Company cast recording: original or revival? — Page 3

Both!
if you can, rent the DVD of the making of the OBC Recording. Then watch the PBS special "Broadway: The American Musical"....then rent the DVD of the live recording of the 2006 Revival and then you can decide which to listen 1st....which will probably lead you to wanting to listen to BOTH!
Did that help?

I did, as I've posted many, many times in many, many threads.

I saw Dean Jones once and Larry Kert four times, and I vastly preferred Larry Kert.

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With rare exceptions, I always suggest starting with the original. These were the performances worked out by the actors with the original director and the authors in consultation.

With Company both Dean Jones and Larry Kert were issued. Kert's voice was tracked in over Jones and he sounds removed from the action. Sony issued it on CD in the U.K. (and in Canada) but not in the U.S. and it was deleted after about 3 years, so finding copies may be difficult. Do not pay huge amounts for it. Some sellers charge over $100 for a copy and it is not worth it.

As has been mentioned Kert's version of "Bering Alive" is a bonus track on Sony's current CD edition of the Broadway cast. (The original CD edition Columbia CK 3550 was deleted when the reissue came out.)

Of the revivals, for me the 2005 with Esparza is preferable to either the 1995 (Broadway) or 1996 (London) recordings. If pushed get the original Broadway cast CD and the DVD of the 2005 revival.

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This is kicking the proverbial horse,
I also saw Jones and Kert and I thought they were both great.
They were likable and funny, Kert sang the show beautifully and Jones was the perfect Bobby trying to please everyone but himself.
That jaded, bored attitude on the last revival was so wrong.
The 60's were a time when people were exploring and curious, was there a down side to that?
Of course, but not untill BEING ALIVE did that hit the audience.

If you're learning ABOUT the show, go with the OBC.

If you're LEARNING the show, go with the revival. Odd orchestrations aside, this one is much closer to the sound of the current licensed orchestrations, and has the vocal keys and harmonies of the current licensed Company.