Mahalia Jackson CD - "How I Got Over: The Apollo Records Sessions 1946-1954"

I came across this CD in search of a good compilation of her Apollo recordings:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/how-i-got-over-the-apollo-records-sessions-1946-1954-mw0000601549

This part of the review gave me pause: "Marvelous transfers of the original master tapes"

Weren't most of these on 78 rpm discs? I'm wondering if the metal parts and/or acetates still exist, or if this is a case like Hank Williams and Charlie Parker's Dial sessions where tape copies were made right before the originals were trashed, thereby becoming the best available masters henceforth.

 

Yes, these recordings early on were from lacquer sources, tape came later in the run.

 

That's what I figured. Anyone have that "How I Got Over" set? It runs for $35+, which is reasonable for a three CD set packed with 60+ tracks, but if most of the material is from the 78 era, I'm a little reluctant to pick it up without knowing anything about the transfers. Bob Fisher (who did a lot of Rhino reissues) is a producer, but they list Denis Blackham (whom I'm not familiar with) as the mastering engineer.

 

I still haven't found a clear cut answer, but my best guess is, most of these were actually recorded to mono tape, but the earliest tracks were not originally tape recordings, and what we may have here is a tape dub that's been used on just about every CD release out there, one which unfortunately had the life sucked out of it with bad EQ and a ton of cavernous echo thrown in.

A shame, because I found this on YouTube, an uploaded recording made straight from an original 78 without any futzing:

BEAUTIFUL. Notice how dry it sounds, the way it's supposed to be. Notice the full frequency sound accompanied by real surface noise that was left in - can't filter that without ruining the sound.

I'm just getting into gospel, but these recordings have been relentlessly called the gospel equivalent of Elvis Presley's Sun sessions. This record alone was a phenomenon back in its day - it sold over a whopping two MILLION copies, an astounding number given the tiny sales market for gospel recordings, then and now.

 

Thanks for posting that. Awesome.

 

Thanks for that post and link. And this and many others like this, is why I despise over filtering, added reverb, and wrong EQ on 78 material. I'd rather have good flat transfers of it for modern media, ears can adjust to a bit of noise. A big reason why I can't wait to finish restoring my Lenco L 70. And be able to enjoy some shellac classics.