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.

There’s also a Spanish release from 1978 on the Producciones Govinda label. I don’t have that one though.

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.

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

Just click on the button and it’ll take you to a page where you can download the zip file. Then open the zip file with WinZip (or whatever program you use to open zip files). Add to your MP3 library or burn it to a CD-R. Easy as pie!

Download the FLAC files, if you like: Part One, Part Two

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. 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.

Just click on the button and it’ll take you to a page where you can download the zip file. Then open the zip file with WinZip (or whatever program you use to open zip files). Add to your MP3 library or burn it to a CD-R. Easy as pie!

Download the FLAC files, if you like: Part One, Part Two, Part Three

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.

Just click on the button and it’ll take you to a page where you can download the zip file. Then open the zip file with WinZip (or whatever program you use to open zip files). Add to your MP3 library or burn it to a CD-R. Easy as pie!

Download the FLAC files here.

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.

Just click on the button and it’ll take you to a page where you can download the zip file. Then open the zip file with WinZip (or whatever program you use to open zip files). Add to your MP3 library or burn it to a CD-R. Easy as pie!

Download the FLAC files here.

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.

Just click on the button and it’ll take you to a page where you can download the zip file. Then open the zip file with WinZip (or whatever program you use to open zip files). Add to your MP3 library or burn it to a CD-R. Easy as pie!

Download the FLAC files here.

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