Bethlehem Records reissue program relaunch by Verve on CD and LP and iTunes*

Got it. One of the things I dug about that album, aside from the fact that she is/was fabulous, is that it had this low budget quality, including the artwork and somehow just kept on getting printed all these years- i don't know if it ever stop being pressed after 'the death of vinyl ' (TM). Didn't realize it was being 'reissued' as such. Hope they don't make it an 'audiophile' record.
PS- looks like Pure Pleasure has an 'audiophile' issue of her first album in mono.
PPS Discogs also shows Bethlehem currently issues it in mono as well.
Met a guy on the street a couple weeks ago- we both thought we knew each other. We traded contact info- it was her brother. She lived a powerful life.

 

I think the new cd sounds wonderful, not audiophile, just a nice transfer from the tape. May be a bit too "loud" for some here, but it's not squashed imo. I believe others have commented favorably on the sound in this thread.

 

"Little Girl Blue" shows up in reissues in both formats, you never know what it is until you play it.
I have a blue label stereo press, judging from the sound and mix, I wonder if it was a Tom Dowd recording. He did start his career as a engineer for Bethlehem. It has the T.D. hallmarks: loud distorted piano, extreme separation, and vocals mixed to one side. Charly issued "Little Girl Blue" in mono in the early 90's, our importer told us when Nina Simone herself saw (Charly owner) Jean-Luc Young in a Swiss restaurant, she chased him around with a steak knife since he never paid her any royalties for the album and 12" remix/re-edit single that charted. From what I saw on Wikipedia about her royalties for the Bethlehem material:

I'm looking forward to some of those re-issues.

 

4 Bethlehem reissues are available for download in 24bit (no info on the sampling rate, but apparently 96kHz) at eClassical.

Dexter Gordon
Nina Simone
Booker Ervin
Oscar Pettiford

The booklets (with remastering credits) can be downloaded for free. The albums have been transferred and mastered by in-house engineers at Verse.

http://www.eclassical.com/en/artgrp.php?id=17116&grp=674229

 

Cool. These all sound very good on cd.

There are a few dozen more coming out on cd from Japan next week. Some very nice titles.

 

I have the Dexter Gordon and Booker Ervin Verse CDs and they do sound good.

 

I ordered nearly two dozen of the most recent releases from Japan. Dusty Groove got them in.

 

For what it's worth, I did a comparison between the Japanese CD reissue from 1999 (TOCJ-62026) of Dexter Gordon's Daddy Plays the Horn and the recent American reissue. The latter won on all counts; the Japanese CD has pumped-up highs and lows and is louder than the American CD, which sounds more natural to me and is much easier on the (my) ears. I haven't heard the recent Japanese reissue.

 

I know you are an expert so it is good to hear that you liked the Verse release. Let's hope they continue the series.

 

I posted this is the Amazon thread.

http://amzn.com/B00FEFOJUS

"The Songs Of Bobby Troup" 10" Bethlehem LP $5.98 shipped w/ prime

It was $4.55 but it jumped a little.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

Listening to the 10" LP "Songs Of Bobby Troup" now. Sounds great. Excellent LP!

 

I have the Nina Simone "Little Girl Blue" LP. It's stereo. A review will be forthcoming at www.theaudiobeat.com soon.

 

I downloaded the Booker Ervin title. If anyone is interested, the 24 bit FLAC version is at 96kHz, and all six tracks are DR12. Sounds nice.

 

Got a box in from cdjapan with 26 of the new batch of Bethlehem reissues on Solid. Was a lot of fun unwrapping them all!

 

Does anyone have the Charles Mingus "East Coasting" CD reissue or download?

http://www.eclassical.com/east-coasting-original-recording-remastered-2013.html

Is it mono or stereo?

I have the 2000 Avenue Jazz CD reissue which is stereo and sounds very good, and I would only get the hi-rez download if it is stereo.

The online audio clips on eclassical are mono, and unlike my CD, the online cover does not have the stereo indication, but these things may not be reliable.

Thanks.

 

I have the cd. It's stereo. It's louder than most here like their cds mastered, though it doesn't present a problem for me, it sounds very good imo. I love this session, among my top three Mingus releases.

 

I finally bought this. The recording sound (stereo) is generally OK (not state of the art for the period), but it sounds like they used some noise reduction during the mastering, because on the quieter passages with a bass or drums solo only, the sound becomes very artificial, with overtones missing.

 

It seems the Verse Bethlehem CD reissue program has died; I can't find any CD reissues that came out this year.

 

I came to that conclusion too. A real pity. I assume Naxos no longer has the resources and is struggling like every other physical media company?

 

No activity whatsoever from the Verse music group, it seems. What a pity as Bethlehem has wonderful titles in their catalogue. I hope someone gives this catalogue another chance.

 

No email newsletters or such since signing up at the Verse Bethlehem site almost a year ago. Naxos must be in a bad way.

 

Just posting a follow-up to the topic that was being discussed last:

BMG ACQUIRES VERSE MUSIC GROUP

NEW YORK, 29 JUNE 2015 – BMG is to take ownership of a brace of significant publishing and recording catalogs following its acquisition of New York independent Verse Music Group, announced today.

Verse, formed in 2010, owns rights to around 40,000 songs and recordings including such catalogues as:

§Salsoul Records, the legendary funk and dance label behind the first ever commercial 12“ single (Double Exposure’s ‘10%’) and Loleatta Holloway’s ‘Love Sensation’ (most famously featured in Black Box’s ‘Ride On Time’) together with its Latin offsheet Salsoul Lejendas featuring the 175m-album-selling Camilo Sesto;

§The Bethlehem Music catalog of classic jazz including works by Nina Simone (‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’), Duke Ellington, Mel Torme and John Coltrane;

§Golden Records, the first children’s record label in the US with artists ranging from Danny Kaye to Roy Rodgers, Bing Crosby to Johnny Cash;

§West End Records, the influential label led by Paradise Garage founder Mel Cheren behind seminal tracks such as Taana Gardner’s ‘Heartbeat’ and the worldwide hit ‘Here Comes The Hotstepper’ by Ini Kamoze;

§Successful catalogs from the likes of long-time Rod Stewart collaborator Kevin Savigar, Grammy Award-winning Franne Golde and the much-sampled Linda Laurie & Camex catalogue.

Verse Music Group was founded by award-winning songwriter/producers Curt Frasca and Sabelle Breer, who have worked with artists including Madonna, Avril Lavigne, Missy Higgins and Celine Dion. Laurent Hubert, President Creative & Marketing of BMG Chrysalis US, said, “Verse has assembled an extremely varied and wide-ranging catalog which touches many of the most influential moments in popular music history. There are considerable synergies with existing BMG catalogs which make this acquisition particularly exciting.“

 

This confirms my suspicion that the Verse Bethlehem reissue program had died.

 

And if the inactivity of Concord following its purchase of Vee-Jay is any indication, Bethlehem will stay dead.