Search - Benny Goodman :: Live at Carnegie Hall 1938 Complete

Fabulous but...

Candace Scott | Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA | 03/11/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It pains me to give less than 5 stars to this monumental recording, but the background noises compromise it just a trifle. I've listened to this 1938 Carnegie Hall concert since I was a kid on vinyl, and the vinyl versions, produced in the 60's and 70's, are superior in sound quality to this. I'm no expert on modern musical technology, but there must be a way to eliminate some of the annoying buzz in the background.Now, having dispensed with this criticism, the music played on this date is astonishing. Here are the definitive Goodman versions of three of his classic tracks, "Sing, Sing, Sing," "One O'Clock Jump" and the incomparable "Don't Be That Way." This last song is average in the studio-recorded Bluebird version, but this live song is enlivened by some of Krupa's greatest bass beats. This will have you jumpin' out of your seat, guaranteed!Benny's band was at its apex here and it shows. All too soon, both Gene Krupa and Harry James would be leaving the band. I recommend this disc as an essential popular recording of the 20th century, but beware of the background hiss throughout."

Clicks and pops can be fixed with DePopper

Richard Brooks | 12/30/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The other reviewers are right about loud clicks and pops on this Benny Goodman Live at Carnegie Hall 1938 (2 CD set). They can be very distracting and irritating. I have successfully removed most clicks and pops using the DePopper shareware program downloadable from www.depopper.com. Copy the tracks to your hard disk first, run the DePopper program using the defaults, and burn an audio CD with the newly created files. I prefer to use Nero for copying and burning CD tracks. I also normalized the tracks before burning because the volume levels of the original vary widely and normalization makes the overall volume levels more listenable but does not diminish the dynamics of the music. The resulting music still has tape hiss, which can be considerable in some places, but the clicks and pops are almost all eliminated making for a much more pleasant listening experience. - Richard"