A&M "Classics" CDs from the 1980s

I still need one.

 

You would dig it immensely.

 

This Japan For US and a US Denon South of The Border were both staring me in the face a few years ago from my local.
I never see any of his titles around here George.

 

All I have are the Carpenters, Gino Vannelli and Sergio-n-the-'66. Don't know how large a market there would have been out there for Lani Hall, but if I'd known it was out there I'd have snapped it up, for sure.

What surprises me is, they didn't reserve "#25" for a full-on, exclusively label-wide Christmas volume. A&M sound quality with their best artists' holiday tracks? Would have been a massive seller for decades! Imagine, one-stop shopping for both "Merry Christmas Darling", and "The Bell That Wouldn't Jingle" in one place! (It would have been unique on the shelves alone, for just being the one holiday compilation without the same ancient 10 chestnuts from Bing, Frank, Nat and the others that get licensed by every other label)

 

That would of been pretty cool to see happen and an excellent closer to the series
It would of made my Crash Test Dummies-Jingle All The Way completely obsolete

 

How is the sound on Gino Vannelli? I like Vannelli.

 

Can't complain, I had nothing to compare it to then except the LP's, they were always so well done for an "electronic" act; but, getcha a load of this one:

caveat - there are original tracks on this one as well.

 

Thought I'd found a copy of the Nils Lofgren the other day but it had a beat up copy of "Harvest" inside. Looked for the "Harvest" jewel case with no luck.

 

Very nice. A bunch of good songs on the front of that one.

 

I bought the Supertramp volume used a long time ago. But the unnecessary edits to Goodbye Stranger and Take the Long Way Home bugged me too much and I traded it back in.

Regards,
Dave

 

Same

 

For anyone who owns both, how does this one hold up compared to the classics version?

 

Same question as above RE: Brasil '66

 

I have the Joan Armatrading

 

I own the Cocker and the Frampton only.

 

Picked this up today in a bulk buy.

 

I own both of those, but I recommend the following instead ...

Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 - The Very Best

 

YES, as a huge fan of Gino's, this is a great CD, with seven Gino classics and at the time seven brand new tracks, all mastered by Chris Bellman

 

I bought a whole pile of these, too. Got the Lani Hall but not the Nils Lofgren.

 

I’ll see you those and raise you a Sergio Mendes/Brazil ‘66...those are the 3 in my collection!

 

I have that one as well!

 

The purple CLASSICS has a good selection of tunes and pretty good sound. The orange GREATEST HITS is limited to early hits and has, IMHO, great sound.

Caveat about the CLASSICS is that some issues had a problem with track indexing. Two tracks were accidently coupled on the same track, and then later, the long "Zorba The Greek" was separated in the middle, so the number of tracks is correct, but the indexing in between those two events is off by one.

The orange GREATEST HITS has among its songs, the crispest versions of some of them. If you opt for this one, you might want to seek out either GREATEST HITS Volume 2 or SOLID BRASS. Both can be a little harder to find on CD.

 

Chris C above got it right with his suggestion of "THE VERY BEST". That one has everything the green GREATEST HITS has with a few extras. The green GREATEST HITS has a fatal flaw in that every track is treated with the dreaded CSG processing.

The purple CLASSICS is fine in that regard, and if anything is just a little bit duller in the highs. If you don't like bright CDs, the purple is the one to get.

 

I have the following:

Joe Cocker
Peter Frampton
Pablo Cruise
Nazareth
Styx
Supertramp

I think they all have good sound quality. I always thought A&M took care in their CD releases.

 

Quoting myself because it's nearly 10 months later and I have yet to see J-for-US versions of those 3 online!