Oh Well Parts 1 & 2 question

sharksfan2000 · #1 01-17-2006, 10:56 AM

It occurred to me the other day that - other than live versions - I've always heard "Oh Well" with Parts 1 & 2 combined, yet the original release was on two sides of a single ("Oh Well" was not included on the original UK release of Then Play On). From what I've read, Peter Green had always intended Parts 1 & 2 to be heard together.

When the single originally got radio airplay, were the two parts played back-to-back? Or was Part 1 on its own played more often? Some people here may remember those days.....

wetcamelfood · #2 01-17-2006, 02:21 PM

I remember reading that Peter said "Oh well" was written with being a single in mind, so it was recorded the way it was because it's intention was for it to be released as a single. It was just Reprise that confused the issue by merging them together for the latter day TPO's & various comps. However, I've also read (wherever it was now, can't remember but will look up the source & post it when I can) that Peter felt part 2 was better but he was upset because DJ's were just playing part 1 that not many people got to hear part 2. Hope this helps.

John

DavidMn · #3 01-17-2006, 04:55 PM

I love both part 1 and 2.

I've heard that Peter actually prefers Part 2 over 1.?

sharksfan2000 · #4 01-17-2006, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wetcamelfood

I remember reading that Peter said "Oh well" was written with being a single in mind, so it was recorded the way it was because it's intention was for it to be released as a single. It was just Reprise that confused the issue by merging them together for the latter day TPO's & various comps. However, I've also read (wherever it was now, can't remember but will look up the source & post it when I can) that Peter felt part 2 was better but he was upset because DJ's were just playing part 1 that not many people got to hear part 2. Hope this helps.

John

Thanks for the info, John. I was wondering whether the 2-part structure of "Oh Well" might have influenced any other songs - "Layla" for example has a similar intense/driving first part and quieter second part. But then it occurred to me that many people in the UK and Europe may have only heard Part 1 when it was first released (although certainly Eric Clapton, and probably most people in the music business, must have heard both parts).

Did the very first US release of TPO include "Oh Well" with Parts 1 & 2 combined, or was it only added a bit later after the single became a hit in the UK? And did subsequent vinyl releases of TPO in the UK or elsewhere ever add "Oh Well"? Or was the first appearance in the UK of the combined "Oh Well" on the Greatest Hits LP of late '71?

hypnotized · #5 01-17-2006, 11:14 PM

Initial American pressings of TPO did not include Oh Well.

chiliD · #6 01-18-2006, 02:50 AM

Only the initial pressings of both US & UK versions of Then Play On did NOT have "Oh Well"...but subsequent pressings on both sides of "the pond" were revamped TPO to include the 9 minute opus.

wetcamelfood · #7 01-18-2006, 06:13 AM

Yeah, the merged "Oh well" started showing up on TPO pressings (vinyl that is, oddly, the cassette versions of TPO never had OW on them) from 1977 onwards, probably due to it's inclusion in the Mac's set list and those "just discovering" FM at that time due to "Rumours" etc.

John

BklynBlue · #8 01-18-2006, 10:34 AM

When (if ever) the powers that be at Warner / Rhino get around to releasing a remastered edition of "Then Play On", they will hopefully correct the "additional minute" tacked on to "Oh Well".
When first released on LP, those who did the mastering at Reprise tacked the first minute of "Oh Well Pt. 2" onto "Pt. 1" and then faded it out to end the side.
Side 2 of the vinyl was the complete take of "Oh Well Pt. 2" including that minute that had just appeared on Side 1.
When transferred to CD, no one thought to end "Oh Well Pt. 1" before "Part 2" started, so now, at around 3:20 (CD running times notoriously vary but give or take a few seconds) you hear "Part 2" begin and then fade. At 4:20, it starts again!

That no one caught it the first time, you can let them slide on - but to have never fixed it in all these years since the initial CD release is just wrong.

sharksfan2000 · #9 01-18-2006, 10:56 AM

Thanks for the info, everyone. I bought a UK TPO LP around '77 that still had the original track list, without "Oh Well" (and with "My Dream", "When You Say", "One Sunny Day, and "Without You"). I know the US version had "Oh Well" on it considerably earlier than that, since my freshman roommate in college had one.

On that US version of the vinyl release, "Oh Well" was the last track of side one, and combined Parts 1 & 2 - with the extra minute of Part 2 starting, fading, and re-starting as BklynBlue describes. I guess I've gotten used to it sounding like that, though! Did the original single of "Oh Well" Part 1 also have the beginning of Part 2 on the a-side of the single? Because of that somewhat odd way they've been combined as one track, I've assumed that the beginning of Part 2 was on the a-side of the original single, but I don't know. I'm sure some people here have the single and can tell us.

Comparing those two versions of TPO, I've always thought that US version was better than the UK one, one of the few examples of that being the case that I can think of (The Clash's debut album is another one, and as a curious side-note, it includes a song that mentions Peter Green - "Jail Guitar Doors").

Pretty interesting difference in the cover art between the US & UK versions of TPO too. The UK one just had an all-black front cover with "Fleetwood Mac" and "Then Play On" in white lettering - very stark. The back cover had a large landscape photo with the band in it - perhaps a telling sign that they're all standing far apart from one another!

chiliD · #10 01-18-2006, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharksfan2000

Did the original single of "Oh Well" Part 1 also have the beginning of Part 2 on the a-side of the single?

Yes.

You can hear the single version (in its two separate parts...A side & B side) on the 1971 Greatest Hits album.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BklynBlue

When (if ever) the powers that be at Warner / Rhino get around to releasing a remastered edition of "Then Play On", they will hopefully correct the "additional minute" tacked on to "Oh Well".

I dunno about that

...anything that makes it SHORTER doesn't sit well in my book. Now if they'd originally left OFF a minute, then, yeah, it is wrong...but, since they ADDED a minute, that's fine with me.

sharksfan2000 · #11 01-18-2006, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiliD

You can hear the single version (in its two separate parts...A side & B side) on the 1971 Greatest Hits album.

Thanks, chiliD - I realized that as well after I posted. I checked my CD copy and it lists the track times for Part 1 as 3:28 and for Part 2 as 5:37.

wetcamelfood · #12 01-18-2006, 01:09 PM

I think all Reprise did when editing together parts 1 & 2 on the um, let's just say, latter day editions of TPO was remove the last part where the Side A faed out was so that it would make sense spliced together (therfore accounting for the 9 second running time difference, though even then, the 1978 Reprise German "Best of" FM comp spliced together the entire OW & they deemed it to be 9:10 in duration, so there's always going to be running time differences no matter how we slice it).

John

DavidMn · #13 01-18-2006, 07:04 PM

My favorite version of Part 1 is off the Live at the BBC disc. Great stuff!!

Jyqm · #14 01-18-2006, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMn

My favorite version of Part 1 is off the Live at the BBC disc. Great stuff!!

Have you heard Live at the Boston Tea Party, Part Two, David? "Oh Well" on that disc is absolutely smoking, as is the epic "Rattlesnake Shake/Underway/Madge" that follows it. "World In Harmony" is pretty great on there, too. And "Teenage Darling." And "Jenny Jenny." And...

DavidMn · #15 01-18-2006, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jyqm

Have you heard Live at the Boston Tea Party, Part Two, David? "Oh Well" on that disc is absolutely smoking, as is the epic "Rattlesnake Shake/Underway/Madge" that follows it. "World In Harmony" is pretty great on there, too. And "Teenage Darling." And "Jenny Jenny." And...

No, that's one I dont have admittedly. I know I need to get it though.