Friday, August 7, 2009

friday fizz: Stone Roses Elephant Stone findings!

Where I work, there is a tradition where on Fridays, management rolls around pallet loads of soda for us peons to enjoy, for free. Believe me, if you knew where I worked, and the attitude about any employee getting ANYTHING from there besides a paycheck, benefits and stress, you'd understand this is a big thing. Anyway, this tradition is called Friday Fizz.

Today we have our own Friday Fizz here on the PoIT.



Your humble blogger made several discoveries today, having taken the day off work for various sundry reasons.

First: I have discovered what I believe to be the original, pre-John Leckie, mix of the Stone Roses "Elephant Stone", as mixed by Peter Hook (New Order/Joy Division bassist, and producer for the "Elephant Stone" sessions) before John Leckie came on board and remixed it for the Roses' debut release on Silvertone.

And anybody who has an original Elephant Stone 12" or CD single already has this ;)

How? That's for you to discover ;)

It's funny - this has been under the fans' noses for 21 years now and I've NEVER known anybody to mention, discuss or even think about it. But I do like this mix - it's far less busy than Leckie's mix, it's more organic-sounding, and I'm just pleased as punch I'm able to bring this out.

Second: Well, I had some other stuff to post here about the "Elephant Stone" CD single, but in the end it's just a bunch of technical bullshit that 99% of my readers won't understand. But if you've ever listened to a rip of your original Silvertone ORE CD 1 on your iPod or computer, and you wonder why it sounds so horribly shrill, rest assured it's not your box but it's Silvertone's horrible mastering of the 7" and 12" mixes (the other B-sides are not affected, oddly enough!).

So... I present:

THE STONE ROSES
"Elephant Stone" mixes

-- a Power of Independent Trucking exclusive!

01 Elephant Stone (John Leckie 12" mix, fixed and remastered by The PoIT)
02 Elephant Stone (John Leckie 7" mix, fixed and remastered by The PoIT)
03 Elephant Stone (Peter Hook original mix)

Grab it here, lossless FLAC for everyone's pleasure.

22 comments:

  1. Ha ha! It was right there all along.

    Great work.

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  2. That's cool - I had the original 12" and sold it on ebay a while back - I always thought I remembered it sounding different.

    If you stick Full Fathom Five in soundforge and reverse the wave file then you get a pretty cool mix of Elephant Stone too!

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  3. This is easily the greatest post on any blog this year - that version of Elephant Stone is fantastic. I own the original 12" [ORE T1] and I have no idea how you got this version from it...though I do notice that Full Fathom Five on the 12" is a lot shorter than the versions found on the compilation albums.
    Thanks again for a wonderful post from an old (still) Roses junkie..

    G

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  4. I'm still hunting for the 12" I'm sure I have it somewhere. I love this blog. For someone based in the States you are remarkably well informed about the whole Madchester scene.

    Most people over here in the UK have long forgotten Paris Angels and Northside but they both created a buzz at the time. And an exciting time it was too. I was living in Newcastle and have fond memories of great gigs at the University by Inspiral Carpets and The Charlatans. I still kick myself for missing the Stone Roses at the Riverside club (capacity 500). We hesitated in getting tickets as there was something else happening that night. By the time we made up our minds it had sold out and they never played anywhere that size again.

    I shared a stage with Paris Angels once but in the spirit of the time I don't remember much about it, but I did see them on a separate occasion and they were impressive. Perfume was perhaps predicatably the highlight.

    I recall a great documentary about the whole scene where then NME journalists Stuart Maconie and James Brown went to Manchester to document what was going on. Classic footage of MC Tunes explaining the slang "Nish, Clish and Banging" and of Northside rehearsing Rising Star and Shall We Take a Trip.

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  5. ive got the 7inch and the mastering is really poor. turns into stone is the best for the 12inch.
    its like the Debut. they re-released so many times and the guitar is always "muddy" unlike the original 89 release which is more pure. the gold lettering release. i have the orange lettering USA release & there is a difference.
    many thanks for this its a great rip & nicely mixed.

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  6. I have a copy of the forthcoming Stone Roses box set... the "remaster" of Full Fathom Five is COMPLETELY different than what I had on the cd single back so long ago... any ideas why this is?!

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  7. Its possibly the version of FFF from the original 7 inch of Elephant Stone as it's supposedly different from all other released verions.

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  8. ?

    Link still works.

    Can someone post a link to FFF from the 20th Anniv box? V. curious to hear this!

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  9. works for me. Cheers! I'd love to know the secret.

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  10. very nice work!!! If you are as good as you definitely seem on all things Mancunian, perhpas you can figure out this riddle too: on the BBC series 7 Ages Of Rock-British Indie, there is a Hacienda-type Acid house clip played about 20 mins in (and just before The Stone Roses do "Waterfall"). I have been going insane trying to recall the song/artist...definitely and 808 State-type (but NOT them)...any idea as to the identity? (It can be viewed on googlevideo). Thanks for this...

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  11. That track is Don't Miss The Partyline by Bizz Nizz. It's on YouTube

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  12. OqTLvroau41pJrvgeG8.zwVgCikw, this may help. http://www.vh1classic.com/view/playlist/1573556/9531/7_Ages_of_Rock_British_Indie_Video_Companion/Wonderwall/index.jhtml

    I'm looking for the segment you're talking about though as the link I posted is nothing but a list of videos.

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  13. @Steven & roberterkampf: The "Full Fathom Five" you're referring to is the version from the original 12inch, not the 7inch (it wasn't on 7inch).

    @Francis: That's all that was done here.

    @"Your humble blogger": Anyone who had "The Complete Stone Roses" also had this all along. The question I have is, what makes you think this was mixed by Hooky?

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  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  15. Could someone please tell me what a flac file is and how to make it play? I have not been able to play this gem and am starting to freak out. Thank You.

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  16. Still wondering why you think this is the "original" Hooky mix. Why on earth would he have removed all the hi-hat??

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  17. 'Guernica' from the 'Made of Stone" 12" is an interesting backwards-spin also...

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