Nat "King" Cole - All-Purpose Thread (was "year by year") - Part 5*

I was at Amoeba in Hollywood today, and picked up a couple of Aussie oddballs (don't tell my wife), specifically:
•Portrait of Nat King Cole, CD:

I believe this is a reissue of a 1970 compilation. I have not had a chance to check for "electronically enhanced" fake stereo, etc.

•20 Vocal Classics - Nat 'King' Cole Trio - 1983 LP


I have not played this yet, but before I/you poo-poo it for containing 20 songs on one LP, keep in mind that it is all mono, and it is a Maxicut LP, and the Maxicut Sinatra titles I have from the same time period perform quite well.

 

Final North American NKC 78? Anybody know?

 

Regarding this Australian EMI CD, mentioned on the previous page:

•Autumn Leaves, Portrait of Jennie: Duophonic

•I'll String Along, You Stepped Out of a Dream: Fake stereo. They sum to mono fairly well, from very clean source, but with a bass boost when summed.

•Almost Like Being in Love, Blue Gardenia, Lover Come Back to Me, My One Sin, Makin' Whoopee, There Will Never Be Another you, Let's Fall in Love, There Goes My Heart: Fake stereo (big time), but they sum well to mono. These songs are from very pleasant, clear, clean sources.

•People: I'm not sure what's up with this (only because I'm not overly familiar with this performance or recording), but it's fake stereo that, when summed, buries the vocal somewhat.

•I Am in Love: Fake stereo that, when summed, boosts the bass a bit, and introduces "swishies" to the sound.

For anybody considering this disc: Eight songs -- more than half -- sound quite nice when summed to mono; three are so-so; three are bad, even when summed. Regardless, make sure you can sum these to mono, or don't bother.

 

What an odd mix of sources.

•Route 66, Baby All the Time, Straighten Up and Fly Right, I Love You for Sentimental Reasons, Sweet Lorraine, What Can I Say, Embraceable You - all of these have reverb, and some may even be remakes. Regardless, these are not the versions to get where the 1940s originals are concerned.

•Shy Guy - very clean; runs fast.

•Oh, But I Do, Meet Me at No Special Place, A Boy from Texas, Those Things Money Can't Buy, It's Kind of Lonesome Out Tonight, It's Only a Paper Moon, No Moon at All - very good.

•I Can't See for Lookin' - Clean transfer. I think this may be running just a tiny bit fast????

•I'll String Along, If I Had You, Makin' Whoopee, Too Marvelous for Words - These sound like they have just a splash of reverb added. Were any of these remade? They sound too hi-fi?????

 

Correction: The only credit on the two 1987 Cole Espanol CDs is "Compact Disc Compilation by Randall Scott Davis."

Yes, "he" being Larry Walsh.

 

Lake Tahoe:

 

Cover photo from the May, 1953, issue of the European (Netherlands????) publication, Tuney Tunes:

Looks like Capitol/Melrose.

 

There is (almost) nothing new under the sun!

 

From the In the Wee Small Hours thread (pics posted by @Bob F and yours truly, IIRC):