Matt Monro - The George Martin Years CD (& appreciation thread) *

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by vzok, Aug 6, 2016.

  1. vzok

    vzok Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    Was that because they weren’t recorded or because recordings were lost.
     
  2. RMoore

    RMoore Forum Resident

    I've never mastered anything from the "Evening with Matt Monro" concert. Everything is direct from the optical tracks of the 16mm film. All transfers were made for Odeon Ent. Although the Digitally Remastered version of the DVD was transferred in HD by Jonathan Wood at the BBC. I'm not sure which version was used for the CD releases or if the BBC did anything to the sound anyway.

    Here's all the info for the 1983 Manila concert. Note that the listed CD is the disc they recordings first appeared on. Some from Yesterday also appear on Born Free.


    Saturday April 30th 1983 – Soundboard recording

    Araneta Coliseum, Manila

    Musical Director – Dave Mellor


    Beautiful Noise
    On A Clear Day You Can See Forever
    Todo Pasara
    Born Free
    Yesterday - The Legendary Manila Concerts – Night Owl NOMCD102

    One Voice
    I Write the Songs (Medley)
    Birth of the Blues
    New York New York
    For Mama
    My Way
    Born Free – Performance/Delta Music 38307


    This originates from two second-generation cassettes, which contain most of the April 30th concert. Unfortunately the rest of the songs from the concert are either incomplete or affected by a faulty tape machine.
     
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  3. vzok

    vzok Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    I wonder why the record companies didn’t opt to release a live Matt album in the 1960s. Especially when he was appearing in the Phillipines where he was so popular and had such a good rapport with the crowd.
     
  4. RMoore

    RMoore Forum Resident

    Some weren't recorded, particularly in the early days, most were wiped. We've been led to believe that most of his Rediffusion TV shows (which included a whole 13 part series "Meet Matt Monro" from 1961) existed until the company folded in 1969 (Two years after losing it's regional tv license). The majority of it's archive was then either dumped or cut up and used as filler in road surfacing! Many items from the ABC TV shows were junked by CANAL as recently as the 80's we're told and polygram apparently threw out material from the ATV archive when they owned it in the 80's.

    Radio wise. Matt recorded shows for radio Luxembourg - None survive, and many stations around the world. very little has turned up. The BBC, until relatively recently, didn't archive radio much at all and TV only had an archive policy from the early 80's

    Matt recorded a lot of sessions for BBC radio in the 70's (when they still had "needle time" policies) so far only one off air of 3/4's of a rendition of "Let Me Try Again" (Never recorded anywhere else!) has turned up.

    We keep hoping a mega fan will turn up with some of this stuff, but alas nothing so far!
     
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  5. RMoore

    RMoore Forum Resident

    Yes it is odd. You would have thought Capitol, with it's schedule of 2 -3 albums per year might have thought of it. but nothing. As it stands the live CD's we've put out don't sell very well anyway.

    Matt's live performances were very strong. His last "Big" concert was at the Barbican in concert, and although already very ill - but not knowing what with - he apparently sounded the best he ever had that night. It was with full big band & orchestra rather than a small group but nobody thought to record it!!! He only managed a few more concerts after that.
     
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  6. voles

    voles Forum Lurker

    Location:
    UK
    The live CDs are excellent - it's exposure they need. How that can be achieved is another matter of course. Surely a retrospective on Matt Monro is due on the Beeb - is there an anniversary coming up? He has a page on BBC Music btw... Matt Monro - New Songs, Playlists & Latest News - BBC Music
     
  7. vzok

    vzok Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    His Facebook page seems to get a fair few replies each time a song is posted there.

    Is there a Matt Monro YouTube channel? I think that’s where a lot of people find “new” music now. Certainly there are Matt videos that have had a lot of views. Maybe if someone organised a Matt channel you might get some build of interest.

    On the other hand, right now there’s only you and me here.
     
  8. voles

    voles Forum Lurker

    Location:
    UK
    Have the edited tracks from the A Song For Europe EP ever been put on a CD?
     
  9. voles

    voles Forum Lurker

    Location:
    UK
    Well I have subscribed to Matt Monro YouTube channel.

    There is a Matt Monro forum which Richard also contributes to.

    To be fair there are two more - most importantly Richard himself :)
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2018
  10. vzok

    vzok Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    I was counting Richard as the seller in the marketplace.

    I hadn’t seen that YouTube topic, but there are only 1000 subscribers, so that isn’t going to generate many sales.

    The Matt Monro forum has very few members unfortunately, and these days there is little discussion about his music there.
     
  11. Great Music Lover

    Great Music Lover Well-Known Member

    Location:
    UK
    Well I’m here too and as a newbie to this thread, I have read lots of the information written, especially by Richard Moore and has encouraged me to investigate Matt's catalogue further.

    In the short time I have been on this thread, (around 12 days) my Matt Monro collection has grown by around 800 percent.

    Because of this thread and the interesting information written, I’ve gone from having two "Hit" or "Best Of" CD collections to now owning:

    The Complete Singles Collection (5 CDs)
    The Singer's Singer (4 CDs)
    Matt Uncovered (2 CDs)
    The George Martin Years
    Words and Music (4 CDs)

    I've also got "Matt Sings" and "Matt At The Movies" CDs which are somewhere in the postal system, which will hopefully arrive on Monday.

    I also came across the following vinyl the other day which I assume had been previously owned by someone who liked Matt along with Sinatra - all albums were in excellent condition which I bought as I wanted to check out the sound of the original vinyl. I got a few Sinatra albums too whilst I was there and at an average price of £2.50 each, I certainly could not complain for the condition, and this is what I got:

    Portrait (Decca/Ace of Clubs) Mono - must be a mint minus copy and amazing as i Be,ie e it is nearly 57 years old.
    Here’s To My Lady (Capitol - Rainbow label) Stereo
    Invitation To Broadway (Capitol - Rainbow Label) Mono
    Invitation To The Movies (Capitol - Green/Purple Label) Stereo
    For The Present (EMI Columbia - Black Label) Stereo
    The Long and Winding Road (EMI Label) Stereo

    All albums have now been digitally recorded and dropped into iTunes as ALAC files.

    Regarding raising the profile, I am not aware of any recognised anniversaries coming up - certainly nothing that equates to the usual 40 , 50 or 60 years thing. Last year would have been 60 years since his first album was released so that would have been a good time for the whole catalogue to have been released as a special box set, but with the various record companies involved playing silly buggers...... personally, I think the better or best way to raise his profile to a new audience is by way of a decent TV documentary, along with a record catalogue release tie-in, but I suspect that is very unlikely to happen - flying pigs come to mind.
     
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  12. Great Music Lover

    Great Music Lover Well-Known Member

    Location:
    UK
    I guess it’s all about marketing and promotion. I had no idea what CDs had been made available until I came across this thread. Going into local record shops and you will probably only find a "Greatest Hits" CD and that"s it.
     
  13. vzok

    vzok Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    There was talk of a Matt Monro tv drama being made (like Cilla with Sheridan Smith) but that went quiet.
     
  14. RMoore

    RMoore Forum Resident

    They did one in a series called "East End Lads" (or something like that) about three years ago and aren't interested in anything else at the moment. Considering putting something together myself for Matt's 90th if i can find the right person to approach!
     
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  15. RMoore

    RMoore Forum Resident

    Believe me we tried! There had been interest shown by a film company, but after 12 months of "We're looking seriously into it" all fell apart. We tried getting "Cilla" writer & producer interested but couldn't get close to him. ITV studios wouldn't pass any messages on and his agent made "I'll speak to him about it" noises but we doubt they ever did.

    I think Matt's story would work really well as a film or mini series, but he's probably just not famous enough any more for anyone to look into it seriously.
     
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  16. RMoore

    RMoore Forum Resident

    Most likely the 1976 comp "Very Best Of" on a badly mastered budget CD or copious PD titles all with the same material on just in a different order.
     
  17. RMoore

    RMoore Forum Resident

    Matt's official Facebook page has a lot of "followers" but I wouldn't say posting about the albums makes much difference. I have done several times (the page is run by Warner's and the estate and we can both post there) but it doesn't generate much in the way of sales.
     
  18. RMoore

    RMoore Forum Resident

    Anything called ****** Topic is an automatically created youtube channel. There isn't an official channel for copyright reasons.
     
  19. voles

    voles Forum Lurker

    Location:
    UK
    Well register then and start one. You seem to like the forum life.
     
  20. Just to let you know - I'm still here too. just finding time to post difficult at the moment.

    I believe 2020 will be the next opportunity for significant anniversaries.

    Best Wishes,
    David
     
  21. voles

    voles Forum Lurker

    Location:
    UK
    BBC4 keeps bringing out programs in the style of 'so and so at the BBC' and this is also the channel where the production of documentaries about long dead or long neglected pop stars keep surprising us. For instance I remember stories on Lonnie Donegan, Billy Fury and Dusty Springfield being broadcast not long ago. Also its counterpart culture channel, Sky Arts does even more on popular music of the past. What we need is journalistic/production interest I suppose.
     
  22. voles

    voles Forum Lurker

    Location:
    UK
    And best wishes to you :)
     
  23. voles

    voles Forum Lurker

    Location:
    UK
    What is the actual date the of the Evening with Matt Monro? I know its 1967 and in Australia, so I am guessing it is between 5 - 21 October...
     
  24. Great Music Lover

    Great Music Lover Well-Known Member

    Location:
    UK
    I spent the last day or so trying to find out how to register, could not figure out how to join the forum. Then whilst I was on my PC, I tried again and found a slightly different screen from what I was seeing in my iPad, which explained that there was a requirement to email Michele as normal registration had been stopped. Personally, I think the site should show this option of a registration on the main page where you have to "Log In" instead of having it hidden under the Forum Index. I wonder if this puts people off the idea. Food for thought.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2018
  25. voles

    voles Forum Lurker

    Location:
    UK
    Do you have dates for the recording of the 1961 tracks from Born Free now?
     

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