What's Playing Now

[Fritz The Cat]

Free - Heartbreaker
(1973, Island) STERLING in the deadwax




old picture.

Yes. A big one, though Kossoff was not member of Free anymore at this time. He only played on tracks A2,3,4 and B2,4. The top hit "Wishing well" was with Paul Rodgers on guitar. Who is Snuffy, who plays guitar on B3?
Kossoff: simple but very effective guitar technique!!! German Alsdorf 1978 reissue with very fine dynamics.

[Fritz The Cat]

Pat Metheny - New Chautauqua
(1979, ECM) Trio records/Japanese pressing




recycled picture. A Metheny classic. This was a fun garage sale find from 2010.

How are the dynamics? Japanese pressings mostly are superb.

[Fritz The Cat]

Gee, what a superb collection of strong songs. Great guitar by Kossoff. He seldom smiled as he did on the picture of the back cover. Good old german vinyl. Listen to the groovy rocker on track A2 "Songs of yesterday". Yes, we live today with songs of the past.....

[Fritz The Cat]

Did you know? He did his vocal exercises for little pocket money. Who is the male singer? Remember Uriah Heep: yes it's David Byron. He was one of the vocal chamaeleon artists for vocal productions in Pye Studios. No matter they wanted, he did every song. Interesting versions of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", "Race with the devil", "Something's happening". He covered nearly any singer at this time. Mono, superb pressing.

[Fritz The Cat]

Pye Studios 1969: David Byron did (nearly) everything they wanted him to sing. Vocal production with contributions by David Byron: Listen to "Dizzy", "Ragamuffin Man" and especially to the Fleetwood Mac song "Man of the world". That's fun.

[Fritz The Cat]

Chamäleon voice. He sings everything: "Let it be" as vocal production by David Byron. Respect! What a variable voice : he also covered John Lennon's vocals in "Instant Karma". There's more warmth in his timbre as Lennon had. What a golden voice: Listen to "By the way". He also sang a cover of the Canned Heat title "Let's work together". And he did it well.....

[Fritz The Cat]

This is David Byrons vocal production masterwork. Great interpretations of "Something", "Yester-me, yester-you, yesterday". At this time his voice was on top. He was fit to take off with Uriah Heep. He had exercised sufficiently. Listen to "Cold Turkey"! What a challenge to cover this song.....

[Fritz The Cat]

Also Reginald Dwight did exercises for Pye studio's vocal productions: "Questions", "Lady D'Arbanville" and "Yellow River": bright and clear voice with great future.... But the voice of David Byron was outstanding. So listen to the vocal production cover versions of "Lola" and "All right now".

[Fritz The Cat]

Big orchestra for David Byron: the Edison Lighthouse song "Melanie makes me smile": David shines like a new dime......Embarrassing? Nooooo! It was fun for him then. And also for us today. At the time he recorded "Very 'eavy, very 'umble" with Uriah Heep, he did these pop gems at Pye Studios. Listen to his cover version of Fogerty's "Travellin' Band".

[Fritz The Cat]

"Love grows" sung by David Byron. Big vocal production fun by Uriah Heep singer. And "Lola"!!!!

[Fritz The Cat]

"Let's work together" sung by David Byron. Imagine: David Byron performs with Canned Heat.....

[SpeakerLabFan]

How are the dynamics? Japanese pressings mostly are superb.

Yes, superb as expected, and very nice for this material.

[SpeakerLabFan]

Warren Zevon - s/t
(1976, Asylum) WLP Promo; Artisan symbol in the deadwax




Nice way to start the weekend, great sound quality and a killer album.

[SpeakerLabFan]

Death Cab For Cutie - We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes
(2000, Barsuk) MASTERED BY Y-MIXX in the deadwax, mastered by Tony Lash




The song 405 refers to the section of the I-405 freeway on the eastside in Seattle.

I saw these guys open for Neil Young at a show in Everett, WA in 2008.

[Fritz The Cat]

Does anybody own "Vocal Production" vinyl albums with contributions by then unknown singers? It's well known today, that especially David Byron (Uriah Heep), Elton John, David Bowie, Long John Baldry, Dana et al. were involved in such kind of recordings for easy pocket money. Especially in Pye Studios. Does anybody know further musicians who did their exercises that way?