• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Songs that sounded "better" on AM

chuckydoll said:
Detroit-era (1959-71) Motown releases in their 45 RPM versions. They sound better on AM and FM.
Click to expand...

Barry Gordy famously had these records engineered to sound best coming out of a four-inch
car speaker. He was astute enough to realize that this was how most people were listening
to music at the time.
 
Captainfirst said:
Reportedly, Brian Wilson even went so far as to have an actual car radio with its speaker in the studio with him so he could test various mixes of Beach Boy songs right there on the spot.
Click to expand...

...that was nothing new -- Rick Sklar tested every new jingle for WABC New York the same way at the time...
 
The (Paul Revere) Raiders did the same thing. They had a radio speaker to A//B with the big studio monitors for their sessions.

Thinking back, a lot of those late 60's/early 70's hits must have done that. Anybody remember that the VU meter never MOVED from 110% on anything like "Indian Reservation", "Little Green Bag", "My Baby Loves Lovin" or "Ma Belle Ami"?
 
didn't a lot of us "aging baby boomers" modify the existing sound systems in cars w/just AM radios during the 60's by adding a rear speaker(or two) and installing a fader swich? With the right setup, a clear AM station playing music sounded pretty darn good and the range of some of the AM's was a lot greater than the FM's.

I remember my '65 Plymouth Fury Fury III 2door hardtop (metallic red, black interior)
with a super AM sound system. It cranked. The song that sounded best was Groovin' by the Rascals. It has never sound as good since no matter what I hear it on.
 
Reportedly, Brian Wilson even went so far as to have an actual car radio with its speaker in the studio with him so he could test various mixes of Beach Boy songs right there on the spot.
Wasn't Brian Wilson's preference for mono over stereo partially due to the fact that he's deaf in one ear?
 
therealjm12 said:
I remember my '65 Plymouth Fury Fury III 2door hardtop (metallic red, black interior)
with a super AM sound system. It cranked.
Click to expand...

That was a Bendix radio probably.. It's so good I have 3 or 4 of them around.
I'm fortunate enough to have a Bendix AM/FM in my '66 Plymouth Belvedere II convertible. I was able to realign it to tune up to 1700.
And it came out of a '65 Sport Fury.
Tenna also made some cheapies for Chrysler Corp, but if you had one of those you wouldn't be remembering it fondly.

Did your car have the factory reverb, too?
 
Heavy compressed Jackson Five-"I Want You Back" with that piano roll at the beginning... "Love Grows Where Rosemary Goes" by Edison Lighthouse (Guitar lick)..."Love Beat, It's A Heartbeat" by The DeFranco Family (Intro only.. The rest of it was bubble bum at its worst...Some BG was good).... "Hot Smoke & Sasafrass" by Bubble Puppy....Spirit/"I Got A Line On You"...."Run, Run, Run" by JoJoGunne...."Gimme Some Lovin" by The Spencer Davis Group...."Up Around The Bend" by Creedence Clearwater Revival...."Day Tripper"/The Beatles..."------ Tonk Woman"/Rolling Stones...."Join Together" by The Who...."Rock On"/David Essex....Dave Edmonds/"I Hear You Knockin'"...."25 Or 6 To 4" by Chicago...."Reelin' In The Years"/Steely Dan..."Already Gone"/The Eagles...."I Wanna' Be With You"/Raspberries...."Ball Of Confussion"/Temptations.... "Everlasting Love"/Carl Carlton... "Judy In Desguise"/John Fred & His Playboy Band... Bobby Fuller Four/"I Fought The Law"... "Ticket To Ride" & "Paperback Writer"/The Beatles... "Catch Us If You Can" & "Glad All Over"/The Dave Clark Five.... "I Feel Good" & "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"/James Brown... "Dancing Queen"/Abba... "The Letter" & "Soul Deep" by The Box Tops.... "Good Lovin"/The Rascals... "Valerie" & "Pleasent Valley Sunday"/The Monkees... Many more.. ALL ON TWO CD"S in MONO and compressed through a CBS/Labs Compressor and refiltered by a DAP (Discriminate Audio Processor, the best AM processor EVER made for MONO, to this date!).... Mr. Diamond was right! "Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and everyone go to Brother Love's Travelin' Salvation AM RADIO show! WFIL, WABC, WRKO, WQAM, WAPE, CKLW, KB-15, KQV, WAKY, WSAI, WIXY, WLS, WCFL, WOKY, WIFE, WNDE, WKLO, WMAK, WLAS, KAAY, KXOK, KIRL, WHBQ, WMPS, WNOE, KLIF, KILT, WOAI, WHB, KDAF, KOIL, KLEO, KIMN, KTLK, WDAF, KIOA, KSTP, KUDL, KRUX, XEROX, KBG, KHJ, KFRC, KING, KJR, KYA, WROK, WGBF, WGOW, WQXI, and many others that graced the AM band....Give me a tubed radio in a T-Bird and 'wah-lah'!
 
Good list skipper. I would add ANY SONG "RE CHANNELED FOR STEREO"...
Man I am so sad everytime I hear a Beach Boys tune and half of the song is GONE.
 
therealjm12 said:
didn't a lot of us "aging baby boomers" modify the existing sound systems in cars w/just AM radios during the 60's by adding a rear speaker(or two) and installing a fader swich? With the right setup, a clear AM station playing music sounded pretty darn good and the range of some of the AM's was a lot greater than the FM's.
Click to expand...

My first car was a '65 VW, and the radio sounded OK - UNTIL I found a large speaker that fit perfectly on top of a beer keg. I placed this "superwoofer" behind the rear seat and didn't just listen to AM; I experienced AM. Our local Top 40 was heavy on bass anyway, so I would tune the radio slightly off the station to get a crystal-clear sound while retaining the bass.

"Twas nice. ;)
 
TCSN..good list, but the songs that REALLY were compressed so much, even the station board meters barely moved, yet alone the Modulation Monitor...The Rasberries.
And as far as mono "one track mind" thinking, the king has to be Phil Spector. I just received a Brussels import of the "Ultimate Ronettes" in True Stereo. FABULOUS!!!
 
Anything that was mixed for mono sounded better on AM. The Raspberries Go All The Way is a perfect example. Even on the LP the single mix was still basically mono.
 
Here's my list:

Blue Suede Shoes-Carl Perkins
Love(Can Make You Happy)-Mercy
Mama Told Me(Not To Come)-Three Dog Night
Shame,Shame-Electric Lantern
We're An American Band-Grand Funk Railroad
If Not For You-Olivia Newton-John
Rock & Roll Part 2-Gary Glitter
Mickey-Toni Basil
In The Summertime-Mungo Jerry
Go All The Way-Raspberries
It's My Party-Lesley Gore
Spill The Wine-Eric Burdon w/War
High Time We Went-Joe Cocker
Let It Be-The Beatles

And my all time wish for artists (that were shunned on AM) but should have been on:
Bob Marley and The Wailers
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Contemporary Christian artists in the 1970s
Blues legends John Lee Hooker,Howlin' Wolf and Etta James

Artists that should have been shunned by AM
Bay City Rollers
Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods
David Geddes
Culture Club
KISS
Leif Garrett
Pia Zadora
Rush Limbaugh(LOL!!!)
 
But the Bay City Rollers actually sounded better on AM.

All other points agreed.

I'll add "House of the Rising Sun" by Frijid Pink
 
"Quick Joey Small (Run, Joey, Run Run) by St.KatzBand... Heard it on "Super-CFL" from 300 miles away and the song production plus the "DAP" processor on 'CFL made it scream........"Sky High" ???? That horn intro was cool... 'LS and 'CFL both playing Chicago's cover of "I'm A Man" (Full Length)....Bum-Bumm-Bummdabum....
 
The Big Hurt
Itcheykoo Park
Listen to the Music
Killer Queen
Life in the Fast Lane
or almost anything else with true tape flanging sounds better on AM than FM.
 
Do all of these titles feature tape flanging? I obviously knew that about Timi Uro as it was the first big hit to use the effect. But the others must be very subtle. Or perhaps I just have a flanged ear.

BenTehelenbach said:
The Big Hurt
Itcheykoo Park
Listen to the Music
Killer Queen
Life in the Fast Lane
or almost anything else with true tape flanging sounds better on AM than FM.
Click to expand...
 
I know this has been mentioned before in the thread, but there was a period in the early 70's when AM and FM were (for lack of a better term, converging), and a lot of record labels and producers tried real hard to make their records sound great on AM as to not lose airplay to the up and coming FM's. They used a lot of compression and little stereo seperation for this intent purpose. (I know there are more technical terms for this, but I'm not a sound engineer!) "Brandy" by Lookinglass, and "Nice to be with you" by Gallery were two good examples. You hear these on FM and something is indeed missing!
 
The Big Hurt
Itcheykoo Park
Listen to the Music
Killer Queen
Life in the Fast Lane
Do all of these titles feature tape flanging?
Click to expand...

The flanging at the end of Killer Queen was more subtle than the the other titles. Killer Queen and Life in the Fast Lane may have used analog delay lines, instead of true tape flanging, but they still sound pretty cool on AM.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom