🎄 Holidays! Christmas Album remaster*
- Thread starter AM Matt
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I can't stand the suspense, I went ahead and ordered the Christmas Album CD. I will give a full report here. For some reason Amazon says it takes an extra 1 - 3 days to process, which is strange, but oh well.
Marty
Nick Ceroli taught drummer
I am betting it could be a made-on-demand item. That makes a lot of sense in today's marketplace--the record label doesn't have manufacturing, distribution and inventory costs to deal with. Amazon takes a bit more from the sale of course, but it captures sales to buyers who want physical product vs. a download.
For Herb's titles, I'd be inclined to get physical copies just due to being collectible, but otherwise, I really have no use for physical product anymore. High-res music is sold only through downloads anyway, so for me, CDs are not even on the radar much anymore.
DeeInKY
Well-Known Member
OK, I bit. Just ordered the CD. I've never had the Christmas album and this is a big deal for me since the only other Christmas music I can listen to is Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas. Lost a family member on Christmas many years ago and just can't handle much music. I think this will be fine though. Kroger got to playing it at Christmas last year so I kept hearing bits and pieces in the store.
When you finally hear the whole thing, be sure to let us know your thoughts! I predict you're gonna love it (but like many of us, you'll hate how short it is!)
I normally self-impose a ban on all Christmas music listening until the day after Thanksgiving, but in this case I might make an exception. I certainly won't mind listening to it AGAIN on the day after Thanksgiving!
I normally self-impose a ban on all Christmas music listening until the day after Thanksgiving, but in this case I might make an exception. I certainly won't mind listening to it AGAIN on the day after Thanksgiving!
@DeeInKY I think you'd like it--Herb's arrangements make the tunes different enough that they don't sound like the "same old thing" everyone else is doing. And it's a lot of fun! Not a year goes by that I don't give the ol' LP a spin at least once. I'm far from an Xmas music fan myself (got burned out on it), so I probably play it two or three days out of the year. Seeing that I grew up with this one, I think it's part of my DNA now. 
bob
Active Member
hi risberw as rudy said I ordered from best buy on line 2 days before and I got on the 23rd. to me it has a higher end to the christmas and clean and it separates better but then again I am listening to to trhough a 5.1 surround sound receiver yamaha rx 577 with the center channel turned off I like to hear whipped cream when it is released.
bob
bob
Herb's "My Favorite Things" remains the only song from a Christmas album that I like to listen to year-round. (I suppose that's partially because it really isn't a Christmas song.) I have one home-made "best-of-TJB" compilation on which I included the song, but left off the choral intro which really makes it sound more Christmas-y.
Captain Bacardi
Well-Known Member
Actually, most of these aren't really Christmas songs. They're more about winter than actual Christmas.
That never occurred to me about this album but you're right--I think only three of the ten songs directly mention Xmas. Maybe that is why I've always liked it as much as I have over the years. Never gets tiring!
True, the only real "reason for the season" song is the very last one. The rest are winter or Santa songs (or in the case of "My Favorite Things," none of the above). I've always wondered if that was intentional, what with Herb being Jewish -- or if those are just the songs that felt best to him, themes aside. There's a ton of other songs that would have lent themselves to the TJB treatment... too bad there was never a volume 2!
It's sort of amazing that this album is so easy to buy now. Back in the dark days of the late '70s or so, it was out of print; all I had of it was an LP. I got it out to play one year and....the record was broken in half. I had a feeling some TJB-hating family member of mine might have gotten sick of me playing it every day during the holiday season and "accidentally" broke it, but nobody ever admitted it. (Plus they should have KNOWN I'd never stand for not having it and would just go get another copy!) I was very happy when the re-issued LP came out and even happier when the original CD came out -- except, why did they futz with the cover? So I was doubly happy when the Shout!Factory edition, with the cover restored, came out. So now I will have the "Herb Alpert Presents" edition. Here's hoping it has cool new liner notes, or something. (I also had it on 8-track at one point. Never on cassette though.)
Got my CD today. Nice package -- it's basically a mini-LP with no extra notes or pictures. It's a gatefold package with the prayer from the original album inside. I like that they preserved the back cover artwork complete with the autographs. The CD itself looks like a record with faux grooves and an ochre label. I thought there might be some details somewhere about the remastering but no -- the only indication that it IS remastered is the word "Re-mastered" printed on the CD, and on the aforementioned sticker. So, overall, a nice, if a little underwhelming, package.
I just might have to take a slightly long lunch hour today and listen to a few key tracks!
I just might have to take a slightly long lunch hour today and listen to a few key tracks!
It's very hard to actually break an LP in half.
My first version of this on CD was an import, pressed by Polygram back in the day. It was a year or three before it would be released here, so naturally I had to buy it. I bought the Brasil '66 Greatest Hits that day also; again, first CD release, same import source. Never bothered to replace either one, up until the Sig Series came along. Strangely enough, I ordered the Herb Xmas from an EU seller to pad an order, and it was actually in a jewel case with the SS artwork, not the DigiPak. So I think the cover art was squeezed back to a square for the booklet.
My first version of this on CD was an import, pressed by Polygram back in the day. It was a year or three before it would be released here, so naturally I had to buy it. I bought the Brasil '66 Greatest Hits that day also; again, first CD release, same import source. Never bothered to replace either one, up until the Sig Series came along. Strangely enough, I ordered the Herb Xmas from an EU seller to pad an order, and it was actually in a jewel case with the SS artwork, not the DigiPak. So I think the cover art was squeezed back to a square for the booklet.
Like with others, curiosity got the better of me and I ordered the newly remastered CHRISTMAS ALBUM to see just what, if any differences exist.
The first thing that hit me was a slightly beefed-up bass. Compared with the old A&M CD, it's a big difference. The Shout! remaster added a little more bass than the A&M but the new one sounds "fuller" in that regard.
Then I found something curious I hadn't noted before, and that is that the Shout! remaster of "Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring" is sped up nearly a half-tone from both the A&M and this new remaster. I haven't had time to check it with the LP.
Harry
The first thing that hit me was a slightly beefed-up bass. Compared with the old A&M CD, it's a big difference. The Shout! remaster added a little more bass than the A&M but the new one sounds "fuller" in that regard.
Then I found something curious I hadn't noted before, and that is that the Shout! remaster of "Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring" is sped up nearly a half-tone from both the A&M and this new remaster. I haven't had time to check it with the LP.
Harry
Some comments:
- Bernie Grundman is re-mastering all these re-issues.
- Not sure on this and will have to ask Randy - the aural differences may be that Shout! used the two-track masters then available and these new re-issues likely are from Randy's digitization/preservation of the tapes project?
- The Christmas Album cover art changed when it was re-issued (from out-of-print vinyl album) to the SP/CD/CS midline priced (3100-3200) series. However, I have seen the original cover art on a genuine German CD release.
- Once again, when CDs first were released here in the States, there wasn't enough domestic CD pressing capacity. A&M used its foreign affiliates in Germany & Japan to press CDs for the U.S. market. Even today, I see price gougers trying to charge for these what we normally see as pricing for 'real imports'.
- Packaging of the re-issues was to duplicate the original albums as much as possible - with the deletion of the logos and catalog numbers of the day.
DeeInKY
Well-Known Member
Got my cd yesterday. First I have to say that I love the look of the little lp. Played it this morning and I would have to say that Jingle Bell Rock and The Christmas Song are my favorites (at least so far). The Christmas Song surprised me. That's one that I always hear in my head as being sung by Nat King Cole. Now there's a competing voice. (And I didn't cry through it - always a plus.)
Herb's take on "The Christmas Song is one of my favorite of his vocals. It's cool because he's not a professional singer, thus anyone can sing along with it and sound pretty good.
I noticed the extra bass on the "My Favorite Things" choral part - when they hit that low note that's a good woofer-slapper now.
I didn't notice about "Jesu" being a higher tone, will have to do some comparing. Over all I thought the sound was great. Bernie Grundman is a genius.
If that's the case, I will really be anxious to get my hands on the new versions of some of the albums. Most everything from SRO going forward could have used some tweaking, especially SRO and Sounds Like, I thought.
I noticed the extra bass on the "My Favorite Things" choral part - when they hit that low note that's a good woofer-slapper now.
I didn't notice about "Jesu" being a higher tone, will have to do some comparing. Over all I thought the sound was great. Bernie Grundman is a genius.
If that's the case, I will really be anxious to get my hands on the new versions of some of the albums. Most everything from SRO going forward could have used some tweaking, especially SRO and Sounds Like, I thought.
If Bernie or one of his engineers (like the highly regarded Chris Bellman) are cutting the vinyl, we'll be in for a treat. Grundman Mastering is one of the top mastering houses today and do a lot of work with the audiophile labels. Bellman's work on the LPs I own is superb.
It's the Shout! disc that has the song sped up. This new one matches the old A&M CD, so I'm assuming it's correct.
Maybe due to authenticity, they kept the authentic incorrect timing intact.
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