It's been brought to my attention by a loyal reader that the actual 7" test pressing of this unreleased session indeed contains one of the BBC session recordings as the A-side. This reader, who is one of the lucky few actually owning one of the roughly 25 copies pressed, states the version on the 7" test pressing is the same as the Peel Session version on Hatful of Hollow.
So I stand corrected. I remain unconvinced that the ultimate plan was not to issue the final version with all-Tate recordings, but alas, we will never know...
In the meantime, with Hatful well in print and available to most readers, I'm not redoing the fileset to include that Peel track. I'm keeping our version as a known fake single, or, rather, a mockup.
I've a vague memory of reading (possibly at the time rather than retrospectively) that Pretty Girls Make Graves was going to be the single preceeding the The Hand That Rocks The Cradle album, which would fit with the possibility of PGMG and Jeane being the only really finished mixed and mastered Tate tracks.
ReplyDeleteIf so, I would guess that the PGMG single was planned before this, and the tracks finished, but they very sensibly scrapped it prior to the test pressing stage, there being much more suitable tracks on the album and it being a weird and silly choice for a single.
If, as you say, the Tate project was still active at the time of this single the use of the Peel RATF rather than finishing the Tate one and using that suggests to me that by this stage there was already a lack of belief in the Tate project and jumping ship to Porter was only a matter of time.
I am glad you will not be diverted by smartarses. This is a marvellous projectt. More power to your elbow!
ReplyDeleteAgree with the as-is approach!
ReplyDeleteComic Book Guy -- "My copy of the test PRINT-ing contains the John Peel Session. Your fake single is useless to me."
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree, it's better like this! I've never heard those three mixes sounding so good, if I've heard them at all!
ReplyDeleteIs there any possibility of you eventually including vinyl rips of any of the LP's? That would be amazing.
ReplyDeleteIf I had the Rough Trade LPs on vinyl......
ReplyDeleteThe rough trade LPs sound ok, but I reckon the Frank Arkwright remasters on Rhino 180g vinyl sound better. Much as it pains me to complement Rhino after the New Order remasters shambles...
ReplyDeleteOops - forgot to add the following link - there was a vinyl mastering article in the UK magazine Hi-Fi Choice where the Smiths LPs get a passing mention:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.metropolis-group.co.uk/_dropbox/files/hifi_choice.pdf
I've heard both opinions on the Rhino 180g vinyl. Not a fan in general of the Frank Artwright remasterings, based on what I hear on the Sound Of The Smiths compilation, and I suffered a little shudder when I heard he was behind the remastering on the newly-announced Joy Division +- 7" box set on Rhino.
ReplyDeleteI'm a firm believer in the "first pressing in home territory" notion, that the original Rough Trade UK vinyl - having the seal of approval of all closely involved including John Porter / Stephen Street / Geoff Travis etc when the test pressings had to be approved - is the best route to go regarding vinyl sources.
Furthermore, I suspect the Rhino 180g pressings are from digital sources, as most "remastered" vinyl these days is. Unfortunately it makes economic sense for the label, and it's not really feasible to digitally remaster and then print out the master onto analog tape these days. Might as well cut out the analog stage as all you're doing at that point is adding noise with no benefit. It's like mixing down your Pro Tools stems to half-inch analog tape - what's the benefit unless you want that dirtyness tape compression gives? Not something people aim for in remasters, so I suspect they're mastered from digital sources. Again, just refer to my name...
ReplyDeleteGreat new site, looking forward to seeing it grow. Those 2009 vinyl reissues are well worth checking out if you can get your hands on them. They were indeed done all analog from masters to vinyl with Johnny Marr overseeing the project. There is a 24/96bit flac needle-drop of the Queen Is Dead you can find floating out there that is the best sounding version of the record I've ever heard.
ReplyDeleteCan you check the link for this file... it seems to be broken right now?
ReplyDelete