___ * ___ * ___ * ___ Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra ___ * ___ * ___ * ___

<*> "The PERRO Sessions REVAMPED" or "FIFTY YEARS on, STILL WAITING" <*>
~ ~ > ~ ~ > ~ ~ > ~ ~ 2021 "ALMOST an ALBUM" EDITION ~ ~ < ~ ~ < ~ ~ < ~ ~
revised:renewed:remixed:edited:sweetened~more like the dream that might have been

David Crosby~Jerry Garcia~Phil Lesh~Paul Kantner~Jorma Kaukonen~Jack Casady
Mickey Hart~Billy Kreutzmann~Grace Slick~David Freiberg~Graham Nash~others

November 1970 - January 1971 -|- San Francisco, California -|- Wally Heider Studios
=*= master studio mixdown reels>>DATs>>CD-Rs>>flacs>>2021 remastering =*=

~!~ Carefully remastered fixing many issues, without EQ* or NR ~!~

01 ~[04:24]~ The Wall Song (acoustic)
02 ~[04:39]~ EEP Hour
03 ~[04:51]~ Is It Really Monday?
04 ~[02:13]~ Dope Wrap piano piece
05 ~[03:33]~ Loser
06 ~[04:21]~ You Sit There
07 ~[02:33]~ Wayfaring Stranger
08 ~[10:07]~ The Mountain Song
09 ~[03:18]~ Leather Winged Bat
10 ~[07:06]~ Jam Slide II
11 ~[06:07]~ The Wall Song (electric)
12 ~[03:31]~ Jam After Electric Bat
13 ~[13:37]~ Electric Bat
`
Total Time ::: 1:10:18

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::: EXC stereo studio material, now remixed. Check samples for pain or pleasure perambulatin'.
::: Warts (NOT MANY!): Audio blemishes are minor & warts are more the early, rough, formative nature of the material.
::: PURIST ALERT: Many manipulations were performed. Ye sufferers of metathesiophobia should search elsewhere.
::: COMPARISON CLAUSE: MANY PERRO versions circulate, as noted below, tho' Barncard says the original source is the same.
::: COMPARISON CLAUSE: This "PERRO REVAMPED" version is a very remastered edit of #117066 barncard.jcannon files.
::: Created for listening pleasure, with the intention it might be listened to like an album.
::: #01-08 are mostly acoustic & the songs that follow have more electricity. It works for me.
::: #02 "EEP Hour" originally listed as "Rounds" on PERRO reels. "Garcia"1st solo LP version not recorded 'til July '71.
::: #05 "Loser"(w/unfinished vocals)#2 used here."Loser"#1 not used here - it's a rough/partial/chord teaching version.
::: #06 "You Sit There" is the correct title of this unissued song but it was noted on the reels as "Under Anesthesia".
::: #07 "Wayfaring Stranger" (partial take now merged to sound more complete) sometimes listed as "Over Jordan".
::: #08 "The Mountain Song"merges (most of) 3 of 4 versions, plus version #5 aka "Walkin' In The Mountains" as well.
::: #09 Reel title "Leather Winged Bat".Barncard also notes it as aka "Wild Turkey" as it's similar in part to the JA "Bark" tune.
::: #10 "Jam Slide II"correct title? Cannon lists it as"Shuffle (Jam Slide II)"but mixes or combines 2 titles as Barncard notes"Shuffle"as 2:20.
::: #11 "The Wall Song" (electric) is a completely DIFFERENT TAKE than the official 1972 Crosby&Nash 1st duo album version.
::: #13 Reel title "Electric Bat", which Barncard indicates is correct by default but he also refers to it as"Jerry&Jorma Jam #1".He says"Jerry&Jorma Jam #2"is the same as #1. They ARE the same take, but different mixes. #2 is used here, but remixed (&noodling&talk removed&last 50secs faded when jam repeated&fell apart). Some may like Barncard's #1 mix (quite different in parts) but it has MANY issues as noted below & is not included here.
::: Reel dates: 1970-11-04 #10//1970-12-13 #11//1971-01-02 #3,5,6,7//1971-01-14 #1,2,4,9,12//#8 merges 1971-01-02+03.
::: Original DAT sourced from 4 PERRO reels of 2-track rough mixes made during '71 sessions (more unmixed multi-tracks exist).
::: Parry/Rowland/Barncard's"PERRO Tape Story"(edit) at https://www.philzone.com/philbase/perro.html
::: "Blows Against The Empire"was the 1st LP "by" the musician collective Kantner called the"Planet Earth R&R Orchestra".
::: Sound-wise, this has NOTHING to do w/Kantner's '83 "Planet Earth R&R Orchestra"LP, tho' it has a modernized "The Mountain Song".

Recording lineage ::: master stereo rough mix studio reels (Stephen Barncard '70-71 recordings) -> 1991-01-23 A&M Studios DAT transfer -> 2007 jcannon DAT clone -> CD-Rs -> EAC -> files renamed/tagged -> first circulated 2011-11-xx.

Remastering 2021-01-xx ::: stereo studio masters (cloned) 44.10Hz/16bit wav files -> Audacity [fades, manual one-at-a-time glitch, bump, pop, click, dropout repairs, many volume adjustments & edits, merges, NO noise reduction, NO equalisation *except on some split second spots] -> CD Wave (track splits) -> flacs (Trader's Little Helper) -> yr ears. REVAMPED created & freed 2021-01-xx, FIFTY YEARS after the fact.

Line-up ::: David Van Cortlandt Crosby - acoustic guitar, vocals // Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia (†R.I.P. 1995†) - acoustic & electric guitars, vocals // Philip "Phil" Lesh (born Philip Chapman) - electric bass, backing vocals(?) // Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen Jr. - electric guitar // John William "Jack" Casady - electric bass // Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman) - drums, percussion // William "Billy" Kreutzmann Jr. - drums, percussion // Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing) - piano, backing vocals // Paul Lorin Kantner (†R.I.P. 2016†) - acoustic guitar, banjo // David Freiberg - viola (#05), backing vocals, other instruments? // Graham William Nash - piano?, acoustic guitar?, backing vocals? // "and others" - (as noted by the producer, unknown which tracks) // Stephen Quinn Barncard - session engineer/original producer (a master!).

Nothing here ever commercially released to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please advise & I'll take the offending trax offline.

DimeTravel 700 ::: MEGA thanks for jcannon for sharing the source from which this was taken! Sincere thanks to whomever uploads this for me. ::: Corrections welcome ::: Some thoughts below. FEED your head. Listen, enjoy, show appreciation, share, give, spread peace. Yrs truly, Knees

======================= "PERRO REVAMPED" overview =======================

Loads of info has been written about this material over the years. Early sessions for what might have become an album - but it never happened. A number of these are rough, quite incomplete songs, some have only partial lyrics, or no lyrics were yet written or recorded, and some are only jams. Thankfully, some of the material appeared in raw form years ago so we could get a taste. A PERRO version of "The Mountain Song" from these sessions on YTube has had 378,000 views in the past 10 years, so there is still great interest.

I've been waiting for the PERRO "album" for decades... and decided 50 years was long enough. I still love the idea of the album format & concept, which, if not immediately a coherent work, often becomes so over time - but we are almost out of time. This is an (amateur) personal attempt to take the 2 hours of material that surfaced & shape it into something much more like an album, albeit a rough demo one. Blemishes, talking, cuts & many disappointments have been corrected, omitted or massaged into what I find an extremely workable, very special listening experience. A small glimpse of what the PERRO HOLY GRAIL *might* look like if Mr Barncard were to work on it from multi-tracks. If an amateur can get here in 7 days of work (8 actually with the notes...), imagine what the master could do. Armchair critics encouraged not to byte the hand that ain't force-feeding ya, just bark up another tree - editorial decisions were made with the best of intentions.

I tried to use ALL PERRO material that seemed cohesive and/or could be melded with other parts to sound that way - leaving out dead air & tuning, most studio talk, false starts, abrupt stops, places where jams/songs fell apart, breaks, repetition (including alternate mixes), etc. Of course "Mountain Song" could be chopped down more, but it would miss a number of parts that, however repetitious, are unique - groove on it or fade early if you will. That song is still a long, rambling work in its infancy, but soars in & out of the clouds with hope & longing - lovely. Some tracks still fall into repetition, especially the instrumentals, but overall, you can get lost in the maze without fearing jarring breaks, annoying distractions or sound issues. (NOTE: The original jcannon source was 120mins including a duplicated 15min alternate mix, so 105mins. "REVAMPED" brings all material considered workable down to 70mins).

Volume adjustments were used all over, sometimes throughout a song or sometimes raising/lowering vocals/instruments in only one channel. Merges & edits were used to make some songs/jams coherent. NO EQ was used except on a few spots of split second signal overload or overwhelming bass. Channels were flipped in a few places & for 1 or 2 entire songs. A few segments have the opposing channel mixed in at some level to make something more prominent (often Garcia!). Talking during music was removed or lowered. Brief, light effects added in fade-in/fade-outs in 2 or 3 tracks.

Overall, I find the barncard-jcannon (used for this REVAMP) & the "Kouky/Green Mnt Bros" PERRO sources the best out there. Odd differences abound in circulating PERRO versions. An example: on sacks.4498 "Jorma&Jerry's Jam 2 (Jam After Electric Bat)", the left channel (only!) is inverted from other PERRO versions, had 2mins chopped off&runs at a slightly different speed or has some micro-edits, etc. All versions of that long track had a bad miking job on specific percussive sounds seemingly from one drum, exacerbated by what is presumably diginoise - often you were hit with micro-distortion & pops at almost the same time. I cleaned up all the pops I found/heard & lowered the most annoying distortion spots (10+hours), but on other speakers/headphones some may still be apparent - but for me, the track now sounds great.

Some might find the 2 longest tracks tedious, tho' both work for me at this point - Fade either one as you choose, particularly the last song. I offer the caveat that on "Leather Winged Bat" & "Mountain Song" & perhaps another song, beat counters may have to take their meds before listening, but hopefully my edit transitions are fairly seamless for most 'o you. "The Mountain Song" is quite long but it loses character without the long quiet passage.

"The Wall Song" here has a *classic* Garcia single sustain 10 second note (4.03-4.13), not as demented & soaring as the ultimate live Matrix "Cowboy Movie" one, but fantastic & pure. It also has a 2+ minute jam sequence that was faded out or not played when the same folks (plus Graham Nash) re-recorded the song for the first Croz&Nash duo album.

While it cannot be included here as it would contain released material, for those with the know-how, it is possible, as per Steve SIlverman's recommendation in the PERRO notes, to combine the released 1972 "Crosby & Nash" 1st duo LP version of "The Wall Song" with the 1970 unissued electric alternate presented here, in a virtually seamless fashion, even though they were recorded at different times. With some careful merging, volume tinkering & slight EQ, one can append the approx. 2min20sec jam from the latter to the former where they opted to fade out the abum just as it is getting even more interesting. As an aside, since the fade is a bit boring in the outtake version, using the fadeout from the released version is also possible.

Barncard said the PERRO jcannon DAT version is a complete copy in order of the mixdown tapes transfer. NOT used here, but other PERRO versions include what is likely an "If I Could Only Remember My Name" outtake, "Kids&Dogs" (now a Crosby "Voyage" CD box official release). A Crosby solo instrumental, partial "Wooden Ships" (with scat vocals only & some distorted parts) dated 1971-01-02, is included in some PERRO versions (but NOT this 117066 source) & may have been used in the official 2019 Crosby documentary during fade-out credits. Also, some of the earlier PERRO versions definitely mixed in some outtakes from the first Crosby album.

5 decades is a long time to wait. Hope this PERRO "REVAMPED" rocks your boat & takes you sailing.

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PERRO VERSIONS found, mostly at etreedb.org (most poorly documented & some numbers were reassigned):
#4498 NUMBER on "sacks" download but but seems to have been reassigned.
#47434 NO info given. Etree number listed under PERRO but seems to have been reassigned.
#49976 Mostly same tracklist except 3 non-PERRO songs appended. NO other info given.
#53080 Mostly same tracklist. Noted as part of PERRO sessions 1971-01-2+3+11+14.
#74182 NO info given. Etree # listed under PERRO but must have been reassigned.
#53999 NO info given but 1971-08-21 is "Mickey Hart's Barn"&date too late these PERRO sessions.
#53972 Same tracklist (as jcannon source) but 2 breaks noted as extra tracks. NO other info given.
#80722 Mostly same setlist. NO other info given except some artists, likely with 1 error.
#80895 Mostly same setlist. NO other info. Etree # listed under PERRO but must have been reassigned.
#81260 Mostly same setlist. Still shns,circulated 2006, included partial"Wooden Ships"&"Kids&Dogs".
#87499 Mostly same setlist. Circulated 2007 as Kouky/Green Mountain Brothers source.
#82040 NO info given. Etree # listed under PERRO but must have been reassigned.
#92756 NO tracklist or source info given. Artist listing incomplete with 1 or 2 errors.
#117066 barncard.jcannon version USED for this remaster, first circulated 2011-11-xx.
#201194 CD3+4 mostly same setlist. CD1+2 actually IICORMN outtakes.
#401873 Mostly same tracklist. NO other info given.
#408485 Mostly same tracklist but dates given don't all match Barncard notes. NO other info given.
#xxxxxxx Paul Kantner & Friends 1971 "Ultimate PERRO" 2CD-R.
Other versions circulate including 4CD-R sets mixing PERRO & "If I Could Only Remember My Name" sessions.
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