I love The Platters...what say ye?

I checked my own collection database for stereo/mono info, and it appears that there must be more than one version of the Golden Hits CD... my version carries the Mercury # 826447-2 and dates from the mid eighties. The songs that are mono on my copy are ALSO mono on the Anthology except for "Twilight Time" which is mono on the single CD; the two share the identical stereo tracks otherwise. The only other stereo vs mono I could find was the aforementioned "Twilight Time" which is also available on two Time-Life collections, one in stereo the other mono.

 

Interesting, thanks. I had been lead to believe from other posts that Golden Hits was all mono. Maybe another pressing is.

 

Love The Platters. I don't know about smoke but i get tears in my eyes when i listen to Ebb Tide and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. Can't listen to them in the car. Beautiful records.

 

I had to live with Platters songs being played all day long on the radio back then and I didn't like them. Probably even rolling around my head while I tried to watch "Superman" on tv.

But, they were a staple of the times so what can I say? Those records are permanently etched into my psyche. That being said, imo, they went out with a nice bang with the much-later"With This Ring", even though Sonny Turner was singing and the rest of the original group was basically history.

I still like listening to "With This Ring"... and of course (which is of absolutely no interest to the general population), that record..... in March of 1967... was the FIRST studio recording in the HISTORY of HISTORY to be tracked on a 16-track 2-inch machine, the souped-up AG-1000. In fact, tracked only a few hours after the machine's installation. I would've done almost anything to get my hands on a 16trk machine in March of 1967. No, I would've done ANYTHING to get my hands on that then.

This, being the forum it is, will result in someone pointing out to me that my information is wrong. But I don't think it's wrong. And even if it is (which I don't think it is wrong), I still love the record. And I think my tracking information is correct.

 

Great, timeless music.

 

On the West German Polygram CD, Golden Hits has added stereo reverb on the mono content ("September Song" is in stereo on this CD).

Special Memories is true to the original mono but suffers from variable quality (some tracks seem strangled with NR while others aren't so bad).

 

Here's mine. 9-CD box from Bear Family.

 

Yes, it seems to be the Japanese pressing of Golden Hits which is all mono except September Song, unless that has reverb added too.

 

Sounds like "September Song" escaped the 80s reverb treatment on the West German CD

 

What I meant to say was that it appears to be the Japanese pressing which mostly uses mono versions, unless they added reverb to that too. The good news is that the proper mono (barring September Song) version of the album is available to download:
Qobuz Player - High Fidelity music in streaming »

So that leaves four UK hits missing. Is The Magic Touch the best-sounding option for these?
You'll Never Never Know
It Isn't Right
I'm Sorry
Remember When

 

You know the Mercury Platters and Musicor (Buck Ram) Platters were basically two different groups.
Sonny Turner was the lead singer with the Musicor group, Herb Reed was in both groups.

I'm still wondering about this strange version of "Only You" I heard years ago.
It sounds like (probably King Records) wiped the music track and replaced it with a Martin Dennyesque track with bird calls, exotic percussion, and a celeste.

 

Magic Touch is great for the mono - all of disc 1 except "Helpless" and four tracks from disc 2; "You're Making A Mistake", "Sixteen Tons", "Remember When" & "When You Return" (a fantastic Tony Williams solo recording). The stereo tracks are strangely narrow, some ridiculously so, although there are some new mixes by the sound of it, too. Definitely worth getting.

Also, there's More Golden Hits on Polygram CD - sounds like the stereo has also been enhanced with 80s reverb this time and the sources vary from reasonable to pretty bad but it does have the other "You'll Never Know" which has one of the coolest intros (starts on the I chord over a IV in the bass ):

 

Yikes ! My parents tried to force-fed me that music. Plus, they were all over the TV in the 60s. I loathed them with a passion. Well, you wanted to know.

 

I like the Musicor Platters, from the sixties. Great soul songs like "Think Before You Walk Away," "With This Ring" and "I Love You 1000 Times."

Not a fan of the more famous Platters on Mercury ("The Great Pretender," "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"). Too "pop" for me.

As an aside, I always thought it amusing that Stan Freberg parodied the Platters as an example of juvenile rock & roll. From where I'm sitting 60+ years later, they seem more accessible to those who liked Patti Page or Dean Martin instead.

 

Their cover of unchained melody is laughably bad.

 

On the other hand. Their cover of if I didnt care is great.

 

I saw the Platters in 2007 in Vegas, but damned if I know what version this was. Also on the show: the quote-unquote Drifters (different from the one I saw in Chicago six years earlier) and three ladies calling themselves the Marvellettes.

 

The "Christmas With the Platters" album from 1963 is pretty fabulous and cheap, go for the (Mercury Golden) reissue on Dutch Fontana, it's cheap found used in Minty condition!!!

https://www.discogs.com/Platters-Christmas-With-The-Platters/release/2600721

 

I didn't want to sound like too much of a know-it-all, but there were, in fact, TWO CD versions of the Golden Hits; the initial release which is what I have, and a budget version of it which did nothing but pare the number of selections on the disk with the intention of selling it to a budget-minded buyer. I wrote about this in a long-defunct magazine around 1995 or so. It is not likely that the then owner of the Mercury label name would go to any additional expense to release the new, sleeker version, I would think, but then, who's to say what some other licensee might have done? I have not followed developments in the Oldies CD markets for many years.

Excellent thread!

 

When I think of The Platters I hear "Only You" immeditately in my head. It is perhaps my own limited relationship with the group, I have not dived into their catalog.

 

some of their songs are even better than that one IMO. Enchanted, Twilight Time, I'm Sorry, My Prayer, The Magic Touch...many great ones and worth picking up a comp and listen a few times, see if they don't really grow on you.

 

But "Only You" is certainly one of the best of the earlier great ones; certainly, you've mentioned several of the best. I think you missed a really important one, though, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes."

 

Just to clarify, an old post on these forums says Golden Hits on CD is all mono except September Song. It would appear that the West Germany pressing has the mono tracks with added stereo reverb. The original Japanese release may be different, the back cover marks the same tracks as mono. Nonetheless the digital reissue (dated 1985 on Qobuz) sounds like proper mono (barring September Song).

 

I've only seen this version, and that was many years ago. The two I'm familiar with are both German made and the first of these from the same mid-80s period.

 

I don't think their stuff has dated too much, yet it's still so redolent of the era. A good proportion of their hits are recognisable today, for a non-rock act of the era.