History
Sonobeat Milestones II: The '70s +
The story of Austin's Sonobeat Recording Company, Sonobeat Records, and Sonosong Music in the 1960s and '70s
As Austin, Texas-based Sonobeat Recording Company enters the 1970s, at only 2-1/2 years old, it's graduated from using local nightclubs as make-shift recording studios to recording many acts in its small home-based studio in northwest Austin. It's made sizeable investments to upgrade its recording equipment, too, adding two half-inch 4-track tape decks, assorted dynamic and condenser microphones, a steel plate reverb, and additional outboard audio-processing equipment. Turning this corner, Sonobeat's ready for more complicated and sophisticated recording sessions, but it also faces a series of increasingly difficult challenges that eventually lead to its demise in 1976. Sonobeat will be reborn in a completely different way in 2004 with the launch of Sonobeat Historical Archives and this website.
Using the timeline
Scroll down to move from the oldest to newest dates in the timeline. This portion of the timeline focuses on Sonobeat's milestones from the 1970s through today.
Ohio Express sessions
January 1970Nationally famous bubble gum band Ohio Express takes a detour through Austin to regroup. This is just one of many incarnations of the band responsible for half a dozen top 40 best-sellers, including Beg Borrow and Steal and Yummy Yummy Yummy. Ohio Express' sessions, recorded at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin, yield three completed songs – Beauty So Deep, Greyhound Shuffle, and Sweet Genie – that mark a musical departure from the band's former teeny-bopper sound.
Building the custom 16-input mixing console
February-March 1970By 1970, Sonobeat has outgrown the 10-input portable suitcase mixer it built in 1968. With two half-inch 4-track tape decks that can be sync-locked to form a virtual 8-track recorder, Sonobeat needs a more powerful mixing console. Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley uses audio integrated circuits to design a 16-input console that includes features found on hundred thousand dollar professional consoles used by the major Hollywood, New York, and Nashville recording studios: mike and line-level preamp modules with built-in audio compressors, equalization controls, reverb send and receive, and headphone mixing controls. Rim mass produces the printed circuit boards needed for all the mixer functions, and Bill Josey Sr. builds the console units themselves – he breaks up the console into three units that fit together to form an "L" – outfitting them with VU meters and linear slider volume and pan controls. The main mixing console unit is completed in time for the Mariani sessions that will begin in March.
Mariani (group) sessions
March-April 1970Mariani, a power trio built around drummer Vince Mariani, records an early version of Last Milestone plus complete tracks for a pair of originals, Re-birth Day and Memories Lost and Found, that will be released as a Sonobeat single in September. Recorded at Sonobeat's home-based studio in a quiet northwest Austin neighborhood, the Marshall-amp-powered band is incredibly loud, attracting neighbors' complaints, so the Mariani sessions relocate to a vacant 100 acre ranch near McDade, Texas (east of Austin). There Sonobeat records the band's basic instrumental tracks for what will become the Perpetuum Mobile album. The vocal overdubs and a series of jazz instrumental "intercuts" are recorded at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in the weeks that follow. These sessions are the first that use the new custom 16-input mixing console that Sonobeat has just completed.
Ohio Express mix-down session
March 8, 1970Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley mixes final versions of the material recorded two months earlier by Ohio Express, but Sonobeat soon learns that Ohio Express is still under contract to Buddah Records, so release plans are scrapped and Sonobeat's Ohio Express recordings are permanently shelved.
The David Flack Quorum sessions
August 11 & 17-18, 1970San Antonio-based jazz-rock-classical fusion composer/keyboardist David Flack and Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. begin work on an album at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin that will end up taking three years to complete and two more after that before release. David's first sessions result in five near-complete tracks. This will be the last material Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley engineers before departing the company to start law school.
Liberty/UA buys Sonobeat's Afro-Caravan album
September 1970Earlier in the year Liberty Records and United Artists Records merge to form Liberty/UA. The new entity buys Sonobeat's Home Lost and Found (The Natural Sound), an Afro-jazz album by Wali and the Afro-Caravan. This marks Sonobeat's second sale to a national label (Johnny Winter's The Progressive Blues Experiment was the first, sold a year earlier to Liberty Records).
Mariani's 45 RPM single release
September 8, 1970
Sonobeat releases it's 20th 45 RPM single, Mariani's progressive rock single Re-birth Day backed with Memories Lost And Found. In addition to a general public release in a plain sleeve, a limited number of copies, circulated to radio stations and record reviewers, are packaged in a high-gloss white sleeve marked with the band's name and "advance copy". This is Sonobeat's second monaural single; all other Sonobeat singles, except Mariani's and Plymouth Rock's, are issued in stereo.
Progressive rock Mono 45 RPM single • R-s118
Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley departs
September 1970Married in June 1970 and then taking a break from Sonobeat for a 6-week ROTC summer camp at Fort Riley, Kansas, Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley departs in mid-September to start law school in Houston. But he'll return during school breaks at the end of 1970 and into summer 1971 to assist with vocal overdub and mixing sessions.
Wildfire sessions
October-November 1970In 1969, California trio Wildfire treks to Austin to play a gig at Hill on the Moon at City Park on Lake Austin but ends up staying on. By 1970, the band has gained popularity throughout Austin and Central Texas and records a demo album at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin. The band pays for the sessions, so Sonobeat doesn't retain the right to release the album. It remains "in the can" until the band itself finally issues it 36 years later, in 2006, under the title Smokin'.
Herman Nelson's second Sonosong Music demo album issued
November 1970
Sonobeat issues its second album of Herman Nelson's original songs on behalf of sister company Sonosong Music; the limited edition white-jacket album is circulated only to national record company A&RArtist & Repertoire exeutives at record labels build and manage a roster of artists, connecting them to new songs and overseeing their recording activities. executives in hopes that they will select some of Herman's songs for national recording artist cover versions. Most songs on the album are performed by Bill Wilson (guitars and vocals) and Mike Waugh (bass).
Fast Cotton sessions
November 11-12, 1970A retooled version of the Sweetarts, with added musicians and a new focus on soul and experimental music, Fast Cotton records five original songs at Sonboeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin. The instrumental backings are tracked on November 11th followed by vocal overdubs on the 12th.
Tom Van Zandt session
November 14, 1970As the Fast Cotton sessions end on November 12th, the band's keyboardist, Tom Van Zandt, tracks three of his original songs, accompanying himself on keyboard and guitar. The recordings are intended to attract cover versions by well-known national acts, like Bobbie Gentry (Ode to Billy Joe) and the Carpenters, rather than for release by Sonobeat itself.
Bill Miller Group sessions
November 17-18, 1970Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. begins a series of sessions that will span months with an unnamed psychedelic band led by Bill Miller; the band, in its previous incarnation, is known as Amethyst, but now Bill Sr. refers to it as the Bill Miller Group. It will eventually be known as The Daily Planet and, later, as Cold Sun. Uniquely, Bill Miller plays electric autoharp, which proves to be a challenge to record. The sessions at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin produce wildly inventive but esoteric tracks.
Fast Cotton sax overdub session
November 22, 1970Fast Cotton band member Cato T. Walker overdubs alto sax on three of the four songs the band has recorded ten days earlier, back on November 12th. Cato claims he's blues icon B.B. King's cousin, but nobody believes him. In fact, he is.
Solid State releases Home Lost and Found (The Natural Sound)
December 1970
At long last, Sonobeat's Afro-Caravan album, recorded in January and February 1969, gets a national release via Liberty/UA's Solid State label. The album sports a gatefold jacket with both color and B&W photos by Renate Taylor and L'Azul.
Jazz Stereo LP • SS-18065
Bill Miller Group vocal overdub session
December 9, 1970The Bill Miller Group returns to Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin to record the vocal overdubs for Number 1, a song that doesn't make the final cut for the proposed Cold Sun album.
Jean Manor sessions
Unknown date(s) in 1971R&B vocalist Jean Manor, an accomplished blues guitarist, records her original instrumental, Sorry 'Bout That Shuffle, at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin. Although the track is a solid piece, it's never released since Jean never records a second track (necessary for a single's flip-side), leaving Sorry 'Bout That Shuffle an orphan track.
Genesee sessions
January 19-20, 1971Austin progressive rock band Genesee tracks its original song Littlefield Fountain at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin on January 19th, overdubbing vocals the following day. The song's title refers to the iconic Littlefield Memorial Fountain that marks the South Mall entrance to The University of Texas campus, but ironically the song's lyrics don't mention the fountain.
Wali and the Afro-Caravan second album session
February 2, 1971Wali and the Afro-Caravan return to Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin to begin recording a second album. The first album, Home Lost and Found (The Natural Sound), has been sold to Liberty/UA and released nationally months earlier. The Afro-Caravan's February 2nd session yields instrumental tracks for the group's three-movement opus entitled Shades of Africa, which will become the working title of the album.
Genesee session
February 2, 1971Genesee returns to Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin to begin recording two additional original songs. The sessions, starting on February 2nd, are staggered over a two week span to accommodate the band's gigs around Austin. They'll return to the studio in February 11th.
Phoenix sessions
February 4 & 8, 1971Sandwiched between the Genesee sessions, Austin rock band Phoenix records its original songs Changes and I Found Love at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin. A notable founding member of the band is Leonard Arnold, a former member of Lavender Hill Express, who will go on to become a major force in Austin's progressive counry movement in the years immediately following his stint in Phoenix.
Genesee sessions
February 11 & 14, 1971Genesee finishes two additional original untitled songs that it begins recording on February 2nd at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin. Both songs remain unreleased.
Don "Skipper" Young session
February 14, 1971Flutist Don "Skipper" Young brings his band to Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin on Valentine's Day to record a unidentified song. The lilting verses feature harmony vocals by Austin guitar icon Jim Mings and his sister Martha. The band also features bassist Pat Whitefield, a founding member of the Sweetarts and Fast Cotton, both of whom Sonobeat has recorded. Skipper's session is held on the same day that Genesee finishes up its sessions at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio, which is unusual since Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. rarely schedules recording sessions with different acts on the same day.
James Polk album sessions
March 1-3, 1971Keyboardist James Polk, whose band James Polk and the Brothers records Sonobeat's 1969 single Stick-To-It-Tive-Ness, returns to Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive home-based studio in northwest Austin to begin work on a potential album, using a selection of different Austin musicians on each track. Polk's early March sessions yield jazz-funk instrumental covers of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever and Here Come The Judge.
Bill Miller Group session
March 27, 1971The Bill Miller Group returns to Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin to record the instrumental backing tracks for Marble and Forever. Just as the sessions are starting to produce results, Sonobeat is forced to move its studio to a new location, disrupting the cadence that producer Bill Josey Sr. has just achieved with Miller.
Sonobeat's studio relocates
May-June 1971Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. relocates his studio from Western Hills Drive in northwest Austin to the KVET radio station building, a much more spacious facility, at 705 North Lamar near downtown Austin. But the move into a radio station's building requires Bill to soundproof the walls and ceiling of Sonobeat's ground floor studio and build sound baffles to muffle amplified instrument speaker boxes, which delay his ability to actually start using the new studio. Although it's on North Lamar, the KVET building is only about five blocks north of the Colorado River that divides north and south Austin. Today, the KVET building is gone, replaced by a restaurant in the shadow of Austin's iconic but now closed Graffiti Park at Castle Hill.
The Royal Light Singers session
June 25, 1971Austin gospel group The Royal Light Singers – still together in 2018, albeit with different personnel – records four songs at Sonobeat's new North Lamar studio, but Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. inadvertently misspells the group's name by adding an "s" to the end of Light. The group's songs are intended for back-to-back releases as Sonobeat 45 RPM stereo singles, but the second of the two likely is distributed exclusively by the group at its performances throughout Central Texas. The Royal Light Singers' songs are Sonobeat's only gospel recordings. And these are the first sessions known to have been recorded at Sonobeat's North Lamar studio.
The Royal Light Singers 45 RPM singles release
July 1971
Sonobeat releases two singles, it's 21st and 22nd, by The Royal Light Singers, although the Sonobeat archives aren't completely clear whether the second single is intended for distribution only by the gospel group itself rather than through record retailers. The first single features the group's original songs Will You Be Ready backed with My Rock; the second single features the originals Creation backed with I Know My Jesus Is Watching. These are Sonobeat's only gospel releases.
Gospel Stereo 45 RPM singles • G-s119 & G-s120
Bill Miller Group mixing sessions
July & August 1971Bill Miller Group puts the finishing touches on its album at Sonobeat's new North Lamar studio in Austin, primarily tweaking overdubs and spending weeks mixing and remixing to perfect the tracks and sequence the album. Bill Miller tentatively names the album Cold Sun. Producer Bill Josey Sr. then attempts to sell the album to a national label, but it's considered too odd and esoteric. The album is never released on the Sonobeat label. Years later an unsanctioned release makes its way onto the market.
Synthesis sessions
July 17-19, 1971Ohio-based progressive rock band Synthesis treks to Austin for sessions at Sonobeat's new North Lamar studio. Core members of the band have recorded with Sonobeat a year earlier as members of a touring incarnation of nationally-famous teeny-bopper band Ohio Express. Sythesis, however, has a completely new progressive sound and tracks four original tunes for producer Bill Josey Sr., including vocals Parliamentary Magistrates and Hocus Pocus plus two instrumentals.
Sonobeat takes on custom sessions
Fall 1971Sonobeat's costly studio move from Western Hills Drive to the KVET building on North Lamar, both located in Austin, strains its financial resources, so co-founder Bill Josey Sr. takes on occasional custom sessions in which singers and musicians (mostly rock and country bands) pay hourly rates for a package of studio time and Bill's producing and engineering services. But the artists retain all rights in the material they record, including the master recordings, so none of these recordings are candidates for release on the Sonobeat label. Other than a rare protection dub here and there, the Sonobeat archives hold no custom tapes, so we're unable to identify all music acts that hired out Sonobeat's studio facilities. Bill will continue to provide custom services into the first months of 1972; the fees help pay both living expenses and the studio lease.
No Sonobeat releases during 1972
1972 marks the first year in Sonobeat's History in which there is no release on its own label. Nor is there any sale of a Sonobeat master recording to a national label during the year. 1972 marks the line of demarcation between the end of Sonobeat's salad days and the beginning of its decline. But things are far from over...
Prepping for quadraphonic recording experiments
Even as Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. continues to offer out Sonobeat's North Lamar studios and his producing and engineering services on a "work-for-hire" basis, attracting music acts that want to own their master recordings, Bill begins prepping for experiments in quadraphonic recording, which he believes will be the next big trend in consumer audio systems. Quad places sound in a 360° environment, completely surrounding the listener. To record in quad requires the addition of new mixing modules to Sonobeat's 16-input recording console and investments in new monitor amps, speakers, and Dolby noise reduction systems. Although Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley has left the company in 1970, he designs the quad modules and printed circuit boards that Bill fabricates and installs in the mixing console. Within a few months, Bill is ready to start his quad recording experiments.
Base (first incarnation) sessions
June & July 1972Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. hand picks musicians from among many Austin bands Sonobeat has previously worked with; the select group, that he calls Base, includes Eric Johnson from Mariani, Jay Meade and Mike Reid from New Atlantis, and Danny Galindo and Ronnie Leatherman from the 13th Floor Elevators to serve as studio musicians on Bill's first quadraphonic recording experiments. The sessions produce many song fragments and only a few finished tracks since the purpose of the recordings is to experiment with 360° quadraphonic techniques. Although this set of experiments wraps in July 1972, Bill will reboot Base with a different mix of musicians in 1973.
Michele Murphy sessions
July-December 1972Liberty Hill folk singer/songwriter Michele Murphy (not to be confused with Michael Murphy, a major figure in Austin's progressive country movement that starts about this time) begins recording at Sonobeat's North Lamar studios in Austin. Michele offers up a mix of original compositions along with covers of pop standards, such as the Gershwin classic Summertime from Porgy and Bess. During the longest span Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. will devote to any artist, Michele will record with Sonobeat off and on during 1972, 1973, 1975, and 1976. Amazingly, for the number of tracks Michele records over this span, none are ever released commercially.
Cody Hubach album sessions
October 1972Austin folk singer/songwriter Cody Hubach returns to Sonobeat studios (he recorded three original songs with Sonobeat in May 1969) to record a potential album release. He records a new version of his signature tune Hoolie (this time spelled slightly differently from the 1969 version), several additional original tunes, and covers of the 13th Floor Elevators Spash 1 and other songs by Austin songwriters, including Cody's friend Bill Wilson. The sessions are held on several days during October at Sonobeat's North Lamar studio in Austin and include additional local musicians. Nothing comes of the album and the track remain unreleased.
Jess DeMaine session
October 29, 1972Austin country guitarist/singer Jess DeMaine returns to Sonobeat for a second session (his first is a year earlier), tracking cover songs including Hand Of Hurt and Your Kind Of Man. Jess will return still again in 1973 to record additional songs with Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr., but none of his Sonobeat recordings is ever released.
Tommy Hill and the Country Music Revue sessions
November 1972By 1972, country music is taking Austin by storm, but it's a new breed called progressive country popularized by the likes of Willie Nelson and Michael Murphy (who coins the term "cosmic cowboys" to describe the movement). Nonetheless, Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. gets on the country bandwagon by recording Tommy Hill and the Country Music Revue. The sessions at Sonobeat's North Lamar studio in Austin yield ten tracks for use as a band demo. All songs are covers of country and country-rock hits popularized by other artists, including Willie's Funny How Time Slips Away and Tony Joe White's Polk Salad Annie.
No Sonobeat releases during 1973
1973 is the second year in a row in which Sonobeat has no release on its own label nor any master recording sale to a national label.
Adobie Flatz sessions
January 1973Sonobeat starts the year recording three original tracks with El Paso-based blues-rock band Adobie Flatz. The sessions are recorded at Sonobeat's North Lamar studio in Austin, Texas. The tracks are intended only as a demo for the band and are never released. Although the songs are recorded on Sonobeat's 4-track Scully tape deck, producer Bill Josey Sr. makes only monaural mixes.
Gary York and Evelyn session
January 1973Austin pop artist Gary York is joined by Concordia College divinity student Evelyn (whose last name isn't mentioned in the Sonobeat archives) to record just one song, People, at Sonobeat's North Lamar studio in Austin. Although the song shares the same title as Barbra Streisand's #1 hit, People is one of Gary's original compositions. Gary hangs around the Sonobeat studio weeks before and after his session, learning the ropes from Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. Years later Gary opens his own recording studio, crediting Bill as a mentor.
Vita sessions
February 17 & 19, 1973Local jazz-rock band Vita records four original songs at Sonobeat's North Lamar studio in Austin, Texas. Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. records the Latino-influenced band in quadraphonic and in March approaches his friends at Columbia Records in Nashville with an offer to record an album with the group for national release, but there's no sale to Columbia, Bill holds no further recording sessions with the band, and Vita's material is shelved.
Joyce Spence session
March 1973Traditional country singer Joyce Spence records seven original songs at Sonobeat's North Lamar studio in Austin in sessions Joyce pays for. Joyce is joined on five tracks by Glenn Proctor on guitar, and Glenn composes one of the songs, Swimming In The Bottle. Austin's Country Nu-Notes provides back-up on two tracks that seem earmarked for a single, but Sonobeat never releases any of Joyce's tracks.
Johnny Lyons & Janet Lynn session
March 18, 1973Austin country duet Johnny Lyons & Janet Lynn record two untitled songs at Sonobeat's North Lamar studio in Austin. They're backed by Johnny's freshly-minted band, the Country Nu-Notes, who will return to Sonobeat early in 1974 to record a massive 29 tracks. Although Johnny and Janet are solid country singers, nothing comes of the March '73 session. By the way, Johnny founds the Texas Hall of Fame in Bryan, Texas, that celebrates Texas' country music heritage. The Hall of Fame closes in December 2011, a year after Johnny's death.
Michele Murphy session
April 20, 1973Liberty Hill, Texas, folk and pop artist Michele Murphy returns to Sonobeat's North Lamar studio in Austin, recording the original song When I'm With You, that producer Bill Josey Sr. uses, along with Michele's original Round Mountain Road, as demos to help Michele land a spot on stage at the 2nd annual Kerrville Folk Festival later in 1973 (she indeed lands the gig, in part on the strength of her Sonobeat recordings).
The David Flack Quorum sessions
May 1973David Flack's San Antonio-based trio has begun work in August 1970 on an album of jazz-rock-classical fusion originals at Sonobeat's Western Hills Drive studio in northwest Austin but the sessions are interrupted by David's departure for a tour of duty in the Army. By the time David returns in 1973, Sonobeat's studios have moved to North Lamar in Austin. There, David's trio completes the tracks it has begun years earlier. To cap the May 1973 sessions, Austin jazz and blues singer overdubs vocals, including imaginative scat here and there.
Sonobeat relocates its studio again
August 1973As June 1973 ends, Sonobeat's lease at the KVET building on North Lamar in Austin expires. Michele Murphy, who has recorded on and off for Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. in 1972 and the first part of 1973, suggests that Sonobeat relocate to Liberty Hill, about 30 miles north of Austin. She has the perfect location in mind: an old stone A.M.E. church with plenty of floor space and that's used only two Sundays a month by the small local congregation. The church sits on acres of ranch land nestled in the idyllic Central Texas hill country. Bill leases the church and moves in his equipment in August, also bringing a mobile home onto the church property where he'll live. The church needs lots of work and a sizeable investment – soundproofing, rewiring, air conditioning, and furnishings – before it's ready to use as a recording studio. This will take Bill several months, delaying his ability to use the studio for money-generating recoridng sessions.
Sonobeat's "Blue Hole Sounds" studio opens
Fall 1973Following Sonobeat's studio move from Austin, Texas, to the outskirts of Liberty Hill, Texas, in August '73 and after more than two months of retrofitting an old stone A.M.E. church that Sonobeat has leased as its new studio, Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. distributes flyers announcing the availability of "Blue Hole Sounds", named after a nearby Liberty Hill swimming hole, for custom recording work. Bill needs the hourly fees the custom work generates to help offset living expenses, the costs of the studio move, and his subsequent retrofitting of the church. The few sessions that Bill conducts in the final months of '73 are almost entirely custom jobs with singers and musicians who pay for and keep their master tapes.
Herman Nelson's third Sonosong Music demo issued
Fall 1973
Although Sonobeat's new Liberty Hill studio, Blue Hole Sounds, doesn't come on line until the final months of 1973, and most of the recording sessions Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. conducts to finish out the year are custom jobs, he does manage to work in a third and final Herman Nelson song demo album for Sonobeat's sister company, Sonosong Music. This time, however, Bill circulates the album, consisting of 12 Herman Nelson originals, to major label A&RArtist & Repertoire exeutives at record labels build and manage a roster of artists, connecting them to new songs and overseeing their recording activities. departments using less expensive audio cassette dubs instead of vinyl records. The purpose of the demo album, which isn't commercially released, is to attract cover versions of Herman's songs by major recording artists. All songs on the album are performed by Herman (guitars and vocals) and Mike Waugh (bass).
No Sonobeat releases during 1974
1974 is the third year in a row in which Sonobeat has no release on its own label nor any master recording sale to a national label.
Custom recording sessions continue
Throughout 1974It's become a financially necessity for Sonobeat to continue to accept custom recording work, in which music acts rent Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio facility in Liberty Hill, Texas, for hourly fees. Therefore the acts, not Sonobeat, own the master tapes resulting from the sessions. During the year, Tom Penick begins to assist Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. around the studio, and Tom eventually will record his own country song as partial payment for his services.
Country Nu-Notes marathon session
February 24, 1974Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. has worked with Johnny Lyon's band, the Country Nu-Notes, twice before, first as backing band for Joyce Spence and then as backing band for Johnny Lyon & Janet Lynn recordings in 1973. Now it's a whirlwind session with the Nu-Notes themselves. Pulling what looks like an all-nighter starting Sunday evening, February 24th, Bill records an astounding 29 songs, all country and country-pop standards, with the Nu-Notes at Austin's popular Broken Spoke honky-tonk dance hall. Bill certainly ends up with enough well performed country material for two or three albums, but nothing from the session is ever released. Perhaps the Country Nu-Notes are too traditional in an Austin music scene that's already shifted to progressive country.
Arma Harper sessions
Fall 1974Sometime in the second half of 1974, Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. begins working on an album with folk singer/songwriter Arma Harper, a Mississippi native who by the time he begins his Sonobeat sessions has moved to Round Rock, Texas, not far from Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio in Liberty Hill. Although documents in the Sonobeat archives don't pinpoint precise session dates with Arma, Bill Sr.'s notes indicate that his work with Arma spans months, on into 1975, and that his plans with Arma are complex. However, by March 1975, Bill will abandon the album and, instead, release a stereo 45 RPM single by Arma.
Custom recording sessions continue
On and off throughout 1975As he's done throughout 1974, Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. continues to take custom recording jobs to "pay the bills" and maintain his Blue Hole Sounds studio in Liberty Hill, Texas. Although we've titled 1975 as the "Beginning of the End", there are several bright spots during the year, including sessions with acts whose master recordings he hopes to sell to national labels or release on the Sonobeat label.
Michele Murphy sessions
Unknown dates in 1975Liberty Hill, Texas, folk and pop artist Michele Murphy continues to record on and off at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio, also in Liberty Hill. In fact, she influenced Sonobeat's Bill Josey Sr. to relocate his studio from Austin to Liberty Hill in mid-1973. Although there are many Murphy tapes in the Sonobeat archives, few are dated.
Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. diagnosed with cancer
Spring 1975After months of feeling increasingly more sluggish and with diminishing appetite and energy, Sonoobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. is diagnosed with a form of lymphoma that progressively worsens during the year. Bill's illness explains why he will conduct relatively few recording sesssions in 1975.
Arma Harper 45 RPM single release
April 1975
Sonobeat releases it's 23rd 45 RPM single, Arma Harper's stereo 45 RPM single, recorded in late 1974. The single features Arma's original folk songs, Just One Too Many Times and Plea For Freedom, both described as protest songs. It's the first Sonobeat single release in four years.
Folk Stereo 45 RPM single • PF-121
Rick Dinsmore session
July 11, 1975Country singer/songwriter Rick Dinsmore (who at the time is based in Houston) checks into Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio outside Liberty Hill, Texas, to record Bill, his modern Western story song (that's definitely not about Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr.). It's a solid performance, to be expected from Rick, since just a couple of months earlier he's won Best New Folk Artist at the 1975 Kerrville Folk Festival.
Tom Penick session
August 1975Country singer/songwriter Tom Penick, who has been Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr.'s studio assistant for since late 1973, takes a turn himself at the microphone, recording just one song, his gentle country-folk original This Old Cowboy. Tom lives only a few miles from Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio (located just outside Liberty Hill, Texas), in Leander. It's highly it's likely Tom records other original material during his tenure assisting Bill, but there are no other recordings by Tom in the Sonobeat archives.
Rex Sherry session
August or September 1975Singer and guitarist Rex Sherry, who also may be a member of Austin country-blues band Rocking Horse during the '70s, records four unidentified country songs (one of which is likely titled The Apple Tree) at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio in Liberty Hill, Texas. Although his Sonobeat recordings are never released, Rex will continue to record and perform throughout Central Texas for four decades, in the '80s forming Austin-based country band The Thoroughbreds. Oh, and Rex opens a private detective agency in Austin in 1993, which he operates until his death in 2011.
Nasty Habit sessions
August & September 1975Austin proto-punk band Nasty Habit records several sessions at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio just outside Liberty Hill, Texas, beginning in August '75. Austin punk rock icon Jesse Sublett performs on some of the tracks but has moved on by the time the tracks are completed. The sessions yield half a dozen hard-rockin' originals plus one cover (Nils Lofgren's What About Me), and Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. considers releasing a pair of the band's originals as a stereo 45 RPM single, but Bill is unable to follow through because of mounting medical expenses that divert his resources.
Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. undergoes surgery and chemotheraphy
September through November 1975Diagnosed with a form of carcinoma earlier in the year, Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr.'s condition worsens as the year progresses, despite a medication regime he's been taking. In fall, he undergoes exploratory surgery at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Temple, Texas, an hour's drive from Sonobeat's studio in Liberty Hill. Following the surgery, Bill begins chemotheraphy, which progressively makes him still weaker. Bill lives in a mobile home on the Sonobeat studio multi-acre property, where his son Jack moves in to provide support and to drive Bill back and forth to the VA hospital for weekly chemo treatments. Bill's illness functionally shuts down sessions at Sonobeat until he regains some strength as the year comes to an end.
Blues Rock Group session
December 21, 1975The generically-named Blues Rock Group from Austin begins recording at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio outside Liberty Hill, Texas, laying down several different versions of House Rocker, Snatch It Back And Hold It, and It's Hard To Stop, all covers of hit R&B and blues songs. Frieda Borth is the band's vocalist, and she belts it out. Frieda previously recorded with Sonobeat as lead vocalist for Contraband. The Blues Rock Group will take a break to regroup and return to continue its sessions in early January 1976.
Blues Rock Group session
January 3, 1976The band that later in the year will become the Austin Blues-Rockers continues its sessions at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio outside Liberty Hill, Texas, recording Chicken Shack and fresh versions of It's Hard To Stop and Snatch It Back And Hold It, which it has first recorded at Sonobeat studios back in December 1975. The band features Frieda Borth knocking out fantastic multi-tracked vocals.
White Light mix-down session
January 10, 1976Producer Bill Josey Sr. mixes down the instrumental backing tracks for progressive rock trio White Light's original songs, recorded at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio on the outskirts of Liberty Hill, Texas. The band's layered multitrack recordings are complex and experimental, if not somewhat esoteric.
Larry Boyd and Group session
February 14, 1976Country band Larry Boyd and Group records covers of two songs, Paul McCartney's Sally G and John Denver's hit ballad Back Home Again, at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio outside Liberty Hill, Texas. The band makes a short 20 mile trek from its home base in Burnet, Texas, to Liberty Hill for the session.
White Light session
February 21, 1976White Light, originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, records vocal overdubs for its original songs Solar Offerings, Spirits On The Wing, Fields, and Oceans at producer Bill Josey Sr.'s Blue Hole Sounds studio in Liberty Hill, Texas, about 30 miles north of Austin. The band members are inventive, using vocal sounds as instruments in a series of inspired and well-crafted progressive rock tracks.
Larry Boyd and Group vocal overdubs
February 22, 1976Larry Boyd and Group records the vocal overdubs for its two cover songs, Sally G and Back Home Again at producer Bill Josey Sr.'s Blue Hole Sounds studio on the outskirts of Liberty Hill, Texas. Bill uses these tracks as a demo of the band, sending audiocassette dubs to his major label contacts in Nashville and Hollywood.
White Light remix and vocal overdub session
February 26, 1976Producer Bill Josey Sr. remixes White Light's Oceans and rerecords vocal overdubs for Solar Offering, Spirits On The Wing, and Fields at his Blue Hole Sounds studio. Bill's sessions with White Light have spanned three intensive months and yielded an album's worth of finished original prog rock material.
White Light mix-down sessions
March 1976From December 1975 into early March 1976, progressive rock trio White Light has tracked out a dozen original songs at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio outside Liberty Hill, Texas. As March begins to wane, Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. mixes and sequences eight of the band's songs into a proposed album and ships audiocassette copies to national record labels in hopes of attracting a sale of the master recordings.
Austin Blues-Rockers sessions
March 1976Austin Blues-Rockers completes its sessions at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio on the outskirts of Liberty Hill, Texas, with two final songs, Soulful Dress and Ain't Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around). All songs the band records over a span of four months are covers of R&B and blues hits. None are ever released.
Jeannine Hoke session
April 1976Country singer Jeannine Hoke records her original songs Your Touch Is Like A Whisper To Me and Let's Get To Houston Today. Producer Bill Josey Sr. records Jeannine and her back-up band at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio just outside Liberty Hill, Texas.
Helmer Dahl session
April 1, 1976He plays a monster Baldwin organ at the same time he plays an Arp Pro-Soloist synthesizer and sounds like an entire band. Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. begins recording an album's worth of material with Hutto, Texas-based Helmer Dahl, one of Central Texas' most popular solo acts during the '70s. Helmer plays birthday parties, weddings, VFW and Lions Club events, and Central Texas nightclubs, covering dozens of pop standards, waltzes, and polkas. Helmer's first session with Sonobeat is taped at Bill's Blue Hole Sounds studio outside Liberty Hill, Texas, on a 4-track quarter-inch Dokorder deck. Helmer will be back to Blue Hole Sounds in a month...
Michele Murphy session
April 17, 1976Liberty Hill, Texas, pop and folk singer Michele Murphy, whose recordings with Sonobeat have spanned almost five years, records her final session at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio, also in Liberty Hill, on April 17, 1976. Her final session with Sonboeat producer Bill Josey Sr. yields Easy Chair, Finest Man, Give Me A Window, and I'm Glad I Did It But I'm Sorry I Did It To You, none of which is ever released.
Helmer Dahl sessions
May 11-13, 1976Adding to the session Helmer Dahl has recorded at Sonobeat's Blue Hole Sounds studio in Liberty Hill, Texas, a month earlier, Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. completes an album of material with Helmer over a three-day stretch in mid-May. The album includes covers of popular hits Somewhere My Love and Release Me plus a mix of pop standard waltzes and polkas. In all, over the four days of sessions, including the April 1st session, Helmer tracks 17 covers. All are instrumentals.
Al & Alec sessions
May or June 1976According to the Sonobeat archives, folk-country-rock duo Al & Alec hold the distinction of being the last act Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. records before becoming too ill to continue running his Blue Hole Sounds studio in Liberty Hill, Texas. The archives hold no known later-recorded tapes. Although little is known of Al & Alec, the Sonobeat archives indicate they cut five songs that appear to be originals, including White Walls of Santa Fe and Rebecca Lynn. At least two songs are backed by a country-rock band whose members are not named in the archives. None of Al & Alec's master tapes is dated, but other markings on the tape boxes make it clear the recordings are made after Michele Murphy's final session in mid-April '76. None of the duo's tracks is released, but it appears that Al & Alec or their back-up band are also the back-up band for Jeannine Hoke's June '76 Sonobeat single release.
The David Flack Quorum album release
June 1976
An album of progressive jazz-rock-classical fusion pieces, all written by San Antonio native David Flack, first begun in 1970, delayed by Sonobeat's studio move and David's two years of active duty in the Army, and completed in 1973, is finally released in February 1976 after an unsuccessful effort to sell the master tapes to a national label in 1975. Even though recorded in pieces over a multi-year span, The David Flack Quorum's Mindbender is a well-put-together body of music, solidly performed by David's trio, and sung with passion by Austin jazz and blues artist Marva Jackson. This is Sonobeat's second album release and the first of only two releases by Sonobeat that will not use its signature logotype on the disc label.
Jazz Stereo album • DFQS-100
Jeannine Hoke 45 RPM single release
June 1976
Sonobeat releases it's 24th 45 RPM single, Jeannine Hoke's stereo 45 RPM single Your Touch Is Like A Whisper To Me backed with Let's Get To Houston Today. Jeannine double-tracks her vocal on Your Touch Is Like A Whisper To Me. Although Sonobeat markets the single as "pop", it's really country-folk. Jeannine's will be Sonobeat's final 45 RPM single release, coming more than a year after the previous single release by Arma Harper.
Country Stereo 45 RPM single • PS-122
Helmer Dahl album release
July 1976
Sonobeat releases it's third and final album, Helmer Dahl's Toe-Tapping Tunes. The album features Helmer playing a concert Baldwin organ and Arp Pro-Soloist synthesizer and sounding very much like an entire band. But it's just Helmer, a sought-after Central Texas solo act during the '70s. Because Sonobeat producer Bill Josey Sr. is financially strapped as he continues chemotherapy treatments for cancer, Helmer finances the album release. Helmer's album holds the distinction of being Sonobeat's final commercial release and, like The David Flack Quorum's album released the prior month, does not use Sonobeat's signature logotype on the disc label.
Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. enters hospital
August 1976Sonobeat co-founder and producer Bill Josey Sr.'s cancer accelerates in mid-1976, and following release of Helmer Dahl's album, Bill closes up his Blue Hole Sounds studio just outside Liberty Hill, Texas, and enters the Veterans Administration Hospital in nearby Temple, Texas. This occurs only a couple of weeks after he walks his youngest daughter down the aisle on her wedding day in July. Within a week or two after entering hospital, Bill is cleared for a day trip back to Liberty Hill and his studio. Then, returning to hospital, his condition worsens.
Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. succumbs to cancer
September 28, 1976Weeks after entering the Veterans Administration Hospital in Temple, Texas, Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr. succumbs to lymphocarcinoma. Sonobeat's Liberty Hill, Texas, studio that Bill has fondly named Blue Hole Sounds after a nearby natural swimmming hole shutters, and Liberty Hill friends, learning of his death, pack his boxes of master tapes and documents into his station wagon, leaving it on the studio property for Bill's family to discover weeks later. The materials, forming the majority of the Sonobeat archives, are then stored away in various relatives' attics, garages, and spare bedrooms for more than two decades following Bill's death.
Master tape library rescued
Mid-1980sOn Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr.'s death in September 1976, Sonobeat's master tape library is stored away in various relatives' attics, garages, and spare bedrooms. In the mid-'80s, Bill Sr.'s son Jack collects all the tapes, begins a massive cataloging effort, and stores them in sealed containers in a climate-controlled environment. The cataloging of hundreds of tapes in the Sonobeat library is a hobby and takes years to complete.
Sonobeat Historical Archives formed
MId-2004Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr.'s heirs, including Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Jr., form Sonobeat Historical Archives to preserve the tapes, photos, and documents that have been stored away for decades. The heirs agree to launch a website to document Sonobeat's History and the history of the dozens of artists Sonobeat recorded over its nine year life span from 1967 to 1976. Jack Josey begins digitizing sound bites from Sonobeat's master tape library, focusing on the singles and albums Sonobeat has released on its own label. In August 2004, Sonobeat Historical Archives purchases the sonobeatrecords.com domain and brothers Jack and brother Bill Jr. begin creating the Sonobeat website.
Sonobeat website launches at SonobeatRecords.com
November 27, 2004SonobeatRecords.com launches on November 27, 2004. The first version of the site, designed for 640x480 resolution computer screens, features individual pages for the artists for which there is the greatest amount of information in the Sonobeat archives: Sweetarts, Lee Arlano Trio, Don Dean, Lavender Hill Express, The Conqueroo, Johnny Winter, The Afro-Caravan, Ray Campi Estblishment, and Mariani, along with shared pages for other artists. The site features a limited selection of short audio clips, encoded using Flash, taken from Sonobeat's commercial 45 RPM and album releases.
Sonobeat Historical Archives acquires the Sonobeat.com domain
June 2006Sonobeat Historical Archives acquires Sonobeat.com, which previously had been unavailable. Sonobeat.com launches as a mirror of SonobeatRecords.com.
Sonobeat website v.2.0 launches
October 2008During the four years from launch of SonobeaRecords.com in 2004 to its relaunch in mid-2008, Sonobeat Historical Archives adds greater depth to its artist biographies along with dozens of fresh audio clips and new graphics. The 2008 version of the website is redesigned to accommodate 1024x768 screen resolutions.
Ricky Stein's book on Sonobeat's History is published
January 21, 2014Austin musician and music historian Ricky Stein adapts his University of Texas American Studies senior thesis into a book entitled Sonobeat Records: Pioneering the Austin Sound in the '60s, published on January 21, 2014, by History Press. Besides referring to Sonobeat.com as a resource, Ricky conducts extensive interviews with former Sonobeat recording artists, painting a picture not just of Sonobeat's History but of the rapid development of Austin's live music scene from the mid-60s to the mid-'70s. The Sweetarts, whose single A Picture Of Me launches Sonobeat in 1967, perform for the first time since 1969, appearing at Tom's Tabooley in Austin on February 9, 2014, in support of the release of Ricky's book.
Sonobeat Historical Archives reissues the Sweetarts single on iTunes and Amazon Music
March 11, 2014
In collaboration with all original members of the Sweetarts, Sonobeat Historical Archives restores and remasters the Sweetarts' Sonobeat single A Picture Of Me and Without You, which launches Sonobeat in 1967, reissuing the single digitally on the iTunes and Amazon Music stores as an EP under the title Austin, TX 1967. Later, the release rolls out to eMusic, Rhapsody, and other digital platforms worldwide.
Sonobeat Historical Archives reissues the first Lee Arlano Trio single on iTunes and Amazon Music
July 15, 2014
Sonobeat's first jazz single, also its second commercial release in 1967, gets restored and remastered for a digital reissue on the iTunes and Amazon Music stores, later rolling out to eMusic, Rhapsody, and Groove. The Lee Arlano Trio's There Will Never Be Another You and Meditation, originally recorded at Austin's Club Seville in the Sheraton Crest Inn on Town Lake, are covers performed with aplomb.
Sonobeat Historical Archives reissues Lavender Hill Express' catalog on iTunes and Amazon Music
July 22, 2014
In collaboration with the living original members of the Lavender Hill Express, Sonobeat Historical Archives restores and remasters the band's three Sonobeat singles, Visions backed with Trying To Live A Life, Watch Out! backed with Country Music's Here To Stay, Outside My Window backed with Silly Rhymes, and the previously unreleased Trouble, reissuing digital versions of the seven tracks under the collective title Visions. The reissue rolls out to the iTunes and Amazon Music stores and, later, to eMusic and other digital music download services. On July 26, 2014, '60s Austin contemporaries Lavender Hill Express and the Sweetarts light up the Saxon Pub in Austin with performances celebrating their respective digital reissues.
Sonobeat website v.3.0 launches
August 1, 2015In a massive site overhaul, switching from Flash to HTML5 and other modern web technologies that make the site viewable on mobile devices and scale to any computer screen resolution, Sonobeat's website relaunches. Version 3.0 of the site features a separate page for every artist Sonobeat recorded, upgraded new graphics, re-encoded audio clips pressented as standard HTML5 MP3s (with dozens more than previously available), and a new and deep site navigation system. New to Sonobeat v.3.0 are special features ranging from the connection between Sonobeat and KAZZ-FM in Austin to details of how Sonobeat recorded Lavender Hill Express' complex Visions and Trying To Live A Life to a complete chronology of Sonobeat's commercial record releases. The site continues to add new features quarterly.
Sonobeat Historical Archives reissues Plymouth Rock's single on iTunes and Amazon Music
September 18, 2015
In collaboration with the living original members of Plymouth Rock, Sonobeat Historical Archives restores, remixes, and remasters the band's Sonobeat single Memorandum and Just A Start for reissue on the iTunes, Amazon Music, and other digital music download stores. Unlike its previous digital reissues of the Sweetarts, Lavender Hill Express, and Lee Arlano Trio singles, Sonobeat Historical Archives returns to the original half-inch 4-track session masters to rebuild fresh stereo mixes of both Plymouth Rock songs, which were originally issued only in monaural versions. In fact, Sonobeat's vinyl release of Plymouth Rock's single was the label's only monaural single release; all other Sonobeat singles were released in stereo.
Sonobeat Historical Archives reissues the Lee Arlano Trio album Jazz To The Third Power on iTunes and Amazon Music
October 2, 2015
Sonobeat's first jazz album, Jzzz To The Third Power by the Lee Arlano Trio, gets restored and remastered for an October 2015 digital reissue on iTunes, Amazon Music, eMusic Rhapsody, and Groove. Originally released on vinyl in 1968, the album is reissued with its original ten tracks plus two previousy unreleased bonus tracks.
Sonobeat Historical Archives celebrates Sonobeat's 50th Anniversary
Throughout 2017Officially launched in May 1967, Sonobeat Recording Company records dozens of music acts and hundreds of musicians, singers, and songwriters during its active nine years in Austin and Central Texas. Throughout 2017, in celebration of Sonobeat's 50th Anniversary, the site adds new sound bites, upgrades its graphics, and creates new features. The (Sono)beat goes on...
Sonobeat Historical Archives celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Sweetarts' A Picture Of Me and Without You with a remastered digital reissue
September 4, 2017
Fifty years to the day after its original vinyl release in 1967, Sonobeat Historical Archives reissues the Sweetarts' A Picture of Me backed with Without Youon every major digital download and streaming platform worldwide; the 2017 reissue of A Picture Of Me, remastered by Colin Leonard at SING Mastering in Atlanta, Georgia, includes a supersonic Apple Digital Master version. All original members of the band participate in interviews for SonobeatRecords.com and restage the photo used on the picture sleeve of their 1967 Sonobeat single.
50th anniversary remastered digital edition of Lavender Hill Express' Visions and Trying To Live A Life
December 18, 2017
Sonobeat's second rock 45 RPM single release, Visions backed with Trying To Live A Life by Austin supergroup Lavender Hill Express gets a 50th anniversary digital make-over. The reissue hits every major digital download and streaming platform worldwide. Like the 50th anniversary reissue of the Sweetarts' A Picture of Me, Visions, remastered by Colin Leonard at SING Mastering in Atlanta, Georgia, includes a spectacular new Apple Digital Master version.
50th anniversary remastered digital edition of Lavender Hill Express' Watch Out
June 29, 2018
Sonobeat's fifth rock 45 RPM single release, Watch Out by Austin supergroup Lavender Hill Express gets a 50th anniversary reissue on more than a dozen digital download and streaming platforms worldwide. Like Sonobeat's 50th anniversary reissue of the Sweetarts' A Picture of Me and Lavender Hill Express' Visions, Watch Out is remastered by Colin Leonard at SING Mastering in Atlanta, Georgia, using patented SING technology and includes a superb Apple Digital Master version.
Sonobeat singles featured on streaming TV series Orbital Redux
September 27, 2018In collaboration with cutting edge TV production company Butcher Bird Studios, Sonobeat singles by Austin '60s bands Lavender Hill Express, Plymouth Rock, and Sweetarts, and a previousy unreleased Sonobeat recording by Sweetarts co-founder Tom Van Zandt, are featured in Butcher Bird's 8-episode live streaming sci-fi series Orbital Redux. Much like the music in Guardian's of the Galaxy, each of the Sonobeat songs in Orbital Redux has special meaning to the series protagonist.
50th anniversary remastered digital edition of Plymouth Rock's Memorandum and Just A Start
December 15, 2019
Plymouth Rock's 1969 Sonobeat single, originally issued only in a monaural mix, gets a special 50th anniversary reissue in spectacular new stereo remixes, available on iTunes, Apple Music, and more than a dozen digital download and streaming platforms worldwide. Colin Leonard at SING Mastering in Atlanta, Georgia, remasters Memorandum using patented SING technology. iTunes and Apple Music feature a sparkling Apple Digital Master version that further enhances the new stereo mix.
Remastered digital edition of The Conqueroo's 1 To 3 and I've Got Time
October 30, 2020
In collaboration with the composers of The Conqueroo's 1968 Sonobeat single, 1 To 3 and I've Got Time, Sonobeat Historical Archives reissues new digital editions on iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and more than a dozen other music download and streaming platforms worldwide. The tracks are digitally remastered from the original analog session tapes to restore the recordings' wide dynamic range and fidelity lost in the compressed vinyl single. Amazingly as fresh today as when originally released, this cult classic single from one of Austin's most beloved '60s and '70s psych bands offers up sonic pyrotechnics and surprising punch. Recorded at Austin's iconic Vulcan Gas Company.
Shindig! reviews the digital reissue of The Conqueroo's 1 To 3 and I've Got Time
January 2021Shindig! magazine (issue #111) reviews Sonobeat Historical Archives' restored and remastered digital reissue of The Conqueroo' 1968 single 1 To 3 and I've Got Time, crediting The Conqueroo as slightly predating the 13th Floor Elevators as Austin psychedelic rock pioneers and complimenting our reissue with "These two tracks have been expertly re-mastered from the original tapes for digital release."
