Search - Georgie Auld :: Georgie Auld & His Hollywood All Stars

You Get the Master Tape Here! Some Maynard you Ain't Heard

Mike DiMartino | Rochester, NY | 11/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is kind of a follow up to my review on this compilation issued by Jasmine. During the '80s Jasmine released many impeccably mastered LPs with original cover art as well. We now live in the digitally "enhanced" age--or digitally tampered with, I should say. I was a little disappointed with Jasmine's version, but after hearing Fresh Sound's spectacular issue, I understand why Jasmine applied digital enhancement to their version: they endeavored to remove tape hiss, but this processing left a kind of swirling, key jingling noise, especially audible in the cymbals. Annoying. And I have to ask Jasmine, "What's the thinking behind that? Lesser of two evils?" I own the original EmArcy LPs, and Jasmine's version just sounded artificial and a little shrill to me.



OK, well, from the first notes, I knew Fresh Sound nailed it! No strident peaks that send you turning down the volume or adjusting the treble. It sounds like the originals. And it sounds fabulous. Period. The reason is, Fresh Sound's philosophy must have been, "Just give them the master tape...tape hiss and all," and it sounds GORGEOUS GEORGIE! to coin a phrase. (Please be assured, the hiss may not be all that noticeable--I only mention it to show, Fresh Sound chose not to tamper with the original audio.) To hear these recordings, meticulously and accurately mastered, finally, after years of waiting, and without the crackle of Dad's original LPs--well, today's a great day in my CD collecting journey.



We all know, you win some, you lose some in this CD buying digitally enhanced gamble. In the '70s and '80s we had to put up with fake stereo and reverb applied to classic LPs; now we never know how carried away the engineers will get with their lastest amazing software gimmickry. But I'll tell you this: you can't go wrong with ANYTHING Japanese or from Spain, like Fresh Sound and another new Spaniard on the block, Gambit--awesome, 100% faithful-to-the-original digital CD mastering.



This Fresh Sound version is the only one in the world you want. I'm only nominally disappointed that FS, like Jasmine, did not include a repro of the second of these two albums, DANCING IN THE LAND OF HI FI, just for completeness. However, wow! there are some in-session photos I've never seen before showing Maynard, Goz, Manny, Ray Linn, Frank Rosolino and others along with Georgie Auld.



I'm so terrifically pleased. Happy Holidays--this CD sure brightened mine! Thanks, Fresh Sound--you've been around over 20 years; you're time-proven, and I wish you many more decades of fine reissuing."