I've got the "ENTERTAINER OF THE CENTURY" version remastered by Larry Walsh. I can't detect any stereo echo, but I don't know if this version has NR applied to it since I've never heard any other version.
This is one of the finest albums ever released that is lacking a decent CD release... The current issue (I think this is the Entertainer of the Century release) has so much NR, it isn't even funny. No treble whatsoever. Shalom, y'all! L. Bangs
Nope, it says Larry Walsh in my CD booklet. It has a 1991 copyright on it but it is an "ENTERTAINER OF THE CENTURY" version.
Maybe they did not replace the old artwork? I thought all Capitol EOTCs were by Bob Norberg....anyway, it's either by Bob Norberg (a version that the forum's Sinatra fans agree is not that great) or Larry Walsh (OK)...stick with the Larry Walsh one.
That could very well be a possibility. I bought the day that EOTC CDs were first introduced to the public (I think Frank was still alive, in fact) so it might've been corrected in later versions.
The 1991 re-release (non-abridged) is the original Larry Walsh remaster. EOTCs all state pressed in 1998 on the disc itself, but that Wee Small also has a 1991 copyright date and the same seven year old (then) booklet.
There is no good CD version of this classic album. Buy a turntable and get an original Capitol "dry" LP; they sold a great many of them in the 1950s. A good clean one will sound so amazing compared to the CD that you will wonder (as I often do) what the hell were they thinking?
On the grey label Capitol LP it sounds as though Mr S is in the room with you. If you don't have a turntable, get a needledrop from someone. This is not some audiophile hairsplitting nuance difference either. Really remarkable.
How does this lp fare in the mfsl vinyl box as compared to an original capitol "dry"? also, how do I recognize an original capitol dry? thanks!
Aside from the sound (dry), it will be on a gray label, or a Capitol rainbow label with the Capitol logo at 9 o'clock on the label.
MFSL is terrible. 'Original Master Recording' indeed! The best CD version (I think) of a bad bunch is on the UK 21 CD 'Capitol Years'. The Larry Walsh, I believe, is at source mono though drenched in digital echo. The Bob Norberg. Least said... I assume any gray Capitol label is 'dry'. I have a very gravelly copy - but it still the definitive version of the album in my collection.
Here's the gray label (I think) on eBay. here's a clip of a later pressing (non-dry?): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQAsIZ54TIY
Isn't there a green label that was used between the grey and the rainbow? EDIT: What appeared to me to be a picture of a green label pressing is actually the grey label pressing. The colors on my monitor at work are screwed up! PS: I'm listening to the original CD of "Wee" with headphones. No "stereo reverb" (the CD is mono!) added or any other reverb added, as far as I can tell. I can even hear a wee small bit of tape hiss too.Would Martin want to weigh in on this topic?
I have a copy just like that one pictured. That's an original 12-inch in great looking shape. It took a while for me to find one like that (and mine's not NM). Note: The real originals were 10-inch records, I believe (?) The YouTube clip is a later release. Clean sounding, but I think I hear some added reverb, esp. on his voice. Note the 12 o'clock Capitol logo. Also, the original has no wording on the cover, over the lamp post.
In my opinion, the Larry Walsh CD sounds quite good. It does have some unnecessary stereo echo, but it does not sound like fake stereo. I wonder what forum member Larry Walsh has to say. Is the stereo echo from the tape, or was it added for the CD?
I still don't get this "stereo echo" thing. I'm listening to Larry's mastering of the CD. It's mono--no stereo echo or reverb whatsoever.
Quickly (without boring too many old time members here). WEE SMALL recorded in 1955 at Capitol, Melrose in a nice, intimate dry setting. Records cut from this original tape sound progressively better as the years go on with the best (to me) in the higher numbers around 1958-60. In 1962, Capitol redubs the original album master with bad mono echo for a "new" release of the album and DISMANTLES THE ORIGINAL TAPE for deep storage. This new turkey tape is marked MASTER. The actual master cuts are marked: DO NOT USE. No cutting after 1961 can be trusted. Only trust "scroll style" lead out matrix numbers. In the 1980's my buddy at Capitol, the late Pete Welding decided to reissue this on compact disc. He means well and takes the effort to go back to the original DO NOT USE tapes but decides (unfortunately) that it sounds too dry and needs reverb, thereby rendering it revisionist claptrap just like the reduped with echo 1962 version. Why go to all that trouble of finding the absolute original tapes and then do the same thing that they did to the tapes in 1962? Arggh. This is your only choice if you don't have a turntable. So, do one of two things: Get the old LP or find someone to make you a needle drop on CD if you want to hear what this classic album should sound like. Over and out.
I said I was listening to the original CD mastered by Larry Walsh. The Entertainer of the Century Cd, remastered by Bob Norberg, is totally unlistenable! After Steve's comments, I have to hear the original lp, because I certainly wouldn't say Larry or Pete Welding "drenched" the original CD with reverb. I guess I'll learn how dry "dry" really is!
