Today has been a great day for music, delivered through different formats. It is Saturday, 5th November in the year 2022. Nothing specifically special about that date. Wikipedia tells me that it's the 309th day of the Gregorian calendar, and that 2022 has but 56 days left. I'm inclined to believe it. Oh yeah, and it's Guy Fawkes Day, innit? Or Bonfire Night or whatever you want to call it. Not of particular significance to this little black duck. The fact that it is also the birthday of Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood is of more importance. He's 51, if you're curious. It's also Gram Parsons birthday, who would have turned 76 had he not passed away the age of 26.
But I digress!
I started the day off for us by spinning Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' wonderful Push the Sky Away album on vinyl. While our record player is in need of serious updating, parts of it sounded really good. Other bits sounded a little distorted, much to my chagrin. So, I decided to ditch the vinyl for the next listen.
My phone let me know earlier that morning that Neil Young had just dropped an unreleased studio outtake from 1972's Harvest album, which was recorded with a group of musicians he dubbed The Stray Gators. There's a 50th anniversary reissue of the album coming out very soon, you see. The song Journey Through the Past has popped up on numerous live albums and releases, but this was an unheard version. So, I streamed it via the NYA (Neil Young Archives) app and looked for a CD to put on. Really nice version, by the way.
I landed on the wonderful Fleet Foxes box set First Collection 2006-2009. Only got a physical copy of this a few weeks ago, as it's readily available on the Spottersfy. It was released to mark the 10th anniversary of the release of their debut album Fleet Foxes in 2008. Included in the box set, is the album itself, the Sun Giant EP (released a few months before the album in 2008), The Fleet Foxes EP (self-released in 2006) and a disc of B-sides and rareties. I'd not heard the first EP before, and it's quite different from their subsequent offerings. It's only Robin Pecknold, the singer and songwriter behind the band, and a fellow called Garrett Croxon on the drums. Robin plays/sings every part except the drums. For the sake of continuity, I listened to the three official releases in their chronological, and then finished off with the B-sides disc. Seemed like the way to go. It was very enjoyable, let me tell you.
The next listen saw me open up the Spottersfy and select the newly released Super Deluxe 2022 Remaster of The Beatles album Revolver. I've not really gone in for any of the Super Deluxe releases that have come out in the last few years, but Revolver is my favourite Beatles LP, so I felt like it was worth a delve. The actual remastered album sounded great, but I have trouble hearing major differences in remastering. I had to play the 1987 CDs back-to-back with the 2009 reissues to notice the changes. Certainly an improvement, but I don't think I'm the audiophile that other Beatles fans are. My first real dive into the Beatles was via a cassette box set of all the albums when I was 12. I guess those analogue recordings are my touchstone.
Anyway, I enjoyed the listen, and got through all the different takes and versions. Some of those tracks popped up on 1996's Anthology 2 compilation, so it wasn't all new to me. When I got to the mono/stereo editions of the album I stopped. It was cool that the alternate versions and stuff kicked off in reverse order. After Tomorrow Never Knows finished on the 2022 remaster, an early take of it signaled the beginning of the bonus material. Then it went to the different takes of Got To Get You Into My Life. It was pretty cool, reliving the album backwards with the alternate recordings. But then you got the Love You Too takes, before launching into the Paperback Writer and Rain ones. The mono and stereo mixes of Revolver included in the package feature those two tracks on the album. Nice idea. Those songs were recorded in the same sessions, but were released as a single in May 1966, three months before Revolver. I might possibly go back to those mixes. But then again, I might not.
For a slightly mellower listen, I then grabbed The Flying Burrito Brothers excellent The Gilded Palace of Sin album, going back to the CD player. I only got into this one after reviewing it for the AFYCCIM blog I was a part of for a coupla years. Not expecting to like it much at all, I actually became quite enamoured with it. One of the big moments for me was hearing their version of Aretha's Do Right Man Do Right Woman. It was nice way to remember Gram Parsons' birthday. His impact on alt-country rock cannot be overstated.
As it was Jonny's birthday, it seemed fitting to spin a Radiohead album next, and bizarrely, I chose Kid A. This was the album where it seemed Jonny had put down his guitar, he he he. Anyway, it was a nice revisit. I also played some random tracks on the way home from my gig, namely There There, Airbag and No Surprises.
So, yeah, nothing earth-shattering, but I felt like documenting.
