Connections

Sonobeat producer Rim Kelley“Rim Kelley” was the pseudonym used by Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. as a radio deejay in Austin, Texas, during the 1960s and as a Sonobeat producer from 1967 to 1970. knew Plymouth Rock co-founder Johnny Schwertner from Sonobeat’s work with Lavender Hill Express, Austin ’70s supergroup that recorded three 45 RPM singles for Sonobeat in ’67 and ’68. But Johnny left Lavender Hill Express in ’68, before the band’s third single was recorded, to start Plymouth Rock. Rim and Johnny ended up in a history class together in fall 1969 at The University of Texas. Rim vaguely recalled the class was about the Prussian Empire and the Austro-Prussian War. This was one of the last classes he needed in order to graduate, but the class wasn’t engaging him, so he payed little attention to the lectures. The class was taught in a large-capacity auditorium-style classroom. Rim and Johnny sat toward the back of the room and talked music, which led to Sonobeat recording Plymouth Rock in October ’69.

The Plymouth Rock sessions resulted in Sonobeat’s 16th 45 RPM single release, Memorandum backed with Just a Start. The basic instrumental tracks for Plymouth Rock’s single were recorded at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church’s basketball court-sized auditorium in northwest Austin, and additional instrumental and vocal overdubs were recorded at Sonobeat’s small home-based Western Hills Drive studio, also in northwest Austin. Plymouth Rock’s was the first of only two 45 RPM singles commercially released by Sonobeat in monaural rather than in Sonobeat’s signature “solid state stereo”, but we’ll get to that, too, in a moment. The catchy Memorandum, with its power guitar intro hook, was John Inmon’s composition and the shuffling, jazzy Just a Start was a collaboration between bandmates Johnny Schwertner and Frank Harrison.

Plymouth Rock work tape

Work tape box label

Plymouth Rock master tape

The Sonobeat single (1969)

Because of how Rim originally engineered the instrumental backing tracks as well as the complex overdubbed harmony vocals and additional instruments – including John Inmon’s double guitar solo on Memorandum – Rim focused on creating a balanced monaural radio mix. Although today Rim recalls experimenting with stereo mixes for the 1969 release, he admits creating a balanced stereo version at the time proved too elusive, so Memorandum and Just a Start were released only in their mono mix versions. We haven’t been able to locate Rim’s experimental stereo mixes from 1969 in the Sonobeat archives, and even the band’s work tapes in the archives are monaural mixes. Both labels on sides of the single’s say “MONO VERSION”, as if there also were stereo versions, but no stereo versions were ever released on vinyl. Somewhat enigmatically, but probably just a simple labeling mistake, the Plymouth Rock single’s catalog number on the label reads R-s114. In Sonobeat’s commercial release cataloging nomenclature, “s” meant “stereo”, so the single was mislabelled and should have been issued as R-m114. Memorandum was released the week of November 10, 1969, concurrently with Sonobeat’s release of its James Polk and the Brothers single Stick-To-It-Tiv e-Ness.

And then...

In 1973, John Inmon and Donny Dolan joined Lavender Hill Express exes Rusty Wier and Gary P. Nunn in Jerry Jeff Walker’s celebrated Lost Gonzo Band, a seminal band that helped launch Austin’s cosmic cowboy movement – country music strongly influenced by late ’60s hippie culture.

In September 2015, Sonobeat Historical Archives reissued a restored, remixed, and remastered digital version of Plymouth Rock’s 1969 single on iTunes and Amazon Music. This marked the first time the single was available in stereo, made possible using today’s sophisticated digital audio workstations. The stereo remixes are made from 88.2KHz/24bit digital transfers from the original half-inch 4-track analog session masters, and each of the four individual tracks was further broken into component stems that were remixed to create the first “official” stereo versions using Logic Pro, Adobe Audition, a half-dozen specialty audio plug-ins, and iZotope’s Ozone mastering suite. But wait, there’s more!

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, in November 2019 we gave Memorandum a brand new, wider stereo remix. Remastered by Colin Leonard at SING Mastering, Atlanta, Georgia, using SING Technology^® (Patented), the single is available in a spectacular Apple Digital Master version on Apple Music. In addition, the 50th anniversary reissue is available on all major music digital download and streaming platforms worldwide. We’ve added some interesting (we think) audio excerpts from our 2019 remix sessions in our Listen! section below, along with an excerpt from the official Apple Digital Master reissue.

50th anniversary digital reissue

For its 50th anniversary digital reissue of Plymouth Rock’s single in 2019, Sonobeat Historical Archives commissioned Colin Leonard at SING Mastering in Atlanta, Georgia, to remaster Memorandum. Colin’s impressive mastering credits include albums and singles by Alessia Cara, Justin Bieber, Jay-Z, Bryson Tiller, Echosmith, Leona Lewis, Migos, Icona Pop, Mastodon, Kimbra, Indigo Girls, and Gucci Mane. Memorandum is available on Apple Music in a sparkling Apple Digital Master edition, remastered by Colin, using his patented using SING Technology, directly from a high resolution 88.2 kHz/24 bit transfer from Sonobeat’s original analog session master tape.