Fans of the great Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence will probably share my joy that a new CD issue is out of "Happy All The Time"... on a label I don't know: Water, in San Francisco. (Licensed from Elektra.) I've listened to it once. Having grown up with the LP I don't care for the sound -- missing something. Nor are there any reassuring "from the original tapes" logos anywhere. I wonder if the older CD (without orig. cover art) was better? Only half expecting a reply -- thanks,
The Water label also reissued the great Holy Modal Rounders "Moray Eels..." album on CD. There was an earlier issue of "Happy All the Time" on Hannibal, by the way; dunno how it compares sonically with the Water version. Spence fans take note that there's a slew of CDs of his on Rounder, and there's also the Arhoolie "Bahamian Guitarist." All great stuff!
Count me in as a big Spence fan! I just bought the Water CD last week. Not only is it licensed form Elektra, it is manufactured by Rhino. The problem with the sound is that they seem to have filtered out the tape hiss and the results sound a tad lifeless. I'm comparing the sound to the Elektra Nonesuch CD, The Real Bahamas Vol 1, which has recordings by Spence from around the same period. This CD has a bit of hiss and an open feel, with a bit of "air".
Yes, I agree -- you'd never believe how far up I turned the volume before I could hear any hiss. Filtered or NoNoised, I don't know; but I'm pretty tempted to buy the earlier CD, which was Elektra or something, & stick it in the Water case ...
On a side note, "Out On The Rolling Sea" is a wonderful Joseph Spence tribute CD and a great introduction to his music for anyone who isn't familiar with it.
Yeah, the ones that invariably had half of the teeth missing from the middle part that the CD fits onto! By the way, is that old Gus Mahler on your avatar? JD
Yep. You're the first to point that out! I'm a classical buff as well as everything else. Wish there was a decent online forum for classical recordings, but I got too burned on that "rmcr" usenet group.
The first time I saw a picture of Mahler, I was taken aback because there was a striking similarity between him and pictures I'd seen of my father when he was a young man. I suspect there was more mixing of blood between Italians, Austrians and Germans than any of those groups like to admit. JD