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There are a few quirks: For "Ritual," they used the fake-stereo Duophonic master rather than the clean, original mono master. And for "Ports," they use the abridged 10-track stereo album lineup, omitting "Bangkok Cockfight" and "Spice Islands Sea Birds."
And a few albums are missing. For example, it would be nice to get CD-quality versions of "The Passions," "Caribbean Moonlight," and "Jungle Jazz."
Thanks for sharing this! I’m really curious to check them out since I do find Les Baxter to be fascinating.
Now, rant about digital commences:
This is why I’m not even close to being all-in on digital downloads because there are no quality standards that can be relied upon.
Qobuz releases stuff like what you just mentioned as well as higher-res audio, but that split is a confusing business model. It would be like if McDonald’s had its regular menu and then also sold a 100% Kobe Beef burgers freshly grilled from raw meat and charged $18 for them. You’d wonder at that point if you could trust anything coming from them.
Or imagine if THX had a high quality sound certification but they also had a “Budget-THX Certification” for if a movie theater had at least one speaker for basic mono sound. It would be confusing.
Coupled with the fact that Qobuz doesn’t clearly provide information about what sources their releases come from and what OTHER sources exist out there, it doesn’t matter what logical statements are presented - the Qobuz experience is a bad one that FEELS like a crap shoot.
In contrast, LaLaLand, Intrada, Varese clearly and openly attempt to do the research and work to give customers the highest quality possible with their releases. They are also 100% transparent about the source materials, include ample documentation, and typically also include recommendations (like the “this is the definitive version to buy” for the recent Rio Conchos re-recording re-release).
Qobuz reminds me of cheap CD/record stores that would pop up in the late 90s/early 2000s that would sell really marked up music like Sam Goody or The Wherehouse or Virgin and also sell grubby used CDs with no quality control, while the whole place smelled like cigarettes and patchouli.
Again, I understand there is a logical breakdown of how all of this works at Qobuz, but as I’m pointing out, the inconsistency makes the Qobuz brand feel cheap and unreliable to me.
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Be sure to check out at least 7 of the 8 that I listed. "Skins" is primarily a percussion album, and if you are not into all-percussion you may not like it.
Yeah, I think I've listened to them all over the years, but definitely need a refresher.
I enjoy percussion albums - in fact I've been messing around with some cheap instruments myself in the pandemic - a couple guiros, claves, I've asked for a djembe for Father's Day.
Not that I'm all that in them (I was on violin/viola and piano growing up, and also toot away on a recorder, but enough about me!).
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I'd be interested in a boxed set as well, can't sample any of the music right now but I'm intrigued.
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Posted: |
Jun 18, 2021 - 12:37 PM
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By: |
fmfan1
(Member)
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Thanks for the heads-up on the downloads, as Baxter's exotica albums are quite special. Collecting Baxter's music (and I have everything available, often multiple times) has been both exciting and frustrating. Many of the CDs out there are often disappointing and sometimes close to garbage. I read 5-star reviews, make a purchase, and am later saddened by not only things like record hiss, but outright flaws as well, such as skips or warped-record source warbles.
Be careful collecting Baxter when it comes to "re-mastering" because not only is the term laughably untrue on some productions, but even when effort has been made, "re-mastering" doesn't always mean better. Case in point - African Jazz (a favorite of mine). I made my third CD purchase of it not long ago, only to be disappointed by the balance. While the percussion was wonderfully clear and crisp to the greatest extent I've heard, the main instrument lines were just a bit recessed on about half the tracks. Not egregiously so, but I want to crank up the volume of the woodwinds here or the piano there because the percussion is over-taking them.
Lastly, I have been surprised to find overlay differences and even different edits. For example, I keep two recordings of the sensational Space Escapade handy as one has much better sound but leaves off some of the effect overlays that I had gotten used to. Some tracks have such different balancing between recordings that the mood of the track is changed, and at least one track has additional measures and a different ending. Back to African Jazz and the just perfect "Congo Train," the train whistles at the end might be there, or they might be missing depending on the recording. For some of Baxter's albums, I'm not even sure what his original intentions were because I'm not sure what the original vinyl releases sounded like.
I'd happily help fund and produce ultimate versions of the Baxter albums if I had the knowledge and the time.
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Posted: |
Jun 18, 2021 - 12:47 PM
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By: |
OnyaBirri
(Member)
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Thanks for the heads-up on the downloads, as Baxter's exotica albums are quite special. Collecting Baxter's music (and I have everything available, often multiple times) has been both exciting and frustrating. Many of the CDs out there are often disappointing and sometimes close to garbage. I read 5-star reviews, make a purchase, and am later saddened by not only things like record hiss, but outright flaws as well, such as skips or warped-record source warbles.
Be careful collecting Baxter when it comes to "re-mastering" because not only is the term laughably untrue on some productions, but even when effort has been made, "re-mastering" doesn't always mean better. Case in point - African Jazz (a favorite of mine). I made my third CD purchase of it not long ago, only to be disappointed by the balance. While the percussion was wonderfully clear and crisp to the greatest extent I've heard, the main instrument lines were just a bit recessed on about half the tracks. Not egregiously so, but I want to crank up the volume of the woodwinds here or the piano there because the percussion is over-taking them.
Lastly, I have been surprised to find overlay differences and even different edits. For example, I keep two recordings of the sensational Space Escapades handy as one has much better sound but leaves off some of the effect overlays that I had gotten used to. Some tracks have such different balancing between recordings that the mood of the track is changed, and at least one track has additional measures and a different ending.
I'd happily help fund and produce ultimate versions of the Baxter albums if I had the knowledge and the time.
"Ports of Pleasure," "Space Escapade," and "African Jazz" date from a period in which Capitol used separate mic configurations and separate engineers for the mono and stereo recordings. The sessions are the same, but they were captured in two different ways.
On the mono recordings, they used as many as 7 discrete channels, mixed on-the-fly to mono, including close miking of quieter instruments.
For the stereo sessions, they strung up two or three overhead mics, threw caution to the wind, and hoped for the best.
The results? "Ports" and "Space" have a beautiful, natural, open room sound in stereo, but some of the details are lost. In addition, the mono albums of these two included overdubs not on the stereo.
As for "African Jazz," the percussion is indeed overwhelming on the stereo version. The mono recording is much better balanced.
And I share your frustration regarding the available Baxter exotica albums on CD. Most are vinyl rips, and not particularly good ones.
I think high-quality downloads will be as good as it gets for future Baxter releases. The audience for this kind of thing is aging and dying. The 1990s would have been the ideal time to release high-quality CDs. While Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and Esquivel received the treatment they deserved, Baxter did not.
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Posted: |
Jun 18, 2021 - 2:04 PM
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By: |
OnyaBirri
(Member)
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Funny that Martin Denny already has such a box despite coming along after Baxter. But have to admit he had more exotica best sellers than Baxter (maybe those exotic bird calls did it) and I do prefer Denny's version of Tiomkin's RETURN TO PARADISE.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184887855059?epid=110494813&hash=item2b0c2cc7d3:g:bjUAAOSwzhlgx1lH
In the 1990s, Scamp released the first nine Martin Denny albums, from the masters, on CD. Eight of these appeared on four twofer CDs, and one, "Afro-Desia," was released by itself.
The Rhino "Best of" compilation, with the blue cover, has incredible mastering, and is probably the best this music has ever sounded from a sonic standpoint.
The link you shared is for a grey market/public domain set. There are three or four Les Baxter sets in that series, and they are vinyl rips.
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Posted: |
Jun 18, 2021 - 7:59 PM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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Funny that Martin Denny already has such a box despite coming along after Baxter. But have to admit he had more exotica best sellers than Baxter (maybe those exotic bird calls did it) and I do prefer Denny's version of Tiomkin's RETURN TO PARADISE.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184887855059?epid=110494813&hash=item2b0c2cc7d3:g:bjUAAOSwzhlgx1lH
In the 1990s, Scamp released the first nine Martin Denny albums, from the masters, on CD. Eight of these appeared on four twofer CDs, and one, "Afro-Desia," was released by itself.
The Rhino "Best of" compilation, with the blue cover, has incredible mastering, and is probably the best this music has ever sounded from a sonic standpoint.
The link you shared is for a grey market/public domain set. There are three or four Les Baxter sets in that series, and they are vinyl rips.
Thanks for the distinction!
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Posted: |
Jun 20, 2021 - 7:36 AM
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By: |
OnyaBirri
(Member)
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Sorry if I'm mistaken but I don't think this 10 CD box has been mentioned in this thread yet :
Les Baxter - Milestones Of A Legend (2017, CD) | Discogs
As you can see, this box gathers 20 albums spanning from 1951 to 1961 including mostly exotica stuff and few soundtracks (GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS from the BARBARIAN LP and MASTER OF THE WORLD). I got it several weeks ago and do enjoy it very much. I can't tell if these are merely LP rip offs but regardless, this was the opportunity for me to discover superb albums such as JEWELS OF THE SEA and WILD GUITARS.
Laurent
It is most assuredly vinyl rips, or perhaps they used mp3 versions of a few albums.
It is a grab-bag collection, including lots of Baxter's pop albums, which IMO are not all that good. But many of the key exotica albums are missing, including "Tamboo," "Jungle Jazz," "Ports of Pleasure" and "the Sacred Idol."
Still, a gal can dream.
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Posted: |
Jun 20, 2021 - 7:56 AM
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By: |
fmfan1
(Member)
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Regarding the 10 CD/20 Album box set from The Intense Media's "Milestones of a Legend":
While any Baxter recording is better than no Baxter recording, this release has a lot to be desired. They are definitely using record sources as record static, pops, and other flaws can be heard throughout the collection.
Even worse, there are skips on a fair number of tracks. While some albums are unscathed, other albums can have numerous skips marring the recordings.
Take for example, CD3, Track 2. This is "April in Portugal" from the KALEIDOSCOPE album. There are skips at 0:28 and 2:34.
This collection often uses the same flawed sources as Real Gone Jazz's 4 CD/8 Album boxed sets. For example, on Volume 2, Disc 1, Track 2 of that collection ("April in Portugal"), there are skips at exactly 0:28 and 2:34.
I own "April in Portugal" on two other albums without those skips.
Still, a casual listen might not pick up on many of these problems, so you can probably get a lot of enjoyment out of those inexpensive collections.
By the way, if you want to hear the track that Baxter sued John Williams over, it's on that collection. CD2, THE PASSIONS, "Joy". I believe that Baxter was in the wrong here, but there are similarities and it IS a terrific piece of music.
Onya - Please tell me that you have some love for "Caribbean Moonlight". These are all covers of "pop" songs, but the arrangements are sublime and it is one of my favorite Baxter albums.
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I think most (if not all) of Les Baxter's Capitol catalog is now available as downloads from UMG - some of them even in HD.
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YES !
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Capitol definitely missed the boat not issuing a Baxter boxed set back in the '90s, but it's great that most of the albums are now available as official downloads.
However, am I right in thinking UMG still hasn't issued South Pacific and Love Is A Fabulous Thing (one of my favourite non-exotica Baxter albums)?
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