A Web of Sound

Sky Saxon & the rest of the L.A. band The Seeds continue their musical journey progressing forward into new ground with A Web Of Sound, which was their 2nd release, which was released in late 1966. In addition, Big Beat Records continues their Seeds releases with a nice deluxe double-disc which contains both stereo and mono mixes of A Web Of Sound plus the entire 1967 L.P. titled A Full Spoon Of Seedy Blues, which was a side project billed to The Sky Saxon Blues Band & is issued in mono for the very 1st time. In addition, there are 7 bonus tracks included, as well as an excellent, very well annotated 32 page booklet. 1st, we get AWOS, which was released shortly after The Seeds top 40 hit "Pushin' Too Hard" was starting to slide down the charts. A Web OF Sound finds the band pushing their songs into new directions heading into a more Psychedelic sound. Sky's snotty, aggressive voice explores heavier territory here. Many followers of The Seeds prefer this 2nd L.P. to their debut. The band explores a new sound here with organs, minor keys riffs, snotty aggressive references to drugs and sex along with heavier Psychedelic flourishes. We hear increased bottleneck guitar, electric fuzz-bass, & electric piano. Both stereo and mono mixes sound crisper here and, as a whole, I feel the songs are stronger in this 2nd L.P. The highlight on the L.P. is the 14:45 version of "Up In Her Room", where Sky's Psychedelic-Garage voice enhances the sexual & drug references. In regards to the "blues" L.P., I don't really feel that it displays a true blues sound. Love's Arthur Lee introduced Sky to Muddy Waters and Muddy felt stongly enough about the Seeds to even compare them to The Rolling Stones. He even lends his band on a couple of tracks, writes the tune "Plain Spoken" to give to Sky, and even wrote the liner notes on the back cover of the L.P. Most fans of The Seeds do not feel that A Full Spoon Of Seedy Blues is that strong of an L.P. Overall, with new & excellent sound in both Mono & Stereo, 7 bonus tracks which are live studio recordings, an excellent 32 page booklet, and a heady new direction by the band, A Web Of Sound is a must-have for any true followers of the Seeds or Psychedelic-Garage fans. Disc 1 is 63 minutes long while disc 2 is 71 minutes long. MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! SMRZ!!!

This is The Seeds' second album in both stereo and mono, plus 7 bonus tracks, including 5 outtakes from the recording sessions plus a couple of songs from a different recording session in 1966. Plus the (never used) mono version of "A Full Spoon Of Seedy Blues". The stereo sound is clean, but has the (slightly annoying) left/right separation of sound sometimes used in the 60's. The mono version sounds fuller and not so directional sound-wise. The 31 page booklet contains a good essay on both albums and the era, along with period photos and graphics. Included are quotes from band members about both albums and when they were recorded. The discs snap in, inside a tri-fold package with a pocket for the booklet. For me, some of these songs are pretty cool (not to mention the great cover photo!), and I've always liked this album better (plus the blues album) than the first album, so I was tempted to rate this set higher than I did. You may feel differently.With The Seeds' first album doing well in the charts, the label wanted another album soon after the first. This album is favored over the first release by a number of fans-you be the judge. There's some good songs here-"Mr. Framer", "Tripmaker", the 14+ minutes of "Up In Her Room", and some interesting songs like "I Tell Myself", reminiscent of early Rolling Stones with that slide guitar sound and the overall arrangement. "A Faded Picture" is a ballad with Saxon giving his best Mick Jagger imitation. The 7 bonus tracks are worth hearing. Songs like "The Wind Blows Her Hair", "Out Of The Question", "Pictures And Designs" are all typical sounds from The Seeds. "A Faded Picture" is a slow, almost blues sounding tune that's The Seeds at their atmospheric best.The band's "blues" album is something else entirely. Saxon (who liked blues music) had talked with Muddy Waters (who wrote on the album cover "I sincerely believe that at last America has produced a group to be another Rolling Stones. They're great boys; they present a great sound.")) and decided to record a blues album. Besides the band, members of Waters' blues band (like Luther Johnson-guitar, Mack Arnold-bass/guitar, and George Smith-harmonica) also played on the album, which helped give it a more authentic sound (listen to "Cry Wolf"), similar to (but certainly not as good as) the sound from Chess Records. This mono version was never used, with the album issued in stereo a year later. It was felt that this "blues" album would confuse fans and cut into sales of the band's regular albums. They went so far as to call themselves (on the album) the Sky Saxon Blues Band. This album has never been high on fan's list of The Seeds' best albums. And up to a point they're probably right. But this album does have some interesting songs ("Plain Spoken", "The Gardener", "Creepin' Around") that pay homage to Saxon's and the band's blues heroes.For fans of The Seeds this is worth checking out. The band wasn't a top tier group during the 60's except for the obvious Singles played on the radio. But with the passage of time, their music stands as an example of that whole exciting, weird era. From this point in time it's still fun to listen to these albums and wonder about those days so long ago. Deep fans of 60's music should check this set out.

I won't go into detail about the material here as Seeds fans will be familiar with these releases "Web of Sound" and "Spoonful of Seedy Blues." and can make up their own mind about them. The stereo mix of WOS is fantastic as are the mono mixes of both LPs. The bonus tracks are great in that they sound like "live" recordings in the studio so you get a feel for what this music would sound like live, and they are different as well which is an added perk. Packaging great! Pics great etc.This is the best version of this material available (Imo) and it's well worth getting for any Seeds fan.UPDATE: Due to information I received as a response to this post, I am upgrading to 5 stars as I have learned the original mono Lp had the same issue with the guitar solo in " Just Let Go." It was way in the background and is not the fault of remastering/mixing in the current edition.

This has great sound. Ace (and it's subsidiaries) have had a few misses on sound quality recently, but this is great sound. The Spoonful album is actually improved as a blues experience in mono and this clean quality. And for some reason, Sky Saxon's vocals don't seem to quiver as much in mono, maybe it's my imagination, I don't know. But this is the real thing.....

GREAT~~~*****Music has change though the years but this grtoup has its own style of its own... Times will never stop playing though my mind but ...THE SEEDS are the favorite old time basement rock band will keep playing in my mind always....

Just want people to be aware that there is a write protection code written into the last track on each cd. That means you will not be able to rip the cd to mp3 or wma formats. Be forwarned...

Una splendida ed inattesa sorpresa. Devo ammettere che la psichedelia anni 60 non è il mio genere, ma qui non è "solo" psichedelia. I due dischi, abbastanza diversi fra loro, hanno un imprnta molto anni 60 con contaminazioni blues che caratterizzano il suono.Ottimi la produzione dell'epoca ed il remastering.Come al solito puntale e perfetta la consegna.

GREAT!!!

Unexpectedly enjoyable listen. Double cd great value.

Exactly as described a 2 LP set

just buy it and you will hear why this album is a classic and always will be way ahead of its time 60's to 2000's and beyond