FOOL ON THE HILL scheduled for US re-release

[DAN BOLTON]

The problem with A&M's early cassettes is also what plagued all the reel tapes: they were all high-speed mass duplicated. A&M used Ampex in Elk Grove Village, IL, as did many labels (Verve, Fantasy, and a few others), but the quality depended on the generation of master tape sent to Ampex. Verve's have sounded the best.

I had a lot of trouble with Ampex...their 8tracks, especially...crapola!


Dan

 

[Rudy]

Ampex Grand Master 456 is the notorious reel tape that has all the shedding problems and need to be baked. So many studios used it too. I do have another grade of Ampex that has been fine even after 30 years. Go figure.

 

[jazzdre]

i really like this album,and i have the rebound reissue.it has (to me) a very sixties sound,and always wanted to know:what does upa,nequino mean(the lyrics,that is)the title means"little black boy".i hope the lyrics aren't racially offensive.can somebody out there translate this for me?i know sergio wouldn't have anything offensive in his music,as he comes from brazil;which has the largest population of blacks outside africa,and the bossa nova came from the black section of brazil;which is bahia.

 

[snapcrotch]

I've got the first A&M CD release of 'Fool' from 1986. It hasn't bugged me much -- a tad muffled, not particularly bright. I'm wondering what the concensus is on this -- so far, the discussion has focused on the Rebound and Jap releases.

 

[Rudy]

I've only seen one copy of that first CD issue, used, many years ago...and having the Rebound version, I never picked up the earlier one. Wish I did, as I could have A/B'ed both to see which sounded better, or if they were the same and the Rebound was just a repackaging.

 

[Harry]

I never heard much difference between the original '80s CD and the Reboung version. They sounded the same to me - I suspect that the Rebound issue just used whatever existing master was already prepared. Rebound was a budget line, so "cheap" was the operative word.

The new disc is now being listed at amazon.com. Priced at $11.98, it likely won't bust anyone's budget.

Release date is set at September 28th.

Harry
...taking a bit of time to look around, online...

 

[Rudy]

I'm still kicking myself for not picking up that 80's pressing of the CD when I saw it. My money-conscious side told me not to get it.

It IS nice to see UMG pricing this at $11.98 instead of $18.98. Fair price for a reissue. It says A&M is releasing it--I wonder if Verve is involved in this one like they were the other two?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

This has now shown up on our "pre order" list. The catalog number is 269102 for anyone who tries to order it at a record shop and the pimply kid can't spell "Mendes" to order it by artist.

 

[Steven J. Gross]

Usually, Amazon is right on top of upcoming releases, and they have no mention of it. They usually offer pre-orders way in advance. Uni is already dropping the ball!

 

[Harry]

Au contraire Mr. Gross, but amazon IS listing it. See my post above, or follow this link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002LGWSQ/amcorne-20

Harry
...2 weeks and a day to this release, online...

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I am looking at the new reissue at this moment!

Packaging spoilers ahead, so if you want to be surprised stop reading right now.

The album is packaged like one of those Japanese imports, with a strip of paper around the spine end listing the songs, musicians, very short liner notes (no new info here) and the notations, "96 khz 24-bit digital transfer" and "Available until September 2007."

Happily, they have the correct spelling of Gracinha Leporace's name on the cover list, as well.

They have preserved the original outside cover, including the back and the original song list with "Scarborough Fair" in red. The A&M Records logo in the box, with the "SPX" catalog number is intact on the front, as well. My only complaint is the color seems a bit oversaturated.

Inside, there is a pocket containing a folded sheet -- again, similar to the Japanese packages -- that reproduces the inside album cover art (including the misspelled "Leporael.") Unfortunately, this sheet is B&W. On the digipak itself, the inside flap contains just the track list with songwriter a musician credits. No liner notes of any kind, which was a disappointment to me.

The other cool thing is, on the spine of the cover, they did it just like the original LP: There is no printing on the spine at all. So this package was truly a labor of love (or the work of a very meticulous team, at least.)

The CD itself is like the Verve version of EQUINOX: Has the A&M logo, the ochre color, and the SP4160 catalog number too. Nice completist touch there.

Sound quality? I haven't listened to it yet (I'm at work) but will report back later, unless someone beats me to it.

Looking again at the back cover, I can see why the song list might have made people think twice about buying this album. First it lists "Scarborough Fair" then the title track, and then you're met with a list of six Portuguese titles before the lone other English title, "When Summer Turns to Snow" at the end. A person not famililar with B'66 might have been turned off by that. Maybe they should have given English translations to a couple of the titles for the cover, especially since a couple of them have English lyrics.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

One possible mistake: The songwriter credit for "Scarborough Fair" is listed as "Garfunkel - Simon." Now didn't Paul Simon write all the S&G hits by himself? Or did Garfunkel get songwriter credit on this tune? Or did the Mendes people assume since it was a Simon & Garfunkel tune, that they both wrote it? And was it this way on the original B'66 LP too? I don't have any of the appropriate records in front of me to check it out.

 

[Harry]

Garfunkel is actually credited with having written the "Canticle" part of "Scarborough Fair/Canticle". Technically since Mendes & Company didn't perform that part of the song, they legitimately could have gotten away with only crediting Paul Simon. But I suspect it was a joint venture and in reality Garfunkel gets half of the credit.

As for the new CD, I went to two usual haunts today with no luck. I'll try again this evening if Tropical Rainstorm Jeanne has a break in the torrential rains we're now getting. Otherwise, I might have to do an online order on this one.

Harry
...with at least three different FOOL ON THE HILL CD variations, online...

 

[Steven J. Gross]

I have it-(FOTH digital) and I will have more to say later- my initial feelings are SHOCK that Tower Records actually had it-the package is nice -the "X rated" rear cover is back, as it was missing from the Rebound issue.

 

[JMK]

"Upa, Neguinho" is not racist at all--it's a very flirtatious number sung to a young Black boy during Carnaval. And it is, of course, by Edu Lobo, not Sergio himself. And, really, "Scarborough Fair" is a classic English folksong (the large community choir I direct is doing it this fall with all of the seldom heard subsequent verses), so Simon shouldn't get credit at all. I'd have to check sources, but the original dates to at least the 17th century, maybe even a little earlier. It's fun to listen to Garfunkel's "Canticle" though--my forward-thinking HS English teacher transcribed it and we studied it as we were discussing the ramifications of Vietnam.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Sound quality comment: It sounds good but I would not say it sounds leaps and bounds ahead of the Japanese release from last year. There is a bit of tape hiss but it's not bad. The percussion seems to have a bit more snap on the new release, but the Japanese version is louder than the new one.

I haven't compared yet with the original A&M release and I don't have it on the Rebound one. Anxious to hear what the rest of you think.

(edited to clarify a sentence)

 

[Rudy]

Hmmm...if it has tape hiss, that might be a good sign that it hasn't been processed to death. That Rebound CD isn't even worthy of a drink coaster IMHO.

 

[Steven J. Gross]

This one is loaded with good and bad- very strange release, IMHO. More to come.

 

[Chris Martin]

Being English, I was always aware that Scarboro' Fair was a centuries-old folk song. But what or where is the 'canticle'?

 

[Harry]

"Canticle" is the part of the Simon & Garfunkel recording that Garfunkel sings in the background while Paul Simon is singing the main melody. As I mentioned, Sergio & crew only really do the "Scarborough Fair" part.

Harry
...who never even got HOME last night, due to Tropical Rainstorm Jeanne, online...

 

[JMK]

The "Canticle" section is mixed fairly far back in the mix, but bits and pieces are mixed forward, i.e., "and to die for a cause they've long ago forgotten."

 

[Chris Martin]

Still don't get it. Is it the bassline or the front (more staccato) string melody?

 

[JMK]

You have to listen to Simon & Garfunkel's version, Chris. This has nothing to do with Sergio's version. In S&G's version there is a counter-melody with a completely different lyric that weaves in and out of the "Scarborough Fair" tune. It is an anti-war lyric featuring the line I quoted above.

 

[Harry]

Listen to the Simon & Garfunkel version. It's the 'ethereal' stuff that Art sings in the background:

"Generals order their soldiers to kill...", etc.

If you have access to THE GRADUATE movie (not the soundtrack album), "Canticle" is actually more pronounced in the mix.

Meanwhile back to Sergio...

Since I spent last night at a hotel near work, due to the fact that every possible route I might take home was closed due to flooding, I didn't have an opportunity to check out any more stores for FOOL ON THE HILL.

Today's adventures included a web search at my local Borders to see if any of them had it in stock. Seeing that one close to work was listed, I headed over there at lunchtime. I looked around in vocals - they had CLASSICS, GREATEST HITS, GOLD, and one of those Collectables discs, but no FOOL ON THE HILL.

Then I looked in the World Music Brazilian section - nothing there, but I did see a bunch of other artists in that Brazilian GOLD series, like Ivan Lins and Caetano Veloso.

Then I looked over in Jazz, since they sometimes list Sergio as Jazz. Nothing there, so I went over to their Title Sleuth computer, looked up FOOL ON THE HILL (digipak), printed out the slip, which said it was supposed to be in Jazz, looked again in Jazz, deeper either way in the alphabet, found nothing, and headed for Customer Service with my handy-dandy slip of paper that said they had it.

The somewhat snotty clerk said that if it wasn't in Jazz, that they only had one copy and someone might have bought it. "Would you like us to order it for you?" she asked, not realizing that I already owned three CDs and two LPs of the album. The point was to go to a brick & mortar and find what I was looking for!

Remembering that another, farther away Borders also listed it in stock, I headed there.

Nothing in Jazz, nothing in Vocals, nothing in Brazilian, ask the somewhat more willing clerk for help. This time HE looked it up on the computer, found that it should be around, and of course he looked in Jazz. Not finding it, he suggested that it might still be on the new release cart. (Why the new releases weren't put out YESTERDAY on release day is anyone's guess, but that's another story.) After a quick look through two carts, he decided to call his manager, who suggested that it HAD to be on the carts - look more carefully, there was only one copy.

I then suggested that we were looking for a digipak, to which he said, "What's that?". I described what a digipak was, and he said, "Oh yeah!"

Finally he found it on a lower cart shelf - the only one they had, and I rushed to the cashier to pay for it.

There it was, in all its glory, finally FOOL ON THE HILL with the proper cover art, and it was MINE!

I opened it eagerly in the car and listened to it on the way back to the office and on the way home tonight. It sounds fine, but I haven't made any comparisons yet. I *think* I can hear the HAECO-CSG processing, but with a headcold that I seem to be getting, life in general sounds like it's got HAECO-CSG processing on it!

Harry
...having a bad couple of days, with some good points, online...

 

[JMK]

I had the foresight (?) to call ahead to Border's and they, too, had a heck of a time finding it, even though they showed one copy in stock. They, too, had it listed in jazz and couldn't find it there, at which point I told the guy on the phone that they had Sergio double-filed in easy listening and Brazil, and he found it in EZ, so I had them put on hold for my wife to pick up, with a 20% off coupon, no less! I'm a little mixed on my first listen--it actually sounds like there are improved highs to me, but the mid-range sounds a little "boxy" at times. The percussion is really jumping out on me on this remaster, but I'll have to go back and compare it to the two others to see if I'm just listening more to it this time. It is great to have the original cover in all its glory!