Castle Farm –Hot Rod Queen/ Jewels of Fire -EMIDISC Acetate (1972 UK)
With a title like Hot Rod Queen, it’s difficult to go wrong and this track is all you would expect it to be with a high octane delivery and exuberant performance at the crossroads of Junkshop Glam and Punk’d out Boogie. Castle Farm were from the Romford area and it appears that they only released one single (Hot Rod Queen/ Mascot) on their own Farm label. Both sides of the released single were recorded at Tangerine studios in London, but this acetate has the rampant dual guitar fuelled Jewels of Fire instead of Mascot as its B side. So the question is…is the version of Hot Rod Queen presented here the same as the A side of the released version? The released version can be found on something called Cosmorama: Blow Your Cool Vol 2. If anyone has that comp, could you please compare the tracks and get back to me with the answer –thanks!
Hear Hot Rod Queen!
Check out Jewels of Fire!
17 comments:
Yup, two different versions.
Both good!
: )
As Castle Farm's drummer, I might be able to shed some light here!
Yes, they certainly are two different versions of 'Hot Rod Queen'. The two tracks on the single were recorded at Tangerine Studios in London on 15th Feb 1972 and mixed down on 22nd Feb 1972.
'Jewels Of Fire' was recorded on 25th March 1972 at Pye No. 1, and produced/engineered by Miki Dallon. We then went back to Pye No. 1 on 13th April 1972 to re-record 'Hot Rod Queen' as Miki was interested in reworking it.
The version of HRQ that you have here is actually an edited version of the original recording, which ran to over four minutes - Miki being a 'pop' producer with a strict timing policy. We much preferred the longer version!
Hope this helps.
Steve
Thanks so much for the info...god I love doing this blog for times like these...
I can't make the Jewels of Fire sample play, are these tracks available anywhere I have Hot Rod Queen on vynil with Mascot as the B SIDE. sa
Hi
I'm afraid Divshare had a massive failure a few years ago and about half the sound files were lost. Those files were on another laptop that has since died. However I also have the official single (with Mascot) and may be featuring it in the near future, which may spur me into making new sound files of the acetate
Thanks, I will watch out for it, I would love to hear Jewels of Fire again after 40 years !!
Have you got around to re-doing the Castle Farm sound files yet? long and short versions of Mascot and Hot Rod Queen are now on youtube but not Jewels of Fire - the world is waiting !!
'Jewels of Fire' is now available along with 9 other tracks on iTunes and Amazon. Hope they were worth the wait!
SteveT, can I contact you or the band? I'd love to do an article on Castle Farm. I just heard the album, it's awesome!
cheers
Rich
www.aftersabbath.com
Steve the other tracks sound amazing. You must find a way to put this out on vinyl. Were there other acetates made at the time?
Best
Robin
Hi Robin
Good to hear you like to other tracks. I have pulled together the best examples I have of the band's recordings, but unfortunately these only exist in either acetate or cassette tape format, the original master tapes having been lost over time.
I've cleaned up the tracks for digital transfer as much as possible, with the help of my son Paul, who's a sound engineer, and has worked wonders replacing the intro to 'You Go Your Way', which was lost on a chewed up cassette tape, and tidying up a less than perfect drum fill on 'Jewels Of Fire', which we didn't have time to correct in the studio, and has bugged me for over 40 years!
All the tracks were recorded in one or two takes with minor overdubbing - most were self-funded and we were on a very tight budget!
@Rich, please feel free to contact me via FB
Cheers
Steve
Hey Steve. Let me know if you would be interested in selling the acetates. I love cherishing product!
Hi Robin
You might be interested to know that Castle Farm got back together for a reunion gig just over a month ago (coming together from Arizona, Germany and the UK - 45 years after the band broke up!)
Live album available now on Spotify, Amazon, etc. Search: Castle Farm 2017 Reunion Concert.
Best, Steve
Steve T
I missed the Brentwood gig, I would have gone if i had known about it. I saw you live in 1972 at the Cliffs Southend supporting Atomic Rooster. If there are any plans for another reunion concert please e-mail me imrays@sky.com I will bring a crew !
Steve, are there any plans for another reunion. I didn't know about the Brentwood one until I saw the album - which is great by the way. Saw you in 1972 at the Cliffs Southend supporting Atomic Rooster my first live rock concert!and would love to see you guys play live again.
Castle Farm's 2017 Reunion Concert is now up on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFc2DHY-fjc&t=466s
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFc2DHY-fjc
Post a Comment