Dollypop said: "I have almost every recording of HELLO, DOLLY! that's available-- and that includes foreign language productions.(French, German, Brazilian, Italian and Israeli), as well as Dora Bryan's studio recording. Each is special in its own ways, but the otiginal 1964 cast album has a verve that isn't found on the others."
Agreed re your last statement, although I only have purchased maybe 5 over the past 50 years, and at least three have gone into the dustbin when I got rid of my turntable. IMO, the original cast recording's tracks for Sunday Clothes and Hello Dolly may be the most goose-bump inducing (for me) in any cast recording ever; those vocal crescendos are amazing. The current recording, which I listen to frequently if not daily, just doesn't come close by a mile. That said, IMO, Gavin Creel's singing is far superior to Charles Nelson Reilly's, Kate Baldwin's is much more enjoyable to listen to than Eileen Brennan's, and David Hyde Pierce makes a stronger impression than the great David Burns, who also did not have the opportunity to sing 'A Penny in my Pocket' which does so much to explain how Horace became Horace. (Essentially, I like the current recording more for the 'lesser' numbers that I never was really crazy about in the original recording...they sound so much better with better, warmer singers. And, finally, while I like the ending on the current recording, it will never never ever compare to the original reprise from the original recording. That finale has also been known to induce goose-bumps every time I listen to it.
