I Can't Make Music sounds similar to era of A Kind of Hush album 1976
- Thread starter cam89
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Alright, trying to decide which one of those to get. Which one has the most remixes I likely have not heard before? I have everything that was released in the US except for "Essential Collection".
newvillefan
I Know My First Name Is Stephen
Magical Memories has by far the most remixes because it’s a much bigger set, however the only two remixes that are not often included in compilations are “I Can’t Make Music” and “Road Ode”. Only the former is also included on Treasures.
Cuyler
Bright colored pinwheels go 'round in my head.
I want to say I've heard this mix before, but it's not the 1987 remix (which I now have thanks to the Magical Memories collection) -- I believe this is the Now & Then quad mix, but I can't say for certain because I don't have a Now & Then quad disc (I heard it on YouTube some years back and also love it).
My two cents on this song: I have always loved this song but have always thought the pitch was a little flat. Sure enough, Richard corrected the pitch for the 1987 remix (it's about 1.33% off). I'm not too crazy for the remix, especially the saturated reverb, but when I speed up the "Now & Then" version to match the pitch and speed of the 1987 remix, it sounds like gold.
Cuyler
Bright colored pinwheels go 'round in my head.
Huh. Then I wonder which mix has the octave-lower harmonica.
Cuyler
Bright colored pinwheels go 'round in my head.
I was actually thinking this when I was listening to a speed-corrected version of the original album version (not the 1987 remix). It very much feels like it could have been on A Kind of Hush -- you could take out "Goofus" and put in "I Can't Make Music" and it would be believable/cohesive.
Here's the 1987 remix, for your listening pleasure...
Thanks for posting this, I don’t think I’ve ever heard this remix after having known about it for years. I never had the CD that included it and it was never labeled on YouTube. The reverb is odd but it fits the “vacant room” she sits in and it sounds so crisp otherwise. If he did toned down the reverb on another remix of this it would be perfection.
This remix came about for the album TREASURES in Japan back in 1987. The idea for the album was to present favored album tracks rather than hit singles, and it became a two CD set in chronological order. The first disc, being the older tracks had nearly all of them re-mixed.
Here are the liner notes that Richard wrote for "I Can't Make Music" for the 1987 TREASURES set from Japan:
"I Can't Make Music"
("Now & Then")
Music and Lyrics - Randy Edelman,
Arrangement - Richard Carpenter,
Lead Vocal - Karen Carpenter,
Background Vocals - Karen and Richard Carpenter,
Drums - Karen Carpenter,
Keyboards - Richard Carpenter,
Bass - Joe Osborn,
Solo Violin - Jimmy Getzoff,
Harmonica - Tommy Morgan.
Another Randy Edelman song that Karen and I heard him
perform while opening the show for us. The arrangement
calls for pipe organ. Today that sound can be recorded
from a synthesizer. In 1973 we had our choice of either
moving recording gear to a church or finding a studio with
a genuine pipe organ. It so happened the latter was
available. The organ was recorded at Whitney Studios in
Glendale, California. Re-mixed for this album.
Here are the liner notes that Richard wrote for "I Can't Make Music" for the 1987 TREASURES set from Japan:
"I Can't Make Music"
("Now & Then")
Music and Lyrics - Randy Edelman,
Arrangement - Richard Carpenter,
Lead Vocal - Karen Carpenter,
Background Vocals - Karen and Richard Carpenter,
Drums - Karen Carpenter,
Keyboards - Richard Carpenter,
Bass - Joe Osborn,
Solo Violin - Jimmy Getzoff,
Harmonica - Tommy Morgan.
Another Randy Edelman song that Karen and I heard him
perform while opening the show for us. The arrangement
calls for pipe organ. Today that sound can be recorded
from a synthesizer. In 1973 we had our choice of either
moving recording gear to a church or finding a studio with
a genuine pipe organ. It so happened the latter was
available. The organ was recorded at Whitney Studios in
Glendale, California. Re-mixed for this album.
newvillefan
I Know My First Name Is Stephen
Fascinating stuff, thank you for posting!
Until this was mentioned in the last couple of days I had no idea this even existed. This is a real rarity. Does anyone know the story of how we ended up with two harmonica takes? I can imagine Richard thinking the lower octave was not ‘moving’ enough for the feel of the song and redoing it? And how did it slip through onto the quad mix?
cam89
Well-Known Member
Her singing of this particular song really showcases her sophisticated vocal reading of it....amazing! I still remember being 16 years old at Zellers Store and seeing the Now and Then cassette in a cassette bin for like $3.99 or $4.99 and buying it....and being enamoured with it....this was my first time hearing the songs on this collection and I used to listen to cassettes on my portable cassette player and listening to it before I went to bed, with my headphones on....
Cuyler
Bright colored pinwheels go 'round in my head.
I hope some information will be in the new book by @Chris May and @Mike Cidoni Lennox. My suspicion is that the original take is the one that ended up on the quad mix (with the octave lower harmonica), but like you said, maybe Richard didn't think it was moving enough, or it didn't jive with the string line well being a whole octave apart, so they bumped the pitch up by an octave. (Not sure how that works in analog though — maybe they recorded the harmonica in real time really slowly then sped up the tape to go up by an octave?)
Isn't it fascinating that the quad mixes have those little "slip through the cracks" moments? I'm certain only the hardcore fans notice these things.
newvillefan
I Know My First Name Is Stephen
In a couple of instances it’s the only way we’ve heard these alternate versions, so I’m glad they’re out there.
Here is the quad mix:
Octave lower harmonica
Aaaaaaaand it's gone.
Cuyler
Bright colored pinwheels go 'round in my head.
It does pique my curiosity as to how so many of the quad mixes could have included so much material that Richard & Karen never intended to end up on the final mix. I’m thinking of “Only Yesterday,” “Happy,” this song, the numerous songs on “Singles: 1969-1973”… that’s kind of what drove my question about record keeping—I would have imagined there would have been more review processes/quality controls in place.
In any case, from a fan’s perspective, it is cool to hear those oddities/rarities, if only because it provides another perspective on what the artist was thinking at the time. But that being said, from what I have heard about Richard, I can imagine his frustrations with the end product not reflecting his musical intentions.
It seems logical to me. As they recorded the songs, first just piano, drums, bass typically, maybe a Karen guide vocal. Then they began the sweetening process adding in the other instruments as time and space permitted on the multi channels of the tape. It would seem in this case that Tommy Morgan was brought in to record his part and was assigned a channel. Either he did the low one first and Richard decided to have him re-do it high, or the other way around. After putting the whole thing together, it was the high harmonica track on its own channel that Richard decided on and went with. Perhaps in this case - and the others - the final decisions weren't noted on the tape boxes or instructions. That happens a good bit as a recording is being finished up, a final decision that makes the record perfect might not be jotted down in the notes.
Then he goes out on tour with Karen, and when he comes back, he finds that another mixer has used his recording masters, gotten some prior decisions wrong, and they've been released as the quad versions. I'd be really angry if I went out on vacation or sick leave and then came back to find that my work had been changed.
As fans, it's a joy I suppose to hear the differences as a peek into the recording process. But we got some of that on the SACD - and with Richard's blessing.
There was a release a few years ago of the Frank Sinatra/Antonio Carlos Jobim sessions that were "remixed". The remixers got it wrong by including some vocal tracks that Frank wasn't happy with and had done them over and punched in, but this newer release features some of Frank's bad notes - "clams" as he called them. They also ended up burying Mr. Jobim's vocal so far down they're barely audible, when the originals had both gentlemen featured and out front.
Then he goes out on tour with Karen, and when he comes back, he finds that another mixer has used his recording masters, gotten some prior decisions wrong, and they've been released as the quad versions. I'd be really angry if I went out on vacation or sick leave and then came back to find that my work had been changed.
As fans, it's a joy I suppose to hear the differences as a peek into the recording process. But we got some of that on the SACD - and with Richard's blessing.
There was a release a few years ago of the Frank Sinatra/Antonio Carlos Jobim sessions that were "remixed". The remixers got it wrong by including some vocal tracks that Frank wasn't happy with and had done them over and punched in, but this newer release features some of Frank's bad notes - "clams" as he called them. They also ended up burying Mr. Jobim's vocal so far down they're barely audible, when the originals had both gentlemen featured and out front.
newvillefan
I Know My First Name Is Stephen
You can see how easily that could happen. Literally, the push of the wrong button on the mixing desk to include the wrong channel on the multitracks during the remix process. The casual listener (and in this case that could possibly include this engineer) might not even realise the difference, because there’s still a harmonica there.
CraigGA
Well-Known Member
I would think that to have the job in the beginning you have to have an ear to that understanding.
And "Desperado" on the quad uses an entirely different piano take altogether!
The idea was that different things were tracked—when they could be. Remember, they were dealing with limited track space, unlike today. But, for instance, like with "This Masquerade" on the Now & Then quad, the string section during the piano solo can be heard during the first four bars, unlike in the original album mix and subsequent remixes. Richard was uncertain whether to have the strings play from the top, or have them wait to come in until the second half of the solo (as heard in the final mixdown). So, you have the strings play in BOTH places, and decide during mixdown whether to leave them in or out.
This is the kind of thing that drove Richard crazy about the quad mixes—given he was not there to supervise them.
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