The Deceptive New GREY GARDENS Recording

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 3:32pm

Received my copy of the new Grey Gardens CD in the mail from PS Classics today and have to vent my extreme frustration.

A little backstory - the following is how the press notes described this new release:

"The new recording will feature the Broadway cast and preserve the significant changes made for the Broadway production by author Doug Wright, composer Scott Frankel and lyricist Michael Korie...includes four new songs ("The Girl Who Has Everything," "Goin' Places," "Marry Well" and the new ending), one previously unrecorded track ("The Telegram") and all-new performances on several previously recorded songs (including "Mother, Darling," "Peas in a Pod" and "Daddy's Girl")."

I eagerly open the CD and quickly scan through the booklet. On the last page, I see the following, in small-ish type:

"Additional background vocals by Sara Gettelfinger and Audrey Twitchell (who created the roles of Young "Little" Edie Beale and Lee Bouvier, in the Playwrights Horizions production) can be heard in "The Five-Fifteen," "Hominy Grits," "Entering Grey Gardens," "The House We Live In" and "Choose to Be Happy."

Now, I may have misinterpreted things, but doesn't entirely "feature the Broadway cast and preserve the significant changes" mean that they'd rerecord the whole score?

I know how expensive it is to record a whole album, but still.

All said, it's a fairly good CD, no better or worse than the Off-Broadway album. The sound quality is a little stifled....

Just a heads up, I guess.


Updated On: 3/31/07 at 03:32 PM

[wiggum2]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 3:43pm

Scott Frankel on Seth's Studio A said that they totally re-recorded it. Weird...

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 3:43pm

I can see why you're frustrated, but they didn't exactly lie about the new recording. I guess they just didn;t want to bring the entire cast into the studio so they just did the smaller numbers featuring the new cast members. I don't have the OBCr yet, but after listening to it, do you think it's worth buying for the new material if I already have the Original Recodring?

[Julian2]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 3:46pm

I wonder if they'll sell the new one on iTunes right next to the old one.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 3:48pm

I thought that was weird too. Ohwell. I still love the recording.

[rf12792]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 3:48pm

I'm listening to mine for the first time right now and discovering the same thing--many of the songs sound exactly as they do on the Off-Broadway recording. The new songs/cast members sound good, but if I'd known how much was the same I would have probably just waited and downloaded the new songs from iTunes, instead of buying the whole CD.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 3:50pm

Defying - wait to see if they offer the new version on iTunes and just buy the songs.

The others aren't very different....Hominy Grits is brassier and Choose to be Happy has a new verse (seems like they plugged in Erin Davie's vocals over Gettelfinger's portion of the song). Act II is almost entirely unchanged.

It's all-in-all a disappointing release - the new songs have no impact on the CD as the sound is so stifled.

Stick to the off-Broadway CD. Updated On: 3/31/07 at 03:50 PM

[Smartful Dodger]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 3:56pm

My understanding of what happened was that the producers wanted a new recording to market and highlight the new material and that it was a BROADWAY recording, as opposed to the former. But, Christine Ebersole didn't think she could do a whole new recording and perform the schedule she's performing. So, the compromise was reached and the new material was recorded to fit in with the old. Yes, the press materials are deceptive and they should have been more forthright about what they've done. Indeed, I think the redundancy if what's prompted them to completely pull the old version so they're now only marketing (making available) one definitive version of the show.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 3:58pm

I'm not surprised that it's an album like the Brooke Shields Wonderful Town/Grease recordings, but at least advertise it that way.

I can't, but I'm sure someone with a great deal of time and a copy of the full off-Broadway CD (I picked up a few of the songs off iTunes a while ago) can go into the full similarities and differences.

Right now, the sound quality is really bothering me. In certain songs, you can pinpoint what was dropped in....the quality is significantly better than the rest.


Updated On: 3/31/07 at 03:58 PM

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 4:01pm

Wouldn't the producers just tell Ebersole to miss one or two shows so she could record the CD?

[Miss.Vanessi]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 4:04pm

See, at first I just assumed it was going to be as you describe it as being. Then it was being talked up as, essentially, an entirely new recording. Good thing I never got my hopes up too much.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 4:09pm

Yankee- Who is that in your avatar?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 4:09pm

For those wondering, the new CD, as compared to the tracklist of the other one, includes:

1. The Girl Who Has Everything (new)
2. The Five-Fifteen (old)
3. Mother Darling (vocals dropped in)
4. Goin' Places (new)
5. Marry Well (new)
6. Hominy Grits (old vocals, slightly new orchestration)
7. Peas in a Pod (new)
8. Drift Away (old)
9. The Five-Fifteen (reprise) (new)
10. Daddy's Girl (new vocals?)
11. The Telegram (new)
12. Will You? (old)
13. Revolutionary Costume for Today (old)
14. The Cake I Had (old)
15. Entering Grey Gardens (old)
16. The House We Live In (old)
17. Jerry Likes My Corn (old)
18. Around the World (old)
19. Choose to be Happy (mix of old and new vocals)
20. Around the World (reprise) (new)
21. Another Winter in a Summer Town (old)
22. The Girl Who Has Everything (reprise) (new)

As you can see, not a revolutionary recording for today.

Neddy - Julia Roberts.
Updated On: 3/31/07 at 04:09 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 4:26pm

I don’t find anything deceptive about it. I think the press release makes it very clear that it was not going to be an all new recording. They even gave a list of the few tracks that would be new. I just hope the prologue is still there. Is it?

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 4:28pm

Did she dye the front of her hair Blonde?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 4:31pm

Cats - it's the new prologue, not the original.

Neddy - Glare

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 5:15pm

Bummer.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 5:46pm

Regarding YankeeFan007's Julia Roberts AVATAR...

The blonde in the tiny photo is part of the blonde lady's hair (on the right part of the photo). If you enlarge the photo...you'll see Julia's entire head of hair is dark brown -- the blonde wisp belongs to the lady on the right's blonde hair.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 5:56pm

Perfect explanation, Brody.

OT just a little, see, when that photo was taken (I did indeed take it), I was trying to not get trampled on by a hoard of screaming midwestern ladies and autograph hounds. It was after the 2nd preview, when she used the alley way. I really lucked out with that photo....every other photo I've seen of her at 3 Days came out horrible, due to the sheer volume of the crowd.

And now back to your regularly scheduled Grey Gardens chat.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 6:01pm

Would it really have been THAT more expensive to show record the whole damn thing again?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 6:18pm

yes.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 6:21pm

Out of curiosity, does anyone know who is the radio announcer at the beginning?

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 6:55pm

I just noticed this too - I'm really disappointed.

I think 5:15 is new, the orchestrations are very different and it's Kelsey Fowler on there.

Updated On: 3/31/07 at 06:55 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 7:15pm

No one should be disappointed. It’s no one else’s fault if you can’t read press releases. It was made quite clear from the first announcement that it was not going to be an all new cast recording. It would simply not be economical for them to have done that. The Grey Gardens OBC is very much in the same vein as the Brooke Sheilds Grease and Wonderful Town recordings except that in this case they also recorded new material that was not in the original production. The rest of the cast is mostly the same so there was really no profitable reason to rerecord all of the songs.

[Nick Plasia]

Posted: 3/31/07 at 7:37pm

The new recording sounds SPECTACULAR!

In addition to the entirely new tracks(that's
orch AND vocals, kids), the entire thing has
been remixed and remastered by the remarkable
and multi Grammy Award-winning Steven Epstein,
who did such wonders w/ PIAZZA.

It sounds leaps and bounds more rich and full than
the off-Bway recording, with much better balance
to boot.

Bravo!