Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording (Update)

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Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording (Update)

Posted: 3/18/09 at 1:53pm

I was looking at some broadway cds on amazon and came across the Ethel Merman Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording. It says it will be released in may, there's no cover art for it yet on amazon. Does anyone know will it have bonus tracks or anything special ?

Updated On: 4/2/09 at 01:53 PM

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 3/18/09 at 4:57pm

It will be mostly a re-release of the previous Columbia Broadway Masterworks edition with a few extra bonus tracks.

Now that SONY as full control of the Columbia/Sony and RCA Victor/BMG catalogues, we may see more special editions of teh major shows. In addition they are releasing some lesster titles through i-tunes wit CD pressings available from Arkiv music:

These first two titles have been out as bootleg CD's from the U.K. but have not had legal releases until now:

HAZEL FLAGG
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=214479

NEW FACES OF 1952
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=214473

These titles have not previously been on CD:

JIMMY
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=214476

LET IT RIDE
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=214475

NEW FACES OF 1956 http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=214474

LAST SWEET DAYS OF ISAAC http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=214472

THREEPENNY OPERA - Joe Papp productions http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=214480

DisinHAIRited
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=214478

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 4/2/09 at 2:49am

The 50th anniversary recording will include a few extra bonus tracks. Also 2 interview tracks, one with Jule Styne and another with Gypsy Rose Lee
LINK :)

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 4/2/09 at 8:26am

Geez, I love Gypsy, but I have 5 or 6 recording already (including the original Merman recording).

I just can't see buying any more.

Without the spice of guilt, sin cannot be fully savored. - Alexander Chase

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 4/2/09 at 8:49am

^ This would be to replace your current Ethel Merman recording. If you don't own one, you should.

http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 4/2/09 at 9:10am

This will be the 3rd release of the Original Broadway Cast Recording (with Ethel Merman).

The first CD release decades ago was the original LP release version.

The 2nd CD release, the remastered one and with bonus tracks featured extended music on some tracks ("You Gotta Have a Gimmick" & "The Strip"), plus some replaced sections in verses (as in "Rose's Turn"), thus rendering it not the original recording anymore. I never got rid of that first CD release due to these 'enhancements' made to the original recording.

I wonder which version of the Original Broadway Cast Recording this 50th Anniversary Edition will retain?

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 4/2/09 at 2:48pm

It will be the Masterwords edition (with the alternate tracks) with the addition of some extra bonus materials.

The first release (on Columbia) is the only CD version that duplicates the original LP release.

I like most of the changes and additions Thomas Sheppard did for the remaster. It was great to hear the extra music in "Gimmick" - which should never have been deleted from the original Lp release. Merman's slightly different reading of one line in "Rose's Turn" and the addition of Louise's giggles in "All I Need is the Girl" are not intrusive. I could live without the extra strip music in "Let Me Entertain You" or the extra drums and cymbals in "Dainty June and Her Newsboys" but overall I find the remaster an improvement over the original.

It makes me wonder, will we see a 50th anniversary edition of SOUND OF MUSIC this November? BYE BYE BIRDIE next April? CAMELOT next December?

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 4/2/09 at 3:08pm

frontrowcentre2---I'm curious about that release of New Faces Of 1952. I have the other CD that you say is a boot from the UK. I had no idea! I bought it "legitimately" in a store here in the U.S. as a new/sealed disc. It doesn't sound like a boot at all, but it's not remastered either. If anything the levels are WAY too high. Every time a track comes on, when I "shuffle" those tracks always blow me out of my seat. But other than that, it's a decent enough disc.

Do you have the new release? How does it compare?

*sorry for the tangent*

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 4/3/09 at 9:01pm

Re: NEW FACES

I have not heard the new CD yet. The version you have was made by copying the original LP to Cd. The new issue from Arkiv will use as its source the original RCA Victor master tapes. In addition the song "Time For Tea" recorded on 1952 but left off the original LP will be restorede. (It was on RCA Red Seal's 1977 LP reissue but for legal reasons could not be included on the UK Cd release.)

Sound levels do seem to vary widely from CD to CD. When I assemble my weekly radio program I often have to boost the levels of older CD tracks to make them comparable with more recent CD's. Once the LP industry adopted the RIAA cirve that problem stopped. We need something similar for CD's.

#10

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 4/4/09 at 2:55am

According to Sony Masterworks, there is a planned 50th anniversary edition of the original cast recording of THE SOUND OF MUSIC to be released this fall.

#11

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 4/4/09 at 7:17am

I know I'm becoming a bit of a bore on this issue..(frc2 obviously knows all this and more!)...
In the UK, copyright on sound recordings is 50 years, which means that the Hazel Flagg and New Faces of 52 are absolutely legitimate releases in the UK and not bootlegs.
On import to the US, I would say their status is the same as, say, a US DVD exported to the UK, but not yet licensed for release in the UK.
Bootleg is the wrong word.

#12

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 4/5/09 at 2:05am

True... we should call them PD releases. Some are very good. The Prism CD of the Dinah Shore CALL ME MADAM was much better than the PD release on Flare where onbe side of the Lp was slightly off centre causing a wow.

THe version of NEW FACES on one of the labels (Jasmine?) is from a very scratchy LP.

Also the MCA Cd of the movie soundtrack of HIT THE DECK uses a scratchy LP as its source. Weird because MCA had the master tapes for other MGM Soundtracks in that series.

#13

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 4/5/09 at 7:44am

PD releases I'm happy with!
....and hopefuly these releases will then spur on the owners of the original tapes to issue them in top notch quality and presentation.

Updated On: 4/5/09 at 07:44 AM

#14

re: Gypsy 50th anniversary cast recording

Posted: 4/5/09 at 7:02pm

It is more likely the owners of the masters will allow Arkiv to do custom CD-R releases. Many of these rare titles are forgotten flops that only the most dedicated collectors will buy and even within that group many are sastisfied withe the PD releases. If anything the existence of teh PD release is a deterrent to the originating label to relese the cast album in question.

Decca did release THIS IS THE ARMY, CALL ME MISTER and others even though a PD label put them out in the U.K. THe sound on the Decca issues was miles ahead of the PD releases (dubbed from 78-rpm records) but still none of them sold all that well and many have been deleted.

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