We're hoping to ship a few weeks earlier than the official ship date of end of August. Could be two weeks if the stars are in alignment and all goes according to plan.
Morosco - I do have something I could include as a hidden track, somewhat along the lines of the hidden track on Sugar, but this is Follies so I'm not sure I want to go there. What I may do is put what would be the hidden track on the website so people can hear it. As I've said, the edited eight-track session masters were just that - edited in the album presentation - they did all that work before mixing it to two-track for the LP - hence, no slates, no false starts and the edits if there were pick-ups were already done. EXCEPT for One More Kiss - they didn't bother because they knew it wasn't going on the album. So, we have several false starts and we had to make the edit for a pick-up at the end. The false starts are interesting because one of them contains some rather amusing cantankerous producer talk over the talkback.
BK -- like your previous remasterings, this is a work of art sir...just an unbelievably different experience listening to this new mix.
Quick question -- I know you're close friends with Rupert Holmes. I know DROOD was just digitally rereleased (with no work done to it whatsoever) but has there ever been talks with Rupert and/or Universal in going in and remixing that album? I've always felt that the CD's mix was a little subdued (dampened with reverb) and suffered from some of the 80s pop music mixing techniques...a lot of the percussion and bass especially are buried in the mix (There You Are really lacks the 'oomph' it had in the theatre). Might we ever hear a new mix of it? Does Rupert have any interest? (Sorry to hound you with another 'will you please remaster X album!)
I've had no luck getting in with Universal, but maybe I'll try taking the other route and talk to Rupert and see if he'd like to try and go in there on our behalf. I do love the score.
Sorry for the delay, Bruce - that would be pretty phenomenal if Rupert was able to get you access to the original elements. There's always been a demand for that CD, and I think a proper remastering (a new mix, that is) would do wonders for the score.
It could be beneficial (fortuitous?) too for all involved to coincide a re-release sometime during the upcoming revival. Do keep us posted should you be fortunate enough to get any forward movement!
The stars were so in alignment that the CDs are arriving five weeks early - tomorrow, in fact - it will probably take two days to get them all shipped out, and we are down to less than 100.
BK, I have just listened to the sample tracks and am in tears. As you might guess from my photo, FOLLIES in its original form is my favorite show; I saw it a dozen times, including its pre-Broadway tryout in Boston, one of the several opening nights in New York, and the final performance, which is burned into my brain as one of the most amazing nights I've ever had in the theatre.
You have performed a labor of love for so many of us, no wonder the 1500 copies went so fast.
Any chance you might be repressing PROMISES? By the time I'd heard about it, it was sold out.
The one CD version of Promises (the new mix - all one would ever need) is available at Kritzerland and so is the remix of Sugar. They both sound much better than the previous original mixes.
We managed to get all but a handful of international orders to the post office today - totally insane but thanks to my assistant and an extra helper we hired, we got it done. The rest will be packaged tonight and at the post office in the morning. Whew! While you wait, we posted an interview I just did with original Follies' Young Buddy, the wonderful Harvey Evans. And we also posted the liner notes if you want an early peek at them.
"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