Marty Robbins: Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs – all 12 songs recorded in a single 8 hour session

Wow, what a terrific cover! Through the haze, Bob Weir's style makes a lot more sense to me now. All musicians have their influences, and you could do a lot worse than Marty Robbins.

As for the Parental Warning issue, maybe some day the inner city violence of the past decades will be looked back upon as fondly as the gunplay of the old west. I can't wait for the wave of glorifying movies. That's not to dismiss the sad possibility of glorifying our current round of massacres as well. but that topic is probably a bit outside the scope of this forum.

 

My prior post got a little off topic. Although folks were getting shot or killed in Marty's music, he never seemed to glorify that or put a cheap B-movie spin to his songs. El Paso was, in the end, a sad tale, and Hanging Tree came with a message.

 

I just pulled out my 1989 Cd version, and just to double check whether it was Mono.
I noticed looking at discogs, that the label quite clearly states 'Stereo' on the CD label.
But I uploaded one of the tracks from it to compare with it's 1999 version, and it's quite clear the 1989 is in mono.
Then I thought, maybe it's a fold down, this happens too.
Listen to the start of the 1989 version, compared to the 1999 version.
The 1999 version almost has a tape warble on the guitar intro.
The 1989 does not.
I still don't know if it's a fold down to mono, or if it is in fact the mono tape used for the 1989 CD.
If anyone wants more tracks from the 1989 to compare, let me know.
https://soundcloud.com/rickenbacker2000/strawberry-roan-1989-mono
https://soundcloud.com/rickenbacker2000/strawberry-roan-1999
edit: Ok maybe not, my tracks just uploaded have been removed!

 

It's not impossible that it's Mono, the mono Coronet issue is a local cut.

I suppose El Paso would tell you if it was true mono or a fold up.
In stereo, the backing vocals behind "my challenge was answered in less than a heartbeat, the handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor" are "ooooooooo"s, in mono they sing the same lines as Marty. Also very obviously, the immediately following couplet about standing there in silence isn't there in stereo, it cuts straight to him running out the back door of Rosa's.
As a result the stereo runs about 4:26, the mono 4:38-4:40ish.

 

Great information, Thankyou very much.
I just checked based on what you said, and indeed the 89' CD appears to use the Mono mix.
Here is 'El Paso' ripped from the CD with the differences you mentioned in the Mono.
Your right again!, this runs at around the 4:40 mark.

 

oooooh I need this now

 

....aaaand got it. Thanks!

 

Ha! that was quick!

 

Okay, I've just put together 30 second samples of Big Iron, The Little Green Valley and Utah Carol, no fades, just quick and dirty cuts. I won't colour your opinions with mine, but I will point out the bleeding obvious:
Compared to the 1999 CD and the 6 eye, the 1996 twofer has the channels reversed. The twofer also runs a smidgen slower and has the polarity of the tracks reversed. I'm not golden eared enough that polarity reversal bugs me, but if it bugs you it's something that can be fixed in ten seconds in Audacity. Add to that the ten seconds it'd take to flip the channels and you'd have it sorted pretty quickly anyway.

Marty Robbins Comparison

 

Thank you someone in Surfers Paradise on eBay! There's about a zillion copies of the 1999 remaster there and precious few 1989s. Funny, I remember seeing this in the shops years ago with a red CD tray, I probably noticed it because I'd seen Dad's copy so many times I'll never forget it. That, Johnny Horton's Greatest Hits and Hot August Night are tattooed on my memory - Hot August Night was my next door neighbour's favourite record

 

Yes! I remember those releases too, early 90's. I bought my Marty with the 'Select' logo on the front
from 'Brash's', 2-1-91.
I know that, before stupid me wrote it with pen on the reverse side of the cover.
I just looked on eBay as we were speaking, and couldn't find another copy, other than the 3.2 million copies of the 99' version!
You snuck in pretty quick there.
I remember only paying about AU$12.99 for it at the time, while all the new artist releases were up around AU$29.99!
It's hard to believe looking back, how expensive CD's were during that time.
I digress.
Having only grown up on the old Aussie octagon Red Coronet Lp, I never ever questioned the CD label that states 'Stereo'.
It could be an error or maybe they were referring to it as being a stereo playing disc in both L/R speakers, while being a
Mono program....
Who knows.
Great album anyway in any form.


edit: Now.... the red tray version, I remember that now. I remember it being a different
Cd print on the label. More plain, it didn't have the 2 red bars.

 

This is the one I have, but the did repress it and it looked more plain......

 

The plain label looked more like this, (without Pink Floyd of course):

 

Ain't it grand, someone at CBS Australia pulled the mono tape that must've been sitting in the vaults at least 25 years to make the CD instead of the Stereo one.

 

Just thinkin' the same thing my friend.
What are the chances?
I just appreciate this old dinosaur copy a lot more once again for that reason.
Huh. Unbelievable.

 

Ordered the Australian CD yesterday after I stumbled on this thread. Hopefully the seller listed it correctly because there were no photos. The album is an all time favorite and to learn that this CD even exists is incredible!

 

Cool to hear! Great! I hope the seller is selling you the right disc.
If anyone wants anything else from the CD uploaded to 'youtube' at this point to compare/clarify in any way, let me know.

 

You've seen the Hanging Tree film, right? Man, that final scene is great.

 

Thanks for this thread. My Dad loved Marty Robbins and I remember that record in his collection.

 

When I was a kid, I used to play this album constantly and my favorite song on it was El Paso. As a grown up I had to have the original Marty Robbins version so got the brilliant Gunfighter Ballads.

 

Any preferences here between mono and stereo? Are we talking dedicated mixes? From 1959 I would assume so.

 

The first album I remember really loving. "The Master's Call" gave me the heebie-jeebies at age 4.

 

Gee, for me, I grew and only knew Mono, and that is primarily how I've heard it.
The Stereo mix is stunning in it's recorded state, but I can't say which is better over the other.
More delicate and tuned in 'ears' would have a better voice on it than me.

 

As @onlyacanvasky said, the issue with the 99' stereo reissue is, the track listing is out of order, and that the
L/R channels are reversed as he said.
It sounds quite great though I must say, but whether your after the original sounding mix and track listing is another thing.
'dedicated' mixes or not......I'm not sure right now.

 

Lots of talk here about the 99 Legacy disc and the 96 2-fer import. How is the 1989 US issue with the white cover? I can't seem to find anything about it in the archives.