Sony Broadway Masterworks CD Reissue DISappreciation

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/27/09 at 11:18pm

This is a pretty anal thread--just a warning...

While I appreciate that Sony has done a good job of keeping most of their musicals in print and in great sounding copies (they own the BMG/RCA and Columbia catalog, along with others) this past year they've started to go cheap...

When they did the Sondheim/RCA remasters a year or two back (the Sweeney, Merrily, Sunday and ITW OBCRS) I hated how the booklets had gone cheap B&W instead of colour, less pages, etc, but I appreciated the well done remastering job and bonus tracks.

But this year they seem to have gone uber cheap--the Gypsy 50th Anniversary reissue had a couple of nice added tracks but I didn't like that they had gone to a cardboard packaging for the CD itself. I don't mind digipacks with an actual plastic tray for the CD, but this just has a sleeve you slide the CD in and out of (no doubt scratching it slightly each time...) But at least they did a good job with the packaging...

Now I see what they did with the 1975 Chicago OBC recording. It was reissued and remastered in 1996 by Arista records, and this is the first time it's been released under the Sony label. They kept the exact same 1996 remaster which is smart, I can't imagine it sounding any better. Same liner notes too, though the booklet has the colour pictures all in B&W. But the case is SOO cheap it makes Gypsy's look deluxe--just a simple folded cardboard with two sleeves on either side (one of mine broke all the way open cuz it was cheaply glued) that you have to yank and squeezethe booklet and CD from as they're so tight, folding and scratching both each time...

BOOOO. Will they eventually go to this style for all their reissues?

Just had to get that off my chest...

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 12:36am

Can you show a picture of the new case? I have yet to see it, and I can't quite piece it together from your description.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 12:39am

I can't--no cam and the Amazon lsiting is the same as the actual cover photograph is the same.

Gypsy is a cardboard "gatefold" that opens upfully. Chicago is a cheaper piece of cardboard that is folded just in two and each side has a sleeve--the left for the booklet the right for the CD

[bk]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 12:41am

"I can't imagine it sounding any better"

Really? Did you never own the Bay Cities release? :)

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 12:43am

I have it, and to give credit to your old label it sounds great. I still give the nod to the Arista remaster (I'm sure you or someone else is now gonna lecture me about the new remaster having too much compression, bla bla ) (Bay City was a godsend to me when I was a kid though and getting into these shows)

I got the replacement CD cuz I had lentout my original copy (foolishly--I hate lending out CDsfor this reason) and got it back sometime ago but only played it again recently, to discover it was scratched.

So I still had the original booklet and CD case and have just taken out the CD (carefully) from the Sony Masterworks and will keep that with the Arista casing (aren't I clever)

*edit* FrontRowCenter informs me Sony has done this as of 2009 with many of their old releases--including the Company, Night Music and Chorus Line cast albums. I'm glad I have the old ones in proper plastic jewel cases--especially considering how often I play them they'd get scratched pretty quickly sliding in and out of their cases (another problem with the cardboard cases is they don't ship well, I've seen them with tears, bends, etc)


Updated On: 11/28/09 at 12:43 AM

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 2:31am

Eric I just answered your PM to me asking of COMPANY and NIGHT MUSIC were new remasters. They are not.

As I said to Eric in my reply, Sony is gradually moving the former Columbia Broadway Masterworks and some RCA Victor titles to their Masterworks Broadway label. All are in the "environmentally friendly" cardboard digi-packs. Like Eric, I deplore these and prefer the standard plastic jewel boxes which give the collection something more lasting and protective. But in an age where most people prefer illegal downloads with no liner notes and listening to highly compressed MP3 files, it is probably a losing battle.


So far these titles have been reissued:

ANNIE
BYE BYE BIRDIE
CABARET
CAMELOT
CHICAGO
A CHORUS LINE
COMPANY
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (without the bonus tracks on Deluxe edition)
FINIAN'S RAINBOW
GUYS AND DOLLS (1992 revival cast)
HAIR (Single CD Broadway cast -not the 2 CD Deluxe edition)
HELLO DOLLY (without the bonus tracks on the Deluxe edition)
KISMET
KISS ME, KATE
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
MY FAIR LADY (1956 original)
NINE
OKLAHOMA! (1979 revival - not remastered and it needs to be)
THE PAJAMA GAME
SHOW BOAT (1966 Lincoln Center cast)
SOUTH PACIFIC
WEST SIDE STORY

as well as the 50th anniversary editions of GYPSY and SOUND OF MUSIC. GYPSY gains a few extra bonus tracks, SOUND OF MUSIC has 3 new bonus tracks but drops the orchestral suite heard on the 1998 edition.

It seems that moving forward, Masterworks Broadway will be the label for all former Columbia and RCA Victor cast albums as well as any new shows recorded by Sony.

The 5 RCA "Deluxe Editions" (OLIVER!; HOW TO SUCCEED...; HELLO DOLLY; FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and the 2 CD set of HAIR (combining both the Broadway and off-Broadway cast albums) may be dropped s stocks are depleted, so anyone wanting these for the bonus material may want to pick them up now while they are still generally available.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 2:42am

It's too bad they couldn't have compromised with digipacks, which are still a bit cheaper and more environmentally friendly but do have a hard plastic tray with a spindle holder--so your CD is much safer.

Does the Fiddler at least reinstate The Rumour if it cuts the other bonus cuts? I need to get that Deluxe edition I guess I'll get it (and the two disc Hair) with some Xmas money before they're gone.

Nine is still two discs I imagine? ANyway I'm glad that for the most part i got all these releases when they were in proper jewel cases.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 2:57am

Yes, The Rumour and the Wedding dance were added for the very first CD release (1985) and they are still there. But the 2003 remaster in the Deluxe edition sounds better.

NINE is the same content as the previous 2-CD release.

It seems that for teh Sony/Columbia titles Masterworks Broadway used the most recent reissues. For the RCA (and Arista) releases they seem to have gone back to the original CD editions.

They have not done DAMN YANKEES! or BRIGADOON yet, 2 that have been steady best-sellers for RCA and both in need of remastering. Not that a lot can be done with the 78-Rpm discs of BRIGADOON.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/28/09 at 4:01am

Well for Chicago there is only the one remaster anyway, right (at least on RCA/Arista--the Bay Labels one came first).

Interesting they went back to the older Fiddler remaster--was it done in the90s?

[follies85]

Posted: 11/29/09 at 1:34am

I too am dismayed about the recent Masterworks Broadway reissues. As soon as I saw the abysmal packaging on the first ten reissues, I scrambled to get the previous releases for the titles that I didn't own. After the overall admirable job Sony did with the Columbia Broadway Masterworks series, it is a shame they are resorting to this.

It must be said that Sony is getting these titles back on the shelves of some stores. I have to agree, however, that it would be nice if the most recent remasterings were used for "Hello Dolly!" and "Fiddler on the Roof." And, as to what frontrowcentre alludes, this would have been a perfect time for Sony to remaster the 1979 "Oklahoma" revival cast recording, instead of using the original master.

I believe that the "Fiddler" remaster that Sony is using was done in the late 80s by Thomas Z. Shepard.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/30/09 at 6:42am

I guess getting them out there, and for cheap is good, but... Yeah, awful awful cases.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/30/09 at 12:35pm

The demand for these titles has dropped and the old audience no longer exists. People have shown that they want less packaging and cheaper prices. They can not and will not continue to put out fancy packages that sell 1000 copies or less.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/1/09 at 10:13am

I get that but I think a compromise could be made--the packaging is uber cheap--if they went with a carboard case with a tray (digipack) they'd still save money (I know this for a fact from working with an indie record label). The past few years they also haven't been charging all that much more for the older editions--these new ones are well priced but they aren't a huge savings. I also still think the people who don't care about packaging and if it has any chance of holding up in yout shelf permanently will jsut buy the mp3 album (or download it) anyway so these savings are for a market that isn't there.

But I suppose I am pleased they are still in print.