BMG France reissues

[brownie]

BMG France has released this week several 24bit remastered albums. Among the ones I have seen are:

- Paul Desmond 'Desmond Blue' (with the 7 bonus tracks which have been reissued elsewhere),

- Sonny Rollins 'Now's the Time' (the full session on 2 CD with the eight additional tracks)

- Maynard Ferguson 'Birdland Dream Band' vol 2 (with 5 unissued alternates)

- Gato Barbieri 'Under Fire'

- Gato Barbieri 'Yesterday'

The remastering job on the Sonny Rollins 2CD is quite impressive. An improvement on the excellent sound of the original LP (I have a mono version).

Volume 2 of the Birdland Dream Band issue was not as good. The sound is shrilling on several tracks. Volume 1 also had problems - all minors - on some tracks. Obviously the original tapes suffered some stocking problems. But the music is superb with solo contributions from the like of Ferguson, Jimmy Cleveland, Herb Geller, Budd Johnson, Al Cohn, Nick Travis, Don Lamond.

[king ubu]

brownie, do you know if the Rollins has anything not on the 6CD RCA box?

I love that period of Sonny!

ubu

[brownie]

brownie, do you know if the Rollins has anything not on the 6CD RCA box?

I love that period of Sonny!

ubu

This is the track list for the Now's the Time 2cd.

Disc 1 (the original LP tracks):

- Now's the Time (take b)

- Blue 'n Boogie (take e)

- I Remember Clifford (take d)

- 52nd Street Theme (take 10)

- St.Thomas (take c)

- 'Round Midnight (take d)

- Afternoon in Paris (take d)

- Four (take d)

Disc 2

- Now's the Time (alternate take 3)

- I Remember Clifford (alternate take 8)

- 52nd Street Theme (monaural alt. take d)

- St. Thomas (alternate take 8)

- Afternoon in Paris (alternate take 12)

- Four (alternate take a)

- Django (alternate take 8)

- Four (monaural alt. take)

Oh yes, Rollins was blowing then!

[mikeweil]

The monaural takes of Four and 52nd Street Theme are not in the box set!

[Claude]

There are two other Sonny Rollins 2CD sets released in october by BMG France:

- Sonny meets Hawk / Our man in jazz

- The Bridge / What's new

"Our man in jazz" has bonus tracks.

I don't know which remastering they have. Those albums had already recently been remastered in 24bit by BMG France. I had the "Bridge" reissue but wasn't very satisfied with the sound. It only sounded brighter than the early 90's CD, but not better. The Classic Records gold disc from the 90's is much better. There is now also a new 2003 US remastered version, made from the original three-track tapes.

Edited November 8, 2003 by Claude

[brownie]

Claude, I am very impressed with the sound on the new Rollins 2CD release.

Mastering was done by Jean-Pierre Chalbos at La Source Mastering, Paris.

The reissue is part of the new releases in the BMG France RCA Victor Gold Series. The Paul Desmond 'Desmond Blue' seems to be a straight reissue of the US Bluebird re-release (mastering engineer on that one is Michael O. Drexler).

Doubt that the other BMG France Rollins 2CDs releases ('Sonny Meets Hawk/Our Man in Jazz' and 'The Bridge/What's New') have any sonic interest. They're part of the cheap boxes that are released for the yearend purchases.

[vibes]

Can anyone comment on the Gato Barbieri "Yesterday" CD? I've been enjoying the recent US release of "Under Fire/Bolivia" and am wondering if "Yesterday" is at all like those albums, or better.

[mikeweil]

I don't know which remastering they have. Those albums had already recently been remastered in 24bit by BMG France. I had the "Bridge" reissue but wasn't very satisfied with the sound. It only sounded brighter than the early 90's CD, but not better. The Classic Records gold disc from the 90's is much better. There is now also a new 2003 US remastered version, made from the original three-track tapes.

I'm afraid they go back to their older master tapes and do not make new transfers from the orgininal tapes. The French BMG branch issued its Rollins box independently from the US box, it seems to me. I avoided the French reissue of The Bridge because it sounded just like the box set issue, whereas the new US Bluebird first editions CD sounds magnificent!!! But I had to order that from a US mail order shop, they do not distribute it in Europe 'cause they wanna sell their own pressing!

[Late]

Claude — What are the bonus tracks from Our Man in Jazz? Are they from the Village Gate gig, or are they the (previously issued) studio tracks with Cherry?

More of the Village Gate gig would be ... amazing!

[J.A.W.]

I don't know which remastering they have. Those albums had already recently been remastered in 24bit by BMG France. I had the "Bridge" reissue but wasn't very satisfied with the sound. It only sounded brighter than the early 90's CD, but not better. The Classic Records gold disc from the 90's is much better. There is now also a new 2003 US remastered version, made from the original three-track tapes.

I'm afraid they go back to their older master tapes and do not make new transfers from the orgininal tapes. The French BMG branch issued its Rollins box independently from the US box, it seems to me. I avoided the French reissue of The Bridge because it sounded just like the box set issue, whereas the new US Bluebird first editions CD sounds magnificent!!! But I had to order that from a US mail order shop, they do not distribute it in Europe 'cause they wanna sell their own pressing!

I compared the Classic Records gold disc, the French 24-bit remastered version, the Japanese 24-bit remastered reissue and the recent Bluebird first editions reissue of The Bridge, and to my ears the sound of the Japanese reissue was the most detailed, transparent and musical of them all, with the recent Bluebird a close second. The Classic CD sounded muffled and dated, and I didn't like the sound of the French reissue at all; I sold the Classic and French CDs and kept the other two.

Edited November 9, 2003 by J.A.W.

[brownie]

Couple more reissues from BMG France I have seen in stores here are:

- Rene Thomas/Bobby Jaspar 'Thomas Jaspar Quintet'. The 1961 Italiana RCA date by the superb Belgian duo of Jaspar and Thomas with an Italian rhythm section.

- Chet Baker 'Chet is Back'. Another Italiana RCA album that has been reissued previously. The new reissue adds four commercial sides that Chet recorded with Ennio Morricone during his Italian stay in the early '60s.

[Bluerein]

Hello,

I can't find the 2cd version of Rollins-Bridge on Amazon.fr.

Any help would be great. I did find the Thomas/Jaspar disc.

Cheers and thanks,

Reinier

[chris olivarez]

Can anyone comment on the Gato Barbieri "Yesterday" CD?  I've been enjoying the recent US release of "Under Fire/Bolivia" and am wondering if "Yesterday" is at all like those albums, or better.

I wouldn't say better but it isn't bad. The band is electric guitar,piano,bass, drums and percussion and they're full throttle from beginning to end and Gato wails from beginning to end. Ron Carter plays electric bass on this date. If you enjoyed "Bolivia and "Under Fire" you'll probably like this one.

Edited November 14, 2003 by chris olivarez

[brownie]

Hello,

I can't find the 2cd version of Rollins-Bridge on Amazon.fr.

Any help would be great. I did find the Thomas/Jaspar disc.

Cheers and thanks,

Reinier

Try this B)

http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000...7385119-6951416

[tjobbe]

need to re-active that thread:

right now Amazon.fr has some BMG France box sets on Christmas sale where I'm not sure if they are sonically ok based on the above postings.

They do have a 7CD complete Rollins RCA/Victor as well we a 6CD Paul Desmond set that might catch my attention as I do have only one recording from both artists RCA period.

As I want to get that complete Clifford Brown on Vogue set in any case, I might need some advice what remaster Versions those RCA sets might have.

Any one ?

Cheers, Tjobbe

LINK Desmond

LINK Sonny

Edited November 23, 2006 by tjobbe

[J.A.W.]

I don't know which remastering they have. Those albums had already recently been remastered in 24bit by BMG France. I had the "Bridge" reissue but wasn't very satisfied with the sound. It only sounded brighter than the early 90's CD, but not better. The Classic Records gold disc from the 90's is much better. There is now also a new 2003 US remastered version, made from the original three-track tapes.

I'm afraid they go back to their older master tapes and do not make new transfers from the orgininal tapes. The French BMG branch issued its Rollins box independently from the US box, it seems to me. I avoided the French reissue of The Bridge because it sounded just like the box set issue, whereas the new US Bluebird first editions CD sounds magnificent!!! But I had to order that from a US mail order shop, they do not distribute it in Europe 'cause they wanna sell their own pressing!

I compared the Classic Records gold disc, the French 24-bit remastered version, the Japanese 24-bit remastered reissue and the recent Bluebird first editions reissue of The Bridge, and to my ears the sound of the Japanese reissue was the most detailed, transparent and musical of them all, with the recent Bluebird a close second. The Classic CD sounded muffled and dated, and I didn't like the sound of the French reissue at all; I sold the Classic and French CDs and kept the other two.

I re-assessed the Classic Record gold CD (which I re-bought), the Japanese 24-bit reissue and the Bluebird "First Editions" remaster a few months ago on my current system, which differs quite a bit from the one I had back in 2003, and my preferences changed too: I now prefer the Classics CD, which sounds much better than I remembered, and I ditched the Japanese disc, which now sounded too harsh in comparison. The Bluebird is still my second choice.

Edited November 23, 2006 by J.A.W.

[king ubu]

That Desmond box Claude linked above has the Desmond/Hall albums (incl. the one with strings) plus the Desmond/Mulligan, yes?

I have the US version (5CD) of the Desmond RCA (omitting the album with Mulligan) and of the Rollins (6CD). I assume the Bluebird single discs would sound better?

I did get the Bluebird for the Desmond/Mulligan, since it has quite a bit of additional music that is not part of the French RCA Gold reissue. Usually these Bluebirds are still a bitch to find over here, alas - there'd be quite a few I would like to get. For instance, it seems the US Bluebird of Tijuana Moods is much better, and in fact complete, whereas the RCA Gold one is kind of a hack job, but only that one's distributed here...

[Claude]

I re-assessed the Classic Record gold CD (which I re-bought), the Japanese 24-bit reissue and the Bluebird "First Editions" remaster a few months ago on my current system, which differs quite a bit from the one I had back in 2003, and my preferences changed too: I now prefer the Classics CD, which sounds much better than I remembered, and I ditched the Japanese disc, which now sounded too harsh in comparison. The Bluebird is still my second choice.

Just to complete my evaluation posted above, when I did not have the 2003 CD:

I like the additional clarity of the "First Edition" CD, which has been remixed from the 3-track tapes and sounds different for that reason. I prefer it over the Classic Records gold disc.

Edited November 23, 2006 by Claude

[Bol]

I wish that Sony/Legacy would reissue all of the Rollins RCA sessions on individual CDs the way they do with Miles Davis, Brubeck, and Monk. When are we going to reap the benefits of the merger?