Rekords – Los Bastardos Reunidos

October 8, 2026October 8, 2026 // 2 Comments

Rubber Soul Stereo Remix

My favorite Beatles album finally got the much-needed Giles Martin stereo remix treatment. Squire Renfield ordered the lp version on the day of release, and we gave it a spin on the big rig last night. It sounds great, much better than the original stereo mix, where everything’s coming at you from two separate universes, as if they’d already broken up and decided they hated each other so much that they didn’t want you to think they existed in the same dimmension. For dorky fun, I played a CD of the original mix simultaneously; we could switch back and forth via remote. No contest. I’m pretty sure I would slightly prefer the mono mix over this new stereo one, as that’s been the case with the previous releases. I’ll A/B that next.

They gave this new RS the half-speed mastering treatment. Theoretically that should have added some clarity, but I’m not sure if that can make a difference with tapes this old. I wasn’t listening for that really.

I haven’t checked what reviewers think, and I likely won’t. So many are full of crap. With prior remixes, I used to check the blabbosphere for fun. While much of it was insightful, there was always an insane subset who would call every new re-mix a “missed opportunity” or a “cash grab.” The “missed opportunity” crowd usually acknowledged the need for a remix, but as far as I can tell the “missed opportunity” was that they were not the ones overseeing the project. As most of them were likely men over 60 who can’t hear above 10kHz, that’s a good thing. As for the “cash grab” crowd, they mostly think no remix was needed, that Sony/Universal and whoever’s else are just creating a false demand—which is ridiculous as people have been griping about the original stereo mixes for years and happily pay for the improvements. Selling people what they clearly want is not a cash grab.

Then there were absolute idiots who would say no remix was needed and also call it a “missed opportunity.” If it didn’t need remixing, what was the opportunity? Ridiculous.

June 3, 2026June 4, 2026 // 5 Comments

Sagittarius/Ballroom/Millennium

The various 60’s projects of Curt Boettcher are an addiction I come back to every couple of years. There’s a 30 minute Andrew Hickey episode on “My World Fell Down” that tells the full, ultimately sad story. Here’s what I know: “My World Fell Down” was originally a flop single by the Ivy League, a British band. Across the pond in LA, Gary Usher* thought it could be a hit, but he could find no takers. So he got some studio musicians (a pre-fame Glen Campbell on verse lead vocals and Bruce Johnston on chorus lead vocals) to record it. He pitched it to an A&R guy at Columbia who signed the “band.”

But there was no band, which Usher didn’t mention. Friend Curt Boettcher had a band called The Ballroom, mostly a studio project. Boettcher had made a name for himself by writing amazing vocal arrangements for the Association, among others. It’s his work you hear on their hits. He was a Brian Wilson type (BW admired him and was likely influenced by him) who spent many studio hours on a single song, which was unusual back then for anyone not named the Beatles or Brian Wilson. Anyway, Usher brought in Boettcher and the Ballroom to complete an excellent album which was released under the name Sagittarius. Boettcher ended up dominating the project. “My World Fell Down” and “Hotel Indiscreet” were released as singles. The first did ok on the west coast but flopped nationally. The other just flopped. Both single versions had Musique Concrete sections that were edgy for the time.

Boettcher’s next project was The Millennium. They made one album, Begin, which is brilliant, a sunshine pop masterpiece with far less filler than the Sagittarius album. At the time it was the most expensive album ever made due to CB’s obsessiveness. It flopped, so Columbia dropped them. Perhaps it could have gone somewhere had they not been so studio obsessed, or maybe sunshine pop needed the novelty of a family group like the Cowsills to sell it. I also wonder if the burgeoning acid rock scene up north in the Bay area rendered them passe. I’m not sure about the timing, but tastes changed very rapidly back then, and vocal pop was getting to be old hat.

And maybe it still is. Back when we were doing Music League, I posted a couple of the songs above, and they tanked. But but give them a shot. Some of it sounds twee, but the musical ideas are outstanding. I think all of the released music is available for streaming. Word is, there’s strong work that’s never become available. Even the released music used to be very hard to find. “My World Fell Down” appeared on Nuggets, and Various CD releases of the Sagittarius and Millennium albums trickled out over the years, but a small box of all the Millennium sessions didn’t come out until 2021. We’re in extreme cult territory here…

”Another Time” would have been perfect for The Carpenters.

*producer of the Byrds and Beach Boys, and best of all, the horror hot rod/surf album Dracula’s Deuce by the Ghouls, featuring such classics as “The Little Old Lady From Transylvania” and “Be True To Your Ghoul.”

April 9, 2025 // 3 Comments

Local Boy Makes Good

MJ was last year’s reluctant golden boy. I wore the record out, and love this video. He’s from Asheville, so my kid and I went to his record release at a record store and I saw him two nights at the Orange Peel.

April 15, 2024May 1, 2024 // 3 Comments

So This Is Cool

Learned this past weekend on a trip visiting my 81-year-old aunt that my grandmother’s cousin (my first cousin, twice removed) was a songwriter in California. And that I’m named for him, by way of my dad. (Fucked up spelling and all.) Here’s one of his tunes that Bing Crosby recorded.

And here’s another that could be fun to work up as a rocker.

December 15, 2023 // 6 Comments

Drinking Irish Whiskey On The Irish Sea

You Bastards still haven’t listened to this yet, have you? I only listened to three or four new records this year, but this one is up there with any of my all-time favorites by any artist.

Came across the trailer above in an interesting interview with Isbell talking about working on Killers of the Flower Moon, which he was very good in as well. Ok, I’ll stop now.

August 28, 2023September 13, 2023 // 3 Comments

Evolution Of A Song

I love this kind of stuff. Some mini discs of of recording sessions for OK Computer were leaked, and someone but them out there for the world to hear. It’s so cool to hear early versions of the songs on that record and compare them to the final version. Most of you bastards are used to this recording process, and are familiar with this, but it’s still pretty cool to hear alternate lyrics and ideas that never got recorded.