Tubby Hayes - The Complete Fontana Albums (September 27, 2019)

[sidewinder]

Appalling - but glad to hear that you found your LP pack OK. Enjoy !

[mjazzg]

17 hours ago, Clunky said:

I eventually found my LP set when walking the dogs to the park. The Hermes delivery operative had left it outside a house further down the street. Unfortunately for me my the occupiers were away so it sat outside in the open for 24 hours before I found it. No reply from either Hermes or Decca about the non delivery. Not confidence inspiring. Outer packaging was quite damaged but LPs so far seem ok. 

I'm pleased it's turned up. Time for a Tubby Xmas!

Hermes really are a pile of @##@. I bet it was packaged differently to the photos they sent you

[Clunky]

4 hours ago, mjazzg said:

I'm pleased it's turned up. Time for a Tubby Xmas!

Hermes really are a pile of @##@. I bet it was packaged differently to the photos they sent you

Yes indeed . No white bubble wrap. I only spotted it as I saw a partially hidden glimpse of the metallic blue you kindly described. I doubt I’ve seen it if wasn’t for your description. So , many thanks 😊 

[mjazzg]

Glad to have been a little help

[sidewinder]

Knock me down with a feather and call me Jehovah, just got a message from udiscover saying my order had been ‘dispatched’.

Dispatched to where though - Mars?

Wonder how long after getting this message I can expect to get a Hermes email. Next day?

Edited December 27, 2019 by sidewinder

[RogerF]

29 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Knock me down with a feather and call me Jehovah, just got a message from udiscover saying my order had been ‘dispatched’.

Dispatched to where though - Mars?

Wonder how long after getting this message I can expect to get a Hermes email. Next day?

Well that's better than for me - I have heard precisely zilch about my order placed on 11 December. I've emailed them but heard nothing. All the so-called phone numbers on the UMG website are dead (fake?) numbers. So am currently pretty pissed off.

[mjazzg]

35 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Knock me down with a feather and call me Jehovah, just got a message from udiscover saying my order had been ‘dispatched’.

Dispatched to where though - Mars?

Wonder how long after getting this message I can expect to get a Hermes email. Next day?

Maybe Job instead of Jehovah.

Fingers crossed for a speedy and pain free arrival

On 23/12/2019 at 5:43 PM, Clunky said:

 

 

[RiRiIII]

On 12/22/2019 at 11:37 PM, sidewinder said:

If it hadn’t been for the fact that I wanted a copy of the LP version I would have avoided udiscover. They’ve got us over a barrel on that one.

+1000

I just saw that my udiscover order was shipped on Tuesday 24/12. Their message went to the spam folder. No tracking number though...

Let's see.

Edited December 27, 2019 by RiRiIII

[sidewinder]

Yes, there was no tracking number with mine as well. I’m assuming that it will only be at the final Hermes stage that such a number will miraculously appear.

Being an optimist, I will be stalking the roads looking for lost drivers dumping blue packages in ditches tomorrow. 

47 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

Maybe Job instead of Jehovah.

Fingers crossed for a speedy and pain free arrival

 

Ta !

53 minutes ago, RogerF said:

Well that's better than for me - I have heard precisely zilch about my order placed on 11 December. I've emailed them but heard nothing. All the so-called phone numbers on the UMG website are dead (fake?) numbers. So am currently pretty pissed off.

Sorry to hear that, Roger. Now that the CD set is ‘in stock’, hopefully things should start happening.

[ghost of miles]

Amazon UK charged me for the Hayes set more than a week ago, but now the charge has disappeared from my account—very odd. Website still tells me it will arrive in early January, but it has not shipped yet, even though AZ UK shows it as now being in stock.

[RogerF]

Finally!!! It’s been despatched; hallelujah!

 

[ghost of miles]

2 hours ago, RogerF said:

Finally!!! It’s been despatched; hallelujah!

 

Me as well!  Just yesterday, apparently, so will probably take a couple of weeks to make its way across the pond... but happy to know it's on its way.

[jazzbo]

I got a uDiscover "dispatch" notice 8 days ago on the cd set I ordered July 30. Hopefully early next year I'll have it!

[sidewinder]

My blue bag with superb looking LP and CD sets has just arrived, safe and sound. In the end it was Yodel who delivered it.

A Tubby-tastic weekend beckons ! 

13 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Me as well!  Just yesterday, apparently, so will probably take a couple of weeks to make its way across the pond... but happy to know it's on its way.

Hopefully not via a Hermes packet boat stopping in at Shetlands, Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, St Johns Newfoundland and other intermediate points..

Edited December 28, 2019 by sidewinder

[sidewinder]

First impressions spinning the CD version of ‘Tubbs Tours’ is that this is far superior to previous CD versions, including Japanese Fontana. Lovely crisp and detailed presentation.

[RogerF]

CD box arrived this morning and as sidewinder has already favourably remarked, this looks like a winner. 

 

[sidewinder]

Plus, you get a credit in the booklet Roger..

[sidewinder]

It has been a while since I last played my old LP of ‘The Orchestra’ and the CD version sounds great. Some very strong playing from Tubby, although the album is strongly MOR focussed with overdubbed strings and female soprano on some tracks. There is a very strong overlap with what Harry South was doing with his ‘Stereo Brass’ around the same time, perhaps not surprising as South’s arrangements feature on the session. One of the tracks also has what sounds like a scraping noise over a short section - presumably a flaw on the original master?

This is a fantastic box set ! The additional unissued material on the CD set is also definitely worth having.

Edited December 28, 2019 by sidewinder

[RogerF]

8 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

It has been a while since I last played my old LP of ‘The Orchestra’ and the CD version sounds great. Some very strong playing from Tubby, although the album is strongly MOR focussed with overdubbed strings and female soprano on some tracks. There is a very strong overlap with what Harry South was doing with his ‘Stereo Brass’ around the same time, perhaps not surprising as South’s arrangements feature on the session. One of the tracks also has what sounds like a scraping noise over a short section - presumably a flaw on the original master?

This is a fantastic box set ! The additional unissued material on the CD set is also definitely worth having.

Agreed. The Orchestra is receiving its very first CD reissue and that's long overdue. Song For A Sad Lady, the only TH original, is fantastic. The other long overdue bonus is the first stereo CD reissue of 100% Proof, again very welcome indeed as it transforms the set into something else. My only comment on the presentation of the box set, which is unequivocally superb, is that I've replaced the chunky white cardboard inner sleeves with antistatic CD sleeves, mainly for aesthetic reasons. This definitely gets my vote for CD reissue of 2019 (albeit with Nucleus a close second). 

[sidewinder]

Agreed - both this box and the Nucleus are definitive must-haves. That’s a really good idea re: adding anti-static sleeves.

’Song For A Sad Lady’ was composed for singer/Tubby girlfriend Joy Marshall I think. The Turtle Records Joy Marshall/Gordon Beck release has another quartet plus singer version of ‘The Gentle Rain’ also on The Orchestra, apparently arranged by Tubby for Ms Marshall.

Really enjoying Simon’s very readable and authoritative booklet too ! 

Edited December 28, 2019 by sidewinder

[king ubu]

Hm, I was thinking of skipping the Nucleus box ... Tubbs has been on it's way for a while, hope to get it before the year ends ...

[Clunky]

I’ve been making my way slowly through the vinyl box. I’m hugely impressed by the music and it’s presentation. Plenty (75%) of it is new to me. 

[sidewinder]

9 minutes ago, Clunky said:

I’ve been making my way slowly through the vinyl box. I’m hugely impressed by the music and it’s presentation. Plenty (75%) of it is new to me. 

Haven’t even cracked open my LP set yet - working my way through the CDs. Other than ‘Grits’ and the very nice bonus material nothing is new, however the sonic presentation even on the CD set sounds pretty definitive. This set is as revelatory as the Rendell-Carr box !

Not one duff LP/session in there - Tubby set himself very high quality standards during those Fontana years. ‘A Man on a Mission’.

Edited December 30, 2019 by sidewinder

[Clunky]

I’d avoided most of these because of a combination of lack of availability and reports of poor sound. It’s a pity that the unreleased material is only on the full CD set. 

[sidewinder]

I remember reading somewhere that the earlier CD issues, even Japanese Fontana, were LP dubs. Having said that, some of them e.g the Costanzo session and the 2 Ronnie Scotts LPs sounded pretty nice in earlier versions.

Just playing bonus 7” single ‘Sally’. Gracie Fields it aint.  Unlikely choice of tune for sure - ‘only in the UK’.

Edited December 30, 2019 by sidewinder