CDs with songs mastered from vinyl

The following original labels have no source tapes available for reissue, either due to legal issues, bankruptcies, or the death of the principal who owned them. Windsong, John Denver's label for which Starland Vocal Band recorded, while owned by Denver's estate, is tied up in litigation over which of his heirs have control over Windsong's properties. Sussex, Chelsea and Private Stock still own the rights to their recordings but lost the source tapes in bankruptcies. Those in possession of the source tapes are unwilling to allow their use to generate profit for the rights owners, and who they actually are remains a mystery. Many of Private Stock's hits were licensed from foreign sources. Samantha Sang, Michael Zager Band, Frankie Valli, and a few other Private Stock artists' recordings were licensed from outside sources, so original non-Private Stock source tapes exist for those recordings. Wes Farrell licensed "Sky High" by Jigsaw from the UK label named Splash that owned it.

Blame Lou Adler for The Mamas & the Papas missing tapes. Adler mixed the singles FIRST. Albums were mixed to stereo, then folded to mono for mono pressings. The exception was with FAREWELL TO THE FIRST GOLDEN ERA, a hits compilation. Stereo pressings contained the stereo album mixes, however mono pressings contained the single mixes of three songs, as the single masters were spliced into the mono album reels so that the single versions would appear on the mono album. Those three songs are "I Saw Her Again," "Words of Love," and "Creeque Alley," all of which contain instrumentation not heard on the parent stereo or mono albums on which the songs appeared. When ABC obtained the Dot Records catalog, something had to go to make way for Dot, so ABC junked its multitrack session tapes and mono album masters, figuring they'd never need them again, and with the purge went the single mixes of those three Mamas & Papas tracks. Lou Adler did a similar thing with Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)." Some Ode 45s have an echoed and compressed tympani pounding during the bridge, which the "hit" version does not have, nor does the stereo album mix.

Tom Daly wrote: Blame Lou Adler for The Mamas & the Papas missing tapes. Adler mixed the singles FIRST. Albums were mixed to stereo, then folded to mono for mono pressings. The exception was with FAREWELL TO THE FIRST GOLDEN ERA, a hits compilation. Stereo pressings contained the stereo album mixes, however mono pressings contained the single mixes of three songs, as the single masters were spliced into the mono album reels so that the single versions would appear on the mono album. Those three songs are "I Saw Her Again," "Words of Love," and "Creeque Alley," all of which contain instrumentation not heard on the parent stereo or mono albums on which the songs appeared. When ABC obtained the Dot Records catalog, something had to go to make way for Dot, so ABC junked its multitrack session tapes and mono album masters, figuring they'd never need them again, and with the purge went the single mixes of those three Mamas & Papas tracks. Lou Adler did a similar thing with Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)." Some Ode 45s have an echoed and compressed tympani pounding during the bridge, which the "hit" version does not have, nor does the stereo album mix.

Actually, the long standing rumor is that the head of ABC, Jay Lasker,
junked ALL the mono tapes for Dunhill and ABC. Also, that's not true
about the Mamas & Papas mono LPs being fold-downs of the stereo
mixes. Just about all of those M&P mono mixes are dedicated (to the
one I love) mixes.