THE LEFT BANKE
Please read this carefully : I made the "And Finally...It's The Left Banke" collection from the two Bam Caruso vinyl albums - And Suddenly (Bam Caruso KIRI 021 - 1982) & Walk Away Renee (Bam Caruso PABL 056 - 1985) - it means i do not have the Bam Caruso CD edition (i have to say i've never seen a proper copy of the CD, so if anybody has one, contact me). So the artwork has been made from the 1982 Bam Caruso LP, it has also been slightly revamped fitting in the complete track listing and updating the title. Below are some very acute notes found somewhere and written by an unknown fan.
"The Left Banke's catalog is entirely out of print, and both the impossibly rare "And Finally" disc (comprising the original stereo mix of the first album, along with the second album and rarities) and the not-impossibly-rare "There's Gonna Be a Storm disc" (same concept, only with a remix of the first album) are going for ridiculous prices on eBay or Amazon. Paying these ridiculous prices benefits nobody but the seller - Mercury ain't seeing a dime, the band ain't seeing a dime - so why not get the material for free until the inevitable reissue comes along? The Left Banke's first album, "Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina," (as featured on "And Finally...") is the original stereo mix which reflects the mixed origins of the original album, and ranges from wide stereo ("I've Got Something On My Mind") to might-as-well-be-mono ("Barterers And Their Wives"). Somewhat peculiarly, it appears as if no mono mix of the album was prepared, allegedly per a Mercury experiment to "single-format" its releases. Most copies that are marked "mono" are actually stereo records; while "real" mono copies do exist, they are fold-downs, and apart from a weird, mis-spliced version of the "Shadows" intro are little more than curios. The Banke's mainstream debut on CD, "There's Gonna Be a Storm: The Complete Recordings," was in print from 1992 to around 2003, and managed to shoot up in value the instant it went out of print. Huh? Anyway, compilers Bill Inglot and Andrew Sandoval elected to remix the entire first album for its inclusion on "Storm." In some cases, they attempted to replicate the original mono singles mixes, only in stereo ("Renee"); in other cases, they preferred near-mono mixes; and in at least one case, they produced an actual mono mix ("Shadows"). These were the versions most easily available to Banke fans in the CD era."
AND FINALLY...IT'S THE LEFT BANKE (1988)
Walk Away Renee / There's Gonna Be A Storm / Desiree / Myrah / Shadows Breaking Over My Head / Let Go of You Girl / Sing Little Bird Sing / I Haven't Got the Nerve / Goodbye Holly / Dark is the Bark / I've Got Something on My Mind / Pretty Ballerina / In the Morning Light / She May Call You Up Tonight / My Friend Today / Barterers and their Wives / Pedestal / Evening Gown / Lazy Day / What Do You Know / Bryant Hotel / Nice To See You / Give The Man A hand / Ivy Ivy
THERE'S GONNA BE A STORM:
The Complete Recordings 1966-1969 (1992)
Walk Away Renee / I Haven't Got the Nerve / Pretty Ballerina / She May Call You Up Tonight / I've Got Something on my Mind / Barterers and Their Wives / Let Go of You Girl / What Do You Know / Evening Gown / Lazy Day / Shadows Breaking Over My Head / Ivy Ivy / Men are Building Sand (previously unreleased) / Desiree / Dark is the Bark / My Friend Today / Sing Little Bird Sing / And Suddenly / Goodbye Holly / In the Morning Light / Bryant Hotel / Give the Man a Hand / Nice to See You / There's Gonna Be a Storm / Pedestal / Myrah.
"The Left Banke's catalog is entirely out of print, and both the impossibly rare "And Finally" disc (comprising the original stereo mix of the first album, along with the second album and rarities) and the not-impossibly-rare "There's Gonna Be a Storm disc" (same concept, only with a remix of the first album) are going for ridiculous prices on eBay or Amazon. Paying these ridiculous prices benefits nobody but the seller - Mercury ain't seeing a dime, the band ain't seeing a dime - so why not get the material for free until the inevitable reissue comes along? The Left Banke's first album, "Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina," (as featured on "And Finally...") is the original stereo mix which reflects the mixed origins of the original album, and ranges from wide stereo ("I've Got Something On My Mind") to might-as-well-be-mono ("Barterers And Their Wives"). Somewhat peculiarly, it appears as if no mono mix of the album was prepared, allegedly per a Mercury experiment to "single-format" its releases. Most copies that are marked "mono" are actually stereo records; while "real" mono copies do exist, they are fold-downs, and apart from a weird, mis-spliced version of the "Shadows" intro are little more than curios. The Banke's mainstream debut on CD, "There's Gonna Be a Storm: The Complete Recordings," was in print from 1992 to around 2003, and managed to shoot up in value the instant it went out of print. Huh? Anyway, compilers Bill Inglot and Andrew Sandoval elected to remix the entire first album for its inclusion on "Storm." In some cases, they attempted to replicate the original mono singles mixes, only in stereo ("Renee"); in other cases, they preferred near-mono mixes; and in at least one case, they produced an actual mono mix ("Shadows"). These were the versions most easily available to Banke fans in the CD era."
AND FINALLY...IT'S THE LEFT BANKE (1988)
Walk Away Renee / There's Gonna Be A Storm / Desiree / Myrah / Shadows Breaking Over My Head / Let Go of You Girl / Sing Little Bird Sing / I Haven't Got the Nerve / Goodbye Holly / Dark is the Bark / I've Got Something on My Mind / Pretty Ballerina / In the Morning Light / She May Call You Up Tonight / My Friend Today / Barterers and their Wives / Pedestal / Evening Gown / Lazy Day / What Do You Know / Bryant Hotel / Nice To See You / Give The Man A hand / Ivy Ivy
THERE'S GONNA BE A STORM:
The Complete Recordings 1966-1969 (1992)
Walk Away Renee / I Haven't Got the Nerve / Pretty Ballerina / She May Call You Up Tonight / I've Got Something on my Mind / Barterers and Their Wives / Let Go of You Girl / What Do You Know / Evening Gown / Lazy Day / Shadows Breaking Over My Head / Ivy Ivy / Men are Building Sand (previously unreleased) / Desiree / Dark is the Bark / My Friend Today / Sing Little Bird Sing / And Suddenly / Goodbye Holly / In the Morning Light / Bryant Hotel / Give the Man a Hand / Nice to See You / There's Gonna Be a Storm / Pedestal / Myrah.
25 comments:
pwd: password
Hollies and Left Banke were the bands that were power pop in the sixties ... thank you so much for all the left banke shares ... you made me a very happy man :))
I've been searching everywhere for these Left Banke songs. The only copy I had was from an LP I recorded from a friend in 1978 on cassette and who the hell has a cassette player these days?!?
Thanks Angelo for making these tracks available, you're a god send.
thanks so much for these. i normally don't have a problem with passwords when i download like this, but are you sure it's just "password". i've tried cutting and pasting (without extra spaces and without caps on) and also i've tried just writing it in, but it's not working. I WANT THESE. can you post it unlocked? thanks again.
i restarted my computer and downloaded again and the password worked! so nevermind. and thanks again for posting these albums, i'm so excited to finally be able to hear all of this material.
I have decent vinyl copies of both original Left Banke lps. One thing of interest - the original mono 45 version of Walk Away Renee is a totally different (and superior) mix than any version ever released on lp or cd.
Bobby Sutliff
Thanks for linking to my site. I don't know who that comment is from though.
Charlemange
leftbanke.nu
1. Thanks for this great post. The best recordings of the Left Banke are among the best in all of "rock" music.
2. Bobby, thanks a lot for mentioning that 45 of "Walk Away Renee" having a better mix. Now I'm going to have to start digging through dusty boxes at used music stores to find it (or pry open my wallet and buy it on ebay). Tell you what, I will trade you a rare "Meet The Windbreakers" EP for it!
Ace K.
Thanks for this great post! You say your blog is a tribute to artists you like... Is there any chance you like Jason Falkner - in particular 'Everyone says it's on'? It's certainly a hard to find cd!
Ya have another happy Doug.Thanks for the Left Banke.Much appreciated Angelo!
i just discovered your fantastic blog.
keep up the great work!
Salut, très bon ton blog, je vais prendre les demos de Silver Sun, j'adore cette bande. Moi j'ai un blog,http://www.cdlandia.blogspot.com/ pour si toi le veux regarder, je suis Juan du slsk. A bientot.
hi mike,
yes i have the "Everyone says it's on" but the problem it's a WAV cd copy of the original and the bad thing is i didn't get the artwork at the time - the guy who gave me this didn't have any scanner
Thank you
And if this isn't enough Left Banke / Michael brown stuff check these out!
My vinyl rip of The Beckies:
http://my.opera.com/walknthabass/blog/show.dml/244532
And rare and very cool Left Banke stuff:
http://leftbanke.larryhovis.net/
(click on Downloadable Media on the lower left - amazing!))
Great post, I already have the "storm" collection, I recommend this to everyone. Michael Brown is a genius & Walk Away Renee is one of the greatest songs ever!!
drmusic
per bill inglot:
The remix this was done because the stereo master reel for the lp was virtually unusable. We carefully mixed the 4 track to match the feel of the singles as opposed to the very hasty mix done for the stereo lp.
I have a copy of the CD edition, minus the covers. Are you interested? Just let me know!
All the best,
SZ.
hi sergezeni
thx for what you've given but this is exactly what i've posted in 320 with artwork - the one we're looking for is the "and suddenly..." cd rip
anyway, thx for the good will
"Foggie Waterfall" is missing from these comps, and contrary to what you might have heard, it's great. It's not stacked harmonies, but it's a long and genuinely weird piece of psychedelic pop that deserves to be heard more. Keep the tape rolling!
very nice... I Can't wait to hear these...
Thanks
Newman
Cheers for "And Finally...", which has the sound/mix most preferred by It's PSYCHers.
Peace,
~C.A.~
I worked at a used record store back in 2002 and the There's Gonna Be A Storm CD came in. Someone came and bought it about five minutes later before I could stash it away, and I've never seen it again. On Amazon it went for insane amounts, I wish I'd bought it and just sold it on there. Thanks for the downloads!
Just found this, thanks for posting the original mixes.
BTW I heard Sundazed records is preparing to reissue both Left Banke albums on CD and limited edition LP's later this year!
This is Tom Finn of The Left Banke. I'd like to thank you all for all the great comments here. I just wanted you to know that our first two albums have been reissued, they are:
"Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina"
"The Left Banke Too" both of these albums are out on Sundazed Music and they are released on CD and on
180 gram vinyl. Check out the Sundazed website for more
Information.
Best,
Tom Finn
Post a Comment