Hello,
I used to have the LP which I sold when I bought the remixed CD. Bad mistake. On the LP, the ending of "Bells" had Duane buried in the mix playing some furious lead guitar, best heard through headphones. As far as I could tell it's not on the CD version.
Does anyone know where I can find this without getting the LP on eBay, digging out my turntable, finding a stable place to hook it into my receiver, taping it on a precariously balanced cassette machine, digitizing a low-fidelity version (I'm lazy...), and so on? At the time I had said LP the taping would have been easy, but that's maybe 25 years ago.
Thanks.
Billastro
I listened to two versions on YouTube and don't notice Duane Allman hitting the note at the end.
I never bought either of the two Hourglass albums. They sold little and didn't chart but rereleased in 1973 and the first one and Power of Love did sell enough to get on the bottom part of the album chart. They began selling a little because the Allman Brothers Band became a huge success.
I had never heard of Duane and Gregg untill January 1970 when a friend played me the first album at his home. It didn't sell much. About 30,000 copies and did appear at the bottom of the album chart for 3 or 4 weeks. Just a couple weeks later the ABB played at a college nearby so he and I went and WHAM right out of the gate it was different from any band I had heard and the music and vibe hooked me. They were my favorite band before that show was over.
I did notice the lead guitar on Hey Jude by Wilson Pickett but that was before I saw the ABB and heard of Duane.
I think the story is Liberty Records had complete controll of the Hourglass sessions. The band had no say about the songs or the Producer.
After Power of Love (the second one) also failed to sell much and didn't chart, Duane stepped in and they recorded a third album with the kind of music they liked to play. When Liberty Records heard it, it was rejected and would not be released. Duane threatened to quit and they told him to go. And the rest of the band too. Duane was told he and they other guys would never make it in the music business and that Gregg was the only one in the band who had any chance at all so Liberty said they were keeping Gregg as part of the three album contract and Gregg would be the third album.
Gregg had to stay in LA then to keep from everyone getting sued. Liberty Records picked the producer and the songs including a cover of Tammy Wynette's country hit D.I.V.O.R.C.E.
That album was never released either but some of the tracks were on Hourglass extended cuts CD releases. Gregg didn't like it but couldn't stop it and told everyone in a interview not to buy it or ever listen to it. It's embarrassing and terrible.
Hope Gregg doesn't mind but here is the song which was suppose to be on the third album for Liberty but Liberty Records finally gave up on the thing.
This reflects one of the annoyances of remastering. Sometimes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" doesn't seem to apply.
I ran into the same frustration with "Finding Her" from Boz Scaggs' album with Duane. The fadeout on the LP is longer than the one on the CD, which means some of Duane's ethereal solo was lopped off.
So, again, if I can find the LP version of "Bells", that would be a treat.
Billastro
