What is the best sounding Cliff Richard compilation 1958-1982

The practice at EMI is once a track has been re-mastered then that re-mastered track will then appear on every compilation from that date so there will always be an out of date re-mastered track somewhere, the treated tracks which we all hate started with 'The Hit List' and 'At The Movies' during the mid 90's and I feel that this treatment was criticised as further re-masterings were not treated in this way but unfortunately EMI didn't think to look again at those early re-masterings which have now appeared on every compilation worldwide sine the mid 90's.

'40 Golden Greats' and 'Rock On' still sound the best if you want the original Abbey Road sound, most other compilations from the mid 90's will contain tracks with the fake stereo and hard EQ, collecting Cliff on CD is a bit of a minefield where decent re-mastering is concerned.

I'm very pleased this debate has started because it just might make EMI think about looking at Cliff's tapes again.

 

'25 of the best of Cliff Richard' is my recommendation. 7243 856977 2 2. Music for Pleasure EMI 1997
1958-66
Mixture of monos and interesting stereos
Malcolm Adderly recordist ?
Norries production style is always the same ,which is a pity, but most of these tracks are crackers and transcend time
Not sure Hank plays on all these tracks ,but the house sound is great, and what all my mates were trying to emulate. (Clapton,Thompson and Townsend were trying too)

 

Do You Want To Dance: stereo on 40 Golden Greats, mono on Rock On.
It'll Be Me: stereo on 40 Golden Greats, mono on Rock On.
Nine Times Out Of Ten: mono on 40 Golden Greats, stereo on Rock On.[/QUOTE]





Much of Cliff's early work was recorded direct to mono and stereo and it appears that EMI didn't have a policy on whether to use mono or stereo on the above compilations, both have their merits as there are differences in the mix and sound.

 

I think this is the same compilation as 'Rock On' and yes it's excellent and all recorded by Malcolm Addy who did superb work at Abbey Road, Hank plays on everything from the 'Livin'Lovin'Doll' session and Ernie Shear played on the first two singles before that.

 

I totally agree with you .......why ruin a good recording with these effects.

 

To be precisely: it's "Rock on With Cliff", purchased it just for 1,57 pnd at British Amazon....

 

You won't regret it ...........it's the best sound out there at the moment......good price too

 

For those who are interested '40 Golden Greats' features the original version of 'Bachelor Boy' all other compilations feature an alternate version.

 

The CD of "40 Golden Greats" contains the original UK version of "Bachelor Boy".

The vinyl has the US version!

I got very confused when the CD was released and it was thanks to this website that I was put on the straight and narrow.

Although I think the analysis of "Devil Woman" is wrong - I think the CD version is just faded early!

 

I agree, The Young Ones is the one track that sounds terrible on 40 Golden Greats because it is a fake stereo version of the single mix (which contains the string overdubs).

It's also the only fake stereo track on this compilation.

 

I was one of the three who did a lot of research into the 'Bachelor Boy' mystery on this site which by the way is an excellent site covering Cliff's recorded work, Robert Porter knows his stuff.

There is always a lot of discussion over song endings and timings and like you I believe it's just mastering engineers making early fades to avoid hearing tape hiss, I'm always pleased when I hear the music finish and then hear tape hiss because you know your getting the full track as originally intended.

 

There are pre noise reduction versions of the Young Ones and Summer Holiday soundtracks on cd to be found.

 

Did you hear the master tapes?

 

And thank you for your efforts!

I find it amazing that the alternate version (of "Bachelor Boy") was used only a few months after the single's initial release.

Maybe you could ask Robert about "Devil Woman". The "I'm Nearly Famous" LP version sounds the same mix to me only a few seconds longer.

It's as though the engineer chased the fade while making the digital copy, which appears to be the conclusion that you came to!

 

There are CD's of both these soundtracks on the Music For Pleasure label without noise reduction or effects and they can be found very cheaply.

 

No I didn't hear the master tapes but I have the original 45's and the 'Golden Greats matches those perfectly.

 

I believe the so called new mix of 'Devil Woman' has just been EQ'd and digitally compressed as the main mix elements sound the same to me except for the chased fade, whenever a track timing appears to be different people assume it's a remix but we all know engineers do chase fades.

Yes the original 'Bachelor Boy' was used on the UK 45 and the 'Summer Holiday' album and the UK EP and then the US alternate stereo mix was used on the 1965 UK 'More Hits' compilation and that is the version that has been used for all the CD compilations from 1994 but was folded down to mono however the original 'Bachelor Boy' can be found on '40 Golden Greats'

 

That doesn't prove they sound like the master tapes, just that they could have used the same mastering.

 

True but I feel that the first CD's like '40 Golden Greats' followed the original vinyl masterings, back in the 80's at the start of CD EMI just transferred the original masters direct to the digital format without any changes and if any changes were made it would have been the EQ used on the vinyl cut but the feeling back at the start of CD was to transfer everything flat to keep it pure, but we all know better now of course and major advances have been made in CD mastering.

 

Are you sure about the version on the UK STEREO Hits From Summer Holiday EP?

The version on the stereo EP has centred vocals. The version on the stereo LP has the vocals in one channel. They don't sound the same take to me.

I very rarely play either - I prefer the 45 rpm single.

 

I have all the original 45s. The majority of the tracks on Golden Greats are stereo and although from the same takes as the 45s by their very nature they cannot match perfectly.

Nevertheless, I believe Golden Greats to be an excellent compilation - excellent transfers from excellent tapes.

If only EMI could be persuaded to release the entire 50s and 60s recordings of both Cliff Richard and The Shadows, both stereo and mono, in hi-rez without futzing - downloads if you must, but on physical media too.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Young-Ones-...=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1304872446&sr=1-2

 

Correct. Both The Young Ones and Summer Holiday. Both well worth having.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cliff-Richard...s_CDs_CDs_GL&hash=item43a5176b31#ht_884wt_905

 

I have the original mono EP and I can confirm that it is the original 45 single version.