All Monk : The Riverside Album - WTF????

[tranemonk]

16 Cd's brand new on a US label for less than $80???? :unsure: :unsure:

What the hell is this about???

Can't find any info anywhere!!!!

http://www.amazon.com/All-Monk-Riverside-Albums-Thelonious/dp/B003V1ARGC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1279566035&sr=8-1

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=8241415

[colinmce]

They did one of these for Miles' Prestige recordings

http://www.amazon.com/All-Miles-Prestige-Albums-Davis/dp/B0035KGWRC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1279566802&sr=1-1

This one, however, interests me greatly! I have held off on buying many Monk Riversides 'cause I want the old box set, which of course, is not cheap.

[Patrick]

All that material on a single (expensive) disc. Wow!

[J.A.W.]

All that material on a single (expensive) disc. Wow!

That's progress for you

[colinmce]

It's a 16-disc box.

[papsrus]

It's a 16-disc box.

Yes. Both the descriptions at amazon and cduniverse say "Number of discs: 1"

Curious that both sites would make the same mistake.

[colinmce]

Yet it happens all the time, especially with imports.

[tranemonk]

Yeah but if you look at the amazon link it doesn't describe it as an import.

Yet it happens all the time, especially with imports.

[clifford_thornton]

Customers who bought this also bought Darkthrone. Shawn???

[Spontooneous]

It's a bootleg, right?

[J.A.W.]

It's a bootleg, right?

According to the CDUniverse page the label is Universe, so if that's correct it's not a bootleg.

[etherbored]

wrong. according to the cd universe link the label is "phantom".

[J.A.W.]

wrong. according to the cd universe link the label is "phantom".

They changed it - when I checked the CDUniverse page earlier today it said "Universal". Apparently it is a bootleg.

[colinmce]

Well, here is a link from Universal Europe itself, same as with the All Miles box set:

http://www.universalmusic.it/jazz/album/?ida=306475&PHPSESSID=73b9b52f0b593184c5f5592b220539f8

Seems legit to me.

[J.A.W.]

Well, here is a link from Universal Europe itself, same as with the All Miles box set:

http://www.universalmusic.it/jazz/album/?ida=306475&PHPSESSID=73b9b52f0b593184c5f5592b220539f8

Seems legit to me.

Ha, thanks. That clears it up, it is Universal, not a bootleg.

[colinmce]

wrong. according to the cd universe link the label is "phantom".

'Phantom' here just refers to Phantom Import Distribution, which is all that it is.

[tranemonk]

amazon has the distributor as Universal....

So does anyone have the inside scoop on this? It's supposedly out soon... (Aug 10)

[colinmce]

Really, I don't think there's much else to know. It is a box set released by Universal Europe (which is an umbrella company that holds Concord, and thus Riverside/Prestige/Contemporary/etc.) that contains all of Monk's Riverside albums in repro slipcases with few or no bonus tracks and no additional notes a la the Original Album Classics series.

Not for everyone, but it's a style of presentation I enjoy.

[JSngry]

All that material on a single (expensive) disc. Wow!

If you burnt it as MP3s to a DVD, would it all fit on one disc?

[mikeweil]

So you get the original albums with only few bonus tracks? Superfluous, IMHO. They would have done better re-releasing the complete box, which gives one more music on the same number of CDs. 

[king ubu]

All that material on a single (expensive) disc. Wow!

If you burnt it as MP3s to a DVD, would it all fit on one disc?

If you'd do MP3 @ 1.784 kbps, it would also fit onto one CD, I'm sure

[tranemonk]

okay well since everyone seems a bit indifferent to this.. two final questions...

1) If this is similar to the Miles set could someone post some photos (and discuss) the packaging. Even if they are in slipcases 16Cds is a lot.

2) Compared to the 1991 boxed set... How is the sound? And do we have an idea about alternate or unreleased takes???

thanks... I've got all the Columbia Monk but little of the Riverside...

Is ANYONE getting this?

[jazzbo]

I bought the Ellington Carnegie Hall Concerts box recently, also from Europe Concord/Universal and it has exactly the same mastering as the original US cds. I would doubt that they went to the effort and cost to remaster these Monk discs, it's my guess that they are exact clones of the previous issues as far as mastering.

I'm not buying this, I've had the US box set for over a dozen years and don't need it. The music is well worth having. If you don't have the Blue Note material, I think that's just as important, or perhaps more so, but this is great listening.

I think you're expecting to get too much information now about a set that is not even released yet in Europe.

Edited July 21, 2010 by jazzbo

[colinmce]

okay well since everyone seems a bit indifferent to this.. two final questions...

1) If this is similar to the Miles set could someone post some photos (and discuss) the packaging. Even if they are in slipcases 16Cds is a lot.

2) Compared to the 1991 boxed set... How is the sound? And do we have an idea about alternate or unreleased takes???

thanks... I've got all the Columbia Monk but little of the Riverside...

Is ANYONE getting this?

Below is a picture of the Miles box. The discs themselves are in thin cardboard slipcases, just like the Original Album Classics series and the recent Black Saint/Soul Note sets. They are exactly the same as the old OJCs. No new remastering, no new alternates, no new notes.

I will be getting the set as a) I like this style of packaging and b) I don't really have $250+ to drop on the old Riverside box.

[king ubu]

cover:

not much more info from where I got the pic, price there is given as 49€, date of release Aug. 10, 2010.

Ok, to add some positive vibes: this is glorious music for a lot of the time, and the lesser parts are still worth a listen, to say the least (I'm talking of the first two trio albums and the final two live quartet albums, in case).

What you get in between: "Brilliant Corners", the live date with Griffin, the studio sessions w/Coltrane (Monk with Coltrane and even more so "Monk's Music"), the "At Town Hall" album w/large band, and "5 by Monk by 5" (with Thad Jones added to an early incarnation of what would turn into the long-standing quartet with Charlie Rouse - you get Sam Jones and Art Taylor in the rhythm section there) is mighty, mighty fine!

Then there's the solo stuff, of which "Alone In San Francisco" is my favourite. Also there's the live stuff from the Black Hawk (with Harold Land and Joe Gordon added to the regular band), which I'm not yet very familiar with...

So, this should be a *great* deal for anyone who doesn't yet own much of this music! That's for sure!