Jay & Americans THREE-DISC As & Bs coming

Collectors' Choice's "Complete Singles" series continues, featuring the A and B sides in their original mono singles mixes.

Steve Hoffman wrote: This will be available this summer from Collector's Choice Music. I'll be mastering this with Bob Vosgien at Capitol/EMI Mastering Room #1 (Wally's old room). Massive research, in fact a massive effort from everyone involved will be required to bring this to fruition. Forum Friend Ed Osborne is producing. It will be a three disc set of all the original "hit" mixes and their proper B sides. Did you know they had SO MANY 45 releases? Amazing, ain't it? I've never heard more than the usual hit album or two. It will be neat discovering these just like I discovered all those groovy unknown (to me) Gary Lewis & The Playboys songs when working on the "Complete Singles" CCM set last week. I'm glad to help out! It will be SO nice to hear these songs in their original versions instead of those piss poor stereo (or fake stereo) mixes... If I hear that out of phase "Cara Mia" or "Come A Little Bit Closer" one more time I'll scream. I just feel sorry for my buddy at EMI Special Markets who is going to have to look on the computer to get the right stuff pulled from Iron Mountain. I don't envy him his task...

Edited by Brian W.

I'm so glad to hear more of the original single mono mixes are coming out! In most cases (in fact, I can't think of a single exception) I consider the single/mono versions definitive and the stereo masters a curious sideline. Fun and interesting, but not packed with the punch of the singles.
Is anyone set to going to deal with the Mamas & Papas catalogue? There's a prime target for a mono singles mix set!

If they were clean vinyl I would step in front of the line to snag that collection!
Dick Bartley did the best he could with some compilation discs some years ago.
How 'bout Simon and Garfunkel or any other Columbia/Epic stuff? Johnny Rivers? Ever hear "Like A Rolling Stone" in mono? Blows the doors off the stereo.
Unfortunately, these collections have such a niche audience we should be thankful for what little is available.
I'd love to be there to lift the lid on those mono mixes.

Hykker wrote: Steve Goddard wrote: Is anyone set to going to deal with the Mamas & Papas catalogue? There's a prime target for a mono singles mix set! Grassroots too for that matter. Alas, any mono singles compilation for ABC/Dunhill artists will have to be mastered from vinyl as the mono single master tapes were thrown out years ago (I want to say sometime in the 70s).

So true and so sad. But I still hold out a faint hope that decent copy tapes may still exist in vaults overseas, if anyone ever had the time, initiative and money to investigate.

eriejwg wrote: I asked about the mono S&G's at Steve Hoffman's site. Steve himself answered the question with a 'no'. Apparently, it's up to Paul Simon and don't think there will be forward movement there.

Actually I believe it is Paul who would love to see the mono mixes out on cd but Art who is against them (for that same reason the longer mono mix of his solo hit, All I Know, has never been reissued beyond the mono side of the promotional 45).