Collectors Corner

[MylesBAstor]

Rashomon. As many know, Rashomon was a 1950's Japanese period drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa now considered among the greatest films ever released.

The album (with thanks to Sid Marks for turning me onto this gem (!)) is from the Broadway spectacular and features music composed by Laurence Rosenthal and Leonard Bernstein. The music is simply stunning and the sound is out of this world.

Carlton Records, the creation of an ex-RCA A&R, Joe Carlton, only was in business for roughtly seven years. And no one sadly seems to know what happened to their master tapes.

Now as to one of the mysteries of this recording. The album was mastered by George Piros (as Tom Fine said, many companies came to Mercury because Piros was renowned for his ability to make a dynamic cut). The width, breadth and dynamics of the recording bespeaks the work of Robert Fine but unfortunately Tom Fine didn't know whether or not his father had recorded this album.

The best source of information on Carlton Records: http://www.bsnpubs.com/nyc/carlton/carltonstory.html

[MylesBAstor]

"Bola Sete is as significant as Jimi Hendrix and Segovia, in the sense of having wisdom, knowledge, soul and passion."
- Carlos Santana

Tour de Force was recorded at the renowned Bill Putnum designed Coast Recorders, in San Francisco, CA in 1963. [Coast Recorders reopened in 2008 under the leadership of Mike Romanowski, whom some may remember as one of The Tape Project team.]

http://www.emusician.com/gear/1332/l...rancisco/45112

https://ifthesehallscouldtalk.wordpr...-recorders-v1/

Bola Sete known in Brazil as Djalma de Andrade, was one of the earliest pioneers of introducing Latin themed music to the US, solo acoustic guitar and boss nova (and a major influence on John Fahey and William Ackerman). Even more, Sete was a master of blending jazz, bossa nova, classics and ballads. On Tour de Force, find Sete on acoustic guitar accompanied by Fred Schreiber on bass and John Rae on drums. The beauty of this album is the trio's very stripped down sound allowing the simplicity, the emotion and the technical skills of Sete's playing and the sound of his guitar to stand out. Sete writes three of the pieces on Tour de Force but the highlights might just be his rendition of Mancini's "Moon River," Albeniz's "Asturias" or Bonfa's "Samba de Orpheus." The sound is a touch dry but otherwise is amazingly clean and realistic.

Originally released in 1962 as Bossa Nova and then in 1963 as Tour de Force, Acoustic Sounds also reissued this album 20 years ago (?) mastered by Stan Ricker and Bruce Leek. The reissue is very good but not quite up the sound of the original reissue just lacking a bit of the incisiveness of Sete's guitar playing along with the sense of harmonics. But the good news is both versions of Tour de Force are available for reasonable prices.

[Bill Hart]

I guess this qualifies as a "collectible" but it is one of the albums that I could take with me to one of those undisclosed rendition sites, provided there was a turntable available. It is a first UK press of Tull's Stand Up, which marked a complete shift in the sound of the band, and set the template for much of what was to come. It is in many ways, my favorite of this bands', and mixes medieval folk ballads with hard rock in a way that is not easy to pigeonhole. This pressing was on the orange 'bulls-eye' and is among the earliest, I believe it was pressed by Orlake, who did some manufacturing for Island before they switched away from Philips to EMI.

[Rob]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]temp_237_1454269011993_813[/ATTACH] I guess this qualifies as a "collectible" but it is one of the albums that I could take with me to one of those undisclosed rendition sites, provided there was a turntable available. It is a first UK press of Tull's Stand Up, which marked a complete shift in the sound of the band, and set the template for much of what was to come. It is in many ways, my favorite of this bands', and mixes medieval folk ballads with hard rock in a way that is not easy to pigeonhole. This pressing was on the orange 'bulls-eye' and is among the earliest, I believe it was pressed by Orlake, who did some manufacturing for Island before they switched away from Philips to EMI.

Hi Bill! I like this album too. How does the Steve Wilson remix hold up to an island 1st press? I really like what he did with aqualung in spite of the fact it was digitized along the way.

[Rob]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n330[/ATTACH]

Rashomon. As many know, Rashomon was a 1950's Japanese period drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa now considered among the greatest films ever released.

The album (with thanks to Sid Marks for turning me onto this gem (!)) is from the Broadway spectacular and features music composed by Laurence Rosenthal and Leonard Bernstein. The music is simply stunning and the sound is out of this world.

Carlton Records, the creation of an ex-RCA A&R, Joe Carlton, only was in business for roughtly seven years. And no one sadly seems to know what happened to their master tapes.

Now as to one of the mysteries of this recording. The album was mastered by George Piros (as Tom Fine said, many companies came to Mercury because Piros was renowned for his ability to make a dynamic cut). The width, breadth and dynamics of the recording bespeaks the work of Robert Fine but unfortunately Tom Fine didn't know whether or not his father had recorded this album.

The best source of information on Carlton Records: http://www.bsnpubs.com/nyc/carlton/carltonstory.html

I acquired this based on your reco's and I've come to use it often, the way the stage unfolds has been useful for placing speakers, In parts its dynamic and the music is interesting to boot. I found the SQ on different pressing to be variable, I have three copies one is really good the others not so much. The Bola Sete is fabulous, I don't own the original I have Chads redo.

[Bill Hart]

Hi Bill! I like this album too. How does the Steve Wilson remix hold up to an island 1st press? I really like what he did with aqualung in spite of the fact it was digitized along the way.

Stand Up has not been released as a Wilson remix as far as I know. Wilson remixed Aqualung and Benefit, though. I did a massive shoot-out several months ago of Aqualung, comparing quite a few different pressings, among them some of the best considered ones. I concluded that the Wilson remix of Aqualung was essential, even if you owned one or more of the originals or some of the most vaunted remasters. I'm happy to post that if you haven't read it. I've come to the same conclusion re Benefit, which has always sounded murky and "closed in" to me (I have UK and US first pressings among others). The Wilson remix of Benefit brings clarity to the sound without digital nasties.

[MylesBAstor]

I acquired this based on your reco's and I've come to use it often, the way the stage unfolds has been useful for placing speakers, In parts its dynamic and the music is interesting to boot. I found the SQ on different pressing to be variable, I have three copies one is really good the others not so much. The Bola Sete is fabulous, I don't own the original I have Chads redo.

There's at least two pressing of the Rashomon that I've seen. I'd have to look up the matrix numbers but the one I don't think sounds as good is the version with the B-side further away from the record label. The drums on Rashomon are scary!

[MylesBAstor]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]temp_237_1454269011993_813[/ATTACH] I guess this qualifies as a "collectible" but it is one of the albums that I could take with me to one of those undisclosed rendition sites, provided there was a turntable available. It is a first UK press of Tull's Stand Up, which marked a complete shift in the sound of the band, and set the template for much of what was to come. It is in many ways, my favorite of this bands', and mixes medieval folk ballads with hard rock in a way that is not easy to pigeonhole. This pressing was on the orange 'bulls-eye' and is among the earliest, I believe it was pressed by Orlake, who did some manufacturing for Island before they switched away from Philips to EMI.

I was a long time Tull fanatic up to Minstrel in the Gallery! One of the first three albums I ever bought as a high school junior was Benefit. The Tull albums were all so good it would be hard for me to pick a favorite. I like Aqualung but probably my favorite was Thick as a Brick!

[Bill Hart]

This is a rare Vertigo. Although I listen to their first, self-titled album far more often-- it is less restrained-- this one is among the more recherché Vertigos.

[Bill Hart]

One more, and i'll figure out the photo thing here. This one gets played a fair amount here at the casa and is also not an easy album to find as a UK pressing.