Up, up and away
I don’t really know if the song’s title has something to do with it, but Lincoln Mayorga’s version of Up, Up and Away blithely gives me a much-needed fix. Its tune is as cheerful as seeing the sun burst through the clouds after a heavy downpour, or gazing out of a car window and seeing a field of colorful flowers after passing through a seemingly endless barren desert.
The song is also a prelude to a wonderful musical trip. Each track of the Mayorga album — Grand Boulevard, Good Vibrations, Anyone Who Had A Heart, I’ll Be Back, Learning To Be Kind, Mercy, Mercy, She’s Leaving Home, Don’t Think Twice (It’s Allright) and All The Things You Are — will surely glue you to your seat.
The very first direct-to-disk (D2D) recording, “Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues Volume 1,” produced by Sheffield Labs in 1968, still weaves its magic today. Unfortunately, only a lucky few can experience its full musical glory. The analog renaissance has renewed interest in D2D recording with Stockfish Records’ recently released album, “The Bass Face Trio — Gershwin.” While the latter enjoys the amenities of modern recording technology, the “Mayorga 1,” in my book, is still unparalleled. The music and the artists make the difference: the two albums are miles apart.
The “Mayorga 1” album is extremely rare and the most sought-after. With prices ranging from $1,500 to $2,000 with no sellers, its value is expected to increase even more with new generations of audiophiles pushing the analog fervor to the max.
D2D recording was the best thing that ever happened to recorded music. Its “death” many years ago certainly brought sadness, especially to those whose only passion was hearing high-fidelity music.
The ‘60s was the golden age of recorded music; it was a time when music lovers could not live without vinyl. Recording innovations raced to a fever pitch toward the end of that era, which witnessed the birth of D2D. The technology was far superior to the standard recording process then, wherein vinyl was cut from a master tape.
The fast-paced development of tape recordings at that time made it less difficult to complete a recording session. But in the search for better recording techniques, it was perhaps inevitable that engineers would start going back to the original process (devised by Thomas Edison and Emile Berliner) wherein there was no master tape, and the music went straight from mixing board to the cutting lathe. The D2D thus skirted two major flaws of standard vinyl recording: tape noise and dynamic limitation.
The D2D, however, had put musical artists under tremendous pressure. They were required to record an entire side of vinyl at once without stopping, and with no mistakes at all. Errors, technical or otherwise, could lead to recording everything all over again. But, boy, the joy that this technology brought to a handful of audiophiles was worth every drop of the artists’ and producers’ sweat and tears! Lucky buyers of the D2D records could hear their favorite musicians as they wanted them: live! They were treated to a sound unmatched in the history of recorded music: natural-sounding instruments; unadulterated, excellent vocals.
Because of the limited lifespan of the master lacquer on which the grooves were indented, only a restricted edition of about 15,000 (more or less) copies of a recording could be distributed worldwide. With D2D, one can expect the finest not only from its excellent technology but also from the recording artists involved in the album production. D2D forces musicians to perform their very best just to complete the rigors of a single “live” recording session.
Stockfish Records wants to continue where Sheffield Labs and the other recording companies that followed left off. It has so far attracted a younger generation of audiophiles and is doing remarkably well in spreading the analog gospel. It has taken the most crucial step in quenching the audiophiles’ thirst for that ultimate sound. The next step would be getting artists who won’t play safe and are masters at improvisation.
On “Mayorga 1,” for instance, Mayorga led an outstanding group of West Coast musicians who were unafraid to pour their souls out despite the knowledge that an erroneous or wayward note anywhere within each group of five selections would require another take of the entire side from the first piece. The cutting head was disengaged in between bands so that the musicians could turn over their music sheets and take a breather.
Yes, “Mayorga 1” was a tough act to follow, but many D2D recordings that came after have had their own success stories. In all of these, the technology was secondary. At the most, it has only provided the artists a new medium by which they could display their genius. In the end, it is still the music that can uplift one’s spirit up, up and away.
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For comments or questions, please e-mail me at audioglow@yahoo.com or at vphl@hotmail.com. You can also visit www.wiredstate.com or http://bikini-bottom.proboards80.com/index.cgi for quick answers to your audio concerns.
