There is a lot in common between these two CDs, so here are my comments for the two together.
- Liners written by Forumites (Brad and Nick).
- Comprehensive liners with excellent historical information and detailed analyses of the recordings. Highly informative.
- Complete discographies.
- Very good transfers and sound quality.
George raised the point that the Rhythmic Eight CD set includes a large fraction of the tracks previously issued in the three volumes of Mellotone CDs devoted to the Rhythmic Eight. The Fud Livingston CD too includes several tracks previously available in a variety of CDs issued by other companies. It is true that the sound quality here is better than that in the earlier CDs, and there is new, highly useful information in the liners, as well as recordings not previously issued on CDs. But we are talking about an increment, an improvement, rather than a substantial fraction of tracks with entirely new material. Given the amount of work and effort required in producing a new CD, it is appropriate to reiterate Georges point. Would it not be better to spend the time by producing CDs with recordings that had not been available previously? The problem is more severe with the Rhythmic Eight CD set. Considerably more than half of the recordings in the new set were available in the Mellotone three-volume issue. In the case of the Fud Livingston CD although several of the tracks were previously available, they were scattered around in CDs of various groups, and there may be some merit in unifying the Livingston legacy into one cohesive volume, even if it involves a substantial number of repetitions.
I hope my friends Brad and Nick do not view my comments as negative, destructive. The last thing I want to do is compromise my friendship with Brad and Nick. I have great admiration for their expertise and judgment. I am grateful to them for their informative and thoughtful postings here, and for their unlimited generosity in providing new material for the Bixography website. Please, view my comments as constructive criticism. 78 rpm recordings of dance and jazz bands from the 1920s are slowly disappearing (collectors die and their holdings are sometimes trashed). Remastering and re-issuing on CDs the precious, hitherto unavailable music is of essence, and the experts that can produce such CDs at a high level of sound quality ought to concentrate on mostly new material. Of course, this is my opinion. Others may differ and view improvements in sound quality as highly significant and desirable advances. As usual, I welcome an open discussion.
Albert
| This message has been edited by ahaim on Oct 25, 2009 11:37 AM |