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Post by Steve on May 8, 2009 4:53:08 GMT -5
Hi everybody from windy and wet England!
I've been reading this board for a while now with interest and this is my first post here so please bear with me.
I've owned the 4Cd set "The Patsy Cline Collection" (MCA) since the day it was released back in '91. Recently with the help of the internet and the session data specifically written up by a member of this board, I've been looking for addtional material that I don't already have.
I've shortlisted the following titles to add to my 4Cd set but can anyone please confirm if there is anything else available that I should buy? I know there is a 2008 CD by Bear Records called "Stop Look & Listen" but does this contain any takes that I won't already own with the following titles I now have on order?
Country Radio Shows Volume 2 Live At The Opry Live Volume 2 Live At Cimarron Ballroom The Great Patsy Cline (3CD set) - 48 tracks from "Four Star" sessions and containing the "missing 12" from "Patsy Cline Collection". Birth Of A Star (see next item) Discovery (similar to above but 8 titles between the two releases are different)
Is the re-mastering on the Bear disc sufficiently better to justify the (expensive) purchase alongside the above? And are the "alternate takes" different to anythingI will already have?
Thanks if anyone can help!
Steve
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Post by Steve on May 12, 2009 10:27:20 GMT -5
Hello! Is anyone at home? Hello!.............(silence)
I wonder if there are any other Patsy forums out there which are inhabited?
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Post by bernard on May 12, 2009 12:40:06 GMT -5
Hi Steve
Yes there are people awake,. I cannot answer your questions as I have never been that interested in getting every possible variation of every track. But in most cases Bear records are the best available quality of the masters they obtain.
But as always re-mastering has a lot of the sound engineers own taste and preferences in the process. So for some people the re-mastered may be less enjoyable than the original.
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Post by Steve on May 12, 2009 14:24:28 GMT -5
Hi Bernard Thanks for your honest reply to my question - I do agree about the "personal preference" of the mastering engineer but from my own personal perspective, the examples I've heard to date which claim to be better ARE better. I have also heard about Bear Family but have never owned one of their releases. How did they get and manage to maintain such a high reputation amongst the fans and personnel of the recording industry though? I guess they're doing something right but how do they manage to outclass MCA/ Universal (if indeed they do)? Does anybody know if there are any more planned Patsy releases from this company or was "Stop Look & Listen" a one-off release? I do also wonder if MCA were to re-release the "Patsy Cline Collection" if they would re-master that set or not. I guess that the Bear release will sound better than the old 1995 "Crazy Dreams: the Four Star Years" CD? I think what I'm trying to do here is to obtain the loose ends of the studio recordings whilst getting the best sound but avoiding, if possible, paying too much for a later release if it is no superior to an earlier one. Thanks again and happy listening to everyone! ....ssshhhh, or you'll wake them up! Regards Steve
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Post by Bill on May 12, 2009 23:15:17 GMT -5
Hi Bernard Thanks for your honest reply to my question - I do agree about the "personal preference" of the mastering engineer but from my own personal perspective, the examples I've heard to date which claim to be better ARE better. I have also heard about Bear Family but have never owned one of their releases. How did they get and manage to maintain such a high reputation amongst the fans and personnel of the recording industry though? I guess they're doing something right but how do they manage to outclass MCA/ Universal (if indeed they do)? Does anybody know if there are any more planned Patsy releases from this company or was "Stop Look & Listen" a one-off release? I do also wonder if MCA were to re-release the "Patsy Cline Collection" if they would re-master that set or not. I guess that the Bear release will sound better than the old 1995 "Crazy Dreams: the Four Star Years" CD? I think what I'm trying to do here is to obtain the loose ends of the studio recordings whilst getting the best sound but avoiding, if possible, paying too much for a later release if it is no superior to an earlier one. Thanks again and happy listening to everyone! ....ssshhhh, or you'll wake them up! Regards Steve The Forum goes through lulls. There will be a spurt of activity for a while, then it will go silent. Spring and Summer tend to be the slowest, quietest times. Things pick back up in Autumn, and are busier in the Winter. The "Stop, Look & Listen" CD from Bear Family does contain 3 previously unreleased alternate takes: "(Write Me) In Care of the Blues" (although it's not listed as such) "Love, Love, Love Me Honey Do" "I Don't Wanta" [1957 Version] I think the only misstep Bear Family made with this CD is that they used the same master of the 1956 version of "A Poor Man's Roses" that the Country Music Foundation/MCA used for the 4-CD Box Set. It was a master made from playing a record of the song, as the CMF supposedly couldn't find the original tape. However, Varèse Sarabande found the tape in the MCA vaults and used it for their 2000 CD release "25 All-Time Greatest Recordings: The 4-Star Sessions, 1955-1960" www.patsycline.info/records/3020661652.htmlI don't know if Bear Family will release any other Patsy Cline CD's. They could attempt a comprehensive box set of all of the 4-Star and Decca Recordings, including all existing alternate takes, as well as all existing Live Recordings and Radio Transcriptions. A lot of Patsifans would pay good money for such a collection. I own several releases by Bear Family (Patsy, Jim Reeves, Brenda Lee, George Morgan, and a couple of various artist compilations), and the sound quality of their products is exceptional. For example, the version of George Morgan's 1949 Columbia Records recording of "Candy Kisses" that Bear Family used on their 8-CD Box Set from 1996 is far superior to the one Columbia/Sony used for a single disc collection issued on the Razor & Tie label the same year (and, I have both). From my understanding, Bear examines all known masters of a recording and uses the very best one when compiling their collections. Each of the Bear Family releases in my collection lists someone as having done "Tape Comparison" in the credits in the liner notes. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Bear Family didn't sometimes create brand new masters from the original session tapes. You couldn't get any better sound quality than that. I would say that if MCA chooses to reissue the 4-CD Box Set, they will do an updated remastering job, just as they did with the "Greatest Hits" CD in 2003. One other thing about the MCA 4-CD Box Set. The version of "Imagine That" used is the Mono recording. To get the Stereo recording of the song, pick up the MCA 2-CD Set "Gold": www.patsycline.info/records/b0004119-02.htmlBill
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Post by Steve on May 13, 2009 5:47:36 GMT -5
Hi Bill
It's great to talk to you at last and many thanks for your reply which is full of important recording information. I now know where to find that stereo version of Imagine That, for instance!
I must admit I'm still a little confused over the 3 alternate takes on Bear Family's CD. I thought "Stop Look & Listen" was one of the previously unreleased alternate takes? I also recall that the 4CD set from MCA lists "I Don't Wanta" and "Love, Love Love Me Honey Do" as "previously unreleased". Were these versions subsequently picked up by other companies and issued throughtout the '90's and 00's on other compilations or are these STILL exclusively on that set?
I assume that these two titles were available in the alternate versions PRIOR to the 1991 set as well? The problem understanding the term "alternate" is when you don't know what it is an alternate to or what might have been hitherto unavailable on an earlier release.
For example, those 3 songs you cite as being "alternate" on Bear have been available on the MCA set and subsequent "Four Star" compilations released post 1995 etc. So I would ask if the version of say "Love, Love, Love Me Honey Do" on MCA is alternate to the one found on "Crazy Dreams - The Four Star Years" AND the latest 2 versions on "Stop Look & Listen" from The Bear?
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Steve
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Post by Steve on May 13, 2009 6:09:38 GMT -5
Sorry folks, it would have been much easier for me to ask the question if the songs that have known "alternate" takes AND which have all been released to date, could be listed with the number of alternate takes by the side of the title?
ie. "Stop Look & Listen" (5 different takes released) and one example of an album release which contains each of the five takes etc.
I wonder how many unreleased songs / recordings are actually left "lost" in the vaults?
I know that MCA has not always been fast in coming forward with unreleased material. The best example of this to date must be the legacy of Buddy Holly?
Steve
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