This is number 2RNR-16 in the Time-Life Rock 'n' Roll era series.

On 5/5 K.G. noted that a coupla cuts on the (pricey when you can find it & mastered from records) CD “Michigan Memories” are not around elsewhere… Well, “Gino is a Coward” will be out soon (Hopefully the (right( & rockin’ Correc-Tone—or is it SonBert..?--- version..) on a cd from an east coast ULTRA “indie” label, NORTON. Another label that has a lot of similar rare soul (that even the Euro hounds skip over & don’t know about..) is TELSTAR out of NJ. What, you thought RHINO would reissue Emanuel Laskey’s “Welfare Cheese” ?!?! Also on “Michigan Memories”, Nathaniel Mayer’s “Village of Love” is on some of the “import” cd compilations. A best bet would be the “Gold Dust” cd that boasts replica cover art from Nat’s sooper rare “Going Back to..Village of Love” FORTUNE label LP, complete with wacky Fortune “home-brew” graphics in loud purple, sportin’ a pic of our-man-with-the-wild-process. Sound quality, as is often the case with these “imports”, may be a bit dodgy. Delving deeper into the MICHIGAN treasure trove of “musty dusties”, as for the Collectables compilation “Where You Gonna Go” with The Unrelated Segments + Tidal Waves…. I was hoping that they may have used the STEREO tapes for UNRELATED SEGMENTS cuts (only previously used on one other cd – a reissue of an lp collection, “Rock Hits of the 60s”, that I can’t git no place !!). Nuggets nuts note: as Dave wrote here, (4/26) YES ! YES ! YES ! The Stereo SONICS (& for that matter all STEREO Etiquette & Jerden ‘60s stuff ) all ROCK ! BUT where is it on CD !!?? Even the recent Norton LP reissues are mono... Mid- ‘80s Etiquette legit reissue LPs used ORIGINAL STEREO LP STAMPERS !! Kinda like a few of the Excello blue label reissues from around the same time frame (Excellos, however have some “fake” stereo…).

VARESE SARABANDE plugs for their KINGSMEN compilation claim to have a lot of stereo….Bet it’s not “100% stereo wherever possible”…the 20 year old reissue LPs still have stereo Kingsmen cuts found no place else… “sans” crowd / audience sfx / cheers, too. VARESE SARABANDE promises a set of “East L.A.” Faro/Linda/Gordo, etc. compilations, hope they have “Land of 1000 Dances” long version in stereo ! A 1996 “Bacchus Archives” compilation “The East Side Sound 1959-1968”had filtered sound & skipped a few goodies like the Village Callers’ “Evil Ways”, Eddie Daniels’ “Teennage Brain Surgeon”, Frankie Olvera “Huggie’s Bunnies”, Pageants “Pa Cha”, Summits “Hey Joe”, Jaguars “Discover A Lover” +++...’60s Rampart compilation LPs “East Side Revue…” (2 volumes, translucent colored vinyl..) had numerous other tracks from other labels like Del-fi, Reprise, Era, Donna, etc., that could be “licensed” to make a complete “East Side” cd series.

Best sounding ROLLING STONES ? Original earliest flat/matte dark maroon label monaural London “Made in England” for London (by Decca) “for export only” 12” long – playing vinyl record albums (PHEW !). Unfortunately, all mono, as originally issued in mid-60s, even though lotsa stuff (Chess, RCA Hollywood, etc.) was cut in stereo and has “escaped” on numerous LPs over the years. (Anyone know of a good discography or any Stereo CDs – other than Jap. / MFSL “Hot Rocks I” ????)

STEREO STAX soul searchers might do best with the earliest, mid-‘80s (pre-Rhino) Atlantic “straight reissues” of original LPs (some added “bonus tracks”, remember those ??!!) …these may still be found if searched out. Check your handy-dandy “Oldies on CD” book for details, folks. The Wilson Pickett 1 cd of original 2 lp set “Greatest Hits” (Atl.81737) has the same line–up as the LP, but a bit re-shuffled & mono substituted for the reprocessed cuts. “Mustang Sally” (stereo on the 2 LP set) is mono on the cd tho – same goes for “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”. Digging a bit deeper into the Wicked One’s oeuvre, how about “If You Need Me” and “It’s Too Late” in stereo on cd ? In ’83 “price guide” M.C. notation is “true stereo” for ’63 Double L “I.T.L.” LP…Not much chance of getting any of the Lu Pine – era stuff in stereo…every time “I Found a Love” shows up it’s a “disc dub”, at least they seem to get better with each attempt to reproduce this roof-raising paint-peeling tremelo-drenched church-cruncher ! Robert Ward, Falcons have Relic cds which may hold some surprises (?). Lu Pine having gone to Atlantic for distribution may mean tapes went the way of lots of other “lost” Atlantics..
Sam & Dave “Best of” (Atl. SD 8218, LP) has all the duo’s stuff in stereo, but ’87 “expanded” cd (#81279) swaps in lots of monos…..”Soul Man”, “Soothe Me”, + 7 more are mono. “You Don’t Know Like I Know” is nice, wide stereo on early, separate single-cd issue “Atl. R&B Vol.5” compilation. ‘84 Edsel LP (#133), “Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down” offers 5 more stereo S&D cuts, + 11…all “non-hits”. Rhino Atl. “remasters” cd r.i. of “Soul Men” LP is, according to a bsner, all stereo. A complete assessment of Stax stereo on cd is sorely needed… hopefully new ed. of “Oldies on CD” book will get it all ironed out.
A good, if conversational, Stax story is spun by Rob Bowman in his 1997 book “Soulsville.USA.”. Lots of anecdotes…reads a lot like some of Bowman’s liner notes. Interesting factoid to consider when pondering “lost” Stax stereo is the whole Fantasy entanglement. When the Fantasy batch of “rarities”/out-takes packages came out a several years ago, there was a bit of stereo – albeit alternates…Otis, William Bell, Carla, Rufus, etc. All stereo was, of course, starting from mid-65 “upgrade date” onward. 3 cd “Otis Redding Story (Atl. 81762, ’87) has loads of stereo. Bowman liner notes detail differences between M(45) & S versions of “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”, “Respect”, and others .“Otis Blue” LP done with Tommy Dowd at the controls of the new (Spring ’65) Stax 4-track. Great Stax stereo?: “Knock On Wood”, a pinnacle of sorts, coming at a creative & commercial peak for Stax – just prior to the “beginning of the end” financial fracas. The “K.O.W.” LP is a cd “remaster”, but is it stereo ? Whoever had hoped that someone had “access to Stax session logs” – Sorry, there ain’t none ! What little info. survives regarding recording dates only amounts to Atlantic’s logging of “date received” when Stax masters arrived in N.Y. .
Too bad the Stax cats didn’t shimmy over to Sam Phillips’ new digs (Sun goes stereo in ’60) at 639 Madison and record a stereo “Last Night” !! We all can dream, can’t we ?!? Well, time to go “Walkin’ the Dog”! BYE !….

Ooh, “P.S.”: The recent Rhino “50s” box has no “surprises”, like the “Hot rod” one that folks have been talkin bout….I guess I got the wrong one if I wanted stereo surprises !!! Maybe we’ll get a “Doo Wop Box III” !?!?!….or a “Cowabunga Mk. II”….or, hey alla you “CD-R” characters, how about whipping up STEREO “replacements” for “Nuggets”, “Beg, Scream & Shout..”, etc. & tossing the all/99.9% mono Rhino cds in the sets ?!?! At least a few years ago with Aretha Franklin 4 cd & others, Rhino had ½ or more stereo. Now it seems that it’s all mono even as late as late ‘60s! With major “oldies” radio stations like KRTH in L.A. adding more & more ‘70s music, it seems marketing geniuses at domestic reissue labels will probably continue to shift the focus away from the ‘50s stuff like the “Loud, Fast & Out of Control” box that quietly “slipped out”. By the way, one advertiser had mentioned a poster was to be in this box – mine has none - but, then again, they also pictured an entirely different “J.D.” paperback – type cover art than the cheesy original picture that ended up on the thing

This may well usher in a revolutionary way for the serious collector to find even the most unusual of items. Once this becomes common knowledge, other chains like Tower or Virgin might be forced to offer similar services or quickly become also-rans. The major sellers on the net might have to comply too. Since this chain actively sells both new and used CDs in its stores (and soon will duplicate the service on the net), the implications are that even recent releases will be available quickly and easily for a fraction of new prices. I won’t keep you in suspense any longer: the chain is WHEREHOUSE MUSIC, www.wherehousemusic.com and you’ll arrive at their home page.

Finally, I note that the mono/stereo single CD version of PET SOUNDS is scheduled for release on 7/13. And thanks to those who offered suggestions on finding a copy of the OOP Sam Cooke CD.