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| (2010, download, - , crossfire publications) |
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| (2011, flash-drive, usa, crossfire publications) |
paul buff presents the pal and
original sound studio archives, vol.17
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feat.contributions by frank zappa
| 2010 | download | - | crossfire publications |
re-releases
(2011, flash-drive, usa,
crossfire publications) =
the complete 35 album series, with bonus liner notes on pdf and 56 extra tracks
various tracks recorded by
giant crab: a
giant crab comes forth
giant crab:
e.s.p. (alternate version)
dino dupre(e):
ambrosial (alternate version)
paul buff:
piano 5
jody reynolds:
come on twist (1960 version)
the buff
organization: happy birthday joyce
jody reynolds:
bony moronie
the pal studio band:
cucamonga surf (alternate take)
paul buff: paul
sings!
the hollywood
persuaders: grunion run (alternate mono mix)
johnny fisher:
dream tonight (second stereo mix)
the pal studio band:
straight ahead
paul buff:
guitar/vocal
the masters:
toothpick boogie (stereo mix)
johnny atlan
(johnny fisher): indian maid (backing track 2)
the pal studio band:
sun dog (alternate take)
paul buff:
piano/bass
the bongo teens:
bustin' surfboards
the tornadoes:
shootin' beavers
the pharos: rhythm
surfer
johnny barakat and the
vestells: surfin' bread (shortnin' bread)
the hollywood
persuaders: juarez (stereo mix)
big
brother featuring ernie joseph: heart full of rain
johnny barakat and the
vestells: surf madness
big
brother featuring ernie joseph: 403 halkirk (edit)
paul buff: love
is a stranger (instrumental)
liner notes by Greg Russo
Welcome
to Volume 17 of Paul Buff's 20-volume series of recordings from Pal Studios and
Original Sound Studios! Pal Records was a record company run by his mother
Olivia and stepfather Ward Allen. After Paul Buff was honorably discharged from
the military, he finished putting together Pal Studios in December 1957. The
studio costs were $12.50/hour for mono recording and $15/hour for stereo. Local
musicians booked the studio to make recordings of their rehearsals and
repertoire. When Pal Records wound itself down in mid-1959, Paul Buff created
his first record label - Emmy. Other labels (Plaza, Yukon and Vigah!) would
follow shortly thereafter. The music presented on this series was released on
extremely rare records that would literally cost thousands if you can find them.
In addition, there are many unreleased tracks spanning from 1960 to 1969. Paul
Buff is now making them available again for everyone to appreciate.
As
we know, The Buff Organization's "Upside Down World" was released as
the B-side of a single on Original Sound. What most people don't know is that it
was also used as the background music on the Giant Crab title track and album
opener "A Giant Crab Comes Forth." The track was completely created by
Paul Buff without any involvement from the band - not that he was credited! The
narration (which mentions every track on the album!) was done by KIST (Santa
Barbara, California) DJ Johnny Fairchild, who appeared on and/or promoted all of
the albums that Bill Holmes produced. Even though "E.S.P." was not on
the album, "A Giant Crab Comes Forth" is its perfect lead-in.
Giant Crab was led by Ernie Joseph Orosco, who previously helmed Ernie And The
Emperors and Ernie's Funnys. As the band's deal with Uni ran out after two
albums and the single "E.S.P.," Ernie re-equipped his band with new
personnel and became Big Brother Featuring Ernie Joseph. Volume 16 featured
Giant Crab's powerful "E.S.P." The recording was remixed and
resequenced with tons of additional phasing for subsequent re-release as by Big
Brother Featuring Ernie Joseph. (For those that care about such things [and you
should!], the original intro and cold ending were not used for the resequenced
version. The backing vocals are also lower in the resequenced mix.) Before the
phasing was added, the alternate version included here was put together. Since
the recording was mixed automatically by Paul Buff's Kepex system, creating a
new mix was no problem! This version has never been heard before. The more
familiar (and final) single version appears on Volume 20.
Our
third track is an alternate version of Dino Dupree's "Ambrosial." This
song was released as the B-side on Buff's Plaza label, but not in this way. This
mix was considered inferior to the one that appeared on Volume 1, so we have
reserved it until now! Paul Buff's "Piano 5" is a backing track for a
demo version of Sonny Wilson's "My Proudest Possession," but you would
never know it because the melody is not present on this demo!
Tracks
5 and 7 come from a Jody Reynolds session tape at Pal from June 4, 1960. On
Volumes 7 and 8, we heard Jody's Emmy single "Dusty Skies"/ "Come
On Twist." Those tracks were cut in the spring of 1962. The session from
June 1960 has never been released, and featured Reynolds recording an early
version of "Come On Twist" and a cover of the Larry Williams hit
"Bony Moronie" - both featured here for the first time. Chubby
Checker's "The Twist" was released on July 9, 1960, so Jody's song was
done in response to Hank Ballard And The Midnighters' original version of
"The Twist." Another song listed on the tape box was the Reynolds
original "Here Comes That Feeling," but it was not to be found on the
tape.
The
previous volume had two Frank Zappa-produced tracks by The Pal Studio Band:
"Sun Dog" and "Cucamonga Surf." Not only do we have earlier
takes of both songs on this volume, we also have the track "Straight
Ahead." If you listen closely to this version of "Sun Dog," you
can hear FZ saying "wayo" just before it starts! In addition, the
original ending of "Cucamonga Surf" was arranged differently.
"Straight Ahead" is exactly that, and check out the screaming
18-second guitar note two-thirds of the way through!
The
Buff Organization's "Happy Birthday Joyce" was devoted to Allison's
friend that was the one whose money bailed Frank Zappa out of jail in March
1965! "Paul Sings!" shows Paul Buff working on his vocal chops,
including a brief snippet of "Your Tender Lips." Speaking of Zappa, an
alternate mono mix of his "Grunion Run" with The Hollywood Persuaders
comes next.
The
second of two experimental stereo mixes of Johnny Fisher's "Dream
Tonight" reveals more clarity in the backing vocals which include Paul
Buff. The other stereo mix will appear on a later volume. Another experiment was
Buff's "Guitar/Vocal," which developed a backing vocal arrangement for
a song that was not kept.
At
last, the original stereo mix of The Masters' "Toothpick Boogie"
finally turns up! Buff's 2007 reinterpretation ("Tropical Toothpick")
was on Volume 4. The second Johnny Atlan backing track of "Indian
Maid" carries us into Buff's quickie "Piano/Bass" before we get
into Tornadoes territory!
The
first of two Tornadoes-related songs is The Bongo Teens' version of the classic
"Bustin' Surfboards." Despite being a three-chord song, "Bustin'
Surfboards" remains a perennial favorite. The Bongo Teens' version was used
in the 1988 film "Aloha Summer." A slightly longer version of
"Bustin' Surfboards" appears on the "Raw Tracks" album.
Following that, The Tornadoes themselves offer the Frank Zappa-engineered
"Shootin' Beavers." When it was released in late 1963, parents were
outraged that their children were listening to such a "lewd" song!
While the title may have been in bad taste, the song was practically
instrumental with the occasional side comment!
We
covered The Pharos and their "Jack Irvin"-produced A-side
"Pintor" a while back, but now we have the B-side "Rhythm
Surfer." The song was written by Dave Aerni under his Irvin pseudonym, and
it's no surprise that with this B-side title that the group changed their name
to The Rhythm Surfers when they made some personnel changes. We continue the
surf theme with Johnny Barakat's version of the traditional "Shortnin'
Bread," which he called "Surfin' Bread." Later on, we have
Barakat's "Surf Madness," another of his many Pal masters.
The
Hollywood Persuaders' "Juarez" was the B-side of
"Persuasion." This is the original (and only) stereo mix of the song
that Paul Buff originally prepared for Original Sound. It was never used until
the recent HP reissue of the stereo "Drums A-Go-Go" album.
Between
"Juarez" and "Surf Madness," we have Big Brother Featuring
Ernie Joseph doing their complete rearrangement of Thee Sixpence's "Heart
Full Of Rain" (Volume 11). The two versions are so different that you would
think they are entirely different songs! It is, in fact, the same Mark Weitz
song originally (and incorrectly) credited to Bill Holmes and Ernie Joseph.
Big
Brother's "403 Halkirk" was part of a long suite ("Gravis
Delictum [Unforgivable Sin]") that took up most of side two of their
All-American album "Confusion" ("Heart Full Of Rain" was the
side one opener.) We've edited out the bass solo from "403 Halkirk"
because we want to keep things moving! Incidentally, "Confusion" was
the first LP mixed by Paul Buff's Kepex electronic mixing system, which was a
new product by Buff's company Allison Research. More information about Kepex can
be found on The Buff Organization's album "Studio 'A'."
Buff's
instrumental version of his "Love Is A Stranger" takes us to our
finale, the second commercial promoting the "Freak Out In Cucamonga"
concert at Chaffey College. Rock on!