Nat King Cole: His Musical Autobiography

[mikeweil]

Last October saw the (German) release of a new box set covering Nat Cole's entire career, 10 CDs and two DVDs and a large book, all in a LP-sized slipcase:

Anybody here considering a purchase, any opinions? 

Some info and a tracklist is found here: http://nat-king-cole.musicnewshq.com/news/nat-king-cole-his-musical-autobiography

[mikeweil]

The price is now down to fifty bucks in Germany ...

[Fer Urbina]

Got it from Amazon.de for €54.36 (regular, cheapest shipping inc.). I ordered it on the 28th at 21:38 and got it in London on the 29th at 11:50. That's under 15 hours delivery time.

PS Haven´t opened it yet, but it looks great. There's either not too much promo about it, or I have completely missed it.

[king ubu]

Told a friend about this box ... just got mine in fact, it looks splendid, but he mentiond this to me:

Prodotto difettoso per ben due volte. C è un grosso difetto nella traccia 6 del disco nove ma soprattutto il dvd n.12 dopo 1h e 17 ti manda agli extra saltando un quarto d'ora di un doc tra l'altro ben fatto. Non so se richiedere un altro cambio visto che probabilmente sono tutti così. Tra l'altro i dischetti sono quasi tutti incastrati nel cartone che bisogna rompere per togliere i dischi stessi che spesso risultano graffiati e appiccicosi di colla. L opera è molto bella ma fatta molto male in repubblica ceca

(imagine quote-box around it, why don't we have this or the full editor any longer?)

from here: http://www.amazon.it/Nat-King-Cole-Musical-Autobiography/dp/B00ZGUI6BE

 

And alas, both is true with mine ... disc 9 has the JATP set with Cole, which sounds much better it seems (I only played the track in questoin, "The Man I Love") on "Nat King Cole & Friends - Riffin': The Decca, JATP, Keynote and Mercury Recordings" anyway (that's the Hip-O-Select 3 CD set from 2010)

 

The DVD runs until 1:19 with me, if I go at 32x speed, it might or might not pass the next half minute, after that it seems to be okay again - but this sucks, Universal must have thrown out quality control (hey, they bought Blue Note so yeah, makes sense ...)

 

Anyone has a contact address for Universal? This is not the way such a premium product ought to be like ... interestingly, that comment only turns up on aIT, no comments on any other sites so far, whatsoever.

[king ubu]

Bump ... not sure if anyone besides me an Fer has bought this ... @Fer: could you check your box and let me know?

[king ubu]

Sent an email to Universal Switzerland, using the contact form on the website - and lo and behold, I received an answer yesterday from a guy kind enough to try and look into it. Will keep you posted if there's any news.

[Fer Urbina]

On 3/14/2016 at 2:12 PM, king ubu said:

Bump ... not sure if anyone besides me an Fer has bought this ... @Fer: could you check your box and let me know?

I just saw this! Will do later on.

F

[king ubu]

I've got a reply from Universal by now - the box is deleted already (that's why the price went down I guess), they managed to order another copy and will check if it's okay - crossing fingers! From the info I got, part of the run was concerned and Universal US didn't even notice ... quality control is just a nuisance from the point of view of those in for the big buck, of course. Too bad if I don't get a fixed DVD (and as long as no one really tells me he has a good one, I don't believe the "part of the run" thing, of course).

[mikeweil]

Already deleted? Geez ... ordered a copy, will check the DVD first.

[Fer Urbina]

Hello

CD9, #6: yes, there's some digital skipping from 1:07 to 1:15 (loudest at 1:15) , of the kind you get when the disk or the lens are not clean. My disk is clean, but it has a tiny black spot embedded in the plastic (definitely not external surface).

DVD 2: yes, mine jumps back to the main menu when the film is at 1:19:01, when Cole says "... at home, and that coun[cut]".

Bugger.

F

 

 

 

 

[Fer Urbina]

I've asked at Hoffman's forums and the errors seem to be universal ().

 Someone suggested ripping the DVD with DVD-Shrink.

F

 

 

 

[king ubu]

Thanks for checking Fer!

I read through that Hoffmann thread before buying and was a bit puzzled that no one had noticed, but of course I'm most guilty of buying faster thatn I can listen. Either way, I'll wait and see what the guy from Universal will write me once he got that other copy he secured.

For the JATP, on very quick first glance, I had the impression anyway that the respective disc in the Hip-O-Select 3CD set sounds much better (but then that "clean-up" could be cause of other issues my ears aren't good enough to catch, who knows).

The idea to rip that DVD might be worth a try indeed.

[Fer Urbina]

1 hour ago, king ubu said:

Thanks for checking Fer!

Thank you for the heads-up!

F

[king ubu]

Okay, seems to be universal indeed - git news from the guy at Universal Switzerland who was kind enough to check another copy. Too bad! Will try ripping the DVD and let you know of the outcome. If you (@Fer) or anyone else also tries, please report the outcome!

(On the positive side, I was granted a wish by Universal, which is highly appreciated indeed )

[mikeweil]

Picked up my copy. today, checked the DVD - it cuts out back to the main menu at exactly the point Fer described. Will try the shrinking software. How long is that documentary supposed to run?

Two of the CDs were pushed upwards in that fegging cardboard slip display - was fearing the worst, but got them out by gently rocking them from side to side. One of them was clean, the other (CD 2) showed some glue residue, which I was able to remove with some Scotch tape. Okay ... 

Watching the documentary showed me how little I actually knew about Cole's biography and his importance as an artist. Just for this it was worth getting the box. 

[mikeweil]

While typing the tracks from the box into my personal database in the Tom Lord online discography I noticed he does not list some items as they are lacking jazz content - considering the popularity of a track like Mona Lisa this seems ridiculous to me. I hate that jazz police attitude. If an artist has played jazz, list all of his recordings. There are plenty other items I would not consider to be jazz that he lists. 

That said, many recording dates in the box book are not identical with those in Lord - is there some reliable King Cole disco?

Edited April 17, 2016 by mikeweil

[Big Beat Steve]

2 hours ago, mikeweil said:

While typing the tracks from the box into my personal database in the Tom Lord online discography I noticed he does not list some items as they are lacking jazz content - considering the popularity of a track like Mona Lisa this seems ridiculous to me. I hate that jazz police attitude. I an artist has played jazz, list all of his recordings. There are plenty other items I would not consider to be jazz that he lists.

Remember the discographies by Brian Rust and Horst H. Lange, to name just two? They were pretty big at this. Sometimes you can reasonably draw a line but often this reeks of personal preferences and narrowed-down views of the world: "outside the scope of this book" "no jazz content" "of no interest to the collector" etc. etc.

Didn't you get the message: THOU SHALT NOT COLLECT THESE UNWORTHY ITEMS! 

That said, I agree with you all the way about what fairly recent recordings (from the period when a lot of what did not fit into any other categories tended to be lumped in with "jazz") that are not exactly jazz either find their way in up-to-date discographies.

[mikeweil]

Of course I get the message, I just will not follow their path! 

Listening through the box I hear many tracks with big band accompaniment that swing enough to pass for jazz. Bet these jazz policemen never heard them ...

That said - many errors in jazz discographies occur because the compilers simply never listened to the music but relied on other sources than their ears.

Edited April 17, 2016 by mikeweil

[mikeweil]

One afterthought about the jazz police: It reminds me of the highbrow attitudes of classical music lovers that thought their music was "better" than "popular" music ... when I think about how "popular" some classical music is today that gets played to death ... I remember the times when jazz lovers over here thought the music of their preference was "better" than pop music - which was easy to do considering how bland most pop music is. Justification maneuvers, nothing more. Like Duke said: There are only two kinds of music, good and b... ehm the other one.

[Larry Kart]

2 hours ago, mikeweil said:

One afterthought about the jazz police: It reminds me of the highbrow attitudes of classical music lovers that thought their music was "better" than "popular" music ... when I think about how "popular" some classical music is today that gets played to death ... I remember the times when jazz lovers over here thought the music of their preference was "better" than pop music - which was easy to do considering how bland most pop music is. Justification maneuvers, nothing more. Like Duke said: There are only two kinds of music, good and b... ehm the other one.

A phrase I've always liked in this regard -- may have even come up with it myself, don't remember now -- is "music (or whatever art you wish) that withstands and rewards contemplation." A good deal of music (a la Ellington's "two kinds of music" remark) of the good kind doesn't do that very much; instead, it's more or less fully taken in (as arguably is the intent) in the act of confrontation/consumption. Other music (or whatever art you wish) turns out to withstand and reward contemplation. Of course, one man's act of immediate consumption is another man's act of contemplation, but even so, I think there is a general principle involved and one that isn't inherently snotty or an attempt to pull rank. Music of the other kind we can agree to forget about.

[mikeweil]

Fully agreed - I think a tool of documentary character, like a discography, has to stay free of such evaluations. I, too, prefer music that rewards contemplation, of course.

Nat Cole's music rewards contemplation, that's for sure, and it's enteratining just as well. That's all one can ask for.

[king ubu]

two things:

1) Trying DVD Shrink - fails, alas - stops at 1% of the ripping/back-up process, VTS_01_0.VOB is causing troubles, it seems ... the glitch is there on the computer as well (almost to the second at the 1 hour 19 minutes mark), but of course there you just place the cursor at 1:19:05 or whatever you can get closest to it, and continue watching ...

2) Any idea who actually wrote the liner notes? I don't see any credits - maybe those guys credited with general production? (same btw. with the somewhat smaller but also lovely Ella Fitzgerald 10CD box which goes fairly cheap here, but contains none of the rarities and DVDs that make the Cole set so enticing)

[king ubu]

but ...

3) DVD Decrypter (which I should have tried right away, as DVD Shrink is a compression/re-authoring programme mostly) worked. So I've got a copy on my hard drive now, at least. It's 7.87 GB, so you'd need a two-sided DVD (not sure I even have a drive that can handle burning such).

[Dave Garrett]

On 4/17/2016 at 5:21 PM, king ubu said:

but ...

3) DVD Decrypter (which I should have tried right away, as DVD Shrink is a compression/re-authoring programme mostly) worked. So I've got a copy on my hard drive now, at least. It's 7.87 GB, so you'd need a two-sided DVD (not sure I even have a drive that can handle burning such).

Not sure about a two-sided recordable DVD, but I've used dual-layer blanks before in such instances. ImgBurn used to be great for dual-layer burning, as it will suggest several places where the layer change could go and allow you to select the optimal one. Unfortunately, I can no longer recommend ImgBurn when it comes to good freeware for DVD burning, as the last version of the installer that's out there appears to have been infected with malware for some time now. 

[king ubu]

Thanks for the warning. It's been ages since I burned any DVDs. I guess nowadays I'd just hook up my external drive (or better yet copy the files onto a USB stick) with the tv screen if I want to watch it on tv instead of on my computer.