The sound of Nat King Cole's The Magic of Christmas & The Christmas Song ALBUMS

I didn't know which thread to post this on, put the first two volumes of Ultra Lounge Christmas Cocktails have just been released on vinyl. I really hope that these feature new masterings and not just straight CD to Vinyl jobs. It would be nice to have fresh transfers to make us forget the Norberg CD versions.

2 LPs per set and the price is actually quite nice. Amazon.com link

 

I just received a nice copy of The Definitive Christmas Collection that I won on eBay. Sounds very nice indeed. Never would have heard of it if not for this thread. Just a quick thanks.

 

Glad you got it! And I am glad that you thought my recommendation worth considering.

For whatever faults it may have, I continue to get into the music on this disc compared to some other CDs of The Christmas Song album I have come across. More on these 'other CDs' shortly.

 

I hadn't heard the yellow Capitol label LP version of The Christmas Song album. Fairly mint and clean copy.
SM-1967
In the deadwax it says JAY.

It is not unpleasant, but there is a haze on the meadow. It must be from a tape that is generations away from the master, because certain elements are not clear. It is a little too murky for me.

 

Four more editions of The Christmas Song album are up. Two from EMI, and two from Australia. Three of them have 20 tracks which include the singles Frosty the Snowman, Buon Natale, The Little Boy That Santa Forgot, The Little Christmas Tree, and The Happiest Christmas Tree.

Nat King Cole. Merry Christmas
EMI 1990, 1998.
7243 4 97536 2 4



The Nat King Cole Christmas Album
EMI 1992, 1998.
7243 4 96842 2 5



The Nat King Cole Christmas Album
1992 Music for Pleasure, 1997 EMI Music Australia
0777 7 80387 2 6



All three have a similar sound. Sometimes it is OK, but sometimes sibilants will jar you. I couldn’t listen to them without getting distracted by the sibilants.

All three have a strange track. When Nat enters on O Little Town of Bethlehem, it sounds like he is standing away from the microphone and there is excessive reverb. Now where did EMI find this track?

 

Nat King Cole. The Christmas Song.
EMI Music Group Australasia, year unknown.
AXIS CDAX 701631





This is, I am pretty sure, the same as the 1986 Capitol CD, but maybe it has a tiny bit less volume.

It is a very nice package. My AXIS copy is seemingly the only one mentioned anwhere on the internet!

So, for me, the first 3 are not in contention. The last one from AXIS is an alternative disc for the 1986 CD edition.

 

Axis is/was the budget budget label for EMI here in Australia - wafer thin LP's, very flimsy CD's. I have Frank LP of Nice 'n Easy on Axis - would be from the late 70's / early 80's.

But back to Nat - I feel that I should get get an album of the Christmas songs by him but which one? I prefer mono's when I can for mono era recordings but would just like to get the best one! From reading the whole thread it seems it is the mid blue Capitol stereo that is the 'best'?

And then cos Im also into 78's I thought I should try and find the 78 of The Christmas Song - it is different to the subsequent recordings right? or are those 50's and 60's cuts just re-recordings of that original arrangement?

 

Bump

 

Thanks Matt - thats all the info I need to get started

 

I have to say that it is not very well done. Maybe it is like Capitol's mastering history of this income producer for the label, very few acceptable masterings in my view, including the very first STEREO issue of The Magic of Christmas which is phasey and sounds weird.

 

I totally agree about that cat....At least he (or she) won't climb up the Christmas tree like my cat does! There must be something attractive about tinsel.....

As for Nat, does anybody have an official verdict for the recent UMe LP?

Should I avoid it or stick with my "vintage" reissue? BTW, it is a dark blue "large Capitol dome" label. The cover states "A Capitol Reissue" SM1967.

 

Bump - I'd like to know how the new vinyl sounds?

 

The word is that the most recent vinyl reissue (which came out last year on the Capitol label) is sourced from the dreaded Norberg digital remaster of years ago, which probably is the least-liked version of this album.

I think the bottom line on the "Christmas Song" album is this: This album has never sounded very good, and that's probably due to defects introduced somewhere in the process of mixing the three-track tapes to stereo. So until we get a remix from those original session tapes, the new hybrid SACD, benefiting from both the higher resolution and the increased care in the mastering, is very likely going to be the best representation of this seriously flawed stereo mix.

I think this album is sort of like Nat Cole's "Welcome To The Club" and "Where Did Everyone Go?" albums. Neither of those albums ever sounded good, at least in stereo, until they were remixed and reissued on SACD. "Where Did Everyone Go?" was particularly bad, sounding so muddy and muffled it's a wonder Capitol didn't recall the thing back when it was first released. But the SACD version is an absolute revelation -- a clear case of a remastering that didn't just make an album "sound better," but actually revealed a stellar performance that heretofore was largely buried in muck, unheard and unappreciated.

"The Christmas Song" album doesn't sound that bad, but it sure doesn't sound good. That has been true for fifty-some years now. When will the people at Capitol get off their collective duff and give this classic American album, recorded by the man whose talent built the Capitol tower, the treatment it deserves?

 

What is Capitol?

 

Yeah... What is it these days? Universal Music Group, aka The Label Formerly Known As Capitol?

 

If I could "like" your post twice, I would.