Is it my imagination, or.....

[sal]

I remember a while back there was a thread about Bob Blumenthal's essays for the RVG series getting worse and worse. While I believed this to be generally true, I think its really evident in this batch of new RVGs. The essay for "Indestructible" is one of the worst ones I've never read. The "Sonny Rollins Volume 1" isn't far behind.

It seems like he used to write the essays proudly, and his love for the albums came through in his words. Now, it seems that he is writing them because its the only way he can put food on the table. Pretty sad stuff. Any opinions?

[sal]

sorry, meant to say one of the worst ones I've ever read!

[DrJ]

Well...my I still think Blumenthal's recent liners for Mosaic have been quite good. So my theory about the RVG liners (which I also do find not very helpful to me personally) is that he is writing them for people who AREN'T already pretty much experts regarding the BN and other jazz label discographies. He spends a lot of time talking about, for example, when particular songs were recorded first or later elsewhere by another artist (recent example is in the HORACE SILVER TRIO liners where he talks about "Ecaroh"), or about different configurations of groups (as in the INDESTRUCTIBLE! liners). I think this type of info would actually be quite valuable for people just getting into the music, so they can say "hey, maybe I'll check that other session/version of the Messengers/rendition of 'Ecaroh' out" if they like what they hear on the RVG they have purchased.

For this reason, I think, Blumenthal stays pretty superficial and breezy for the RVG notes.

I don't think it makes sense to think that he's suddenly "lost it" as a liner writer. Again, his work on Mosaic booklets remains solid to excellent in my view.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Yeah, it's too bad that these "essential" pieces of music have to be littered with so-so literature. I think that the Blumenthal pages in the RVG series have been pretty much un-necessary as they have yet to spin my head around and make me take notice of something new. Seems that he's been chewing up column space just trying to get the word count up for the dead-line rather than yielding any revelations that would appeal to a new music fan or other-wise.

I've always found his writings to be great - the 80's re-issues and all the Mosiacs he penned - and was dissapointed when he left the Globe. Probably too busy these days since teaming up with Branford and his new label (what cooler a gig for a journalist/critic ?!) to write anything truly critical. And now that 'American Splendor' has hit the screens it looks like he'll be moving over for Harvey Pekar.

Pretty much just filler- I for one would rather see more Wolff fotos on these pages.

[sal]

Some of the stuff he writes might be interesting to someone new to the music, but it just seems like he doesn't have any passion for these albums. Read his notes from "Out To Lunch" or "Empereyan Isles", and compare them to "Indestructible". There's not even a comparision. While his ranting and raving in the older RVG notes might not have been the most insightful, they were great to read because he seemed just as enthusiastic about he albums as the people buying them. Now, it just seems like he's doing his job.....like Man w/Golden Arm says, just trying to fill the space.

I do agree that his writing for the Mosaics is great though.

[Jazzdog]

I don't buy any of the RVG's or any other recent re-issues for the liner notes, I buy them for the music. Most liner notes are hit or miss affairs anyways. Now for the Mosaics, the notes are all part and parcell, commensurate with the the packaging in its entirety.

Blumenthal basically keeps his notes hyperbole free, as he is supposed to be championing these releases imho. It just dosen't matter to me, I'll take the music and leave the "new" notes out of it.

[Jazzmoose]

I agree, Jazzdog. I doubt I've read the liner notes on half my CDs. I used to, but I just listen to the music and skip 'em now. Now, I'll check out the booklet in a Mosaic set, because I expect (and get) some good information. But, realistically, how much info am I going to get from something the length of your average liner notes? I hope they are aimed at people new to the music, at least they can do some good then. Hopefully.

[Shrdlu]

You put it well, Tony. You are probably right.

I have never really liked the new notes on the RVGs a lot. But then, I was raised on Leonard Feather, Nat Hentoff and the rest. I still like their notes. I'm also a big fan of the backs of the old BN LP covers, and this is one reason why I like the TOCJ CDs so much.

There probably isn't a big enough budget for better notes for the RVGs.

[Brad]

They've got the original notes so these are just "bonus" notes so to speak. I just relooked at the Horace Silver Trio notes by Bob Blumenthal and they add historical background but not that much about the songs as Leonard Feather does in his original notes. I don't think that's what Bob Blumenthal is supposed to do. He's giving you additional information about what Horace was doing at the time, etc. I think to ciriticize him for this is rather picky. Listen to the music and read the original notes.

[BruceH]

Another thing that bugs me about the Blumenthal RVG liners is all the damn mistakes! I mean like typos, spelling/grammatical/syntax errors that would have been cleared up in a second if anyone had proofread them even once. Hasn't anyone at the modern Blue Note heard of EDITING? Tripping over mistakes like this makes the notes an actual chore to read, which is perhaps why I barely glanced at the new liners for the latest RVG's. Just my two cents.

[DrJ]

BruceH, that has bugged me about Blue Note liner notes for years...has plagued their Connoisseur, RVG, Rare Groove, and "regular" reissue programs since CDs hit the market. Many threads were devoted to this on the old BN BB - for example, who could forget the infamous "Booby Hutcherson" incident? And it seems Kenny Burrell's MIDNIGHT BLUE is destined to be listed on CD reissue packaging as being recorded in 1967 for all eternity, since the mistake was present on the old 80's CD and then carried through AGAIN on the RVG edition. These are just the tip of the iceberg, though. My personal favorite was the tray card for Bob Brookmeyer's TRADITIONALISM REVISITED CD, which appeared in the short-lived West Coast Classics series. On that one, they clearly sent a draft version to the printer as "final" because there were no track times listed on the back tray card, only place markers that looked like this for all the tracks: (XX:XX)!!!!

So this bugaboo is not unique at all to the RVGs. BN simply needs to spring for a decent proofreader (maybe a whole TEAM of proofreaders) in the WORST possible way.

**********

Contrary to many, I do read liners. Furthermore, I prefer them to be what some might call dry - just give me the history and facts, maybe make 1 or 2 interesting musical observations but otherwise cut the pontificating and interpretation and blowing the social significance out of proportion. Blumenthal's RVG notes do provide some historical context that a neophyte would find useful - I know I would have. Unless you were born with a thorough knowledge of jazz discographies, I can't imagine how some of the info on, say, HORACE SILVER TRIO liners would not be welcome for a newbie.

[DrJ]

Agreed, clem. I'm a huge BN supporter (in spirit as well as with my pocket book) so I do expect better, really no excuse for that kind of thing going on for years and years without being addressed satisfactorily (there has been some marginal improvement in the last few years, but still way too many errors creep through).

[Vincent, Paris]

I don't find the new liner notes interesting at all. Seems like all Blumenthal does is have a look at Ruppli discography and indicate the former and the next recordings to the one he's writing about. He doesn't seem to make any other research of any kind to prepare them, just use some knowledge not too difficult to have when you are a BN addict.

Anyway, maybe with this thread I'll get my answer :

Are the original liner notes by Joe Goldberg included in the "No Room For Squares" RVG edition?

Thanks.

[TomNYC]

Paris,

To answer your question, yes, Joe Goldberg's original liner notes are included in the "no room for squares" RVG.

[Vincent, Paris]

Thank you, Tom.

Does Goldberg alludes to Lee Morgan then recent "retirement" from the NY scene? "No Room For Squares" was his first session after his come-back and I always wandered what was said about it in the original notes.

[Brad]

Vincent, Goldberg does allude to that in the original liner notes. He says that both Morgan and Byrd were once considered "hot-shot trumpet players" and then goes on to say that like Morgan he was not mentioned after a time. But then he goes on to say that "Byrd's new maturity and mastery of his instrument is now a matter of established fact, and after the release of this record, Morgan should be too."

[BruceH]

Dr. J, I only had a vague sense that this had been a problem at Blue Note for years. It really only jumped out at me with the RVG's. Perhaps because they're presented as a prestige edition I expected them to actually spring for a proofreader for once. The whole situation is both kind of absurd and sad. If Blue Note is owned by a bigger label (which it is), you would think that they would have enough professionalism to provide the money to edit/factcheck/proof the liners of their subsidiary's re-issues. Do they not want to be in the music business? More likely they think that the anger of a few thousand (few hundered?) jazz fans don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.