Question for owners of the Nat King Cole Mosaic

[J.A.W.]

I have a question for owners of the Nat King Cole Mosaic. I understand that this set has very few instrumentals (maybe even less than 30) and an awful lot of vocals, many novelty songs, plus several tracks with background vocals and/or strings. Correct?

Edited September 30, 2007 by J.A.W.

[Edward]

I have a question for owners of the Nat King Cole Mosaic. I understand that this set has very few instrumentals (maybe even less than 30) and an awful lot of vocals, many novelty songs, plus several tracks with background vocals and/or strings. Correct?

Hans,

I just took a look at my set, and 77 of the 347 songs are instrumentals - the Mosaic booklet designates each instrumental track, and I believe that my count is accurate.

The discography lists around 20 tracks where the NKC Trio was backed by some sort of vocal group. I remember the backing vocals on a half-dozen or so of these tracks being truly invasive and sounding quite dated - I honestly do not recall how large of a distraction the vocal groups were on the other tracks.

The discography also lists about 10 tracks with some sort of strings backing, including the "Christmas Song".

As for the number of novelty songs, I don't know what to tell you. In terms of comparison, I would say that there definitely are no songs in this set approaching the kind of garbage that Sinatra regularly recorded during the end of his tenure with Columbia. Of course, I believe that, with the trio, Nat Cole did little wrong - he seems to have had the ability (much like Louis Armstrong) of elevating lesser songs with his considerable talents. I am sure that there are those who will disagree with this assessment.

I hope that this helps.

Edited September 30, 2007 by Edward

[J.A.W.]

I have a question for owners of the Nat King Cole Mosaic. I understand that this set has very few instrumentals (maybe even less than 30) and an awful lot of vocals, many novelty songs, plus several tracks with background vocals and/or strings. Correct?

Hans,

I just took a look at my set, and 77 of the 347 songs are instrumentals - the Mosaic booklet designates each instrumental track, and I believe that my count is accurate.

The discography lists around 20 tracks where the NKC Trio was backed by some sort of vocal group. I remember the backing vocals on a half-dozen or so of these tracks being truly invasive and sounding quite dated - I honestly do not recall how large of a distraction the vocal groups were on the other tracks.

The discography also lists about 10 tracks with some sort of strings backing, including the "Christmas Song".

As for the number of novelty songs, I don't know what to tell you. In terms of comparison, I would say that there definitely are no songs in this set approaching the kind of garbage that Sinatra regularly recorded during the end of his tenure with Columbia. Of course, I believe that, with the trio, Nat Cole did little wrong - he seems to have had the ability (much like Louis Armstrong) of elevating lesser songs with his considerable talents. I am sure that there are those who will disagree with this assessment.

I hope that this helps.

Thanks Ed, this certainly helps

[jazzbo]

Not being at home with my collection for some time now and some time to come I can't verify Ed's count. . . but it seems quite right in all respects.

It may not be a set worth pursuing Hans taking in your concern for vocals. The individual cds that Capitol has put out actually do capture the jazziest sides.

Edited September 30, 2007 by jazzbo

[BruceH]

If you want a solid Nat King Cole CD, get After Midnight. You can't go wrong with that baby.

[Larry Kart]

question: what's a "novelty" song?

elder don clementine, america's standard

"How Much Is That Doggie In The Window"? Not one that Cole sang, but you get the idea. It's a song where, as in that case, the "cute" storytelling situation (which also calls for the adult vocalist to imitate a child) overrides all other considerations -- either that or it's a song where the idea that someone is singing about the situation at all is the whole cute point, a la "Daddy Just Pooped Big Time In His Pants." Sorry, I made that one up. I'm thinking, though, that EDC has a bottle of frim-frim sauce on his mind.

[Ken Dryden]

Even if you own the Mosaic box, there's still one jazz track that was omitted (probably hidden on a different tape reel). There's an alternate take of one song on the 18 track version of After Midnight, which has been issued with 12, 10, 15 and 17 tracks in earlier editions on LP and CD.

[brownie]

OK so which jazz track is missing?

[Parkertown]

I clicked the pic...

Laughing my ass off...

[jtaylor]

OK so which jazz track is missing?

The track that is missing is the album version of "You're Looking at Me." Cuscuna accidentally selected an alternate take, believing it was the only one in the vault. There is at least one other instance where this happened on the Mosaic set: "I'm an Errand Boy for Rhythm" is also an alterante; the master was initially released on the 10th Anniversary Album, but was missed when the set was being put together.

Also left off the set were the bonus tracks that were included on the CD version of Penthouse Serenade and the live performances from the Circle Room. However, a few performances where Cole was thought to be playing piano (but wasn't actually) were included so it kinda balances out.

Edited October 29, 2007 by jtaylor

[brownie]

Thanks for the precision, jtaylor!

[jdw]

I'm bumping up Han's thread with another question. Does the NK Cole Mosaic booklet have info on whether the LPs in the vinyl version of the set were sourced from analogue or digital masters? I know Mosaic used digital sources for the LPs in their other gigantic project from that same time period - the Commodore I, II, III LP sets. I wonder if the Cole set was similarly-produced simply due to the huge workload involved.

Perhaps using digital sources was simply standard operating procedure for the majority of their LP sets from that time (the early '90s)? Any insight?

And thanks for the info on the tracks missing from the NK Cole set.

John

Vancouver BC

[king ubu]

I could not resist: