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Has there ever been a CD of this album with better sound than the Sony Special Products edition?
Amazon has a copy. The cover doesn't say anything about it being a special product.
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No, but that's the CD Onya is referring to. (Says so on the back cover.)
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No, but that's the CD Onya is referring to. (Says so on the back
cover.)
Amazon doesn't show the back cover. Is there something wrong with what is available?
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Roy, I know Amazon doesn't show you the back cover. If they did, you would have seen it and you'd have known what it was, but, since they didn't, you couldn't know. Therefore, I was just trying to provide the missing information.
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Onya, please enlighten me, what is a "six eye" LP set?
***
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Thanks! I knew what the "set" meant, which is why I put the quotes around "six eye." And now, with your illustration, I see what a "six eye design" is. One picture is worth a thousand words and six eyes.
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Next on my agenda:
Onya, your thread prompted me to pull my copy of this CD off the shelf and listen to it for the first time since I bought it many years ago. Please forgive me for saying this, but frankly I was shocked and dismayed by how bad I found it to be, IMHO. Shocked especially because I highly prize the other collections in this series: Percy Faith/Gershwin, Andre Kostelanetz/Rodgers, Paul Weston/Kern. But to me, pinched sound is the least of this recording's problems. We all know what a fine musician Monsieur Legrand is, but I can only surmise that in his callow youth (check out the photo on the back cover of the booklet) he felt the need to make a name by drawing attention to himself. How else to explain how over-arranged everything is, to say nothing of how strangely orchestrated. Half the time, I couldn't even hear or recognize what tune they were supposed to be playing. Again, I'm sorry, but I honestly found this disc unlistenable.
As always, as the fellow said, "it's a difference of opinion that makes horse races." I trust my low opinion of the album will have no effect, nor should it, on your own enjoyment of it. At least we can shake hands and agree on the quality of the Porter oeuvre.
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Is THAT what was going on here? Whoa. Thank heaven the other guys didn't take that tack with their songwriter tribute albums. I enjoy the few "space age" discs in my collection,* but jeepers, there's a time and a place for everything -- and this was a time to honor Porter. I wonder why he had to get this treatment when the other composers were spared...? Oh, well. Thanks for explaining the seemingly inexplicable to me.
* In fact, I'm quite fond of a lot of the entries in the "Cocktails" CD series.
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I'm going to chime in here to echo Preston's assessment. When I first played the disc, I was appalled by the sound quality. Then I was appalled by the arrangements. Well, not appalled, but kind of surprised and eventually exhausted.
Look, I love Porter, and I love Legrand, but this does seem to be an ADD version of arranging, compared to other kinds of things of this ilk, though I don't know the other entries Preston mentioned, so I'll look for those.
I found I prefer Frederick Fennell's take on some Porter and Gershwin on Mercury Living Presence. It's a little four square, but better matched my taste for this kind of thing.
But all this said, if an improved version came out of the Legrand, I'd get it. In fact, that's what I hoped this thread was about when I opened it. So I can't dislike it all that much, I guess.
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And for me, this particular example of it is the nadir. As I mentioned, I do have and enjoy a number of "space-age/bachelor pad" discs -- I even have an Esquivel album! -- but the Legrand/Porter set is so full of arranging that there's no room left over for any music. You can hear the instruments, but not the tune.
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Didn't know it existed. Thanks, I'll check it out.
BTW, the Group Mind over at Amazon seems to side with you on the Legrand/Porter. Eight Customer Reviews are all but one highly enthusiastic, and even the exception is mildly enthusiastic. He recommends the album for all who are "tired of the same traditional arrangements attached to Cole Porter classics"!
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