Thoughts about Marvin, Welch & Farrar

[captainhaddock]

Hello Bill,
Yes, on reflection I think that had George Martin produced The Shadows instead of Norrie Parramor then things might have turned out differently. I believe that it could be argued that, as individual musicians The Shadows were probably better than The Beatles. George Martin was 12 years younger than Norrie Paramor and was definitely more forward thinking.
Being younger, he may have related better to the Shadows and may have stretched them as Musicians. However I don't really think that Norrie Paramor did much wrong, as the Record books suggest in terms of No 1 records and chart history how much better could he have done.
The biggest handicap that the Shadows suffered was the marked refusal of the fans to accept that the band wanted to try something new and thus the poor sales of LP'S from 1967 on and the relative failure of Marvin, Welch and Farrar meant that the only Shadows material that was commercialy viable in the last active years of the Band was the series of increasingly bland cover version albums. I still have a slight hope that the Band will produce one final Studio album with few, if any cover versions and prove what we know, that The Shadows are the greatest Instrumental band in history.

[drakula63]

I too would be interested in hearing a DTS version of Second Opinion. I have it in Quad (twice!!) and have to admit that playing this record on a stereo is an interesting experience. Obviously it sounds different, with some things leaping out at you and making themselves known in a way that they don't in the stereo version. Still, with only two speakers, you're clearly not hearing it as it was meant.

I remember when we were living in Basingstoke in the early 1970s (what a great combination of words!), one of our friends had a Quad system. As we only had a mono player at the time, this seemed somewhat extravagant - after all, you only have a maximum of two ears, so what were the other two speakers for?!!!!!! Oh the naivety of youth...

What I like about the Quad LP, amongst other things (!), is the fact that it has an inner sleeve which explains, in layman's terms, what Quadrophonic sound is. I belong to that group of fans who still think that a good quality LP sounds nicer than a CD. Still, I guess we are a dying breed...

Cheers!

[Moderne]

I too would be interested in hearing a DTS version of Second Opinion. I have it in Quad (twice!!) and have to admit that playing this record on a stereo is an interesting experience. Obviously it sounds different, with some things leaping out at you and making themselves known in a way that they don't in the stereo version. Still, with only two speakers, you're clearly not hearing it as it was meant.

I remember when we were living in Basingstoke in the early 1970s (what a great combination of words!), one of our friends had a Quad system. As we only had a mono player at the time, this seemed somewhat extravagant - after all, you only have a maximum of two ears, so what were the other two speakers for?!!!!!! Oh the naivety of youth...

What I like about the Quad LP, amongst other things (!), is the fact that it has an inner sleeve which explains, in layman's terms, what Quadrophonic sound is. I belong to that group of fans who still think that a good quality LP sounds nicer than a CD. Still, I guess we are a dying breed...

Cheers!

Have I missed something? What is a DTS version? I agree about good quality LPs sounding nicer than CDs. But people don't like owning obsolete technology; how many people still own a VCR? Who buys all these new record players for transferring your LPs/45s and even 78s onto MP3 files which are advertised every week in all those freebie gadget mags when I got laughed out for wanting a 78rpm stylus 30 years ago!

Clive

[Didier]

I too would be interested in hearing a DTS version of Second Opinion.

The one I have was found on the net. Someone unknown must have transferred the original quadraphonic vinyl album coded in the CBS "SQ" process into the much more recent DTS multichannel process.
I burnt a CD-Rom with it (files are in the WAV format), and to my surprise, it played well on my DVD player (CD compatible) which features DTS reading. My multichannel amp detects DTS coding and decodes it accordingly. Of course it can't play on a standard CD player.
Channels separation was very poor with the SQ process, and trancoding it into DTS couldn't improve it.

Didier

[ecca]

How cool of them to write a song about Ronnie O'Sullivan, he hadn't even been born yet !

[drakula63]

I'm assuming that DTS is short for Digital Theatre Surround. Certainly that is what I am led to believe. My friend's hi-fi has all the extra speakers to turn it into a surround sound system, but for playing music I think you generally only need two speakers! It would have been nice to have heard the MWF album in Quad, however, as I'm sure it would have been an experience to have been literally 'surrounded' by the music. Still, I imagine it'll never happen now, so I'll happily make do with stereo.

By the way, have you ever noticed on the cover of Specs Appeal, there's a poster for a gig (sorry, can't remember the artist or venue off hand) and different priced tickets are available for either stereo or quad!!! How times have changed...

[Didier]

I'm assuming that DTS is short for Digital Theatre Surround.

It is.

My friend's hi-fi has all the extra speakers to turn it into a surround sound system, but for playing music I think you generally only need two speakers!

Most musical DVDs now feature multichannel 5.1 tracks, either coded in Dolby Digital or DTS. That's the case for the Final Tour (DTS and DD 5.1) and the Final Reunion (DD 5.1) DVDs.

It would have been nice to have heard the MWF album in Quad, however, as I'm sure it would have been an experience to have been literally 'surrounded' by the music.

It depends on how the sound mix is done. Generally only front channels are used for the music, rear channel being used only for room ambiant noises (applauses) and may be some reverb.
But there are some sound mix with surrounding music, just as if you were in the middle of the band. That's the case for Roy Orbison's "Black & White" DVD with DTS sound. That's also the case with MWF's "Second Opinion" quad version.
There are also a few DTS coded CDs, I have one by Sheryl Crow.

Didier.

[Didier]

BTW, Marvin Welch & Farrar are not about to reform and tour, but Crosby Stills & Nash are, and will tour this summer. They'll be at the Paris Olympia on July 12th and 13th. UK dates are not yet announced.
For those who enjoy vocal harmonies...

Didier

[Shad1]

Without doubt, MWF were the best 'British' vocal harmony group of their era. I just wish they had wider exposure at the time. The quality of their vocal amalgamation was, to my ears, perfect. I daresay Bruce was key to getting it 'right' given his reputation for perfection - which I admire greatly.
John Farrars influence on the band (MWF and The Shadows) was immense and while many have asked 'Would John Farrar have been as successful as he has been if he hadn't been with The Shadows' it could equally be asked ' Where would Hank and Bruce and Brian be now without John?' He kicked their butts.

Malc.

[Shad1]

I should also say that I never found their lyrics 'naff' - just songs about things that those with a little imagination could relate to. Not saying they are 'Burns' (Scottish poet)....but very agreeable nevertheless......
For those that are confused......I love 'Our House' by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young....the lyrics ARE naff....but they still mean something to me. MWF's lyrics mean a lot to me...thank you.

Malc