The Mystery of Edwin Drood OBC on iTunes!!!

[Johnnycantdecide]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 4:40pm

And Amazon mp3!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008251JFU/?tag=talkinbroadway

!!!
Updated On: 5/29/12 at 04:40 PM

[tazber]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 4:52pm

And it has all the endings!

Good find Johnnycantdecide!

ETA: it's missing Moonfall Quartet and Ceylon though.

Updated On: 5/29/12 at 04:52 PM

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:28pm

Yay! I'm so excited to listen to a better quality recording!

Taz, were those two ever recorded? My old copy (I honestly have no idea where I got it) doesn't have those two songs, but it does have all of the "Confession"s and "Out on a Limeric"s

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:38pm

I'm pretty sure the version I have has the quartet. I'm not making this up, right? It exists?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:44pm

Moonfall Quartet and Ceylon were on the Varese Sarabande release which only featured the opening night endings. When Polydor released the CD with all the endings, Moonfall Quartet and Ceylon were omitted. I have both so I can have a more than complete recording.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:51pm

"Ceylon" and "Moonfall (Quartet)" aren't even in the show anymore (at least the version that is licensed out). It's a shame that the Quartet was omitted from the recording they released, though, because it sounds so lovely, particularly with Donna Murphy and Judy Kuhn on track. It's omission from the licensable version of the show, however, does make sense, considering how long the show already is without it.

[tazber]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 5:51pm

Yea, those two were on the the Varese re-issue and the original issue.

Ceylon is actually one of my favorite songs.

Somehow I have a rare cd version that has all the endings as well as Ceylon and the Quartet (well, not somehow - my dad had it and I absconded it). I had no idea that it was rare until someone posted a thread about on here awhile ago.

To be honest, the sound on this new digital version isn't noticeably different. But it's worth a purchase for all the endings.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 6:01pm

I think it's a shame that the London version was never professionally recorded. The replacement for "Ceylon" ("A British Subject") is a very good song, and a marked improvement, in my opinion.

[bk]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 9:20pm

Better quality recording? mp3s? It is to laugh. If you think they've done anything but use my remastering for Varese, think again - well, they added the other endings and stuff from the original Polydor - there has been NO further remastering I can assure you. mp3s cannot match the sound of the CD - you all know that, right?

[castlestreet]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 9:41pm

As usual BK is right- you can't touch the overall quality of an actual CD

It's nice to have all the endings but I've always preferred the Varese version

[BialyBloomInc02]

Posted: 5/29/12 at 9:50pm

bk - glad you chimed in here... Was there ever talk of a full remastering of Drood? I imagine they wanted to release it in anticipation of the fall revival, but I was hoping someone (you or Rupert ideally) would oversee a new mastering.

You'll no find no greater fan of the show but the CD has always felt a little thin and echo-chambery in the bigger numbers (the bass and percussion are buried in There You Are for example). It was such a great score to listen to live in the theatre that it's a shame the bigger numbers on the CD seem subdued by comparison...

[tazber]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 7:45am

I found Ceylon and Moonfall Quartet on youtube.

I hope I can post them here...

Ceylon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HABuAjxEV_w

Moonfall Quartet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK0sXR24pVU

[once a month]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 8:44am

My CD seems to have it all, but it was released way back when.

[bk]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 2:34pm

There is no CD that "has it all" - you either have the Polydor that does not have some stuff or you have the Varese, which has some stuff the Polydor hasn't but not all the endings - unless you have a bootleg.

It used to be easy for me at Universal because they distributed Varese - not so anymore, sadly - it's very tough for new labels to get in there.

Updated On: 5/30/12 at 02:34 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 2:52pm

There was a "master mix" circulating online for a while, where someone had ripped both cds at 320 and had sequenced the tracks so it was, indeed, a complete version.

It's possible that people who had an, ahem, unofficial copy of the cast album and not a physical hard copy may have all the tracks on one disc. Similar to the situation where people with "unofficial" Legally Blonde OBC recordings have the Overture and extended versions of tracks.

[bk]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 4:41pm

Well, that's all illegal so I don't count it. I have no interest in illegal things. Not what I do.

[bryan2]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 5:01pm

Bruce ....did anyone tell you today that we love you!!! or at least I do
anyway Loved this score and remember it was a blast in the theater...I saw it 2x once with Betty and once with Donna Murphy who by the way was AWFUL in the Drood Part..I love her now but I was shocked that this unknown at the time was even in a show..she had some strange high pitched really bad british accent ..scary

[GatorNY]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 5:18pm

I have to admit that I don't know much about this show. I saw a performance by the theater department at Florida back in the late 80s or early 90s.

I was reading about it just now on wikipedia, and always thought that Betty was the "star" of the show. I saw that she was not nominated for any awards, while many other cast members were nominated and won. Is there a reason why this is the case? I must be missing something. Thanks in advance.

[BialyBloomInc02]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 5:31pm

Despite Betty playing the title role of Drood, the part itself is actually fairly low key when it's all said and done. The Chairman is really the star-turn and the role any production hinges upon. Jasper, Rosa and Puffer are actually more substantial in that their story lines carry through the whole show. Drood disappears before the end of Act One and doesn't reappear until the very finale to sing 'The Writing on the Wall' (which Betty sold the **** out of) The actor playing Drood ends up playing Dick Datchery for a goodly amount of Act Two and has a fun moment as 'Miss Alice Nutting' prior to the voting, but by and large, other cast members figure more prominently throughout the evening.

Updated On: 5/30/12 at 05:31 PM

[GatorNY]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 5:43pm

Thanks for the explanation .

Updated On: 5/30/12 at 05:43 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/30/12 at 8:49pm

I don't condone it either, Bruce. I'm just saying that I know it goes on, and that it might be the reason so many people erroneously believe this album, which has been out of regular circulation for a while, contained a complete score.