Teenbeat: More stereo explosions from the past

What was billed as a major snow storm was really rather a damp squid here at the weekend so all the preparation was really rather wasted with a centimetre of snow at the most but something it did do was give me the opportunity to listen to the latest in a series of special cds for collectors.

The stereo explosion series of cds was a new series started a few years ago by the enterprising Eric Records company in Oshawa, On., Canada who specialize in finding and re-issuing original hit recordings that in an era where albums are more coveted the single version which is often different is hard to find new.

There was a period in the United States especially where such records were tossed out as singles especially mono single mixes were seen as "old hat" and not worth spending money on storing.

A lot of research and time finding them even if sometimes a clean original record may be the only available option would be undertaken and they'd issue compilations of them for collectors and presenters of vintage chart shows.

The Stereo Explosion series follows the same concept they would try to find the stereo single and using modern techniques of using artificial intelligence in audio extract individual elements within a recording that wasn't issued in stereo and remix that to stereo.

We had got up to Volume 10 in 2023 and just before CatMas, Volumes 11 and 12 were issued.

Volume 11 is more the mid 1950's to early 1963 period covering rock and roll as shown by the Elvis Presley selections, early R&B/Soul from Sam Cooke, Gladys Knight and classic pop fromthe Crystals and Chiffons.

A tidal wave swept the American charts from the end of December 1963 wiping out much of what had gone before and it was British and this selection from  mainly 1964 and 5 captures many of these sounds although the likes of the Beatles aren't covered.

There's no problem finding anything by them on cds!

Singles in the UK often weren't on albums, were often only mixed into mono for playing on Radio Luxembourg and inexpensive portable record players and so seldom have a true stereo mix...until now.

This just imagine my delight to hear the seriously brilliant Yardbirds perform For Your Love, Bits And Pieces by the DC5, Please Don't Go by Them and I Can't Explain by the Who in very credible clean sounding stereo.

Recordings that influenced the next wave of American acts and actually Berry Gordy of Motown really rated the production and beat of those early DC5 songs.

Also included are the awesome Animals, Manchester's Hermans Hermits and those Swinging Blue Jeans with the infectious Hippy Hippy Shake.

The out of this world Telstar produced by the amazing Joe Meek appears sounding really fresh with the second mix a generation higher than the one used for the single sounding clearer than ever.

For those of us who love pop hits of the 50's and 60's these discs are just great for the songs, memories now in stereo sound.

Old favourites of the Classical catalogue

We're looking backwards this week with things that changed expectations and one lies in recording.

In the beginning there was a horn, a great big one that artists performed into, cutting their record and by the mid 1920's the horn was replaced by electronic recording of the session to an acetate to make the discs from using microphones.

While shallac 78 rpm records tended to be noisy thanks to the harsh abrasive used in making them, the Decca Record company in England worked throughout the 1940's in increasing the range of low and high frequency sounds that could be captured on to them.

That with a combination of the new quieter plastic records, finer grooves and the introduction of 33 1/3 and 45 rpm speeds created the High Fidelity Full Frequency Range Recording in the early 1950's improving the quality of recorded sound in the home.

This lead to an interest in obtaining the best possible sound and the hobby of High Fidelity audio we know today.

Nothing stands still and so work continued as the new HiFi discs became the norm to enable spacial information to be recorded to records in the way tapes, developed from the late 1940's had shown adding realism to recordings of orchestras and groups of musicians.

Decca played a great part in pushing the new stereophonic record system that could play the original mono discs making many new recordings often to great acclaim and issuing demonstration records to show what what it offered.

The long playing record era had started an passion for making full recordings of classical music, some unheard outside of concert halls, some falling out of favour too that music fans embraced.

In the mid to late 1950's Decca recorded a number of popular works for the very first time in stereophonic sound that to this day are highly regarded with original lps being much sought after.

Those two lps and others featuring the works of Igor Stravinsky were compiled from the original tapes to this specially priced double compact set.

The same orchestra and conductor recorded many of the works of Rimsky-Korsakov in that early set of stereo lp releases which were equally loved and rounded up in cd sets.

They were amongst the earliest records I listened to on the Ace Of Diamonds and Eclipse reissues on record so it was nice to recently acquire these cd versions.