Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
Likes:
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2020 7:52:26 GMT
Sorry to have been away - This time I have no excuse, because I was just being lazy. This week's album is Stack-o-Tracks, a karaoke album released in 1968.
|
|
|
Post by jk on Apr 2, 2020 10:22:59 GMT
Sorry to have been away - This time I have no excuse, because I was just being lazy. This week's album is Stack-o-Tracks, a karaoke album released in 1968. Relax, Wata-san. You have a busy life online, let alone anywhere else, so you're excused. I love this album and have it as half of a twofer with Party! (I must confess to playing Stack-o-Tracks more often.) My favourite "track"? "Salt Lake City"--simply stunning!
|
|
|
Post by kds on Apr 2, 2020 12:12:35 GMT
I'll go seven as it gives an interesting glimpse to the sometimes overlooked greatness of the BB backing tracks. But, to be honest, I never listen to it, because the strength of the band is ultimately their vocals.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Apr 2, 2020 16:02:44 GMT
This is another of those--all the comps and non-traditional albums fall into this camp--where I'm going to need to go back and listen to say much of anything beyond the obvious. And the obvious is, really cool way to let people hear the brilliance of the instrumental tracks (and way ahead of its time, well before the vocals-only and tracks-only mixes became popular).
But I never listen to it. Like, never.
|
|
|
Post by lonelysummer on Apr 3, 2020 6:24:31 GMT
I remember back around 1988, a friend of mine put this on cassette for me. He also photocopied the book that came with it. It was probably cooler to me then than it is now. Just before the "stay at home" order came down, I saw the Capitol two-fer at Half Price Books. I would go back and get it if I could. It's not an album i'm going to listen to a lot, though. I rarely play the tracking sessions from the Pet Sounds box; but the acapella vocals...I could listen to those endlessly. If there's a knock against this album, it's that it's a seemingly random collection of backing tracks; no real thought put into it.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Apr 3, 2020 11:20:44 GMT
Just before the "stay at home" order came down, I saw the Capitol two-fer at Half Price Books. I would go back and get it if I could. I've been missing Half Price Books maybe more than anything during the stay at home order!
|
|
|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 3, 2020 14:02:45 GMT
Capitol was really inundating Beach Boys' fans with albums in 1968 - Friends, The Best Of The Beach Boys Volume 3, and Stack-0-Tracks - and all three completely different albums.
I guess Stack-o-Tracks is a cool album to listen to. It was/is eye-opening, or more accurately, ear-opening to hear Brian Wilson's incredible arrangements. Capitol Records has been criticized in the past for its handling of The Beach Boys, and some of it is deserved, but how many record companies released an album like Stack-o-Tracks?
The Good? The tracks they chose. The bad? The tracks they chose. "Sloop John B", "Salt Lake City", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "God Only Knows", "Here Today", and "Let Him Run Wild" were prime choices. I would've chosen either "Surfer Girl" or "In My Room" but not both; they are too similar. And, "You're so Good To Me"? Meh. Where's "Good Vibrations" and "California Girls" (it did make the bonus tracks on the 1990 2fer)
15 tracks? Yes! It's about time, even though it's a quasi-comp.
When I first became a BB fan in 1975-76, Stack-o-Tracks was nearly impossible to find, and when you did eventually track it down, it was bringing big bucks. The album tanked, not even making the charts. That probably led to its inceased demand after it quickly went out of print.
One of my biggest takeaways of Stack-o-Tracks back in the day and still today is how some of the vocals bleed into the track, and were released on Stack-o-Tracks that way. Couldn't they get those vocals...out? I guess not. And, at the end of "Little Saint Nick", they're downright loud! I guess the greatness of the tracks themselves will, in the end, override those flaws.
I rarely pull this one off the shelf either. I'm sure there are many fans who appreciate it, surely much more than me. A 7 seems about right, especially with the quality of the music. But if I rarely listen to it, how can I go that high? I mean, they are half songs. How about a strong 6?
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Apr 3, 2020 14:38:02 GMT
Listening again, I can't say my opinion changed (which isn't a bad thing): it's a novelty or treasure for people REALLY into this sort of thing, but it's not surprising that it didn't do well commercially. It was ahead of its time, a prime choice for what has happened time and again over the years with the band on comps.
To answer a question of yours, SJS, if the vocals are on the same tracks at times that the instruments were on, or if they were bounced onto the same tracks during mixdown, in those days it was impossible to separate them. And with limited tracks of physical tape, the kind of total isolation of each instrument or vocal during recording and mixing was simply not an option the way it became one later. Now there are digital techniques that are pretty successful for that.
I'm going 6. Very cool, but not a particularly good album in the normal sense of the word (in that I don't really want to listen to it very often). But again, it's the sort of thing that, once it is playing, never fails to illuminate or entertain.
|
|
bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
|
Post by bellbottoms on Apr 3, 2020 17:38:31 GMT
I'm going with 7 for the previously stated reason that it gets points for being massively illuminating and enjoyable, but loses points because despite that, I neglect it.
|
|
|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 3, 2020 17:59:30 GMT
This is what Stack-o-Tracks looked like, inside and out, when it was originally released in 1968:
|
|
|
Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Apr 9, 2020 16:40:58 GMT
You know, I don't think I've ever listened to this album. Although I've probably listened to all of the backing tracks at some point. What's really cool for me is the included songbook.
|
|