mikeweil Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 Thanks Chris, for that explanation. I'd say there are some guys in charge who think they know better, or have no idea about the masters you had stored, and have modern spoiled ears, or any combination of that. I would have loved to get the Columbia double LPs with Chris' comments back then, but you never could be sure you would get all of them here in Germany, and I hated gaps in such collections - for the same reason I never got the nice Lester Young and Billie Holiday twofers released around that time. The Zweitausendeins box set was a bargain I could afford. I will give it a spin later today ... Amazon states the JSP's will be produced as CDRs on demand?! I think I will try some FRog CD first ... John R.T. Davies is the man. I went for the JSP Satchmo he did two weeks ago, and what I hear is more than all right with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 any recommendations of where to start with the Frog Cds ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 (edited) I have both the JSP and some of the Frogs. My relatively young ears are perfectly happy with the JSP. The Frogs are slightly different, but since I can't, on repeated listening, decide whether they're better or worse, I've decided it's clearly not worth getting the ones I don't have yet. Let's not talk about the Columbia CDs. (Though do get volume 4 if you want to hear the interviews.) I wouldn't be surprised if JSP "borrowed" the transfers/masterings Davies did for Frog and which were paid for by Frog. I have been waiting patiently for Frog to issue the Bessie Smith box set, but I guess that is not in the cards. Frog never released any multi-CD box sets (just one 2CD-set) and I don't think they will start doing that, especially not with releases they have already issued on individual CDs. Edited November 25, 2012 by J.A.W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 I appreciate the good words re the 2-LP set, but I have to say that I am embarrassed by the notes—they should never have been nominated for a Grammy, much less actually garner one. I am convinced that neither would have happened had the label not been Columbia. Record industry politics always comes into play and the big labels have a lot of pull (not to mention, votes). Were it not for behind the scenes manipulation, the annual Grammy lineup would be quite different. I feel better about my notes for the CD boxed releases—wish they had accompanied the LPs. BTW, Alex., if the interview you refer to is the one(s) I did with Ruby Walker, the CD volume is 5, not 4. The contents of that disc can be heard on my blog, along with much that Columbia did not get from me. Here's another photo of cards kept by me when Larry and I were working on the transfers. There is a card for each selection. Thought it might be of interest that"Looking For My Man Blues" was greatly enhanced by placing 6 imported honey drops on the stylus enclosure. They were Swiss, as I recall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 Thought it might be of interest that"Looking For My Man Blues" was greatly enhanced by placing 6 imported honey drops on the stylus enclosure. They were Swiss, as I recall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 (edited) Chris - was any orignal metal used for those? I thought I remembered Doug Pomeroy saying he found some, but not a lot, in Bridgeport, though I may be wrong. And some of those LP transfers do sound like masters - Edited November 25, 2012 by AllenLowe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 We did not receive any metal from Bridgeport, but they obviously had the stampers, albeit often in horrendous condition. The people who worked at the plant looked upon 78rpm as ancient and, thus, not important, so no effort went into preserving them. We always ordered 3 or 4 vinyl pressings, because there was no consistency, hoping that one might be usable. Because even the test pressings were done in a less than careful fashion, we ended up using the best copies of releases that we could find. The sides George Avakian had used for the original LP reissues were too doctored up with echo to be of any use to us. This sort of frustration is why I made sure that straight transfers were placed in the vault for future use (guess I was naïve). As you probably know, many metal parts were given to the ear effort as scrap, but it was done without rhyme or reason. Thus some valuable material was discarded while less important stuff was kept—I remember in particular a love letter read by a doctor to his wife (a relic from Columbia's customs pressing sideline). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lipi Posted November 26, 2012 Report Share Posted November 26, 2012 I wouldn't be surprised if JSP "borrowed" the transfers/masterings Davies did for Frog and which were paid for by Frog. As I said, they sound different. You yourself implied that they sound different in your first message in this thread (or were you just saying the Frogs were the ones to get over the JSPs without having heard the JSPs?). Is it possible they took the Frog discs and adjusted the sound? Yes. Do you have any evidence? No. It's fine that you dislike and distrust JSP, but slinging around accusations is not helping anyone. Yes, I am aware of some of their shady doings in the past. Then again, I'm also aware of some of their non-shady ones. BTW, Alex., if the interview you refer to is the one(s) I did with Ruby Walker, the CD volume is 5, not 4. The contents of that disc can be heard on my blog, along with much that Columbia did not get from me. Yes, those were the ones--sorry, volume 5! Wonderful interviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted November 26, 2012 Report Share Posted November 26, 2012 (edited) I wouldn't be surprised if JSP "borrowed" the transfers/masterings Davies did for Frog and which were paid for by Frog. As I said, they sound different. You yourself implied that they sound different in your first message in this thread (or were you just saying the Frogs were the ones to get over the JSPs without having heard the JSPs?). Is it possible they took the Frog discs and adjusted the sound? Yes. Do you have any evidence? No. It's fine that you dislike and distrust JSP, but slinging around accusations is not helping anyone. Yes, I am aware of some of their shady doings in the past. Then again, I'm also aware of some of their non-shady ones. I said I wouldn't be surprised etc. - that's not an accusation, just a personal thought. Don't tell me what I can post or not. And for your information, I did hear some of the JSP tracks; your insinuation is totally without merit and insulting. Welcome to my ignore list. Edited November 26, 2012 by J.A.W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted November 26, 2012 Report Share Posted November 26, 2012 (edited) I agree with you, J.A.W; actually, what I frequently see JSP do is take other transfers and mess them up; de-noise them to the point of distortion. They recently completely ruined a potentially important Riley Puckett box. Edited November 26, 2012 by AllenLowe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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