Music and memory

[duncan]

I had an odd little epiphany tonight. Listening to a newly acquired CD of the Beethoven Eroica symphony (#3) while doing some dishes, somewhere in the first movement I stopped dead and asked, "where's the dip?"

What was missing was a mastering defect that had long been engraved in my head as part of this symphony. As a teenager and budding classical music fan, my two main sources of recordings were the public library and the cutout LP rack of a store at a nearby mall, the latter of which had a seemingly endless supply of cheap Everest classical records. I think my Eroica was the old Joseph Krips / LSO Everest pressing; I might be mistaken about that, but whatever it was, somewhere in the opening movement there was a bit of stretched master tape, or something, that caused the pitch of the entire orchestra to waver for a fraction of a second. And like all my records back then, I must have listened to it many dozens of times.

Fast forward to today. I'm an aging cuss now and somewhere along the line my aesthetics had a broad falling out with old Ludwig -- actually along with most of the music of the late classical / early romantic period, and that's been a significant hole in my music collection as an adult. It's even possible that I haven't heard a performance of the Eroica in about four decades. But this week a modern recording of it showed up as a freebie extra in a box of SACDs purchased on AK's bartertown. Here I am listening to it in the background and being startled by that one moment passing without the pitch dip that belonged there, dammit. And it made me think about how bizarre it is that memory can be so persistent. How much music have I heard over a lifetime, and how could that little detail be so stuck.

Any similar stories? Hell, I'll take the long shot and ask, does anyone happen to recognize the description of the old recording I'm talking about?

 

[Harvestor]

The Mandela effect ..
Google it

 

[Harvestor]

Mirror Mirror on the Wall who is the fairest one of them all ?

Doesn't exist anymore.

And the lion shall lay with the lamb does not exist anymore in the Bible

 

[Harvestor]

The CERN particle collider has caused the Mandela effect we are in an alternate reality

 

[Harvestor]

I'm going to get a visit from an unnamed agency from men who wear sunglasses in dark suits because I have revealed the truth to you

 

[peerson]

Those "Chem-Trails" are not helping, either!

 

[jgannon]

I had an odd little epiphany tonight. Listening to a newly acquired CD of the Beethoven Eroica symphony (#3) while doing some dishes, somewhere in the first movement I stopped dead and asked, "where's the dip?"

What was missing was a mastering defect that had long been engraved in my head as part of this symphony. As a teenager and budding classical music fan, my two main sources of recordings were the public library and the cutout LP rack of a store at a nearby mall, the latter of which had a seemingly endless supply of cheap Everest classical records. I think my Eroica was the old Joseph Krips / LSO Everest pressing; I might be mistaken about that, but whatever it was, somewhere in the opening movement there was a bit of stretched master tape, or something, that caused the pitch of the entire orchestra to waver for a fraction of a second. And like all my records back then, I must have listened to it many dozens of times.

Fast forward to today. I'm an aging cuss now and somewhere along the line my aesthetics had a broad falling out with old Ludwig -- actually along with most of the music of the late classical / early romantic period, and that's been a significant hole in my music collection as an adult. It's even possible that I haven't heard a performance of the Eroica in about four decades. But this week a modern recording of it showed up as a freebie extra in a box of SACDs purchased on AK's bartertown. Here I am listening to it in the background and being startled by that one moment passing without the pitch dip that belonged there, dammit. And it made me think about how bizarre it is that memory can be so persistent. How much music have I heard over a lifetime, and how could that little detail be so stuck.

Any similar stories? Hell, I'll take the long shot and ask, does anyone happen to recognize the description of the old recording I'm talking about?

I had this recording of the Jay and Kai Sextet playing "I Should Care", last track on the second side. At the very end of the tune, it hit a snag and would repeat the ending of the song. I ended up giving the record away, and a few years later I got the record again without the skip. It was unusual to hear the song without the ending repeating! When I listen to it now, I anticipate it to start repeating. I know exactly what you're talking about!

It was the last song on Side B of this record:

Tommy Flanagan on piano, Bobby Jaspar on tenor, Elvin Jones on drums, and Percy Heath on bass, with Jay and Kai...

 

[noisefreq]

Yeah, mine is an Elton John record I grew up with and traded off decades ago.
Now, my wife has it on CD.

 

[Teddy White]

My original copy of The Clash had a skip in the middle of White Riot that cut Joe Strummer off in mid-verse, literally in mid-syllable: “—and nobody wants to go t—“ & then went straight into Mick Jones’ searing guitar solo. I was incredibly disappointed, years later, when a fresh copy revealed the rest of the actual line, and thus what I took to be spontaneous exuberance was simply a technological glitch...

 

[2N697]

Yes; A lot of the CD's I purchased of records I previously owned- I can't bear to listen to them because in the CD versions any subtle segue/transition which existed on the original recording between songs is eliminated for silence to signal the next track. It drives me crazy to be anticipating these great little passages and then......nothing. To me it is the same as taking a painting someone else did and modifying it because you absolutely know better than the artist how it should look.

 

[Doghouse]

Yes; A lot of the CD's I purchased of records I previously owned- I can't bear to listen to them because in the CD versions any subtle segue/transition which existed on the original recording between songs is eliminated for silence to signal the next track. It drives me crazy to be anticipating these great little passages and then......nothing. To me it is the same as taking a painting someone else did and modifying it because you absolutely know better than the artist how it should look.

On the subject of "anticipation."
It's a known fact that you can play a CD or album, that you've not played for a while and be listenening to a track without a clue what comes next.
But when you hear the last few bars of the current track, you can usually remember what track follows.

 

[grillebilly]

I get it. And it's about all I get anymore.

 

[Mystic]

Streaming this and a couple like it transport me back 35+ years like nuthin' else I've ever heard...

Радио "Подмосковные вечера"

A program of music from the Soviet Era, from the early 1930s to the mid 1980s. Featuring popular songs as well as rare and forgotten melodies, as well as fragments of live performances of the era, all intended to create the atmosphere and mood of Soviet-era radio programming.

[note: This station, IMO, does a damned good job of recreating the atmosphere of "The Sound of the Union".]

* Streaming @ FF add-on Worldwide Radio.

View attachment 1659991

 

[yockmyer]

Having grown up when 8-tracks were big, there are still songs for which I anticipate the track switch....

 

[Rockyhill]

Having grown up when 8-tracks were big, there are still songs for which I anticipate the track switch....

Funny, my example is from an 8-track. At the end of Willy and the Poor Boys right before it cycles back to the beginning there was about 5 seconds of Tammy Wynette. Seems the record company recycled that cart.

“Wait a minute. Stand By Your Man doesn’t come after Effigy?”

 

[Johnno_Oz]

The 40th anniversary re-master of King Crimson's Discipline has a slightly different take on Belew's VOX track used for Elephant Talk. The first line isn't as 'bright" and it sort of fades down in pitch rather than up.

And that was the only thing that sounded out of place on the remaster but it threw me early on.

Methinks Mr Fripp threw it in for some sort of Gurdjieffian "shock".

 

[Rockyhill]

One evening in the early 70’s I was listening to Midnight Rambler from Ya-Ya’s with my older brother and his friend. There was a skip in the album during a guitar solo that was perfectly timed to the beat that we didn’t notice for way longer than we should have <fill in reason here>. I’ll always remember that night.

 

[Dave B.]

I think my Eroica was the old Joseph Krips / LSO Everest pressing

Duncan, old Joe Krips got around. This was my set of the symphonies, on good ol' Murray Hill:



As others have mentioned above, scratches, pops, clicks, 8-track track changes, et al become etched in our minds by what I call "imprinting." I imprinted on many classical LPs in my formative listening days, back in the late '50s-early '60s. Today, I still listen for that cough in the first movement of Van Cliburn's live Carnegie Hall performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3. I have a ton of other imprinted anticipations that still haunt me even though they have been superseded by new performances or remasterings.

One of my most memorable imprintings is a horn flub in the first movement of Brahms' Violin Concerto. I had my college library's only LP (generic performers) of that piece and listened to it obsessively in my dorm room (my poor roommate!). I've since gone on to dozens of other far more superior recordings, but I still -- to this day -- hear that French hornist butcher that leap. I'm with you 100%!

Dave