Jan, You're Blowing My Mind

[Bitman]

Before Carnival of Sound finally officially came out we had the bootlegs.  I just assumed the 'fat' sounding tracks like Fan Tan, Hawaii, Girl You're Blowing My Mind and Dean's Louisiana Man were cut before the accident and the 'thinner' sounding cuts like Stay, Mullholland, the latter Louisiana Man and In The Still of the Night were done post accident after Jan's abilities had diminished.  Ah, but thanks to Mark's notes, we know what happens when you assume!  I was stunned to find that Fan Tan and Hawaii in partiuclar were all done post accident.  My first thoughts were 'Why didn't the whole album sound that good?'  I suppose that the vocals had something to do with it as on the thinner sounding cuts the singers aren't even making an effort to sound like Jan as they seem to be doing on the other songs like Fan Tan.  Knowing Jan could still produce songs like Fan Tan and Hawaii post accident makes me appreciate his talent all the more.  I understand there's a bootleg that contains nothing but about 20 versions of Girl You're Blowing My Mind!  The boot I have has four versions, including what it says is the 45 version (WB 7240).  According to the notes it says there are only two known promo copies in existence.   However, what they claim is the WB 7240 version isn't on the Rhino CD.  Anyone (Mark) know which is the correct 45 version?  Bottom line it is great to hear this stuff off the master tapes.  I agree it would be great if Rhino sells a ton of copies so someone will do some more digging into the J & D vaults.

[Ban n Bean]

I'm sure the vaults have loads of neat stuff.  If Warner saved the multis (we do now have stereo mixes), that probably means they saved the session tapes which I would think are pretty extensive given the amount of time spent on the album.

I would love to hear more (I think) of Jan's vocal demos like he did for "Laurel And Hardy.

Were the "sound like Jan" vocals done by Ron Hinklin?

[jdman]

Bitman, I have to disagree a little bit. Although I agree with the comments on Fan Tan and Hawaii,great productions, I also think the covers were very good.Louisiana Man on the Rhino CD is far better than the Dean version. Stay and In the Still of the Night are 2 of my favorites as well. In fact, the 2 reviews Mark posted praised In the Still of the Night as the best track on the whole CD.
I don't know about that, but the covers are very strong in my opinion.

[Mark A. Moore]

According to Andrew Sandoval (based on the single master tape box and info from Warner Bros.), Jan's September 1968 single mix of "Girl, You're Blowin' My Mind" is the first track on the album.

Laquers for the single were shipped to Warner Bros. -- for a projected release on October 9 -- but they were never pressed.

[Mark A. Moore]

I'm sure the vaults have loads of neat stuff.  If Warner saved the multis (we do now have stereo mixes), that probably means they saved the session tapes which I would think are pretty extensive given the amount of time spent on the album.

I would love to hear more (I think) of Jan's vocal demos like he did for "Laurel And Hardy.

Were the "sound like Jan" vocals done by Ron Hinklin?

Glen Campbell sings on all four of the "Jan & Dean Label" recordings — the "sound like Jan" vocals. The leads sound doubled (at least). Ron Hicklin also sings on three of those four sides.

It's possible that Ron doubled with Glen on three sides, with Glen and Tony Minichiello doubling the fourth side ("Tijuana"). That's just one possibility.

The AFTRA documentation identifies who sang on those dates, but not the parts assigned to each singer.

Glen can be heard speaking during a "Fan Tan" session.

[Mark A. Moore]

Bitman,

On the "Jan & Dean Label" recordings — Hawaii, Fan Tan, and Love & Hate — Jan added tinges of psychedelia to the old J&D sound. ("Tijuana" doesn't count, as it was merely a quick and easy filler for a fourth side when Jan bootlegged his own material in '67).

Apart from the Oldies and "Only A Boy," the remaining songs are purposely of a different style and more progressive sound.

[Ban n Bean]

Glen Campbell sings on all four of the "Jan & Dean Label" recordings — the "sound like Jan" vocals. The leads sound doubled (at least). Ron Hicklin also sings on three of those four sides.

It's possible that Ron doubled with Glen on three sides, with Glen and Tony Minichiello doubling the fourth side ("Tijuana"). That's just one possibility.

The AFTRA documentation identifies who sang on those dates, but not the parts assigned to each singer.

Glen can be heard speaking during a "Fan Tan" session.

What does listening to the takes on the session reels reveal?  Is it possible to discern individual voices from talk back or is there not enough information on the tapes?  The lead vocals certainly sound doubled and could be a combination of voices like what Hicklin did with Gary Lewis.

[Bitman]

Well, my original thoughts may not have come across exactly as I intened.  It's not that I don't like some of the remakes on the album, it's just that to me Hawaii, Fan Tan etc. sound more like classic J&D and as if the accident never happened.  I also prefer Dean's version of Louisiana Man, although I assume Jan had laid down the backing tracks prior to the accident.   As Mark said, a part of the problem Jan encountered was Glen Campbell's solo career taking off at the time this album was recorded, making him unavailable for vocals.  While we all have songs on COS we like more than others, the main point I wanted to make was how amazed I was that Jan could produce songs like Fan Tan, etc. post accident.  Truly amazing! 

[1Jay1]

Jan may have had trouble commincating,and when it came to the music he knew what sound he wanted and he got it,and it was great for jan in his part of his recovery to do  this album,and i m so pleased it now has been released so us jan and dean fans can hear  all the hard work jan put into this album,