Sit Properly

This album was requested some time ago and I’ve been meaning to get around to it. It wasn’t the easiest to clean up, but now that it’s finished, it really does sound great! I hope you enjoy it. Happy downloading. Haribol!

The Vrindavana LP, released by Parampara Productions, is tied for my favorite Classic ISKCON record with Temple Radha Krsna, also released by Parampara. It’s got almost everything you could want, including an amazing rendition of “Kesava Kali Mala” by Acyutananda Swami.

Sure, if you wanted to, you could see this as the poor-man’s Radha Krishna Temple (the George Harrison-produced LP that everyone has). Vrindavana seems to be trying mimic Radha Krishna Temple to a large degree. Most of the instruments are traditional, save a bass guitar and an often haphazardly played flute.

To me, however, the Radha Krishna Temple LP has always seemed over-produced. It’s too slick in many places and while a beautiful album, it doesn’t capture what you’d hear in the temple. Vrindavana pretty well fills that gap. It’s fairly well produced, but keeps enough of the temple spirit to satisfy my uselessly picky tastes.

Unlike many of the other records, there’s nothing weird or overly mysterious about this release. I have two copies of it and it’s obvious that they’re different pressings, but nothing too wacky.

The pressing from Holland has a purple stripe around the cover image. The French one has a blue stripe. Holland’s back cover gives a bit more information about the songs and places captions on the pictures (albeit, in Dutch). The Holland release came with an insert containing lyrics and purports (again in Dutch), while the French release (at least my copy of it) didn’t.

If I could find one odd thing about this release it’s that each country’s release is a completely different pressing. The French vinyl is of higher quality and much thicker. Holland’s label is the same as the French label, except they printed some copyright and “Made in Holland” info around the outer edge (probably for legal reasons specific to Holland).

The mixes are the same on each release, though the French release has two songs (the last songs on each side) that were mixed a bit too high, clipping a good deal of the vocals. Luckily, I was able to lift those two songs from the Dutch release. My copy of the French release was in much better shape than my copy of the release from Holland, which is why I chose one over the other.

As interesting as I’m sure this is, let’s get to the songs themselves.

Kant A / Face A
1. Sri Rupa Manjari (6′30″) par Kausalya dasi
A beautiful flute and sitar accompany the beautiful voice of Kausalya dasi. I’ve never heard of her before, but she’s a great singer. This is a pretty mellow piece and a fine way to start a great album.

2. Manasa deha geha (5′) par Manibandha das
The first of two “Manasa deha geha”s. This is slow, but kind of funky too. There’s definitely a bit of swank going on here. Especially with the bass guitar and the what is probably an autoharp. The flute adds to the swankiness, especially during the flute-freak-out towards the end.

3. Bhaja hunre mana (5′) par Achyutananda Swami
It’s Achyutananda Swami! There’s some pretty steady sitar work going on here. This is very Indian. Even more so than Achyutananda Swami’s bhajans usually are. This is practically a song ripped straight from a Bollywood movie. You can almost picture some chubby and sweaty Indian guy patting his chest and doing a well-choriographed dance while inexplicably kicking piles of colored dust.

4. Gopinatha (4′30″) par Manibandha das
Very slow and mellow. There’s a great rolling rhythm to this. Something very bassie about it. Maybe it’s just the bass guitar. There’s a lot going on here. The kartalas seem to be playing in a 3/4 meter (like “Damodarastakam”) while the rest of the music is in 4/4. Not totally sure about this, but it works.

Kant B / Face B
1. Srita kamala (4′30″) par Kausaya dasi
Back with Kausaya dasi! A very sweet voice, twice overdubbed. It’s quite nice.

2. Kesava kali mala (3′20″) par Achyutananda Swami
Hey now! This is just funky! Totally worth the price of admission right here. Again, nearly Bollywood in its swankiness. Is that a bongo drum I hear? No idea, but it’s great. Check out the kartalas! And yet again with the funky flute. Please listen to this. There are maracas!

3. Manasa deha geha (7′30″) par Kausalya dasi
Kausalya dasi gives “Manasa deha geha” a try. This is a very mellow, yet menacing take on this classic. It works, even with the oddly placed bass guitar.

4. Hare Krsna kirtana (4′30″) les bhaktas assembles
Let’s all get together and chant Hare Krishna! Kausalya dasi leads and everyone follows. This is the same melody that’s used on the Radha Krishna Temple.

As I said before, my copy of the French album was in pretty ok shape – better than my copy of the Dutch album. Still, this was a tough one to clean up. Some of the pops were probably from the source tapes as they didn’t sound like vinyl pops. I fixed what I could and I think you’ll really enjoy this one.

The Vrindavana LP is my friend Rati’s favorite and I’m really happy that I can offer it to her in a much better quality than it was before. Vaisnavas should always leave a record cleaner than they found it! Hopefully they’ll play it for their beautiful deities, Nitai-gauracandra.

I’m unaware that any of these songs were ever officially rereleased by ISKCON (or anybody else for that matter). The album itself isn’t too difficult to track down. Some copies are selling for $100ish, but I see others for less than $10. This is definitely one you’d want to pick up.

And as always, this LP is available as high quality mp3s and as “lossless” FLAC files. For most of you, the MP3 at 320kbps will be more than sufficient. For those who like FLAC files, leave a comment and I’ll get them to you.

Fairly high-quality scans of the album covers, records and insert are included as well (and as usual).

Samples of the songs are available in the comments.

Click here to download the whole album in one huge zip file! (95 MB)

Technical Information:
Media Used:
Vinyl LP from my personal collection.

Artwork Scanned from Original @ 300 dpi with XSane .996
Edited and Restored Using GIMP Image Editor 2.6.6

Let’s move back to some Srila Prabhupada bhajans, shall we? Next in the series of high quality rips of Classic ISKCON records is a double LP (in a gatefold sleeve!) of nothing but Srila Prabhupada. Listen to a few songs or download the entire album! Enjoy!

Krsna Meditation
Radha Krsna Productions
RKP 1003 (also covers RKP 1005)

There aren’t many Krishna-related double LPs out there. And only one that is fully Srila Prabhupada.

Srila Prabhupada’s Krsna Meditation was released by the Radha Krsna Productions label. That label’s first release was Acyutananda Swami’s India LP. Their third was this double LP of Srila Prabhupada, Krsna Meditation ( I still don’t know what their second release was).

Though it’s a very long record, it contains only six songs, the first five seemingly recorded at the same session. Those five tracks feature Srila Prabhupada (here called A.C. Bhaktivedanta Gosvami Prabhupada) on vocals and harmonium and Hansadutta dasa Adhikari on mrdanga drum (and not vocals). A tampura and a couple of kartalas are in the mix as well.

Unlike the Acyutananda Swami release, there’s nothing really mysterious about this one. No odd cross-record label antics, no strange cut-out markings, no bootleg quality recordings. This is a very straight forward Srila Prabhupada record. That is, until the last song rolls around. More on that in a bit.

One of the cool things about double LPs is that they often have gatefold covers. Krsna Meditation is no exception. The inside of this gatefold sports a huge picture taken during the recording session of Srila Prabhupada in the studio with Hamsadutta, Haimavati and, I assume, Cakravarti or Purijit das brahmacari (the latter three played kartalas on this record).

A paragraph appears on the lower left corner of the gatefold. It reads:

The singing of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Gosvami Prabhupada is pure devotional music in praise of Krsna – Meditation, Srila Prabhupada explains, is not inactive, impersonal or void. Meditation is the awakening of the soul’s eternal relationship with the Supreme Person, Krsna. One who has experienced such an awakening cannot stop meditating on Krsna even for a moment, just as a young boy who has fallen in love with a young girl cannot stop thinking of her at any time. One can sing for Krsna, dance for Krsna, cook for Krsna, think for Krsna, work for Krsna or even fight for Krsna. In this way doing everything for Krsna, in the end one returns to Krsna.

By Hearing the spiritual sound vibrations of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Gosvami Prabhupada, the listener is immediately elevated to the platform of Krsna meditation which brings supreme peace and bliss within the heart.

This mixing on this album is interesting. Srila Prabhupada’s vocals are up front and in both channels, as you’d expect. The kartalas are in both as well. The tampura is lurking somewhere in the right channel while the mrdanga’s small, higher head pops up in the left channel as the larger, bass head hangs out in the center – an fun idea that works nicely.

Here’s the track listing…

Krsna Meditation Part I
Side A
1) Prayers to the Six Gosvamis

Side B
1) Gaura Prahun
2) Sri Krsna Caitanya Prabhu

Krsna Meditation Part II
Side A
1) Jaya Radhe Jaya Krsna

Side B
1) Yasomati-nandana
2) Cintamani

My copy of this album is in very near mint condition. The cleaning up process that I do was amazingly easy. The few stray pops and clicks that I had to deal with were no problem at all (except for the beginning of track two). The first three and a half sides of this double LP were a relative breeze to complete. That leaves “Cintamani,” with oodles of pops, clicks, weird flutters and lower volume as a bit of an anomaly.

But it was no mystery. Acyutananda Swami’s India LP was the same way. The record was in near mint condition, yet the whole thing was full of pops, clicks and general noisiness. And so just like the India LP, “Cintamani,” the last song on Krsna Meditation is a recording recorded directly off another record. The pops and clicks don’t come from my copy, but from someone else’s dusty, dirty copy of some other record that apparently featured Srila Prabhupada singing “Cintamani.”

While the rest of the album has cleaned up very well, there are still quite a few blemishes within “Cintamani.” I did what I could and it’s not at all hard on the ears. It features Srila Prabhupada on vocals and harmonium with a devotee or two on kartalas and a very buried mrdanga. No tampura here. This comes from a completely different recording session.

Two releases later, Radha Krsna Productions took Part I – Side A and Part II – Side B of this record and released it as Krsna Meditations (RKP-1005). Same title, same exact front album cover and nearlyidentical back cover, but half the music. Even the matrix etching reads: RKP-1003-A for the first side and RKP-1003-D for the second, just like RKP-1003, the subject of this post, indicating that RKP’s fifth release used the same plates to press the vinyl as their third release (which means that the shoddy sound quality of “Cintamani” is still there).

Sometime later, a record label calling itself Radha Govinda Productions threw together a hodge podge of recordings from other records and used a ten minute edit of “Prayers to the Six Gosvamis” from Krsna Meditation. That was mysteriously punctuated “Prayers to the Six: Gosvamisos.”

Krsna Meditations is one of the few records that was ever (partially) made available on cassette and CD under (basically) the same name. It was released by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust as Krishna Meditations in the late 80s as Timeless Meditations And then later, in the mid-90s as Krishna Meditations, part of the “Gold Series.” Both rereleases, however, lops off the last song (the noisy “Cintamani”) and seem to have edited “Prayers to the Six Gosvamis” (the first song) down to less than eight minutes (it’s original is just under 18 minutes). Also, the song titles on the newer release are changed to their more “proper” titles. “Prayers to the Six Gosvamis” becomes “Sri Sri Sad-gosvamy-astaka,” while “Sri Krsna Caitanya Prabhu” becomes “Savarana-Sri-Gaura-pada-padme.” This edited down CD is still available.

As for “Cintamani,” I’ve searched through the Srila Prabhupada Vintage Series recordings and found no trace of this version of “Cintamani” (which is usually renamed “Brahma-samita”). Where this came from and where it’s gone is beyond me and seems to be only available on this album (and it’s smaller re-release – #1005).

So, why settle of rehashes and edits when you can get the whole thing right here!

This Double LP is available as high quality mp3s and as “lossless” FLAC files. For most of you, the MP3 at 320kbps will be more than sufficient. For those who like FLAC files, leave a comment and I’ll get them to you.

Samples of the songs are available in the comments.

Click here to download the whole album in one huge zip file! (150 MB)

Technical Information:
Media Used:
Vinyl Double LP from my personal collection.

Artwork Scanned from Original @ 300 dpi with XSane .996
Edited and Restored Using GIMP Image Editor 2.6.6

Here we are at the third (and final?) 7″ release by Hare Krsna Records out of Germany. This one tacks on “Amsterdam” behind the usual “Hare Krsna Festival.” There is, of course, no explanation as to why it’s called “Amsterdam.”

Hare Krsna Festival Amsterdam
Hare Krsna Records
HKR-2003

Both of the songs on this release are sung by Hansadutta das Adhikary. One thing to take note of on all of these records is who is attributed to writing the song. The writing credits are usually listed in parentheses under the song titles. In this case, since a “traditional” song is being sung, the writing credit would read “(Traditional).” However, for some reason “Hans Kary” is credited as writer. Hans Kary is the legal name of Hansadutta. Hansadutta didn’t write either the Hare Krishna mantra or the lyrics to “Vande Ham,” he arranged the song. The writing credits should have read “(Traditional – arr. by Hans Kary).”

It’s a trifling matter, but also a bit telling at the same time.

Side A gives us Hansadutta’s take on “Vande Ham.” This was also on the last 7″ that I posted (HKR-2002). Though this version is pretty nice and mellow. It’s a good version, though not as pleasing to the ear as Avinas Chandra’s version on the last release. Recording it again seems almost unnecessary. “Vande Ham” was recorded on many of these records by many different people (including several versions by Srila Prabhupada). You almost never hear it these days.

“Jaya Radha, Jaya Krsna” is our B-side. It’s a really sweet song, no matter who is at the helm. Hamsadutta hogs it a bit, but not enough to really ruin it. A female devotee’s voice (Krsna Premi’s?) floats in and out of this recording and that adds quite a bit to it. I really like her vocals. This time, the main vocals start in the center, but after about a minute, they slide to the left channel, leaving the reverb in the right channel with the the responses. It’s an interesting touch. I love this song. There are better versions of it out there, but this will do in a pinch. It’ll be in my head all day.

Side A
Vande Ham

Side B
Jaya Radha, Jaya Krsna

For the first side of this 7″, everything went along smoothly. The record is clean and relatively click/pop-free. But the second side was complete chaos. First, the source recording’s vocal track is clipping. It’s not really bad enough that the casual listener would notice it, but trying to de-click/pop this, it made for a rough morning.

On top of that, somehow the record got a skip in it. This is bad. Very bad. And it’s my fault. Click and pops I can usually take care of. Skips, on the other hand, I can’t. It literally skips over one whole rotation of the record. Nearly a second of music was gone.

My first thought was to dig up my old recording of this and just patch it up. But when I listened to that old recording, I found it to be completely unusable. It didn’t even sound like the same record.

So what I did was sort of like a skin graft. I lifted a very very similar part of the song and grafted it over the skip. It took about an hour to get the timing right, but it matches up almost perfectly. You will not notice it. I just thought I’d mention this, in the spirit of geeky full disclosure.

This 7″ is available as high quality mp3s and as “lossless” FLAC files. For most of you, the MP3 at 320kbps will be more than sufficient. For those who like FLAC files, leave a comment and I’ll get them to you.

Samples of the songs are available in the comments.

Click here to download the 7″ in one zip file! (17 MB)

Technical Information:
Media Used:
Vinyl 7″ from my personal collection.

Artwork Scanned from Original @ 300 dpi with XSane .996
Edited and Restored Using GIMP Image Editor 2.6.6

Two records in three days! Maybe I’ll throw Hare Krsna Records’s third 7″ up tomorrow. Maybe…. maybe Friday….

Hare Krsna Festival
Hare Krsna Records
HKR-2002

The second 7″ released by Hare Krsna Records features two songs, both by male devotees.

“Vande Ham” kicks off the record. A devotee named Avinas Chandra sings this slow and stirring rendition of a classic. There’s a mrdanga in the left channel as kartals and a harmonium fill both. The vocals are mostly on the right. This is a really a very beautiful version.

Hansadutta dasa (who was largely responsible for the vast majority of the 70s ISKCON records) sings at us on the b-side. “Hare Krsna Kirtana” is, to me, a little off-putting. Hansadutta’s voice is nice, but he’s loud and when the assembled devotees are responding, he’s often singing “Haribol!” and “Chant the Holy Name!” over them. He does this throughout.

Side A
Vande Ham

Side B
Hare Krsna Kirtana

The copy that I own is in pretty OK shape. Side B took a while to clean up and a lot of the pops were very bassy, so it was hard to get rid of them without damaging the music. Most are completely gone, but a few remain. Again, the source recordings for both sides leave a bit to be desired. But also like the last Hare Krsna Records 7″, this one is very listenable. Especially Side A.

This 7″ is available as high quality mp3s and as “lossless” FLAC files. For most of you, the MP3 at 320kbps will be more than sufficient. For those who really want FLAC files, leave a comment and I’ll get them to you.

Samples of the songs are available in the comments.

Click here to download the 7″ in one zip file! (23 MB)

Technical Information:
Media Used:
Vinyl 7″ from my personal collection.

Artwork Scanned from Original @ 300 dpi with XSane .996
Edited and Restored Using GIMP Image Editor 2.6.6

I’ve been very incredibly lax with posting new re-rips of the old ISKCON records that I have. Mostly this is due to computer issues that I’ve finally ironed out (you know, sort of). I thought that it would be best to start small, since I’m using a bit of a new set up – everything is now going to be recorded, edited, etc on my laptop (rather than desktop) running LinuxMint 7.

So here we go, with a small offering…

Hare Krsna Festival
Hare Krsna Records
HKR-2001

A good chunk of the ISKCON records released in the 70s were titled “Hare Krsna Festival.” This makes telling one apart from the next fairly difficult. Most of those records were released by Hare Krsna Records out of Germany. This label appears to have been run by Hamsadutta dasa.

Hare Krsna Records released at least four full-length LPs and three 7″s (known as “45s” to some folk). Hare Krsna Festival (HKR-2001) appears to be the first.

This release contains two songs. Both of the songs are sung by a mataji named Krsna Premi.

“Tulasi Prayers,” on the first side, is sweet and fully traditional (with addition of a harmonium). It starts slow and is steady throughout, leaving out the “yani kani ca papani…” at the end. It’s a great little song anyway.

“Hare Krsna Kirtan,” on the flip side, is sung by this same mataji and is a bit more upbeat. There are kartals, a mrdanga and harmonium. The song builds, faster and faster until its fade out. A splendid little record, this!

Side A
Tulasi Prayer

Side B
Hare Krsna Kirtan

My copy of this 7″ was in very good condition. There wasn’t much to clean up. That said, a few pops and clicks remain. Most of the issues with the audio come from the source recording. There’s a bit of wavering between right and left channels and even a strange cut out/fuzz near the beginning of “Hare Krsna Kirtan.” This 7″ is still very listenable and I’m betting you’ll enjoy it.

This 7″ is available as high quality mp3s and as “lossless” FLAC files. For most of you, the MP3 at 320kbps will be more than sufficient. For those who like FLAC files, leave a comment and I’ll get them to you.

Samples of the songs are available in the comments.

Click here to download the 7″ in one zip file! (19 MB)

Technical Information:
Media Used:
Vinyl 7″ from my personal collection.

Artwork Scanned from Original @ 300 dpi with XSane .996
Edited and Restored Using GIMP Image Editor 2.6.6

So soon after the India LP I deliver unto you Srila Prabhupada’s Govinda! This is a fun project, thanks for the kind words. Haribol! Enjoy the download!

Govinda Prayers Sung by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Golden Avatar Productions
GOPI-108

You will know this album by the first few notes of the first song, “Prayers to the Six Gosvamis.” The drone of the tampoura and the strikes of the sarod have been heard on countless ISKCON productions. The rest of the album, however, isn’t as well known.

In 1973, before Europe’s Hare Krishna record industry kicked off in high gear, Gold Avatar Productions released a simple, 40 minute recording by Srila Prabhupada entitled Govinda. Three songs and one spoken track are all that make up this album, but it seems to have been the first official recording of Srila Prabhupada’s singing since 1968’s Happenings LP (I’m speculating here, correct me if I’m wrong).

Govinda was re-released in 1975 with a different cover painted by Pariksit dasa. The first release lacked liner notes of any kind aside from the record label itself, which listed the instruments played, but not (with the exception of Srila Prabhupada) who played them. Two years later, all credits appeared on the back cover.

The songs are very minimalistic in contrast to the George Harrison-produced Radha-Krsna Temple. There is no percussion aside from kartals, played by Srila Prabhupada, who also played the harmonium in one song.

Recording took place at Annex Studios on Sycamore Avenue in Hollywood, California. They were Columbia Record’s main west coast studio until the late 60s and recorded the likes of Johnny Mathis and Elvis Presley. Those recordings used professional sound engineers and producers. In 1973, for the Govinda recording sessions, there seems to be only Krsnakanti dasa. A year before, he founded Gold Avatar to release Srila Prabhupada’s lectures. This may have been his first attempt at producing. The quality shows. He seems to have done much better later on (even professionally producing some disco records under the “Golden Age” Studios name (rather than “Golden Avatar”).

George and Ann Ruckert, who appear on the first track and are possibly brother and sister were both students of Ali Akbar Khan. George is now an MIT professor of music while Ann, who attended Julliard at age 15, co-founded the Jazz Foundation and teaches music privately. How they became associated with this recording, however, is still a mystery to me.

The first song, “Prayers to the Six Gosvamis,” features Ann and George Ruckert on tampoura and sarod, respectively. They accompany Srila Prabhupada’s singing and kartals. The tampoura’s drone in the left channel sounds almost like a deep blues harmonica at times, adding a very strange feel to the whole piece (this is a good thing). The sarod meanders around the notes set by Srila Prabhupada’s vocals and the beat kept by the kartals. It is not a complex piece, but an odd one if you really listen for it. This has been most widely available on the CD Hare Krishna Classics & Originals.

“Gour and Nitai” (entitled “Lalasamayi” on the 1975 re-release) finishes out side two. It is loud recording, with Srila Prabhupada belting out the slow tune and grinding slowly away on the harmonium. Nobody else is present on this track. I’m not sure whether it was planned this way, but the entire piece sounds hollow and very low-fi, evidence that producer Krsnakanti was just starting out. This song has been commercially unavailable since this release.

Side two’s only song is “Chintamani” (”Cintamani” on the 1975 re-release). It again feature Srila Prabhupada on vocals on kartals, but also Visnujana Swami on tampoura. The drones of the tampoura add quite a lot to the song, as it doesn’t sound quite as “empty” as “Gour and Nitai.” It’s also interesting to hear a more traditional take on the Brahma-samita prayers. The same prayers were used on “Govinda,” the Radha-Krsna Temple’s single that is still played at every ISKCON center every morning. Aside from this recording, this sweet song has never been released by ISKCON.

The closing track is a twelve minute speech by Srila Prabhupada, simply called “Chintamani – text.” Here, Srila Prabhupada gives a little background as to the meaning of the song “Chintamani” as well as a bit of translation for the verses. This recording, oddly enough, saw the light of day on Volume 16 of the Vintage Series CDs as an explanation for a different recording of “Chintamani.”

The 1975 re-release included not only production credits, but an insert with lyrics and some text.

Side 1
1) Prayers to the Six Goswamis 13:05
2) Gour and Nitai (Lalasamayi) 7:01

Side 2
1) Chintamani 9:11
2) Chintamani – text 12:10

On the back of the 1975 re-release, a short note about Srila Prabhupada reads…

For thousands of years holy men in India have reached the Transcendental Realm of super-consciousness by vibrating sacred hymns. Now His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada brings this consciousness to the West in an ecstatic performance with classical Indian instruments.

This album was fairly easy to clean up, though I still wish my copy of it was in better shape. I used the 1975 release since my copy of the original release is in even worse shape. Again, it’s not perfect, but it’s the best I could do.

This album is available as high quality mp3s and as “lossless” FLAC files. For most of you, the MP3 at 320kbps will be more than sufficient. For those who like FLAC files, leave a comment and I’ll get them to you.

A couple samples of the songs are available in the comments.

Click here to download the entire album in one big zip file! (95 MB)

Technical Information:
Media Used:
Vinyl LP from my personal collection (I used the 1975 release since it was in better shape).

Artwork Scanned from Original @ 300 dpi with XSane .996
Edited and Restored Using GIMP Image Editor 2.6.6

Acyutananda Swami – India
Radha Krsna Productions
RKP 1001

Acyutananda Swami’s India LP isn’t really all that rare. It’s pretty available on Ebay, Gemm.com, etc. It’s comprised of seven studio tracks, all sung by Acyutananda Swami and all recorded in Mayapura. It’s a great album to listen to and you’ll be very happy with it.

But just because it’s a solid record doesn’t mean there isn’t mystery behind it. With this recording, there are three main mysteries (aside from when it was actually recorded).

The first is about the record label that released it. My copy was released under the Radha Krsna Productions label. It is the first of five records to be released under that moniker. However, opon closer inspection of the record itself, while the label clearly states that it’s Radha Krsna Productions release, the etching in the center of the vinyl (called the “matrix”) reads: “HKR – 1005 – A” (or “- B” depending on which side).

HKR stands for Hare Krsna Records, Hamsadutta’s label. There were, as far as I can tell, only four LPs released by Hare Krsna Records. They were catalog numbers 1001 – 1004. If this were to be their #1005, it would have been the only LP where Hamsadutta played no role in the production.

To me, that seems reason enough for Hamsadutta to kick it to another label even after Hare Krsna Records pressed it. But what is the real story? Beats me.

Keep in mind, Hare Krsna Records and Radha Krsna Productions shared at least one release: Hare Krsna Festival – HKR #1003/RKP #1004. So why this is the India LP RKP #1001 as well as HKR #1005? I’ve got no idea.

Also, there are other copies of this LP with yellow labels. Their matrix “correctly” reads RKP1001 as one would think it should. At this time, I don’t know more about these copies.

The second mystery is this…

It’s a “cut out” … sort of…

In the recording industry, a cut-out refers to a deeply-discounted or remaindered copy of an LP…. When LPs were the primary medium for distribution or recording, manufacturers would physically cut the corner, punch a hole, or add a notch to the spine of the jacket of unsold records returned from retailers; these “cut-outs” might then be re-sold to record retailers or other sales outlets for sale at a discounted price. A special section of a record store devoted to such items was known as the cut-out bin or bargain bin. – Wikipedia (lazy me)

But the actual mystery is this: The cover that I have is not a cut out. It’s a photograph of a cut out. The photograph used on the cover of this LP was made from a cut out version of the same LP. Why?

What this seems to indicate is that someone wanted to print more covers, but the only covers they had were ones with cut outs. So they photographed a cut out cover and used it. I’ve only personally seen one copy of this LP (though there are tons out there), so I don’t know if this is common to all of them, but it’s weird.

Again, I’m wildly speculating, but a guess would be that maybe Hamsadutta actually released this one, made a bunch of copies and then “destroyed” them via the cut out process. But really, who knows (and probably who cares).

The last mystery is more of a “why” than a “what” or “how.” While digitally cleaning this recording up, removing the pops, hisses and clicks (as described here), I made the discovery that the recording heard on this record is actually a recording of an earlier pressing of this record. This pressing wasn’t recorded from its master tapes as it should have been, but from an earlier pressing of the same record.

Basically, the first pressing of the India LP was recorded from the original master tapes. When it came time for a subsequent pressing, the master tapes were not available for some reason. In order to make another pressing, they had to resort to a copy of the first pressing and use that as the source – crackles, pops and all.

You can actually hear the crackles and pops where no dust or scratches can be seen on the record itself. Also, the right channel is pretty muddy and most of the crackles live there. I was able to remove 99% of the crackles (which were very present on both sides of the LP). Some remain, of course, but the cleaning up process (at a rate of taking an hour of work for one minute of music) has done wonders.

Additionally, at first I thought I had recorded this record’s volume too high. I was getting distortion at the louder parts (called “clipping”). But no, my levels were just fine. When this record was recorded from the original pressing, whoever did it didn’t bother to check the levels, so there’s a bit of clipping here and there. I was able to remove much of this.

This is the best job that I could do. There are those who could do better, of course, but this is definitely as good as this LP has sounded since the mid 70s.

Okay, so let’s get to the record…

Side I

1) Gaya Gour (5:09)
2) Radha Govinda (4:55)
3) Jasomati Nandana (5:10)
4) Kesava Kali Mala (5:21)

Side II

1) Manasha Deha Geha (6:12)
2) Nama Sankirtana (7:09)
3) Gopinatha (7:55)

On the back cover of the LP there’s a bit of a write up. Here it is…

Acyuthananda Swami is an American sannyasi, who left his homeland at the age of 16 years and has been living in India since the last 10 years studying the spiritual culture and music of India. He is world renowned for his masterful singing of Bengali Vaisnava folk songs and playing on mrdanga (clay drum, unique to Bengal).

The recordings on this LP were taken in Mayapura, India, and we beg the listeners to excuse the obvious shortcomings due to circumstances beyond our control. This record has been produced especially with the idea of helping the needy people of Bengal by sending the profits above the cost of actual production to our international center in Mayapura, India (Bengal), where thousands of people are fed each day from contributions coming through the sale of this record. Give generously.

Whether the needy people of Bengal ever got anything from this is unclear.

This album is available as high quality mp3s and as “lossless” FLAC files. For most of you, the MP3 at 320kbps will be more than sufficient. For those who like FLAC files, leave a comment and I’ll get them to you.

Several samples of the songs are available in the comments.

Click here to download the entire album in one big zip file! (93 MB)

Technical Information:
Media Used:
Vinyl LP from my personal collection.

Artwork Scanned from Original @ 300 dpi
Edited and Restored Using GIMP Image Editor 2.6.6

First, I’m sorry if this is a bit mundane. It’ll be boring to most, but maybe interesting to some.

As most who read this know, I’m in the process of re-recording all of my Early ISKCON records to digital. Part of this process includes removing all the pops, clicks and crackles that are associated with poorly cared for vinyl.

My second entry is Acyutananda Swami’s India LP. I talk quite a lot about it here. To sum up, because of the weirdness in the pressing of this particular edition of the India LP, there are tons of pops and clicks.

Most of these come not from my copy of the record, but because this edition was recorded from a very crappy quality of the first pressing of the record (rather than the original master tapes).

Because of this, the record sounds muddy (which I can’t really fix) and the pops and clicks aren’t exactly your normal pops and clicks.

After capturing the record to wav file, I “clean” up the songs using a Linux program called Gnome Wave Cleaner (GWC). The software is free and works pretty well. The process is very slow (it takes over an hour to cover about a minute of music – a 40 minute album will take around 50 hours).

But it’s worth it. I’ll show you what I do.

Here is the 7th track, Gopinatha. I’m around a minute and a half into this track. I isolate about 15 seconds of music and have the program automatically mark where the pops and clicks might be. That’s what’s marked in red.

Zooming into the 15 seconds, you’ll see that there are 238 markings. Most of these are false positives marked because of the crappy quality of the original recording. Some, however are real.

Listen to this 15 second sample before cleaning… (it’s very noticeable when you’re listening via headphones)

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From here, I’ll isolate about a three second segment and focus on that. There are many markings, but only three or four pops that can be heard.

This program offers to automatically correct these clicks and sometimes that works. However, due to the low quality of the recording, especially when Acyutananda Swami is singing, it not only removes the pop, but also a bit too much of the music, causing a weird drop out in sound.

To prevent this, I do things semi-automatically.

Below (on the left) is a small pop. A pop is very quick. Most pops last about .0005 of a second. They’re so foreign that they stick out, but really, they’re short. The amount of time in the screen caps below is .01 of a second. Often, I’ll zoom in farther to .025 of a second. On the right is the same segment without the pop.

(Click on the pictures to see what I’m talking about.)

On GWC, there’s a tool called LSAR Signal Estimation. Basically, this estimates where the waveform should be and moves it there automatically. You have to find the pop/click yourself though. Sometimes they’re easy to spot, other times, not really.

The next example shows a much louder and longer pop. It’s about double the length of the pop above. The LSAR tool takes care of it as well.

While the tool “automatically” corrects this, you have to find it yourself. Sometimes they are marked as pops, sometimes they’re not. Sometimes they’re really noticeable, other times, they’re buried.

Sometimes one pop is actually two. These pops are only .01 of a second apart. Taking care of each, one at a time, gets rid of the pop.

And sometimes you just can’t get rid of the pops. This 15 second segment is a great example because while I could get rid of most of the pops, there’s still one or two in there that were so buried it was impossible (for me) to get rid of them without damaging the music. Strangely enough, it sounded better with the pop than without. This is a rarity, but it happens.

So take a listen to the cleaned up version, see if you can spot the rogue pop or two.

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I’ll do my best to get this finished up as soon as I can. There’s about six or seven more hours of work that will have to go into it, so perhaps by this weekend or early next week we’ll see something.

I just wanted to share this fun experience. Haribol!

Sunday morning. I woke up and checked out PlanetISKCON only to be greeted with the amazingly nasty description of Hugh Heffner’s sex life (Ugh!) as posted by Pandu dasa via Bhakta Corey’s blog of ever-changing and wildly irrational rantings (here and here).

The main point seems to be that if you change the definition of homosexuality to mean “promiscuous sex” then a whole lot more people are gay than before.

Since this argument really makes no sense at all, I’ll not refute it and just allow it to defeat itself.

The post then goes on to bring “Illuminati bankers” into it. They used Playboy Magazine to destroy the institution of marriage. See, Illuminati bankers “own the major cartels and control the media through advertising.” I think I sort of dozed off there because blaming “Illuminati bankers” for stuff is almost as logical as changing the definition of homosexuality to prove your point.

And what is the point? I think it’s that all porn is gay porn. To prove the point, they use their definition of “gay.” It’s convenient and fun!

By the way, all cookies are chocolate chip cookies because I’ve just changed the definition of “walnut” to mean “tiny bits of chocolate.” Same goes for snickerdoodles. The illuminati bakers are controlling the Keebler elves and the lunatic is on the grass.

Pandu, seriously now. You really believe this stuff? That illuminati bankers are destroying marriage via Hugh Heffner? As far as conspiracy theories go, that’s quite a stretch.

And you do realize that you can’t actually change the definition of words to prove a point, right? That’s typically considered bad logic and you pretty much automatically lose your argument. Bring the Illuminati into it and you not only lose, but it’s pretty much time to be fitted with a straight jacket.

Sponsor A Brahman To Substitute For Your Ekadasi Vigil

During the American Civil War, the rich folks who were conscripted into the army could pay someone to take their place. Often, they would be paying a what was termed a “bounty jumper,” a “professional” who would take their $200, join a regiment only to almost immediately leave in order to collect another rich guy’s bounty. Some would do this over and over, even though it was highly illegal. These men were seen as the lowest of the low. Bounty jumpers were more likely to receive the death penalty than typical army deserters. Neither side tolerated such behavior.

Similarly, a company calling itself Art 4 Krishna is offering the richer (and lazier) practitioners of Krishna consciousness the chance to pay them a bounty to follow Ekadasi (fasting from grains and beans) so they don’t have to.

And, like the bounty jumpers, they are collecting their $200 $125 (there’s a sale going on) and moving onto another individual with the desire to be cheated out of their money.

This is something that I would have written for the Hing. When I first saw it, I thought it was satire and really, I wish it were.

They claim that in the book Hari Bhakti Vilasa allowance is made where if you can’t follow Ekadasi, a brahman can do it for you. It is customary to give a donation for such a service.

However a donation is a far cry from charging a fistful of cash and spiritually bounty jumping.¹

This cannot be stressed enough: if you are collecting a wage, stipend, set “donation” for something that you believe is spiritual – its not. You are receiving zero spiritual benefit because it’s not actually a spiritual act, it’s an act done for monetary gain. You are simply cheating in the name of Krishna.

This Art 4 Krishna nastiness is the text book definition of cheating. It really is bounty jumping and these spiritual bounty jumpers are the lowest of the low.

This isn’t Krishna consciousness. It’s modern Hinduism and gross materialism under the guise of spirituality. I’m sorry to see that it’s come to this.

*Edit – it should be made clear that this really isn’t bounty jumping *for* Krishna. It’s bounty jumping for money (not Laxmi). It’s just bad ol’ fashioned greed.

1. Not actually spiritual. [↩]