyl) record sounded better then the best (at the time) tape. Keep in mind that although many
tunes were laid down on tape in multiple tracks... a lot of those recordings were originally released in monorail format
due to stereo phonographs not yet being popular.
Anyway... without delving deeper into the intricacies of early audio recording (which I'm sure you are fully versed
in)... let's just say that, even within a year of a records initial public release... there existed (for sale) differing
"qualities" on the market. This could have been due to a myriad of factors... over pressing, tapes losing iron oxide,
etc, etc.
Over the ensuing years, with 50's style music (which actually included most of the 60s and which is now commonly
referred to as "oldies") continuing in popularity, there came hundreds of "compilations" and "best of" (type) offerings.
Some of them were "licensed", some purely "pirate". Some came from authorized copies of the original masters while
others (the old K-tel offerings come to mind) were "usually" (not always) abysmal 4th or 5th generation reproductions
which made you wonder why the song ever sold in the first place. There were hit songs recorded by two or more groups
within days of each other... both bragging that they were the original recording group (leaving the now grown up teens
to remember which version played at their Junior Proms). There were single (re 45rpm) versions vs. Album versions...
mostly with only slight variations but enough to drive the purist crazy. Lastly there were the inevitable re-recordings
when either (a) the original artist felt they could have done it a little better and/or (b) with multi track masters
originally released in mono.... that would be re-released as "stereo" (or "faux" stereo) or simply re-mixed to emphasis
some previously hidden portion of the audio spectrum.
So... if you're a "purist" you want the "version" that (a) is the one that your mind tells you is the version that you
grew up with, or fell in love with, got laid to, etc. Also... you want to "eventually" end up with the best (out of
dozens if not hundreds of offerings) "sounding" version you can find.
However... if you're an audio "enthusiast" while the above described original may be what you want but your goal is more
oriented towards such things as "dynamic range", pure silence in those silent areas and, if a stereo or multi-track
version is to your liking, then it can't be one of those that has been so "mickey moused" and/or over engineered that
even someone with a tin ear can tell that it's not "original".
And that my dear, since the odds of downloading your perfect version on the first try is astronomical, is why you just
might want 40 copies [of Pretty Woman]. While Pretty Woman was your choice, it's not, for many reasons, the best example
for this argument but, I've personally heard enough varying versions of it so that it does, like almost all music of the
so-called "50s generation" or The Oldies, fit my explanation.
You might wonder why I feel that this is not "your" music. It's quite simple really (based on what you wrote)....
I did grow up in that era. I remember how all portable record players had 1.5" spindles which magically fit the only
records we were interested in. Sure, there were times when we had to beg our folks to use their phonographs to play some
of the very early EP/LP (3-4 track) releases from Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and some of the other early rockers. I
remember how that "sinful" Wake Up Little Suzie" came out in time for my 8th grade graduation during and how Bobby
Darin's "Splish Splash" marked the point at which I learned that people did things slightly differently than the birds
and bees :)
I remember, in '57, thinking how silly grownups could be when all the goody two shoe Christians got Buddy Knox's Party
Doll banned from half the radio stations because of the line "..making love to you". Somehow I don't think it bothered
you at all.
And, above all...
I remember almost crying and everyone waking around in a daze when we woke up to the terrible news on February 4th,
1959. Were you there? Did you cry too?? I doubt it.
I was there and I was part of it (and "it" became part of me. !
People my age might [now] refer to this as "my" music, or "our" music or, in general using the widely accepted term
"oldies" (as in "oldies but goodies" or "golden oldies") but I guarantee you that no one who was part of that music, or
for whom that music was part of would ever refer to it (as you did) as "old time music" much less describe it as
"wondrous". To us, of and from that era, "old time music" might have been (or is) music from the 20's and 30's.
No doubt you also think that everyone, back then, wore rolled up jeans and a T-shirt with a pack of Luckys in the sleeve
or skipped around in a stupid poodle skirt and that we spent all our waking hours hanging out in some pink and white
(decorated) "malt shoppe".
The next time you feel the need... try to realize that there are many people who do not subscribe to your apparently
self-centered and myopic views of music that (except for collecting it) you apparently know little about (or didn't
experience first hand).... or the next time you whine, someone might offer you some cheese to go with it.
Old Time Music my ass !!!
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