My little hint on Mike's last 'Off The Beatles Track' post seems to have done the trick, as he's just dropped Vol. 5 of his 'Rarities Row' series, so prepare yourself for some more gems from his archive.
Track listing and info:
01 Walk On By (German version)
Dionne Warwick 1964
Dionne Warwick 1964
'Walk On By' is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for singer Dionne Warwick in 1963. Warwick's recording of the song peaked at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Cash Box Rhythm and Blues Chart. In June 1964 it was nominated for a 1965 Grammy Award for the Best Rhythm and Blues Recording, and in 1998, the 1964 release by Dionne Warwick on Scepter Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, while it was ranked number 51 on the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
'Walk On By' became Warwick's second international million seller, following 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' in January 1964, and Warwick also recorded a German version of the song, titled 'Geh vorbei'. The song was originally the b-side of 'Any Old Time Of Day', and it didn't really get played on the radio until New York DJ Murray the K turned the record over after holding a contest for which side the listeners preferred, and they chose 'Walk On By'. Warwick said "I liked it the first time I heard it. Like most of the songs I was given to record at the beginning of my career, it was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who were not only my songwriters, but my producers. I depended on them to give me great songs, and they did, as my history shows. I met Burt first. He had written a song called 'Mexican Divorce', with another writer named Bob Hilliard, for the Drifters. I was one of the background singers on the session, and after the date was finished, he asked if I'd be interested in singing some demos he was writing with a new partner, Hal David. And that was the start of our association. We recorded the song at Bell Sound Studios in New York, live with full orchestra - strings, horns, a rhythm section, and background singers. That's something I miss terribly."
"Those were always wonderful musical events. It was basically a performance, and a lot of fun. With Burt Bacharach sitting at the piano or in the control room, it was never the first take, even if, in fact, it usually ended up being the first take that we used for the record. It wasn't about punching in overdubs. We did every single recording full-out, and on about the 28th take, I think someone probably said - if it wasn't me - "I think we may have it." The song had a memorable melody and words. If I had known it was going to be a hit, I'd be sitting on a mountain with a ruby in my hand. I was dear, dear friends with both Burt and Hal. We depended on each other to bring to the table the expertise we each possessed. Hal David's lyrics were the most incredible I've ever sung. And Burt created those intricate, but memorable, melodies. And I was the vehicle to bring all of that to the listeners' ears. I'm totally enamoured with Isaac Hayes' cover, which he made his own. Very much like what Aretha did with 'I Say A Little Prayer' or Luther Vandross did with 'A House Is Not A Home'. When anyone covers a song, it's a compliment to the original version. To this day, I can't leave the stage without singing it. It's a song that not only I have grown to love over my 50 years in the industry, but it has become a favourite of my audience. The songs that I've had the pleasure of recording with Bacharach and David have grown with me. I'm singing it for people my age, who have brought their children, and in turn, they've brought their children. It's been able to age with each new group of listeners."
02 So Bad (out of print)
Lindsey Pagano and Paul McCartney 2001
02 So Bad (out of print)
Lindsey Pagano and Paul McCartney 2001
In 2001, 15 year-old singer Lindsay Pagano recorded a cover of 'So Bad' with Paul
McCartney proving backing vocals. Pagano was recording the album at the same Los Angeles studio where McCartney was recording 'Driving Rain', when he introduced himself and asked to hear some of her music. "I played him some, and he was dancing all around the studio,” Pagano recalled. “Everyone was freaking out that it was Paul McCartney, and I would be like, 'Oh, I just saw Paul. Whatever'. He just became a regular person. He asked how the album was doing one day, and I said, 'Well, I’m just looking for a really simple acoustic song for the end of the album, just to end it.' And he said, 'Well, I wrote this song called 'So Bad,' which I think would go really good with your voice.' I made a first attempt, and when I went back to work on it again, I heard a deep voice, and it was Paul's voice. It really was a kind of surprise. So it became a duet."
03 Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Feet (bass and voice alternate version)
Paul Simon 1986
Wonderful playing and tone. Also note, this isn't strictly an isolated bass track, rather this is an alternate version of 'Diamonds...' that appeared first (I believe) on a Japanese special edition of ;Graceland; and then later made it's way to western releases. Bakithi Kumalo is an absolutely tremendous bassist, it's a real shame that he didn't become a household name following his work with Paul Simon. I'd have loved to have heard his lovely fretless playing on more records.
04 Money (demo)
Roger Waters 1972
04 Money (demo)
Roger Waters 1972
'Money' has got to be one of the best licks of the 1970s, right? Groove-laden, undulating and utterly infectious, 'Money' by Pink Floyd can put a strut in anyone’s step – squares included. Featured on the band’s 1973 album 'Dark Side Of The Moon', it’s perhaps the most inventive track from the band’s most pioneering LP. Swapping between 7/8 and 4/4, 'Money' sees Pink Floyd at their most rhythmically explorative. According to David Gilmour, the song was partly inspired by Booker T and The M.Gs: "Getting specific about how and what influenced what is always difficult, but I was a big Booker T fan" he told Rolling Stone, adding "I had the 'Green Onions' album when I was a teenager, and in my previous band, we were going for two or three years, and we went through Beatles and Beach Boys, on to all the Stax and soul stuff. We played 'Green Onions' onstage. I’d done a fair bit of that stuff; it was something I thought we could incorporate into our sound without anyone spotting where the influence had come from. And to me, it worked. Nice white English architecture students getting funky is a bit of
an odd thought… and isn’t as funky as all that [laughs]". After coming up with the central guitar arrangement and vocal, Waters bought 'Money' to the rest of the band, who then helped develop the instrumental section and give colour to the track as a whole. Once they’d gotten to grips with the song’s complex time signatures, Pink Floyd began experimenting with looped
samples, which can be heard in their isolated form at the tail-end of Water’s demo recording.
To create the rhythmic cash register loop, Waters used the studio’s brand-new 16 track recorder, which, thanks to its user-friendly design, made layering sounds much easier. That’s not to say the process of splicing segments of audio and pasting them onto stretches of tape wasn’t laborious; this was in the days before samplers, so Waters had to do things the hard way, recording and then physically sampling the sound of tearing paper and bags of money being thrown into an industrial mixing bowl. Of course, all the ear hears is the sound of a cash register being filled with more and more cash. Although this early demo doesn’t feature much in the way of studio wizardry, it does highlight how important Waters’ central guitar riff is to the overall atmosphere of the track.
05 Taxi (the Elektra demo tape)
Harry Chapin - 1971
an odd thought… and isn’t as funky as all that [laughs]". After coming up with the central guitar arrangement and vocal, Waters bought 'Money' to the rest of the band, who then helped develop the instrumental section and give colour to the track as a whole. Once they’d gotten to grips with the song’s complex time signatures, Pink Floyd began experimenting with looped
samples, which can be heard in their isolated form at the tail-end of Water’s demo recording.
To create the rhythmic cash register loop, Waters used the studio’s brand-new 16 track recorder, which, thanks to its user-friendly design, made layering sounds much easier. That’s not to say the process of splicing segments of audio and pasting them onto stretches of tape wasn’t laborious; this was in the days before samplers, so Waters had to do things the hard way, recording and then physically sampling the sound of tearing paper and bags of money being thrown into an industrial mixing bowl. Of course, all the ear hears is the sound of a cash register being filled with more and more cash. Although this early demo doesn’t feature much in the way of studio wizardry, it does highlight how important Waters’ central guitar riff is to the overall atmosphere of the track.
05 Taxi (the Elektra demo tape)
Harry Chapin - 1971
'Taxi' is a song written by Harry Chapin, and released as a single in early 1972 to coincide with the release of his album 'Heads & Tales'. It's an autobiographical ballad using first-person narrative to tell the story of a taxicab driver meeting an old flame from his youth when he picks her up in his cab. Chapin debuted the song on NBC's 'The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson', which prompted calls and telegrams from viewers requesting that Chapin return to
the show. It was the first time in the show's history that host Johnny Carson brought a performer back the very next night for an encore performance. Chapin said, "There's not a single line that tells how the guy or the girl felt. It's a very cinematic technique. But it's also a very uneconomical technique. That's why my songs are so long. I literally put you in that cab and let you experience. It's a more involving form of music than sitting and hearing somebody sing 'I'm lonely'".
06 Blame It On Cain (Honky Tonk demo)
Elvis Costello 1976
the show. It was the first time in the show's history that host Johnny Carson brought a performer back the very next night for an encore performance. Chapin said, "There's not a single line that tells how the guy or the girl felt. It's a very cinematic technique. But it's also a very uneconomical technique. That's why my songs are so long. I literally put you in that cab and let you experience. It's a more involving form of music than sitting and hearing somebody sing 'I'm lonely'".
06 Blame It On Cain (Honky Tonk demo)
Elvis Costello 1976
Recorded in Elvis' bedroom late 1975-early 1976. Most were first broadcast by
Charlie Gillett on his BBC Radio London programme 'Honky Tonk'.
07 Love Me (Just Blaze Remix)
Janet Jackson 2004
Charlie Gillett on his BBC Radio London programme 'Honky Tonk'.
07 Love Me (Just Blaze Remix)
Janet Jackson 2004
An urban remix of 'Just a Little While' with newly recorded vocals and an alternate instrumental, containing samples of 'We Will Rock You' by Queen, as well as new lyrics, was produced by Just Blaze and titled 'Love Me', while a second version of the remix featured Naledge of Kidz In The Hall. At the time, Blaze was mainly known for collaborating with Jay-Z, and later produced singles such as Eminem and Lil Wayne's 'No Love', and T.I. and Rihanna's 'Live Your Life'. The remix was initially intended to be released as an alternate version to select radio formats before the original version of the song was removed from airplay due to the blacklist of Jackson's singles and videos, following her controversial Super Bowl Halftime Show performance. The remix does not officially appear on any of Jackson's singles or compilations, but was later released on a promotional Japanese 12" vinyl record along with 'Speed it Up (Put it On Me)', a Damita Jo outtake produced by Rich Harrison used during dance auditions for the album's promotional tour. 'Love Me' is the second time Janet has recorded a completely alternate version of a song, with the first being the DJ Premier and Deeper remixes of 'Together Again'.
08 I’m With You (demo)
Avril Lavigne 2002
'I'm With You' is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne from her debut studio album 'Let Go' (2002). A power ballad, it was released to radio as the third single from the album on November 18, 2002, by Arista Records. The song was written by Lavigne and the production team the Matrix, who solely helmed its production. According to Lavigne, the song was inspired by feelings of loneliness she experienced over being single. The music video was directed by David LaChapelle in Los Angeles, California, and filmed in November 2002, with most of the video being shown in slow motion, although Lavigne's mouth movements are in sync with the song's vocals. This was achieved by recording the footage while the song was played twice as fast. It was at least partly filmed in Los Angeles with the street shots were filmed on Broadway, and the Orpheum Theatre is seen, with the snow banks CGI'd in. 'I'm With You' was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for the Song Of The Year, and also Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, but lost to Luther Vandross's 'Dance With My Father' and Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful' respectively.
09 Marrakesh Express (demo)
Crosby, Stills And Nash - 1969
'Marrakesh Express' is a song written by Graham Nash and performed by the band Crosby, Stills And Nash (CSN). It was first released in May 1969 on the self-titled album, 'Crosby, Stills And Nash', and released on a 45-RPM single in July of the same year, with another CSN song, 'Helplessly Hoping', as its backing side. The single reached No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 23, 1969, and attained the same position on the Easy Listening chart. The song was best received in the UK and Canada, reaching No. 17 in both nations. As a trio, or a quartet with Neil Young, this remains their only single to make the UK top 40 chart. 'Marrakesh Express' was written and composed by Graham Nash during his final years as a member of the English rock band The Hollies, of which he was a member from its formation in 1962 until 1968. The band rejected the song as not commercial enough, but it found a home with Nash's new band Crosby, Stills And Nash. Nash recalled his inspiration for the song occurring during a Moroccan vacation he took in 1966. On the trip, Nash travelled by train from Casablanca to Marrakesh. He began the journey in First Class, surrounded by people he found to be uninteresting - as he described it, they were all "ladies with blue hair." He decided the compartment was "completely fucking boring," so left his seat to explore the other train carriages, and was fascinated by what he saw. The instrumentation of the song seeks to embody Nash's lyrics through an Eastern vibe and a "buoyant" flow carried by Jim Gordon's drumming, to resemble a train ride. Stephen Stills was responsible for much of the creative musicianship, adding a distinctive, unique sounding riff played on two overdubbed electric guitars. He also added Hammond B3 organ, piano and bass. The song was rounded out by Nash's acoustic guitar, and the group's trademark three-part vocal harmony on the choruses.
10 Don’t Be Afraid Of Love ('We Found It In The Trashcan, Honest!' demos album)
Boston 1975
Most of the Boston bootlegs that surfaced in the late '70s contained live recordings, but 'We Found It in the Trash Can, Honest!' is an exception, as the rare 1977 release is a bootleg LP of demos that Boston recorded in Tom Scholz's home studio in 1975 - the very demos that led to a contract with Epic Records. Those who own Boston's self-titled debut album of 1976 would recognize most of the songs on 'Trash Can...' while 'Don't Be Afraid Of Love' is a rarity that was never released commercially. 'More Than A Feeling', 'Rock & Roll Band', 'Hitch A Ride', 'Peace Of Mind', and 'Something About You' all ended up being re-recorded for Boston's first album, but as the bootlegger points out in the liner notes, the differences between these early pre-Epic demo versions of the songs and the final versions heard on Boston can be either subtle or obvious - in some cases, verses were added or dropped. This record offers decent sound quality, although not surprisingly, 'Boston' sounds a lot more produced. Boston’s demo tapes might be one of the most famous bootlegs in existence. That’s due in part to the lasting popularity of the band’s 1976 debut album, and also to the rags to riches story of the little band whose demo was rejected by label after label only to eventually become bajillion selling recording artists. But more than anything it’s the quality of these recordings. Tom Scholz owned a basement full of professional grade studio gear, so his demo recordings sound better than most fully produced albums. These tapes must have been a bootlegger’s dream.
11 Linger (demo)
The Cranberries 1993
'Linger' is a song by Irish alternative rock band the Cranberries from their 1993 debut studio album, 'Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?'. In 1990, 'Linger' was released on a demo tape with 'Dreams' in Ireland only, in the middle of that year under their initial band name, The Cranberry Saw Us. When O'Riordan was auditioned as the lead singer for the band, she wrote the lyrics, turning it into a song of regret based on an experience with a 17-year-old soldier she once fell in love with. Drummer Fergal Lawler recalled the process in an interview, saying: "It was a Sunday afternoon. She arrived with a keyboard under her arm, just set it up and played a few songs. We couldn't really hear her because she was singing
through a guitar amp or something. I gave her a lift up to the bus stop and I was saying, 'Will we see you next week?' We gave her a tape of the music for 'Linger', which she took with her. The following week she came back, and she had lyrics written out and melodies and she sang along to what we were playing, and it was like, 'Oh, my God. She's great'". In the documentary '99 Love Life & Rock 'n' Roll, O'Riordan says that the song is about her first serious kiss. 'Linger' has since become one of the band's most famous songs, though O'Riordan noted that the band did not expect the song to reach the level of commercial success that it did. In a 2012 interview, O'Riordan commented, "I remember when MTV first put 'Linger' in heavy rotation, every time I walked into a diner or a hotel lobby, it was like, 'Jesus, man, here I am again'. It was trippy, like Jacob's Ladder. I didn't even have to take drugs". In an interview for NME, guitarist Noel Hogan said of the song: "It's only really since Dolores passed away that I've grown a proper appreciation for songs like 'Linger' and 'Dreams'. They were just songs in the set list for us; everybody else was losing their mind about them. And when I listen to them now I realise how great they are for someone so young, which I never, ever appreciated until a year ago. We must have played it a gazillion times in our lives and it just becomes a part of the set, but it's different now. We're so lucky to have left that behind, to have that legacy."
12 Everybody Hurts (live Duet from the 'Keep A Child Alive' Black Ball UK)
Annie Lennox and Alicia Keys 2008
A limited three-disc edition of The Annie Lennox Collection was released on 24 May 2009 only in the UK, containing a second CD with an unreleased live cover version of R.E.M.'s 'Everybody Hurts' with Alicia Keys
13 The Goodbye Look (from 'The Nightfly Live The Beacon Theater')
13 The Goodbye Look (from 'The Nightfly Live The Beacon Theater')
Donald Fagen 2019
'The Nightfly' includes a number of production staff and musicians who had played on Steely Dan records, and it was Fagen's first release without longtime collaborator Walter Becker. Unlike most of Fagen's previous work, 'The Nightfly' is highly autobiographical, and many of the songs relate to the cautiously optimistic mood of his suburban childhood in the late 1950's and early 1960's, and incorporate such topics as late-night jazz disc jockeys, fallout shelters, and the Cuban Revolution. Recorded over eight months at various studios between New York City and Los Angeles, the album is an early example of a fully digital recording in popular music, and the nascent technology, as well as the perfectionist nature of its engineers and musicians, made the album difficult to record. To prepare to use the digital technology, the album's engineers took classes at 3M in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and 'The Nightfly' was recorded in 1981/82 at Soundworks Digital Audio/Video Recording Studios and Automated Sound in New York City, and at Village Recorders in Los Angeles. The producer was Gary Katz, the album engineer was Roger Nichols and the mixer was Elliot Scheiner; all had worked on most of the seven previous Steely Dan albums. Many of the musicians had also played on Steely Dan records, including Jeff Porcaro, Rick Derringer and Larry Carlton. Similar to the 'Aja' and 'Gaucho' albums, a large number of studio musicians were employed, with the liner notes crediting a total 31 musicians.
Following completion of the album, Fagen entered therapy and more-or-less dropped out of public sight. In his memoir, 'Eminent Hipsters', he writes that "the panic attacks I used to get as a kid returned, only now accompanied by morbid thoughts and paranoia, big-time." He remained paralyzed for much of the rest of the 1980s, "gobbling antidepressants" and nearly unable to get through each day. He came to view 'The Nightfly' as the culmination of "whatever kind of energy was behind the writing I had been doing in the '70s." He turned down requests for television performances, opting only for radio and press interviews, and although he suggested he may do smaller concerts in New York, Fagen did not tour behind 'The Nightfly'. He expounded upon his mental state after the album's completion: "I wanted to do an autobiographical album, and I really put everything I knew into 'The Nightfly' album. And after that, I wasn't really inspired to do anything. I fell into a bit of a depression for a while. I think, that like a lot of artists, especially in the music business, I was young and successful, and I was basically still an adolescent. I started to address some of these things with 'The Nightfly', and I got really scared after it was done; I felt I'd exposed myself in a way that I wasn't used to doing, and I kind of retreated psychologically from that. I haven't listened to 'The Nightfly' since I made it." Steely Dan - now with Fagen as the sole original member following Walter Becker's death in 2017 - performed 'The Nightfly' in its entirety at the Beacon Theatre in New York City in October of 2019.
14 Bluebird (acetate of alternate version)
Buffalo Springfield 1967
14 Bluebird (acetate of alternate version)
Buffalo Springfield 1967
'Bluebird' is a song recorded by the American rock group Buffalo Springfield, that was written and produced by Stephen Stills, with co-production by Ahmet Ertegun. In June 1967, Atco Records released it as a single to follow-up their 1966 hit 'For What It's Worth'. 'Bluebird' reflects various influences and musical approaches, and Stills conceived of it as a multi-part song, which developed over time. A key feature is the contrasting solos, which alternate between Stills' fingerpicked acoustic and Neil Young's distorted electric guitars. Three different studio versions have been released: a two-minute folk rock single focused on the intro vocal verses; a four and a half minute album version (featured on 'Buffalo Springfield Again') incorporating rock and country elements; and an extended nine-minute hard jam version, released on the band's self-titled compilation in 1973. Improvised live versions of the song
could last up to twenty minutes and showed a very different side of the group. After they disbanded, Stills and Young revisited the song several times in studio and live settings. A key feature of the song is Stills and Young trading guitar solos, in what Greenwald calls "a vehicle for Stills and Young to weave their intense guitar tapestry around." The longer versions include a second section with trade offs between Stills' acoustic and Young's fuzz-toned electric guitar solos, and they also feature two very different third sections, after the acoustic guitar drops out. Stills also prepared a ten-minute "jam" edit "with feral howls, random dialogue and all".
could last up to twenty minutes and showed a very different side of the group. After they disbanded, Stills and Young revisited the song several times in studio and live settings. A key feature of the song is Stills and Young trading guitar solos, in what Greenwald calls "a vehicle for Stills and Young to weave their intense guitar tapestry around." The longer versions include a second section with trade offs between Stills' acoustic and Young's fuzz-toned electric guitar solos, and they also feature two very different third sections, after the acoustic guitar drops out. Stills also prepared a ten-minute "jam" edit "with feral howls, random dialogue and all".
Biographer John Einarson describes an extended version "featuring an eastern flavoured
raga middle electric guitar passage with Stephen and Neil at their most ferocious." However, Stills continued to refine the arrangement, and he abandoned the third section jam and replaced it with the vocal coda "Soon she's going to fly away, Sadness is her own" verses over a simple banjo and acoustic guitar accompaniment. "I was sure that we had the follow-up to 'For What It's Worth' - I thought 'Bluebird' was the song that was going to make our mark and take us to the top". 'Bluebird' was a Top Ten hit in Los Angeles but it couldn't get out of town - but that was always a problem with the band. Had maybe a hit single appeared, it might have been a different story.
raga middle electric guitar passage with Stephen and Neil at their most ferocious." However, Stills continued to refine the arrangement, and he abandoned the third section jam and replaced it with the vocal coda "Soon she's going to fly away, Sadness is her own" verses over a simple banjo and acoustic guitar accompaniment. "I was sure that we had the follow-up to 'For What It's Worth' - I thought 'Bluebird' was the song that was going to make our mark and take us to the top". 'Bluebird' was a Top Ten hit in Los Angeles but it couldn't get out of town - but that was always a problem with the band. Had maybe a hit single appeared, it might have been a different story.
Here’s my story of Buffalo Springfield’s 'Bluebird', the original extended acetate.
I entered Antioch College in late June 1969. Located in Yellow Springs, Ohio, some of what I knew of its location was that a few miles up the road was Springfield, the birthplace of Jonathan Winters, and that Yellow Springs itself was where Buffalo Springfield guitarist/singer/songwriter Richie Furay was born and had grown up. I was a huge fan of the Springfield before I left Baltimore for college, so this was a big deal for me. (For those unfamiliar with the band, in addition to Furay were Stephen Stills and Neil Young.) In the middle of the main town drag in Yellow Springs was a small knickknack store owned by Richie’s mom called, surprisingly, "Furay's". I went in there that summer and chatted with her, and she ended up selling me a copy of the debut LP of her son’s then-new band, Poco. (The Springfield had broken up the year before.) Fast-forward two years later, mid-May 1971. A nearby dormmate named Andy Plesser was a budding entrepreneur, and, through Richie’s mom, managed to persuade Poco to extend their Spring tour for one more day and come home to Yellow Springs.
And so on May 23 they performed at an outdoor space on the college campus. I had been futzing around at the college’s radio station since I entered the place, and so I was able to borrow its portable tape recorder and ask the band’s sound mixer, whose equipment was located in the middle of the lawn, if I could plug his mixer’s outputs into the recorder’s inputs. He said sure, so I ended up with a soundboard recording of that day’s concert. After it was over, I walked over to behind the makeshift stage and chatted a bit with Richie, asked if he wanted a dub of the show, then mentioned a little-known and unreleased song he had written and recorded with the Springfield, then re-recorded it with Poco to very little chart success ('My Kind Of Love'). I then asked him about this legendary 20-minute studio version of Buffalo Springfield’s 'Bluebird' I had heard about for a number of years but never heard. A 4-minute version had been released on the Springfield’s second LP in 1967, but legend had it that this take was originally far longer.
The song was written by Stills, and it was one of the first records I remember hearing back in Baltimore that mixed the acoustic guitar playing (Stills) with the two electrics (Furay and Young) so seamlessly. It was such a standout recording. Richie said it was actually around 10 minutes long, not 20, and he suggested I contact a radio station in Boston, WBCN, and ask them for a copy, using his name as a reference. After spending the rest of the night and following day making dubs of the concert for Andy, the radio station, and whoever else wanted it, I wrote to WBCN on the 25th, using the station’s stationary, declared myself its "chief recording engineer", made up some fiction about an upcoming Springfield retrospective the station was planning, and hoped for the best. The school term was close to ending, and it seemed realistically doubtful anything would come of this.
Just over a week later, on June 2, I was walking around on campus and this student I didn’t know came up to me, asked if I was who I was, and told me there was a package addressed to me at the station, but that someone had taken it. He knew who it was and where he lived, so we went to this guy’s place where I retrieved whatever it was he had swiped. No questions asked, at least I had the package. It was from WBCN; it included the letter I had written, though now with some annotations from the person to whom it was addressed, and the person to whom he had referred it. There was also a reel-to-reel tape. Based on the annotations, it consisted of two unreleased Springfield tracks, Neil Young’s 'Down To The Wire', and the song I had been wanting to hear for years, 'Bluebird'. It was recorded at the station’s top professional speed, 15 ips, so the first thing I did was to go to the college station and make a dub at a speed most home recorders could play, 7 1/2 ips. And it was that version I’d play for myself and friends. The original 15 ips version I stored away. My return letter to WBCN with annotations at the bottom is here:
This version of “Bluebird” sounded like a dub of an acetate, with very minor acetate “noise.” Besides the extended length (9 1/2 minutes), this mix included an added Neil Young lead guitar that had been edited out of the released 1967 version. The person who sent me the tape signed his name on that annotated letter, but all I could make out was his first, “Charles”; his last name was “Laqui…” something (“Laquiclara?”). I didn’t recognize the name until late that year, when Poco released their live LP, 'Deliverin'', recorded in Boston and New York. The liner notes were written by a “Charles Laquidara.” Aha! That’s who that was. One mystery solved. In 1973, the band’s record label, Atco, released a 2-LP anthology, and included was an extended version of 'Bluebird', but it was different from what I had been sent. First, it was in stereo (the acetate was in mono); second, its length was 30 seconds shorter than the version I had; and third, it didn’t include Young’s added guitar lead. (Also, Atco had edited out a vulgarity that Stills had slipped out.) So what I had was still rare and unreleased. Over the next few decades there’d be the occasional Springfield bootleg that would include this rare version, but the sound quality was horrible: it’d start in the middle of the intro, it’d skip, it sounded like an acetate played way too many times so that it had deteriorated greatly.
But it was a collectable since it was so rare. But I knew what I had was of far better quality. Fast-forward again, now to late 2003. Now having the equipment to digitize music, I dug out the original 15 ips tape, played it back for the first time in over 32 years on a reel-to-reel that had 15 ips recording and playback capacity, and transferred it into the computer, saving it in both lossless AIFF format and .mp3. I also set about looking for Charles Laquidara and to finally thank him for the tape. A few hours of Google searches, and there he was, retired after decades at WBCN, now living in Hawaii. So I emailed him, apologized for waiting so long to get back to him but wanting to close this circle. He sends back an email 10 minutes later and says he was just at that moment searching online for this version, having lost his copy many, many years ago. So I immediately sent him my .mp3 version. I asked him what he remembered about this version: he told me that when he was working at KPPC in Pasadena in 1968, Richie Furay and Jim Messina (the new bassist and producer on the Springfield’s final album released that year) came by and gave him a copy of the acetate.
I had then also learned from the late Ted Alvy that the band made the acetate at their recording studio in L.A. so that they could then take it to a local radio station and have the deejay there (the famous R. Mitchell Reed) spin it. They’d then listen to the broadcast on their car radio to see how it sounded on tinny speakers and how many potential record buyers would be listening to it. But they decided to scrap it and release the edited 4-minute version instead. They even refused to include it on their 2000 multi-CD anthology. So, after all the decades, after all of the bootlegs, I believe that the version Charles had sent me in the Spring of 1971 remains the cleanest, clearest version that exists of this particular mix. (This initial contact with Charles paid further dividends a year later when John C. Winn and I were researching the history of the earliest Beatles bootlegs, but that’s a tale for another time.)
