amyandthedancebox.bandcamp.com

Wally Badarou - ECHOES (1984)

By request!

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Trees - SLEEP CONVENTION (1982)

Decent sounding vinyl rip by unknown.

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320:
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Ennio Morricone - THE THING OST (1982, needledrop by Vinylhound)

Original version, not the re-recording by Carpenter/Howarth. OOP afaik.

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POP BOX RE-UPLOADED

1/14/2012: RE-UPPED

ROCK BOX HERE: http://crystalsphere1.blogspot.com/2011/07/la-gemstones-rock-box-compilation-5-cds.html

SOME NOTES BY JASON PENICK: http://lagemstones.blogspot.com

Found a kindred spirit in the world of music stealer blogs. A dude named Jason Penick who compiled TEN DISCS worth of rock and pop from the L.A. area circa 1964-69. Basically an extension of NUGGETS I and L.A. NUGGETS. I had been bumping the set on the reg since I found it last year, but the 128kbps MP3s just weren't doing the job.

So, I found Jason on a message board and asked him if he would mind if I scoured around to try and replace some of the songs with 320kbps versions, while also trying to find more dedicated mono and single mixes as opposed to stereo. He was game. That was about six months ago. Personally I spent probably six hours per week finding just the right tracks, sending them back to him, getting his feedback/marching orders, then scouring again. Between the two of us it became something resembling a part-time job.




Click for full size tracklists

L.A. GEMSTONES is two "box sets" of five discs each. This is the first of the two, THE POP BOX. THE ROCK BOX should drop sometime around the holidays. I'll let Jason explain the difference:

So what you’ve got here is not one but two companion box sets, divided roughly between the most vital of Southern California “pop” and “rock” acts from the years 1964 to 1969. If you’ve already examined the track listing and are questioning how the Grass Roots’ pleasantly inoffensive “Where Were You When I Needed You?” somehow qualifies as “rock” while Elvis Presley’s raucous and sexy “A Little Less Conversation” falls under the category of “pop”, the answer is… I’m not exactly sure why! The basic rule of thumb while compiling these sets was that the Rock Box would contain mostly guitar-driven bands that one could have actually seen in concert had they been cruising the Sunset Strip in the mid-to-late sixties, while the Pop Box would focus on those acts that were more at home in the confines of the recording studio and in certain cases could not have even played their material live in a rock club environment. Still, it would be foolhardy of me to say that the lines between these sets are not blurred at times. Nevertheless, it’s my sincere hope that the track selection and running order of both the Pop Box and the Rock Box are thematically consistent and to your liking.

For those who care about such things as how the tracks here actually got selected, I’ll offer some insight. The most important thing to mention is that I tried my best to adhere to a strict set of rules while compiling these sets. Rule number one was that, even though these discs are not affiliated with the Nuggets series in any official sense, I wanted ZERO OVERLAP with either the Rhino Nuggets 4-cd box, or their two limited-edition Nuggets from the W.E.A. Vaults sets. As such, these new collections can exist comfortably alongside the previously mentioned compilations, as well as the Nuggets from the U.K., San Francisco Nuggets and Children of Nuggets box sets. While every effort was made to ensure that both L.A. Gemstones collections are presented in as close to exact chronological order as possible, those who don’t have 10+ hours to kill listening to both sets in order might just wanna mix the files in with the rest of the previously listed sets and set the whole thing on shuffle for a non-stop blast of sixties’ rock and pop action!

This is Jason's baby, I'm just here to help. He envisioned the tracklist based on history and knew every nook and cranny of the scene on a historian's level. He knows the specific context of every track in the big picture. Many songs are super rare and several are needledropped from rare 45s specifically for this set. I could never have constructed such a thing.

I did make the art/liner notes, mostly today. Do you realize how hard it is to find high resolution photos of specific clubs in 1966 LA? Welp.

Anyway, enjoy! And don't forget to check out Jason's awesome blog!

DISC 1 multiupload.com/O3G1TKOE5N
DISC 2 multiupload.com/5QOQYZE55Q
DISC 3 multiupload.com/SFHHVQYDKY
DISC 4 multiupload.com/8XCVKRNRLB
DISC 5 multiupload.com/1Q3PV54KZC
NOTES multiupload.com/OIY30Z83G3

320

mediafire.com/?kcdcqhnp4p6dkr9

AHEM

*COUGH*

UPDATE

Yes, I'm still here. Yes, THE ROCK BOX is on the way. I've been slowly plugging away at it and expect to hit a Christmas-y/New Years-y deadline. No worries, plz.

There are career-y reasons why I haven't been updating much recently but I hope to do more soon.

GB66 1-7

1 multiupload.com/KCSEK5OV2K
2 multiupload.com/FHPETLG9CP
3 multiupload.com/UUEHTHRSSH
4 multiupload.com/PP5OEFB3NA
5 multiupload.com/9W0X1WF65N
6 multiupload.com/68HNISCHIV
7 multiupload.com/DTZEG0PHTQ

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JOHN CARPENTER & ALAN HOWARTH

John Carpenter is just awesome. Even when his movies stunk, he usually wrote a score that was the creepiest imaginable. HALLOWEEN III is a great example of an icily scary score buried by a movie that is only enjoyed on an ironic level. DARK STAR is kind of hard to listen to, I admit. It's got some great synth work, but it seems like it's pulled straight off the film transfer (dialogue and all), or the master really had all that stuff and it was all folded together. It's still pretty amazing for a student film from 1973. CHRISTINE is also a great score that seems pretty underrated, I never see it mentioned alongside the others.

When you're in a record shop looking through the soundtracks section, you might see two different versions of a movie's score. One will be a SUPER DELUXE EXTENDED ANNIVERSARY EDITION with two discs. The other is basic looking, has a fairly standard tracklisting that looks like it's under forty minutes or so, put out in the early to mid 1980s by a company called VARÉSE SARABANDE. The Super Extended Mega version might even be cheaper, as the VS versions are mostly out of print. Grab the older version and don't look back.

I am finding that Varèse Sarabande always does a bangup job with a film score, and get it right the first time. Avoid 20th, 30th whatever-th anniversary editions of scores, it usually means they're bogged down with a ton of unnecessary bonus material. Not every little nugget of sound John Carpenter or Wendy Carlos left on the cutting room floor was meant to be picked up again. 75% of these leftovers end up being shorter, cue-length repetitions on the score's main themes, or bits of dialogue inserted between tracks, which I guess is their idea of an "immersive experience". Sorry dudes, I saw ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK already, just give me John Carpenter's synth work from the movie. I don't need to hear Harry Dean Stanton talking to Kurt Russell.




Another reason Varèse Sarabande got these scores right the first time? They're all under 45 minutes. Basically the length of a vinyl LP, because that's the master they were transferring. Forty-five minutes is just about the maximum amount of time my brain really wants to be immersed in a single film's atmosphere, don't you agree?

Last: the mastering. Comparing the mastering jobs between the original Varèse Sarabande rips and the remastering on those Super Extended Anniversary Editions, I find that the newer versions are JACKED UP and SHRILL. I'm imagining some cheapo AV company just brickwalling these haphazardly in between novelty records that end up on the Dr. Demento Show. Carpenter made some chilling soundtracks out of some WARM OLD SYNTHS. Cranking everything up in these masters makes it sound like you're running an ARP 2600 through cheap distortion pedal. Actually that sounds fun to do, but I probably wouldn't want to listen to somebody else do it.

I'd like to point out that Alan Howarth gets swept under the rug often, Carpenter's scores became more lush, almost gothic, when Howarth stepped onboard. Check out HALLOWEEN II, which is often overshadowed by the first. I included a "suite" version of the score to II from another version because I did like its sequencing.

DOWNLOAD:
DARK STAR (1974)
ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976)
HALLOWEEN (1978)
THE FOG (1980)
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981)
HALLOWEEN II (1981)
HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1981)
CHRISTINE (1983)
320kbps

ESSENTIAL DB

a bootleg collection of demos and bbc appearances, this actually has better sources and quality than the BOWIE AT THE BEEB set. tracklist here.

multiupload.com/UQWDZYACF4
320

REQUEST

Do you have a LOSSLESS or 320 rip VOLUMES 1-3 of the garage comp series HIGH IN THE MID-SIXTIES? If so, I need them for work on L.A. GEMSTONES: THE ROCK BOX!

Don't be a hero unless you know for sure your rips are 320 or LOSSLESS.

HELP A BROTHER OUT!

THE MOTION PICTURE

2005 emi version with the super clear mix. some songs sound amazing and new, some songs (moonage daydream) i liked the way they sounded on the old, muddy version

multiupload.com/J1694Z8CJS
320

GENE CLARK

the one to start with if you're new to him
multiupload.com/9507ND1DCK


this and the previous are re-ups of better rips
multiupload.com/0RW55O8YDY


this one was unavaliable on cd for like 20 years
multiupload.com/FPPYQWNZTL


comp of early material
multiupload.com/REMA5CFIAX

320

C&H

c&h complete scans, pdf sorry
multiupload.com/PEI1GEW3FK

KILL AT WILL EP

multiupload.com/3DDYG0AJSO
320

AFX 2

part two of a mostly chronological aphex twin mix i'm working on. tracklist here.

multiupload.com/5A2GF6LNBQ
320

BRICK

reup of remaster box set with all 8 LPs and some bonus tracks

multiupload.com/WCWJ51T0PV
multiupload.com/TZE0RBXBIL
multiupload.com/KU00CY3T8O
multiupload.com/9HS378VQ2E
multiupload.com/26HG3ZM62K
multiupload.com/BSK8OAITK5
multiupload.com/V4YHU3WDBL
multiupload.com/CIECWV0ELU

320

JAPANESE DEVO BOX

this rare 7 disc box set is the best devo has ever sounded. first six albums and a bonus disc

multiupload.com/FTI0OIB5R2
320

AFX 1

sorry for the break, personal stuff. here's part one of a mostly chronological aphex twin mix i'm working on. tracklist here.

multiupload.com/B33JSH6DVL
320

JAPANESE PASTMASTERS

multiupload.com/Y6I4TADZXK


multiupload.com/GQMO7JVWVC


multiupload.com/68IW7Q9HKB


multiupload.com/0JMG7NWS08


multiupload.com/LPJFOIF91W


multiupload.com/TSBJDC1TWV


multiupload.com/H98ZF9BLND

the pastmasters series are direct transfers from the master tapes
without the noise reduction or compression of the capitol two-fer CD series.
i don't have them all but i have these.

320

STONES PHILADELPHIA SPECIAL I & II

multiupload.com/N8AQBZ58R4


multiupload.com/H4ERL5Q8V8

classic 1972 live boots
320

STONES UNSURPASSED MASTERS by JWB

multiupload.com/FZX3BMR9Q6


multiupload.com/VYQW4BJJPH


multiupload.com/Z6WKUT82IO


multiupload.com/XNMWLZR4ZL

320