OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
#1OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 6:05am
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
chewy5000
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/09
#2OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 7:06amI love that there's a photo from Platinum in the production stills page.
#2OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 7:31amNice, there is quite a difference..
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#3OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 8:59amBK- you guys are amazing! Keep them coming!
#5OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 9:57amDelightful. Too bad they didn't record any extra material. I would love to have a good recording of the Bolero (better than the soundboard), played at the right tempo. That Paper Mill version is funereal.
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#6OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 10:18amSounds amazing. Just placed my order. Thank you Bruce!!
#7OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 10:48amWow, that does sound great!
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CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#8OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 12:31pm
I can now die a happy man.
Was there ever a voice like Collins?
She makes me weep.
#9OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 12:45pm
I almost crapped myself when I opened my email this morning! Thank you Bruce! This is amazing. It's been my dream to have a remastered Follies for years. A billion thanks!!!
"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"
Updated On: 7/12/12 at 12:45 PM
#10OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 1:01pmI've never heard the orchestrations of "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs" like that before! The flutes over Dorothy and Alexis are positively pristine. I just ordered one.
"...ah, gays and their wit. Hell must be a laugh a minute!"
-Evie Harris
followspot
Broadway Star Joined: 12/27/11
#11OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 1:05pm
Wow! The samples sound amazing! Just ordered. Thanks!! 
"Tracy... Hold Mama's waffles."
#12OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 3:05pmMore thanks from me. Just ordered mine; can't wait to get it.
#13OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 4:03pmThis sounds brilliant! Just ordered a copy and can't wait for it to arrive!
#14OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 4:30pmI admit, I was kinda dodgy over the Promises Promises "remix" release (just with auto-tunning the flat notes, which I found kinda endaering actually), but the samples for this sound stupendous. Can't wait.
bk
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/03
#15OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 6:49pm
Well, you're the only one I know who found the half-tone flat singing on Promises endearing, so that's good. Auto tune is not a bad word, save for when it's used horribly, as on Glee and elsewhere. Any tool is bad if it's used incorrectly. As you state, we ONLY fixed the flat notes - sometimes syllables - and were very careful to never compromise the integrity of his voice - in fact, had you never heard the album before you would never have known we did anything, because we used the tool correctly and my engineer also has the best auto tune tool available - you can't just turn it on and leave it on.
Follies was a joy to do - I was unsure how much help we could be with only eight tracks to work with, but the original mix was done so hurriedly that I knew we could improve it no matter what. But when I heard the Prologue/Beautiful Girls I knew it was going to be spectacular and fairly major. Surprise of surprises - who knew Follies was actually recorded well, because you'd have never known that from the original mix. And, of course, the album masters for the previous two CD issues were a generation away from the eight-track session masters - these are first generation. The album masters had to be EQd a certain way because of the length - it was very long for an LP in that era. We had none of those constraints.
Updated On: 7/12/12 at 06:49 PM
#16OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 7:49pm
Oh, My God! It sounds SUMPTUOUS! (However the Hell it's spelled.)
I'm ordering one, now!
(Now, if you'd only release Dorothy Loudon's Blue Angel album...)
"A coherent existance after so many years of muddle" - Desiree' Armfelt, A Little Night Music
"Life keeps happening everyday, Say Yes" - 70, Girls, 70
"Life is what you do while you're waiting to die" - Zorba
#17OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 8:45pm
bk, no offence was intended. Actually I was going to buy Promises, Promises when it had the original album mix as well, but I missed out and it was sold out. I know auto-tune gets bad rap because of how badly it's misused now--it just isn't my thing with the release with only it. I *did* think the Sugar release was spectacular and a huge improvement on a cast album that I found literally unlistenable due to all the headache inducing reverb, before. (and you're probably right that if I never knew it had been auto-tuned or had heard it before, it probably would have just thought how good PP sounded).
I'm not surprised that Follies was originally recorded well--from everything I've heard Dick Jones *did* want to do good by the material when he produced it, even if he doesn't have the rep of Shepherd or Lieberson, and appreciated the score, but was under fierce constraints.
Considering how good it sounds even just playing on my laptop with those samples, I can't wait to hear it on my actual sound system--it actually sounds like a vivid, modern recording. It's too bad nothing else was in the vaults (thank God Jones and/or Sondheim got them to record One Last Kiss even if it didn't make the initial vinyl release--I can't imagine the score without that key song).
#18OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 9:37pm
Oh, one last kiss,
Oh, gimme one last kiss,
It never felt like this,
No, baby, not like this.
You know I need your love,
Oh-oh-oh!
Gimme one last kiss.
Always one of my favorites.
Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....
Updated On: 7/12/12 at 09:37 PM
#19OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 9:59pmLOL sigh... And I know I've made that mistake before--
#20OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/12/12 at 10:12pm
For collectors of intellectual trivia, when the first batch of FOLLIES LP's appeared in 1971, the inner insert DID include the listing for "One More Kiss", even though it was not on the LP.
Recognizing a (worthless) collectors item, I was able to acquire one more such insert before they disappeared.
Yes, I know, who cares? But it's fun to have, nonetheless.
Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....
Updated On: 7/12/12 at 10:12 PM
bk
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/03
#21OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/13/12 at 12:11am
For those who haven't been following the saga, I recommend this little interview I did yesterday: http://theseconddisc.com/2012/07/12/hey-mr-producer-a-second-disc-interview-talking-remastered-remixed-edition-of-stephen-sondheims-follies-with-bruce-kimmel/
And One More Kiss - that was suspense up to the last second and it's still suspense in a way even though it will have a happy ending. That song was not on the eight-track edited session masters because they knew it wasn't going to be on the album originally. I'd already had Capitol combing their vaults to see if there was anything else, but they swore to me that the inventory list I got was it and that list did not include One More Kiss. I thought we were going to have to use it from the second CD release, but that mix was just so appalling to me - worse than anything else. I called Capitol and asked them to please do one more search, this time for just that song. And they found it, thank heaven, mislabeled as a soundtrack. They're transferring it now and we'll probably mix it on Monday or Tuesday, then it goes right to the pressing plant. Whew!
#22OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/13/12 at 12:39amI have to say I wasn't expecting much with this, but it really does sound so much better. There's a very noticeable difference.
#24OBCR of FOLLIES remixed and remastered!
Posted: 7/13/12 at 1:56am
In the previously mentioned interview, Bruce talks about "One More Kiss" not making an appearance before the second CD release on the Broadway Angel "Broadway Classics" series. It was, in fact, released on the initial Capitol CD release- CDP 7 92094 2, in 1989.
In any case, the recordings of those Angel releases never sounded as good as their respective original CD releases, such as THE MUSIC MAN and THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN, or especially the Capitol R&H soundtrack releases. They always had a slightly darker "veiled" sound to my ear.
Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....
Updated On: 7/13/12 at 01:56 AM
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