Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song (1960) SACD from Audio Fidelity

Still looking forward to hearing this.

 

Granted, not all audiophile labels are created equal, but even with Nat King Cole there are Super Audio CDs released by recognized audiophile labels that are simply existing, commercially-released digital masterings ported over from CD to SACD with an additional layer of EQ tweaking or "mastering." (As Steve Hoffman said regarding this disc when it was first released, "Back to the planet earth, guys. What do you think the source material for this SACD might be?") Obviously, I am not suggesting that this is standard procedure in the business. It is not. But it does happen.

 

Isn't that Tivoli disc you pictured above a public domain release? Given that, the content would have to be pirated from another release, because if it's PD then licensing isn't being paid, and of course a label isn't going to supply master tapes (or any tapes, for that matter) to a company that's not paying them a licensing fee.

At any rate, the point I was trying to make with all my generalized statements about audiophile labels was that your fears about this Cole disc struck me as unfounded. And if nothing else, I bet you're glad I turned out to be correct. Cheers!

 

I love this album so much, I'm considering buying both SACD and LP (assuming it gets an LP release, which now that I think of it is probably an unrealistic assumption). Still, no matter what happens with the mastering of this one, I'm going to look at it as a positive sign that Capitol has loosened its grip on this particular title. As with other recordings that have received audiophile treatment, if it sells well enough, perhaps MFSL can take a run at it and at getting the master tapes for their treatment once AF's license expires. For the Nat fan, hope springs eternal...

 

Why?

 

Like I said, all my other NKC SACDs have SH or SH/KG mastering so there's something to be said for consistency (and I have a collector's mentality- get the whole set now!). It's a missed opportunity for me as a collector of SH masterings to get his work performed on what may be my favorite NKC recording. Will KG do as well as SH would have done? Maybe, but I'll never get to hear it the way SH intended it to be heard, and there's a certain element of trust in the quality of his work here.

 

I'm sure Kevin will do just fine.

 

My only (very minor) gripe is that I personally would have preferred The Magic of Christmas track listing and artwork, since we already have The Christmas Song from The Nat King Cole story. But I am well aware that to most of the public, this is the album they would want. Very excited about this.

By the way, pre-order up on importcds.com for $20.82.

 

I agree with the desire to see a Magic of Christmas SACD (see my imaginary 'dream release' pictured below) for the very reason you cite. And despite all of my previously stated reservations with the version that we are getting, I have to admit that this $20.82 price is awfully tempting...

 

I have pre-ordered this SACD from amazon.com. With a name like Kevin Gray, it has to be good.

 

I don't see it on Amazon.

 

—> amzn.com/B0155KWRK0

 

Thanks!

 

In another forum, I read the following quote from Marshall:

 

Nice!
And if anyone was going to do the material under this title, it would have had to have been Analogue Productions. This plus "The Christmas Song" on The Nat King Cole Story would have been perfect. But it wasn't to be. I don't think you will ever see this material under that title & artwork again.

Are Amazon's & ImportCDs' release dates for AF titles usually the same?

 

So, a question for the experts: how many different CD versions/masterings of this album have been released so far?

 

Different CD releases? At least a eight, I'd say, with many sporting different track line-ups.

Different masterings? That's much harder to say since the documentation is lacking.

Here's a good thread discussing the various international LP and CD versions of this album:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...f-christmas-the-christmas-song-albums.304017/

And here's part one of sort of a quick, visual look at some of the more prominent LP and CD versions released in the U.S. and U.K. since the late 1980s:

 

Here are more of the post-1980 releases...

 

With regard to all of the above-pictured CDs (and 2014 LP reissue), I think the consensus among 'Cole-ectors' is that the 1990 release, "Cole, Christmas & Kids" offers what is probably the best sound quality. As I recall, it's a Norberg mastering, but the disc was produced by Ron Furmanek, which is critical. A Furmanek disc means the song selection is quite good, liner notes are very nice, and the sound quality (given the limitations of what Furmanek was working with) is as good as can be expected.
However, here's the catch: It only includes four tracks from the 1960 stereo Christmas-album sessions, including one out-take track, "O Come All Ye Faithful," all of which were mastered, according to the liner notes, "from the original 3-track master session tapes." The rest of the CD is made up of Christmas recordings that did not appear on the Magic Of Christmas / Christmas Song LP.

 

Thanks for the info. Looking over the tracklist, the Cole, Christmas & Kids CD only contains one recording that appeared on the original Magic of Christmas album, right? And nothing that appears on the revised The Christmas Song album, correct? So it's essentially designed to be complementary to the latter. Am I correct in understanding that if you have The Christmas Song album and Cole, Christmas & Kids, you have every Cole Christmas recording except for the two 1946 versions of "The Christmas Song"?

So for The Christmas Song album on CD, there's at least the original 1986 CD mastering, and 1999 Nordberg version. Does the currently in-print 2009 release recycle the Nordberg mastering, or does it feature a different mastering?

 

Yes, you are correct regarding Cole, Christmas & Kids. It has just one previously released track from the Magic Of Christmas album sessions, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and one out-take from those same sessions, O Come All Ye Faithful. Not sure how I counted four in my previous post, above! In that sense, it is indeed intended to compliment the Christmas Song LP/CD. (The version of The Christmas Song on the Cole, Christmas & Kids CD is the 1954 Nelson Riddle version that many people consider definitive.)

As for the mastering of the various Christmas Song CDs, including that 2009 release, I can't answer that question.

 

Here's the back cover to the 2007 CD version of the Magic Of Christmas / Christmas Song album, titled "The Definitive Christmas Collection." This CD was sold exclusively by Nordstrom's department stores, but can still be picked up on ebay from time to time. As the liner notes indicate, this disc replicates the original Magic Of Christmas track listing (with God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen included) and simply appends The Christmas Song to the front of the line-up. In my mind, this is a near-perfect assemblage of Nat's 1960-61 Christmas recordings, lacking only the out-take track, O Come All Ye Faithful.

As for the mastering, it's not great -- but is roughly equal to all other CD versions I have. The liner notes give no indication at all as to who mastered the recordings or when.

At any rate, this has been my go-to version of Nat's Christmas album ever since I picked it up a few years ago...

 

I greatly enjoy all of the Nat King Cole SACDs from Analogue Productions.