Follies Recording: 1985 Concert or 1998 Paper Mill?

Which of the more complete Follies recordings do you recommend for one who has not experienced the show: the 1985 concert or the 1998 Paper Mill production?

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Stay away from the DVD of the concert. The numbers are chopped to hell. "Im Still Here" was painful to watch after they cut the heart out of it. I have the DVD & after watching that I never went back to it again.

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The "completeness" factor is about the only thing the Paper Mill recording has going for it, IMO. It's a limp, turgid recording overall. Now, the concert does sometimes take its tempos too fast, I'm pretty sure Barbara Cook had her songs transposed up a bit, and Mandy Patinkin's "Buddy's Blues" is a love-it-or-hate-it affair, but the concert is infinitely more lively than the Paper Mill recording and does a far better job of selling the show.

The chopped up Overture and sound quality takes away points from the concert recording, in my opinion.

Agreed. Donna's Sally is divine.

Not to get it off topic but it is really a shame that there was no recording done of the Encores Follies a few years ago. I own every recording of the show, and have seen countless productions, and Encores was truly magical. Victoria Clark and Donna Murphy could not have been more perfect in the roles of Sally and Phyllis.

Back to the matter at hand-you can't really judge which total recording is best. In some perfect world you would be able to take tracks from every single recording (all though right now I can't think of what would come from the London recording...but there must be something good in there) and turn it into the perfect Follies recording.

The concert has the BEST I'm Still Here done by Carol Burnette-and is worth the price alone. The Papermill is so complete that it is hard to not say that is the one to get. If you can swing it-get both.

Both good but Papermill is my favorite.

Smaxie, maybe I'm blanking, but when did Nancy Walker do "I'm Still Here"?

I completely agree that the concert served its purpose for the time but honestly I haven't given it a listen in years, so I would go with the Papermill recording.

To me though, the definitive FOLLIES recording is the OBC soundboard recording and it's the only recording of the show I ever listen to. I know, against the rules here (Blah blah blah) but the quality is so brilliant that there's no reason on earth almost 40 years after it was recorded that is shouldn't be remastered and released for sale along with the other stunning Sondheim soundboards (NIGHT MUSIC, SWEENEY, COMPANY etc)

Nancy Walker singing "I'm Still Here" sounds pretty amazing. I really should get around to picking up the Scrabble album.

And how would one go about getting this soundboard recording? lol