mono Mamas & Papas master tape found

Hykker wrote: I'd stop well short of saying that vinyl is a "growth market". It's a very small niche market, and that's it.

I won't argue your point. But I had an interesting vinyl experience over the weekend:

My neighborhood record store (Cheapo Records in St. Paul, near Macalester College) was a bustling place back in the '90s, with separate CD and classical CD shops bookending a small strip mall on one side of the street, and a large vinyl location facing them from the other side. A 2000 fire wiped out the strip mall, and CDs displaced all of the vinyl in the remaining space across the street. The strip mall was quickly rebuilt, but no vinyl returned until a very small space was eventually leased in the new mall, a couple doors down from the rebuilt CD digs. Classical CDs remained in the older space across the street.

A couple years ago, the small vinyl store was closed, with some the inventory added to the CD store. While out for a walk Saturday night, I decided to stop in and have a look around. There were still lots of new and used CDs. The classical titles, which had migrated a few years earlier from across the street, were segregated in their own area. But a newish coffee bar within the store had already been permanently closed and the vinyl was gone, with a good chunk of its space now filled with used DVDs.

I was about to leave, when I asked the clerk if they'd dumped the vinyl. "No," he said. "It's across the street now. There's more room over there." It was just like the pre-fire setup, with nearly as many LPs as in the old days, and lots of new releases. The only disappointment was that the 45 selection was miniscule compared to the old days. But I left with a pristine Columbia Hall Of Fame 45 "Maybe I'm Amazed" reissue for a couple of bucks. And a few other NM late-'60s new old stock goodies will probably be reeling me in before the day is through. :)

Brian W. wrote: Santi Paradoa wrote: Sundazed should consider releasing these on both LP & CD. I'd be surprised if the LP would out sell the CD. I'm quite sure Sundazed only has the rights to release it on vinyl. Since many record companies don't do their own vinyl pressings, they'll allow other people to license albums, but only for vinyl. I have made sure that the superb UK label Now Sounds knows about the mono master. They recently released outstanding remasters of the first two Cowsills albums, complete with bonus tracks of the mono singles sides. ("Indian Lake" and its flip side appear in mono for the first time on CD.)

Wow, I didn't realize these Cowsills albums have finally been issued on CD. "Indian Lake" is one of MANY songs I've been waiting to see surface in mono!

And I applaud the fantastic news about Mamas & Papas mono masters being uncovered in Europe. The prospect of hearing the mono 45 mixes on CD from pristine master tapes rather than the usual vinyl dubs would be a welcome treat!

Edited by Todd Ireland

It's comin' out on CD from Sundazed next month!!!

http://www.sundazed.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=20 66

Brian, how about "California Dreaming"?

Brian W. wrote: Got the CD. Good sound, but sadly "Monday Monday" fades out a good five seconds before the 45 does, right before the line "it's here to stay." It seems to fade out to hiss, so it sounds like it was that way on the original album master. (Everyone is presuming this British tape that Sundzed used is the 1966 British dub of the US album master.) Maybe Roscoe can tell us if the US mono vinyl LP also has "Monday Monday" running 3:03 instead of 3:09.

Both my original Dunhill and Sundazed mono LPs have "Monday Monday" fading at 3:03. Apparently, the mono LP, mono 45 and stereo LP versions all have different lengths.