Fats Domino--Blueberry Hill
Printed From: Top 40 Music on CD
Category: Top 40 Music On Compact Disc
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URL: https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1228
Printed Date: 25 April 2025 at 3:24am
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Topic: Fats Domino--Blueberry Hill
Posted By: Paul Esch
Subject: Fats Domino--Blueberry Hill
Date Posted: 21 July 2006 at 6:44am
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I've always wondered about this one. My original 45 of this song
(Imperial 5407) has a belt slip, or flutter, at about the 1:06 mark, on the line "But all of the vows we made," with the slip on the word "made." I've never heard this belt slip on any CD version, although the only two CD versions I have are on They Call Me The Fat Man[/ I] (EMI 96786) and Heart & Soul Fifties (JCI 3204). Does anyone else have this version? Does this qualify as a 45 version, or just an error at the manufacturing plant? |
Replies:
Posted By: TomDiehl1
Date Posted: 21 July 2006 at 11:15am
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All of the first pressing Imperial 45s had that flub (due to a tape splice getting snagged during mastering)...the 78s did not have the snag. Later Imperial 45s corrected it as well. I dont believe it is out on cd, because it was an error pressing in a sense (ive had 5 copies all with the flub, maroon label pressings). ------------- Live in stereo. |
Posted By: Gary Mack
Date Posted: 21 July 2006 at 4:43pm
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My RED label Imperial 45 also had the glitch. Mom bought it for me in 1956 but, alas, it is long gone.
GM |
Posted By: edtop40
Date Posted: 20 October 2013 at 8:44am
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it should also be noted the commercial 45 has a listed run
time of 2:14 but actually runs 2:19...this s/b added to the db... ------------- edtop40 |
Posted By: TomDiehl1
Date Posted: 21 October 2013 at 1:08am
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I've since learned that the 78 does NOT contain the tape problem contained in the first 45 pressing. Also, later 45 pressings and subsuqent reissues apparently edit a later part of the song and put it where the slipped part of the song was...so it's possible that some versions on cd that don't have the slip may be the 78 version or they may all be slightly different than the 45. ------------- Live in stereo. |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 21 October 2013 at 6:27pm
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The "Blueberry Hill" 45 was counterfeited in the early '70s on the late-'50s-1964 black Imperial label with the five multi-colored stars. I bought one of these in 1971, and it has the same tape wow as my original maroon label stock copy. The counterfeit is off-centered and the vinyl is predictably hissy. The transfer itself isn't half bad.
Interestingly enough, I bought another counterfeit 45 at the very same time: Freddy Cannon's "Palisades Park" on the white and reddish-brown Swan label. This one tried to be a little craftier in mimicking the legit Swan issues, using the widely-spaced deadwax letters and numbers typically found on Cameo/Parkway and Swan 45s; but the knockoff's characters still aren't as large as the jumbo-sized legit ones. It's also missing the Reco-Art mastering house deadwax logo present on my original Mallard and RCA Rockaway "Palisades Park" pressings. The vinyl is bargain-basement quality, too, although one could often say the same thing about Mallard's 45 product. |
Posted By: Pat Downey
Date Posted: 20 October 2017 at 8:12am
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Tom Daly just sent me a detailed explanation of the history behind the release of Blueberry Hill which I thought everyone would enjoy reading:
The master for “Blueberry Hill” had splices in it that got stuck in the tape machine when the production master was dubbed that was used to cut the 45 rpm stampers. This same tape found its way to the master reel for the vinyl LP, This is Fats Domino. This is probably why everyone thinks that THE tape suffered damage, however the 78 rpm issues, released simultaneously with the 45s had no such issue, and it is the 78 rpm master that has been used since United Artists Records bought Imperial from Liberty, after Liberty had bought the label from Lew Chudd. Bob Hyde, who ran Capitol/EMI Music Special Markets when I first began mastering ERIC Records’ CDs, gave me the lowdown on the pedigree of those tapes a long time ago when we conversed about low-generation sources. To confirm what Bob had told me about the history of “Blueberry Hill,” I sought out a 78 rpm Imperial shellac disc, played it and what I heard confirmed what Bob had told me. The 78s had no trace of a tape snag anywhere in the recording where they occurred on the original 45s and the LP pressing of This is Fats Domino. Liberty/UA has always used the 78 rpm master tape for subsequent reissues, and only original red, orange or black label Imperial 45s and the aforementioned LP have the tape snag. Interesting sidebar: the master containing the snag had RIAA pre-compensation on it. The master for the 78 is flat. I just thought you might be interested in this info that will probably die with me if I don’t share it with someone else who cares. Bob Hyde has been gone for the past 15 years, so he won’t be sharing the info with anyone else! Tom Daly |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 20 October 2017 at 9:15am
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Thanks for sharing, Pat! Interesting story. ------------- Aaron Kannowski http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop |
Posted By: Tom Daly
Date Posted: 20 October 2017 at 2:33pm
These bootlegs were pressed in Utica, NY by a guy named Stanley Markowski and they found their way to Transcontinental Music Corporation, which was a distributor out of Woburn, MA. TMC ran a bunch of Boston-area stores called Krey's Disc Shops, where I worked part-time as a college student. Wanting to know the "ins and outs" of the business, I frequently discussed the sources of some of the singles with our district manager, whose office was in the main warehouse in Woburn. He told me some guy used to come by with a station wagon full of cases of singles, and the company would buy the whole kit and kaboodle from him and ship them out to the stores. I never suspected we carried anything but legit product until we began carrying ABC/Dunhill's line of "Goldies 45s," all of which were mastered from records, and many of which sounded horrible, so I began questioning where the stock was coming from. The Goldies 45s all came directly from ABC/Dunhill, but then our district manager told me about the bootlegs and almost bowled me over! TMC got taken over by U.S. Record Company and rebranded Musicland, along with the Sam Goody's shops in New York. U.S. Records was a subsidiary of Pickwick (yes, THAT Pickwick!), and while lousy pressings still showed up, the store no longer stocked the bootlegs. I just thought I'd share this info with the forum, as many collectors are probably still sitting on Stanley Markowski's crummy bootlegs! One sidebar to this story is that we got what appeared to be nice, original Coral pressings of Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways." The labels were perfect, the vinyl had no pits or visible defects, and they weren't pressed on garbage vinyl. Imagine my surprise when I played a copy in the store and the sound was in full true stereo! Coral never issued this as a stereo single, and if they had, the label would have been a special one designed for a stereo single. This one had the standard orange label with the horizontal bars and CORAL in a semi-circle at the top of the label. I know this came from Stanley Markowski, but for once, the guy did a commendable pressing job. |
Yah Shure wrote:Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 20 October 2017 at 10:02pm
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Welcome aboard, Tom!
I know all about THAT Pickwick, having worked for the company during the mid '70s at the Minneapolis Distribution Division, although nobody in the building called it that; to us, it was still Heilicher Brothers (home of the Soma label.) We've discussed some of these counterfeit 45s here before (if they're made to look like the legitimate releases, they're counterfeits, not bootlegs.) They typically showed up in the cutout bins in the Musicland stores here in the Twin Cities, beginning in the late '60s; packaged in those 3-for-$1 Sutton Record Co. plastic sleeves. What gave them away were the skinny title and artist fonts. Those Calico "Since I Don't Have You" Skyliners 45s with the thin fonts? Counterfeits. They were the very same fonts used on the "Blueberry Hill" counterfeits and a host of others. The really obvious giveaway when I bought the "True Love Ways" counterfeit for my jukebox was the fact that it was pressed on orange vinyl. The labels were also matte, not glossy; the matrix numbers weren't machine-stamped like the real Gloversvilles and Pinckneyvilles. You're right that it was an improvement over things like the yellow-vinyl "Rave On", with the wide deadwax and the lock groove cut too far from the label to trip the jukebox's record change mechanism. Didn't Stanley observe those RIAA specs? ;) The stereo "True Love Ways" did have some sibilance issues, although that was to be expected, considering its source. Counterfeit or not, at least it was an option, especially for those of us who didn't want to grind up an original Coral pressing on the Seeburg! That "Rave On" going "ka-CHUNK...Ka-CHUNK... ka-CHUNK" 'til the cows came home? Not so much. |
Posted By: KentT
Date Posted: 29 October 2017 at 5:44pm
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Thanks for the explanation why original looking 45 singles
of Buddy Holly and others were available in the late 1970's seemingly NOS, but the pressings didn't appear to be legit Coral or Brunswick, the deadwax was not Decca. I bought a copy of "Peggy Sue". Which was a dodgy pressing but sounded decent. ------------- I turn up the good and turn down the bad! |
Posted By: Steve Carras
Date Posted: 31 October 2017 at 7:52pm
A reply just in time for his sad death..:( ------------- You know you're really older when you think that younger singer Jesse McCartney's related in anyway to former Beatle Paul McCartney. |
Posted By: Tom Daly
Date Posted: 06 March 2018 at 11:42am
Sorry I took so long to provide this, but I'm not as healthy as I used to be and it takes time to locate stuff and get it dubbed. Here's a clean dub of a 78 rpm pressing of "Blueberry Hill" for your comparison. https://www.dropbox.com/s/wt3k7big2qmtv5p/Fats%20Domino%20-%20Blueberry%20Hill%20%5B78%20rpm%20dub%5D.mp3?dl=0 - https://www.dropbox.com/s/wt3k7big2qmtv5p/Fats%20Domino%20-% 20Blueberry%20Hill%20%5B78%20rpm%20dub%5D.mp3?dl=0 Tom Daly |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 02 April 2018 at 9:57pm
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Tom Diehl mentioned this earlier in the thread, but I don't think it was ever explored.
Most (all?) CDs contain a "neither" version of "Blueberry Hill." As he said, Imperial took a later part of the song and edited it into the earlier part. The lyrics on those two parts are slightly different on the original. On the unedited recording, the first time the line is sung, Fats sings "but all of those vows WE made." The second time he sings it, the lyrics are "but all of those vows YOU made." Therefore, when Imperial edited the later part into the earlier part, the lyrics became "vows YOU made" both times. Anyone know if the original, unedited version appears on any CDs? All the ones I checked are all the edited version. Here are the ones I checked: Billboard Top R&B Hits 1956 Time Life Rock N Roll Era Vol. 14 1956 Time Life Solid Gold Soul Vol. 24 1956 Time Life Classic Love Songs of Rock N Roll Vol. 3 Heroes Of Rock And Roll ------------- Aaron Kannowski http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 03 April 2018 at 10:21am
| You can add Fats' earlier They Call Me The Fat Man box to the list of "you"/"you" edited revisions. |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 03 April 2018 at 12:41pm
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(post deleted for clarity) ------------- Aaron Kannowski http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop |
Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 03 April 2018 at 1:21pm
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The US 78 has "we"/"you". (Confirmed in Tom Daly's 78 dub, and a separate red-label Imperial 78 dub on YouTube.)
The first pressings of the 45, with the glitch, also have "we"/"you". The glitch shows up right before the line with the word "we". The glitch also shows up on some foreign pressings of the 78. (Confirmed on a red-label Imperial 45 on YouTube, a black-label Imperial 45 on YouTube, and a black-label London UK 78 dub on YouTube.) The later pressings of the 45, without the glitch, have "you"/"you". (Confirmed on black-label UA Silver Spotlight Series label dub on YouTube, a yellow-label LR Records 45 dub on YouTube, and a tan-label UA 45 dub on YouTube.) If Imperial (or some other label?) really used the 78 master on later 45s, they would have "we"/"you", not "you"/"you". This seems to contradict Bob's story from above, unless someone can find a glitch-free 45 that has "we" at 1:05, not "you". ------------- There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one http://www.crapfromthepast.com" rel="nofollow - Crap From The Past . |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 03 April 2018 at 1:35pm
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I agree, Ron, that Bob must have been mistaken. All of the 45 dubs I've heard either have the glitch or have "you/you." It's also easy to spot where they spliced in the later part of the song. You can hear very brief tape dropouts (splices) at 1:03 and 1:07. ------------- Aaron Kannowski http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 03 April 2018 at 4:26pm
| Aaron, I stand corrected about The Complete Imperial Singles set, and updated my above post. It does, indeed, contain the usual "you/you" edit. Mea culpa. |
Posted By: MMathews
Date Posted: 06 April 2018 at 2:45pm
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Yes most of Bob Hyde's time-line was correct, but he was
mistaken about the 78 master being used later. The 78 master was THE master. Once it got "snagged" or broken it was repaired with the splice. To my knowledge, the repaired master was the only one left in existence. All later pressings of the Imperial 45, Spotlight 45s and all subsequent vinyl LP and CD releases are the repaired one. i'm still a bit incredulous that in 1956 they allowed that snagged version to be released on so many copies. I mean, are you kidding? How is anyone supposed to listen to it like that?? Unbelievable. MM |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 07 April 2018 at 5:48am
I dunno, there are plenty of examples of songs with mistakes, sour notes or really bad edits in them. Maybe someone just thought this was the way the song was supposed to sound. |
Posted By: Pat Downey
Date Posted: 10 April 2018 at 10:45am
| I have listened to most of the cd's in the database that include Blueberry Hill but unfortunately none of them include the true 45 version. |
Posted By: Paul C
Date Posted: 02 May 2018 at 2:19pm
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I purchased the Fats Domino CD, The Imperial Singles Volume 3 1956-1958, issued by Ace Records in the UK in 1998, in the hope that it might contain the original 78 or 45 version of "Blueberry Hill" but, alas, it contains the usual 'repaired' version.
Liner note writer Rick Coleman gives this account of the recording of the song: He had always loved Louis Armstrong's 1949 version of the pop standard 'Blueberry Hill'. However, he didn't have the sheet music and no one remembered exactly how it went when he had a session in June 1956 at the Master Recorders Studios in Hollywood. With the help of Domino's brother-in-law Harrison Verrett, Domino and [Dave] Bartholomew pieced together the song, though they never achieved a satisfactory recording. The tapes of the song were edited by Master Recorders engineer Bunny Robyn, but the A-side of the single was still 'Honey Chile', which Domino performed in the movie Shake, Rattle And Roll. "The distributors found 'Blueberry Hill' on the other side," says Dave Bartholomew, "and all this happened within one week." The notes say Coleman was working on a biography of Domino (in 1998). I intend to go search for it. |
Posted By: Paul C
Date Posted: 10 November 2020 at 3:21pm
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After much searching, I have been able to get my hands
on a Canadian 78 in excellent condition. I played it with my fingers crossed until the 1:06 mark and....it has the flub. So it appears that only American 78s do not have the flub. Oh, and I highly recommend the Fats Domino biography by Rick Coleman to which I alluded two and a half years ago, Blue Monday: Fats Domino And The Dawn Of Rock 'N' Roll. A couple of months after my above post, I found myself reading it in a hospital bed. The nurse, who was about thirty, had never heard of Fats Domino. |
Posted By: PopArchivist
Date Posted: 01 November 2021 at 2:12am
Pat what is the difference between the "true" 45 version and the ones on CD? 1) The we-you lyric 2) The tape drag issue (flub) Is there anything else that sets it apart? Is the 78 the only true version then that is the "hit" version? ------------- Favorite two expressions to live by on this board: "You can't download vinyl" and "Not everything is available on CD." |
Posted By: davidclark
Date Posted: 01 November 2021 at 3:59am
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Rich,
Here's what I have for Blueberry Hill: First pressing Imperial 45s had a flub at 1:06 (where he sings "vows WE made") due to a snag during mastering; the 78s did not have the snag. Later Imperial 45s corrected it by splicing in a copy of the similar-sounding "vows YOU made" passage from later in the track - this version became the master for all later issues. So, the "true 45 version" is not on CD - I have a dub from a group member - but the "78 version" is also valid (and better, IMHO) so but both really count in my book. The "common" version appeared "later", but I do not know how later... anyone? ------------- dc1 |
Posted By: Paul C
Date Posted: 01 November 2021 at 7:00am
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To the best of my knowledge, the only place the "WE"
version without the tape damage was ever issued is on US 78s. The version with the "WE" lyric and the tape flub was issued on US 45s and AFAIK on both 45s and 78s in all other countries. It is also the version that appeared on the 1956 This Is Fats Domino! album in all countries. The repaired version, which is neither the 45 nor 78 version, is the version on every CD, compilation LP, and reissue 45. |
Posted By: maciav
Date Posted: 09 November 2021 at 1:44pm
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I bought this box set two years ago
assuming I was getting the proper single versions of "Blueberry Hill" and all the other single versions that are impossible to find on CD. Do the experts on this board know if this is the case? Thank you. Mike https://theseconddisc.com/2019/09/30/back- to-blueberry-hill-bear-family-releases- massive-fats-domino-box-set-in-november/ ------------- Mike C. from PA |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 09 November 2021 at 7:42pm
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It's the correct version on the Bear Family set, but you can hear where they spliced in part of the 78. ------------- Aaron Kannowski http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop |
Posted By: PopArchivist
Date Posted: 09 November 2021 at 10:07pm
The only "true" single version of the song, as you read in this thread, is on the 78. ------------- Favorite two expressions to live by on this board: "You can't download vinyl" and "Not everything is available on CD." |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 10 November 2021 at 7:13am
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That's not true, Rich. As I mentioned, Bear Family released the correct version. They spliced in the missing section from the 78. ------------- Aaron Kannowski http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop |
Posted By: Ringmaster_D
Date Posted: 10 November 2021 at 10:31am
I own the box (I've Been Around) and it is now out of print. It is beautiful, the book is excellent and the track list is impeccable. However, the big caveat is that the mono tracks have a weird, narrow stereo processing which makes them all non-45 mixes by default. Very disappointing. |
Posted By: vanmeter
Date Posted: 10 November 2021 at 1:31pm
| I wound up using a dub of the This Is Fats Domino album cut and just edited in the word "made" and the beat following from later in the song (not "we"), and it works well enough. |
Posted By: Brian W.
Date Posted: 10 November 2021 at 2:04pm
Yeah, that's what I wonder. Although several people on 45 Cat report that their black label Imperial 45s (in use from '57 to '63) have the glitch, so it was likely not repaired until long after the song was off the charts. |
Posted By: AdvprosD
Date Posted: 10 November 2021 at 7:16pm
After listening to the flub version of Blueberry Hill, I was wondering if someone would try this. I know I sure wanted to until I read this post. Can I get a sampling of this by any chance? It's also interesting to me that this is the very first time I even knew of this splice issue. I guess I have just been unlucky enough to never hear the song in its original form. I was also surprised to learn this is how it sounded before the repairs were made. I've been around a while, but not long enough apparently. ------------- <Dave> Someone please tell I-Heart Radio that St. Louis is not known as The Loo! |
Posted By: maciav
Date Posted: 10 November 2021 at 7:23pm
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All,
Thanks for your help. It sounds like these versions aren't the 45-versions -- even the ones that aren't speeded up. Bad news for me. Mike ------------- Mike C. from PA |
Posted By: vanmeter
Date Posted: 11 November 2021 at 10:48am
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Let me know if this doesn't work. My LP is a little grungy and there's a bit of wow right at the first edit but it's fine for my little online station.
https://soundcloud.com/user-722613658/fats?si=93964ee46f4240 bdb1779830af800dc0 |
Posted By: AdvprosD
Date Posted: 11 November 2021 at 11:23am
Worked perfectly! I might do this myself now that I see it is worth the trouble. Thanks! ------------- <Dave> Someone please tell I-Heart Radio that St. Louis is not known as The Loo! |
Posted By: PopArchivist
Date Posted: 12 November 2021 at 12:22am
Sorry I misunderstood. Thanks for clarifying! :) ------------- Favorite two expressions to live by on this board: "You can't download vinyl" and "Not everything is available on CD." |
Posted By: davidclark
Date Posted: 04 November 2022 at 9:49pm
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I've just been going thru the Bear box set "I’ve Been Around - The Complete
Imperial & ABC-Paramount Recordings", and Ringmaster is right...the songs are not true mono. Nor are all the songs the correct 45 singles, this despite certain statements about the box being "the definitive". What another missed opportunity for a correct Fats collection. We simply don't have a release with all the correct singles (that I know of). A couple of examples that stood out: "I'm Walkin'" is missing the 45 reverb, "Bo Weevil" is too slow (this one STILL not on a CD in its proper 45 version!). ------------- dc1 |