AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head

Featured in Michael Fremer's Heavy Rotation in the March 2011 & September 2010 Issue of Stereophile!

Music 8/10 Sound 9/10 by Michael Fremer January 01, 2011

Keb' Mo's mellow protest album recycles classics from the '60s and '70s, recasting them for the 2004 mindset witnessing the greatest strategic foreign policy mistake in American history. Even the opener, Stephen Stills' '60s paranoia-soaked "For What It's Worth" opens the set with a slinky, laid back groove. Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes' "Wake Up Everybody" gets reverential treatment, with Reggie McBride's strong bass line dominating along with Paulinho da Costa's percussion.

A string section fills in the open spots. The Rascals' (Brigati-Cavaliere) firey, up-tempo "People Got the Be Free" gets a mellower, more resigned reading, with less emphasis on the horns. In fact Keb' Mo' (Kevin Moore) applies the same easy going tactic to everything here. Keeping the stridency levels low and the groove levels high works really well because Keb' Mo' avoids competing with the originals while making "protest" songs palatable for all. "Talk," an imaginary conversion with the president is the sole original. The message is "Why don't we talk to each other." Other covers include Marvin Gaye's "What's Happening Brother," Chet Powers' "Get Together" immortalized by The Youngbloods, Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" Nick Lowe's essential "(What's So Funny 'bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" and of course John Lennon's "Imagine,"

the tone-setter for everything here. The recording is superb L.A. studio circa the era in which it was recorded and it was mostly recorded at L.A.'s best: The Village Recorders and Conway. Could this minor project have been recored analog? I just can't imagine that but it sure sounds great, however it was recorded and whatever source was used. Deep tight bass and cracking percussion. How can you go wrong?

"Peace...Back by Popular Demand finds Keb' Mo' covering nine classic protest and peace songs from the 1960s and early '70s, and what is immediately apparent is how well these songs translate forward into the current political milieu. This is an album where the songs themselves are the stars, and Keb' Mo' wisely takes a low-key and measured vocal approach to each of them, letting the messages take hold over light soul-jazz backings, with just enough funk in the horn charts to give the arrangements some push. It's hard to argue with the song selection, but as an interpreter, Mo' seldom makes any of these tracks his own, and behind each stands the ghostly but clear memory of the original version. Obviously Mo' isn't trying to top the Hit Parade with anything here, and his effort to bring these important songs into a new light is laudable. Peace...Back by Popular Demand is not a major album, but it does have some major things to say, or re-say, in this case, and it serves as a reminder that every era could use (and deserves) some peace."- Steve Leggett/AMG

Musicians:
Keb Mo, guitar, dobro
James Harrah, guitar
Jeff Paris, Hammond organ, electric piano, keyboards, acoustic piano
Reggie McBride, bass
Stephen Ferrone, drums
Paulinho da Costa, percussion
Lon Price, saxophone
Brian Schwartoz, trumpet, flugelhorn
Nicholas Lane, trombone
Nikka Costa, scat vocal (1,3)
Philip Ingram, backing vocals
Will Wheaton, backing vocals

Selections:
1. For What It's Worth
2. Wake Up Everybody
3. People Got To Be Free
4. Talk
5. What's Happening Brother
6. The Times They Are a Changin'
7. Get Together
8. Someday We'll All Be Free
9. (What's So Funny 'Bout0 Peace, Love and Understanding
10. Imagine

ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES

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We use the Original Tapes and work with only the Best Mastering Studios

PALLAS

Plated and Pressed at Pallas in Germany on 180 gram Virgin Vinyl

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LIMITED EDITION

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Pure Pleasure Records
The Restoration of the Art of Sound
180g Vinyl Mastered From The Best Available Sources

At the beginning of the 90s, in the early days of audiophile vinyl re-releases, the situation was fairly straightforward. Companies such as DCC, Mobile Fidelity, Classic Records and, of course, Pure Pleasure all maintained a mutual, unwritten ethical code: we would only use analogue tapes to manufacture records. During the course of the present vinyl hype, many others have jumped on the bandwagon in the hope of securing a corner of the market. Very often they are not so ethical and use every imaginable source to master from: CDs, LPs, digital files, MP3s – or employed existent tools from the 80s and 90s for manufacturing.

A digital delay is gladly used when cutting a lacquer disc because tape machines with an analogue delay have become quite rare and are therefore expensive. When cutting the lacquer, the audio signal is delayed by one LP revolution against the signal, which controls the cutter head, and for this a digital delay is very often employed. Of course, the resultant sound signal is completely digital and thus only as good as this delay.

We should like to emphasize that Pure Pleasure Records on principle only uses the original master tape as the basis for the entirely analogue cutting of lacquer discs. In addition, the pressing tool is newly manufactured as a matter of principle. We only employ existing tools for manufacturing if an improved result is not forthcoming, e.g. the title Elvis Is Back, which was mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray, or several titles from our Philips Classics series, which in any case Willem Makkee cut from the original masters at the Emil Berliner Studios in the 90s. It goes without saying that we only used the mother and that new tools were made for our production. To put it in a nutshell: we can ensure you that our releases are free from any kind of digital effects and that the lacquer discs are newly cut.

There really is nothing quite like it.  It’s the touch, the feel, you have to stop and stare, the cover,  the real thing, even the smell.

Its tangible, you can feel it, see it, study it,   muse/dream over it, it’s real, someone  has spent hours and hours over its construction and presentation. Pure Pleasure Records is just that, Pure Pleasure and that is what it has set out to be.  The music and the physical record.  Something to keep, treasure, admire and above all enjoy.Of course with vinyl it’s not just a record, it’s the cover,  the sleeve notes, you are  holding a unique package, produced by craftsmen.

60 Years Pallas