The Mamas & The Papas - Farewell
US Dunhill Mono LP, D-50025
First released October 1967
01 - Dedicated To The One I Love
02 - Go Where You Wanna Go
03 - Words Of Love
04 - Look Through My Window
05 - Dancing In The Street
06 - Monday, Monday
07 - Creeque Alley
08 - Got A Feelin'
09 - Twelve-Thirty
10 - I Call Your Name
11 - I Saw Her Again Last Night
12 - California Dreamin'
13 - Glad To Be Unhappy (from Dunhill single 4107)*
14 - Dream A Little Dream Of Me (from Dunhill single 4145)*
15 - Creeque Alley (from Dunhill single 4083)*
*=bonus tracks
==About the album==
From allmusic.com (review by William Ruhlmann)
"At the time of its release in October 1967, Farewell to the First Golden Era was great for what it was, but ominous for what it foreshadowed, with both of those characteristics apparent in the album title. It was, as the term "Golden Era" indicated, a greatest-hits album, its 12 tracks including all nine of the Mamas & the Papas' chart singles up to that time: the gold-selling number one "Monday, Monday"; the gold-selling Top Ten "California Dreamin'"; the Top Tens "I Saw Her Again Last Night," "Words of Love," "Dedicated to the One I Love," and "Creeque Alley"; the Top 40s "Look Through My Window" and "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)"; and the chart entry "Dancing in the Street." But this wasn't just the first golden era, it was the only one, and with a lone Top 40 hit (a cover of Rodgers & Hart's "Glad to Be Unhappy") left and one half-hearted album ("The Papas & the Mamas", April 1968) to come before the group's breakup, this really was farewell."
==About this transfer==
For quite a while I've been enjoying djwilbur's 'drop of this album, but unfortunately the source is a bit noisy. So I tracked down a copy that surprisingly wasn't too bad (as M&P fans know, it can be very hard finding nice sounding vinyl). It is nice and quiet, although it's not perfect; there's some vocal distortion evident on a few tracks, particularly "Dedicated To The One I Love" and "Creeque Alley" (the first tracks on each side of the vinyl).
But in the scheme of things this is perhaps a minor distraction. What is of more importance to note is that this compilation is rather uneven sounding to begin with. When comparing these tracks to the same tracks on the "regular" mono albums, it becomes clear that for this compilation the tracks--seemingly from tape dupes--were EQed, resulting, in at least some instances, a harsher, shriller and thinner sound. This is particularly evident on "Dedicated To The One I Love", "Look Through My Window" and "I Saw Her Again Last Night" (although the latter track is generally trebly to begin with).
So, here's what I've done...
For the purists/nostalgics, in the "Original" folder you will find the full transfer taken from my copy of the album, with the above-mentioned mastering evident in all its glory.
In the "Preferred" folder you will find nine (what I consider) better sounding transfers sourced direct from my copies of each of the "regular" mono albums. If you agree that they are better sounding, then simply replace the files in the "Original" folder with these files before burning to CD-R.
Also in the "Preferred" folder you will find my attempts at improving what I think are the two tracks that needed it most - "Twelve-Thirty" and "I Call Your Name". "Twelve-Thirty" always sounds either too bright or too dull to me, so I've attempted to balance the sound out a bit. "I Call Your Name" always sounds duller in mono, so again I've attempted to balance the sound. If you are a purist, you won't want these, but if you are just after the best sounding Mamas & Papas, check them out. They are the only two tracks in the collection that I have EQed.
I have also added three bonus tracks to the "Original" folder. These are not my transfers, but are transfers that I was given or found on the 'net. They are taken from original mono singles. My reason for adding them was simply so that you could have all the Mamas & Papas greatest hits from across their career in mono in one package.
==Vinyl transfer and 24bit mastering by Q==
Source Matrices
01-06: D-50025-A-7 LW
07-12: D-50025-B Re1-1 LW
13-14: transferred by "beattles", remastered by Q
15: transferred/mastered by "djwilbur", remastered by Q
Hardware
- Project Xpression III Turntable
- Ortofon 2M Blue Cartridge
- Project SpeedBox II Quartz-Generated Electronic Speed Regulator
- Denon PMA-700AE Integrated Amplifier
Software
- Audition 3.0.1 (audio capture and editing)
- iZotope RX 2 Advanced (resampling and dithering to Red Book audio specifications)
Artwork included
NB: I haven't included a HiRes version as I don't think the sound quality of the music warrants it. However, I may reconsider based on demand.