What's the deal on London Phase 4's?

[JCOConnell]

Were the London Phase 4's a special line in addition to the London lineup, or were they the top line London classical label of their day? Was it a special recording or pressing? Were they budget series discs? Mostly live performances? What years were they on the market? How highly are they regarded for sound quality? I don't have that many, but I don't understand where they fit into the overall London records lineup.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Here's some info: http://www.endlessgroove.com/issue4/lp4s.htm

[JCOConnell]

Thanks for the link to the article. Seems like it was Decca/London's early foray into multimiked recordings. It doesn't say whether London stopped recording classical conventionally once Phase 4 was launched though. I just listened to a much later (1976) Beethoven Symphony #3 this morning and it sounds fine though.

[MylesBAstor]

Multi-miked and in many cases, hyped up. Not the naturalness of the SXL series.

[lasercd]

Multi-miked and in many cases, hyped up. Not the naturalness of the SXL series.

Maybe not as natural but a helluva lot of fun!

[MylesBAstor]

I didn't say all either.

The soundtracks while multi-miked are very good. Like the Bernard Herrman Fantasy and Mysterious World. Quo Vadis isn't bad either -- but we are talking Decca, not London Phase 4. Los Muchacambos on DP4 is pretty cool too.

[1morerecord2clean]

Yes a lot of fun. They were also Decca's easy listening classical line. Mostly popular classical pieces like a top 100. Compressed? Yes. Hyped? Yes. But make no mistake some of those hyped recordings were simply fabulous. Like Paco Pena with his Flamenco and dancing group reissued by Speakers Corner.and one of my favorites. I have a Harry James which is also thrilling listen.

[MylesBAstor]

Oh I forgot my 2nd favorite Herrmann: Four Faces of Jazz..

[jonathanb]

The Les Paul album I posted in the "What Are You Listening To Tonight" thread a couple of days ago is very good.

[JCOConnell]

What I'm trying to find out is were these London phase 4 records a series in parallel to the regular ffrr London classical, or were they all there was for those years?

[MylesBAstor]

Later series.

[astrotoy]

What I'm trying to find out is were these London phase 4 records a series in parallel to the regular ffrr London classical, or were they all there was for those years?

The Phase 4 series began as a result of some Decca execs returning from the US, having heard some the more spectacular stereo recordings - I think by Command, an early RCA series whose name I don't remember, and others. They hired an American, Tony D'Amato to run the label and he produced most of the records that were released until about 1970 when Raymond Few took over most of the producing. hey did a bunch of stereo pop albums in the beginning and started recording popular classical recordings in 1963, releasing the first one in 1964.

I have I think all of the Decca Phase 4 records that were classical, and some of the others, including the Film Spectacular series conducted by Stanley Black. A few of the London pressings were mastered separately from their Decca counterparts - with a more tipped up treble and bass (for the US market). They have different matrix numbers than their Decca counterparts. I don't think any of them were classical recordings.

To answer JC's question, the Phase 4 series began about 5 years after Decca started releasing stereo recordings and continued through almost the end of the analog stereo era.

The earliest classical Decca Phase 4 I have in my collection is Decca PFS4036 - Grofe Grand Canyon Suite conducted by Stanley Black, which is a grooved label released in 1964. The last one is Decca PFS4438 - Gershwin Album conducted by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops after they left RCA, released in 1979 (and engineered by my friend Mike Mailes.) There was one other Fiedler album "Two Sides of Fiedler" which Mike also engineered at the same time as the Gershwin album. It was released on the MOR (Middle of the Road) series, Decca MOR527, although it was released on the London Phase 4 series. It has both classical and pop selections.

I have 146 Decca Phase 4 albums, almost all classical, with a few 2 record sets, total of about 150 records.

Several were TAS superdiscs including the Stokowski Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, Rozsa's Ben Hur and Quo Vadis albums, and Bernard Herrmann's Great FIlm Classics, Fantasy Film World, Mysterious Film World, and a moog synthesizer version of the Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture and Nutcracker Suite by Kraft and Alexander.

Most of the Phase 4 albums were engineered by the great Arthur Lilley who came to Decca along with Kenneth "Wilkie" Wilkinson and Arthur Haddy in the late '30's when Decca bought their old firm. Both John Dunkerley and Mike Mailes regarded Lilley as comparable to "Wilkie" , but who did not get the same recognition since he did most of his engineering on the "pop" side of the house. Lilley did the engineering for the famous SXL2313 Herold La Fille mal Gardee, another TAS Superdisc. Mailes told me that Lilley did not use the Decca Tree for that recording.

Larry

[JCOConnell]

Are the Decca pre Phase 4 classical discs generally more desirable and valuable than the Decca Phase 4 titles? ( Of course there being exceptions for certain titles ) Since they weren't multimiked?

[JCOConnell]

The Phase 4 series began as a result of some Decca execs returning from the US, having heard some the more spectacular stereo recordings - I think by Command, an early RCA series whose name I don't remember, and others. They hired an American, Tony D'Amato to run the label and he produced most of the records that were released until about 1970 when Raymond Few took over most of the producing. hey did a bunch of stereo pop albums in the beginning and started recording popular classical recordings in 1963, releasing the first one in 1964.

I have I think all of the Decca Phase 4 records that were classical, and some of the others, including the Film Spectacular series conducted by Stanley Black. A few of the London pressings were mastered separately from their Decca counterparts - with a more tipped up treble and bass (for the US market). They have different matrix numbers than their Decca counterparts. I don't think any of them were classical recordings.

To answer JC's question, the Phase 4 series began about 5 years after Decca started releasing stereo recordings and continued through almost the end of the analog stereo era.

The earliest classical Decca Phase 4 I have in my collection is Decca PFS4036 - Grofe Grand Canyon Suite conducted by Stanley Black, which is a grooved label released in 1964. The last one is Decca PFS4438 - Gershwin Album conducted by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops after they left RCA, released in 1979 (and engineered by my friend Mike Mailes.) There was one other Fiedler album "Two Sides of Fiedler" which Mike also engineered at the same time as the Gershwin album. It was released on the MOR (Middle of the Road) series, Decca MOR527, although it was released on the London Phase 4 series. It has both classical and pop selections.

I have 146 Decca Phase 4 albums, almost all classical, with a few 2 record sets, total of about 150 records.

Several were TAS superdiscs including the Stokowski Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, Rozsa's Ben Hur and Quo Vadis albums, and Bernard Herrmann's Great FIlm Classics, Fantasy Film World, Mysterious Film World, and a moog synthesizer version of the Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture and Nutcracker Suite by Kraft and Alexander.

Most of the Phase 4 albums were engineered by the great Arthur Lilley who came to Decca along with Kenneth "Wilkie" Wilkinson and Arthur Haddy in the late '30's when Decca bought their old firm. Both John Dunkerley and Mike Mailes regarded Lilley as comparable to "Wilkie" , but who did not get the same recognition since he did most of his engineering on the "pop" side of the house. Lilley did the engineering for the famous SXL2313 Herold La Fille mal Gardee, another TAS Superdisc. Mailes told me that Lilley did not use the Decca Tree for that recording.

Larry

the website johnny vinyl linked referenced 1961 as the launch date for London phase 4 which is three years earlier than your 1964 Decca phase 4.

[astrotoy]

Are the Decca pre Phase 4 classical discs generally more desirable and valuable than the Decca Phase 4 titles? ( Of course there being exceptions for certain titles ) Since they weren't multimiked?

Yes. Basically the SXL2000 series was all before the Phase4, while the SXL6000 started just a little before Phase and continued in parallel to Phase4. It easier to find copies of the Phase4 classical titles than the SXL series and I don't think I paid over 10GBP for any of them, more like 1-5GBP. The SXL2000 series is generally pricey, with quite a few albums in the $500 and up range in the used market today.

Not sure how much the multimiking affected pricing. Many of the later Deccas had the same basic miking as the earlier ones, but are not terribly pricey. Rarity, artist, early pressings, tubes before transistors, all were factors in pricing.

One interesting fact is that many of the conductors in the Phase 4 classical recordings were very famous conductors of the big US orchestras, but who were beyond their prime. These included Charles Munch and Erich Leinsdorf who were former music directors of the Boston Symphony, and the famed Leopold Stokowski who was already in his 80's. Stokowski was a native of the UK and lived outside of London. Antal Dorati conducted for both Phase4 and the regular Decca series. Bernard Herrmann also conducted quite a few albums, including several which were not of his own compositions. The "house" conductor for Phase4 was Stanley Black, who was a very talented "pop" arranger, but who blossomed as a classical conductor during his work with Phase4. He recorded both classical and pop music for the label.

Pianist Ilana Vered and conductor Henry Lewis (except for a couple of albums with then wife Marilyn Horne) only appeared on Phase4 and not on regular Decca series.

Larry

[MylesBAstor]

Thanks for putting the Stanley Black in perspective.

[MylesBAstor]

The Phase 4 series began as a result of some Decca execs returning from the US, having heard some the more spectacular stereo recordings - I think by Command, an early RCA series whose name I don't remember, and others. They hired an American, Tony D'Amato to run the label and he produced most of the records that were released until about 1970 when Raymond Few took over most of the producing. hey did a bunch of stereo pop albums in the beginning and started recording popular classical recordings in 1963, releasing the first one in 1964.

I have I think all of the Decca Phase 4 records that were classical, and some of the others, including the Film Spectacular series conducted by Stanley Black. A few of the London pressings were mastered separately from their Decca counterparts - with a more tipped up treble and bass (for the US market). They have different matrix numbers than their Decca counterparts. I don't think any of them were classical recordings.

To answer JC's question, the Phase 4 series began about 5 years after Decca started releasing stereo recordings and continued through almost the end of the analog stereo era.

The earliest classical Decca Phase 4 I have in my collection is Decca PFS4036 - Grofe Grand Canyon Suite conducted by Stanley Black, which is a grooved label released in 1964. The last one is Decca PFS4438 - Gershwin Album conducted by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops after they left RCA, released in 1979 (and engineered by my friend Mike Mailes.) There was one other Fiedler album "Two Sides of Fiedler" which Mike also engineered at the same time as the Gershwin album. It was released on the MOR (Middle of the Road) series, Decca MOR527, although it was released on the London Phase 4 series. It has both classical and pop selections.

I have 146 Decca Phase 4 albums, almost all classical, with a few 2 record sets, total of about 150 records.

Several were TAS superdiscs including the Stokowski Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, Rozsa's Ben Hur and Quo Vadis albums, and Bernard Herrmann's Great FIlm Classics, Fantasy Film World, Mysterious Film World, and a moog synthesizer version of the Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture and Nutcracker Suite by Kraft and Alexander.

Most of the Phase 4 albums were engineered by the great Arthur Lilley who came to Decca along with Kenneth "Wilkie" Wilkinson and Arthur Haddy in the late '30's when Decca bought their old firm. Both John Dunkerley and Mike Mailes regarded Lilley as comparable to "Wilkie" , but who did not get the same recognition since he did most of his engineering on the "pop" side of the house. Lilley did the engineering for the famous SXL2313 Herold La Fille mal Gardee, another TAS Superdisc. Mailes told me that Lilley did not use the Decca Tree for that recording.

Larry

Correct me if I'm wrong. Wasn't Lilley involved in the opera recordings?