Derek & The Dominoes "Layla" Question(s)

Depends how far back you go. THe older ones, pre-constant-tension, did have a tendency to drift a bit from one end of the reel to the other. (Other brands too, of course.) I think that's the reason for the pitch change you hear occasionally at splices.

 

I believe the "Layla", and other Love Songs" CD has been remastered at least four times, including the remix. "Layla", on the latest Polydor remaster, which was part of the Eric Clapton remaster campaign of a few years ago, was not speed corrected.

 

Again, I should have worded this a bit better. I meant through all of the reissues of "Laya", NOT the whole album or with just one CD. I did not include the MoFi specifically, because I have never heard it.

 

Which Gold Disc?

I wish this thread had come up a couple days earlier! I bid on and won the MFSL gold disc of LAYLA, making the mistake of neglecting to ask the forum if I really want an MFSL I or II. I don't even think it was mentioned on the item description.

I've already rolled the dice and laid down the green. It's already on its way--should I hope for a I or a II?

 

There is only a UD2 of Layla. No UD1, buddy. You can rest easy. I have it and like it very much!

Robert

 

Thanks! This is one of those albums I put off buying forever, because there were so many CD versions. Until I found this board, I didn't know who to ask such questions.

 

Ron,

I'm with the Duke on this one. You're gonna love it!

 

In what way, Steve? Can you tell us where and how they were stored and what type of deterioration was involved ?

GM

 

Weirdest artifact in the album...see if you can hear it - Eric's voice totally drops out right at the start of the second chorus.

 

I count:

- original Polydor
- remix
- MoFi
- Polydor remaster

I'm still not understanding your "speed corrected" comments. All versions run at the same speed (more or less). Anyone who's heard some of the bootleg versions knows the speed of the recording is quite a bit different. For example, one mix of the title track I have runs to 7:25. The released mix, in contrast, runs to about 7:03.

 

"So that's the problem with City to City?"


"The sides were too long to be properly cut here in the USA so they just sped the whole damn thing up. "

The 1st time I heard the Mofi LP of City to City, I felt like I had drank too much cough syrup But it does sound much better. The SV vinyl sounds great, too.

Steve, I'd love to have a DCC copy of City to City, but really don't want to take out a home-equity loan for one off Ebay! An SACD sure would be nice (nudge, nudge, wink wink)!

 

From the box set:

One of [Steve] Rinkoff's biggest challanges came in trying to match the varispeeding (the process of changing the tape speed) used by Dowd on large portions of Layla (the title track is sped up by around 5%, where other cuts averaged around 2 to 3%).

As Dowd recalls, "They'd play something and listen to it, and say, 'It doesn't feel right, we should have used this tempo, used that effect, that kind of thing. So we'd VSO'd it up a bit for them. All those technologies wer primitive in those days; they weren't things that you planned to do. It was more, 'It feels better, let's go that way'. You weren't worried about absolute A's, as long as it didn't sound too chicken-ish, you went with it. Because Layla was done the way it was, we had to varispeed the front to match the back, so there are three different sections at slightly different speeds. We were using the technology to preserve the spirit of spontaneity, the integrity of the parts."

 

One of the tracking sheets:

 

I love the Mo-Fi.After not listening to the 2CD Polydor for a long time,I was suprised how good Polydor sounded.Remastered by Dennis Drake.

 

My opinion is that the Polydor UK LP is the best sounding, followed by the Japanese LP, followed by the MFSL CD.

 

How is the newest remaster? (1997) Sound quality? Speed? Noise reduction?

 

Steve, if you can find the time I, for one, would love to hear about the "multi-track sagas" in the recording (and 1990 re-mix) of the Layla album.

I do remember reading that Levenson was researching multi-track tapes in the mid-eighties for the Crossroads box set and most of the Layla tapes were missing at that point. They did re-mix the title track for "Crossroads", however.

I believe the Layla session multi-tracks eventually were found in storage in a NYC studio...

Levenson seems to me to be one of the good guys in this business - in '92 or '93 I wrote him a letter begging for a Cream box set and he actually wrote me back! (And the box set only took five years...)

John
Vancouver, BC

 

Bill is a really nice guy. I e-mailed him a few years ago about some things, and he took it upon himself to call me and talk with me about stuff for a good half hour.

 

Tom Dowd, sadly, would have ALL the stories.

From looking at the tracking sheets, some whole intros were wiped, and some others in its place. Do you have the Layla box set? The jams are VERY worth the search for it.

 

For the record, I'm pretty sure Bill was only talking about the multitracks, NOT the two-track mixes. The title track is in two or three segments on the multi, but not on the mixdown. As per Bill:

I think Bill was probably tearing his hair out when he was remixing the album in 1990 (and the title track in 1987).

 

I have an original Atco pressing and still prefer that to any CD version I have ever heard(and I think I have heard all of them)

Boy, usually Tom Dowd's productions are pretty stellar; Maybe the equipment in Criterion Studios were on the fritz during that time?

 

Anybody have an opinion if the Nautilis Layla is better than the regular vinyl pressings ?

 

I listened to the SuperDisk LP(s) of Layla on my system but thought it sounded dull and lifeless, compared to the UK Polydor pressing.