Five Man Electrical Band - A fan's reaction!

We're getting some great early feedback to our recent Five Man Electrical Band Half Past Midnight: The Staccatos And Beyond release. The CD—which was sourced directly from the original masters—includes 20 tracks including many in stereo for the first time. Here's an email I received from a fan:

Hello Mr. Stanley.

I picked up a copy of Now Sounds re-issue of The Five Man Electrical Band -Half Past Midnight and Beyond on the weekend here in Ottawa, Canada. Being a huge fan of the Staccatos, Five Man and all related releases I was blown away by the wonderful sound of these recordings. I have never heard them sound so clear. You might not be aware that the Five Man album was released here in Canada on a budget label that did not even include You're Gonna Lose That Girl. Being a huge Beatles fan as well I found this to be disappointing. But, thanks to e-bay I was able to find a mint copy original Capitol issue.

Which brings me to my question. Were you able to find the master tapes for your project? I have had most of the bands material for some time now on various 45's (great addition of the singles tracks as bonus) and even with the greatest restoration work I can do, I have NEVER heard these songs sound so rich and punchy. I did not notice any credits on the restoration process on this release and I am just curious. I know that some of these types of releases require a master from a vinyl source due to lack of master availability, but yours does not sound like vinyl. (Possibly Let's Run Away seems a little rough but it could have been the recording itself different studios...different sound.) I wrote a little review of your CD to a local Ottawa radio show that plays classic rock on Sunday nights and they mentioned your CD on the air and played Maple Lane. As you can see we all love Les Emmerson and the Five Man gang. I still get out now and again to catch them performing in town and Les will be performing with the Cooper Brothers in an upcoming November performance here in town.

Thanks to your CD I now only have a handful of Stacattos singles that have not been officially released. I hope that this release opens the doors to other great Ottawa band releases such as The Esquires. Like the Staccatos they had a straight re-issue of their Capitol 6000 series LP on CD, But the singles are what this band was all about. Alright I can go on for hours talking about Ottawa classic rock, I just wanted to say AWESOME job on the CD and I will spread the news on this release as much as I can.

Thanks.

Al F.
Ottawa, Canada

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