⭐ Official Review [Album]: "AS TIME GOES BY" (UICY-1060)

HOW WOULD YOU RATE THIS ALBUM?

  • ***** (BEST)

    Votes: 10 12.0%
  • ****

    Votes: 35 42.2%
  • ***

    Votes: 31 37.3%
  • **

    Votes: 5 6.0%
  • *

    Votes: 2 2.4%

  • Total voters
    83
Not the best review.

But considering how much came from the TV specials, it’s amazing that a DVD wasn’t released. Ok the songs where Richard replaces John Davidson wouldn’t work, but the Ella and Perry Como medleys would’ve been good.
 
the carpenters-como medley was chopped during initial editing, and i think richard had said it was lost, thus the reason for his re-recording the como leads. other than the ella-karen medley, the only other video cut of probable interest was " and when he smiles " and the hits medley, not much product to justify a video release.
 
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The complete medley is on the Perry Como Christmas dvd that Richard helped put together, and Carpenters are featured.
 
I actually wholeheartedly agree with this particular observation. I would have preferred the original, with all its rough and ready charm.



I see we've gone full-circle with the discussion on As Time Goes By, as that Allmusic.com review was discussed on the very first page of this thread several years ago!

It is a harsh review in a sense, although re the demo tracks, I think the reviewer has a point. Demos by their very nature aren't supposed to sound like a finished product and, as the original demo of 'Nowhere Man' demonstrates, the original was just fine as it was without any embellishments.
 
the carpenters-como medley was chopped during initial editing, and i think richard had said it was lost, thus the reason for his re-recording the como leads. other than the ella-karen medley, the only other video cut of probable interest was " and when he smiles " and the hits medley, not much product to justify a video release.

Yeah the opening part of the Como Medley went the way of the discarded 2-inch tape but the album still had

“Medley: Superstar/Rainy Days and Monday’s” & “Hits Medley ‘76” from the 76 special


“I Got Rhythm”, “Dizzy Fingers”, from MMM

“Dancing In The Street”, “Close Encounters/Star Wars” from SE.

“And When He Smiles” from the BBC special. That quite a lot of video.
 
my apologies. i did not realize the como medley had been reconstructed; i wonder why richard chose to re-record the como cuts, perhaps the pc live leads were weak, but that was how it happened.

dancing in the streets was very short, but could have been included.

some people complained that the richard's instrumentals was time taken away from karen.

i still don't see a viable dvd release,
 
my apologies. i did not realize the como medley had been reconstructed; i wonder why richard chose to re-record the como cuts, perhaps the pc live leads were weak, but that was how it happened.

dancing in the streets was very short, but could have been included.

some people complained that the richard's instrumentals was time taken away from karen.

i still don't see a viable dvd release,
With Como’s vocals, because the special was not produced by the Carpenters or owned by them (although they apparently recorded the backing music and their vocals, as Karen & Richard are singing and playing to tape), it was owned by Perry Como’s production company, and instead of recording Como’s voice properly for audio release, he was recorded LIVE to Videotape, and thus his vocals are mixed into the mono TV master (although his vocal would’ve been on its own track, as 2-Inch had 2 audio tracks that would be mixed to mono on playback). Also the mic he was using looks good on TV, but was not as good as a studio mic.

So when the TV special was being edited, it was discovered that the Medley was too long, and the editors cut the Medley down to “Close To You, It’s Impossible, We’ve Only Just Begun, Till The End of Time, No Other Love”. And in those days, because the edits actually physically cut the 2-inch videotape, most cuts were thrown out, and as such Como’s vocals for “Yesterday Once More & Sing” and any other tracks no longer exist. Although Karen’s vocals still exist, Richard had to record his vocals in 1999 for the Como songs, as those were unrecoverable. And on “Close To You”, even though on the DVD it sounds like Como’s vocals start when there’s no laugh track (which was used to dissolve and hide the cut in the audio), but Richard even recorded the first line himself because he thought the laughter intruded on Como’s vocals.

(You can hear the mono mix of the Medley on the Perry Como Christmas Show DVD while the stereo version is on As Time Goes By. The PCCS DVD also contains the rare mono mix of Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town & Carol of the Bells.)
 
The PCCS DVD also contains the rare mono mix of Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town & Carol of the Bells.)

I would say it contains "a" rare TV mono mix of "Santa Claus" as there is a promo issued on 7" with a true, released-on-record, mono mix. The two are not the same. The TV mix is different.
 
I see we've gone full-circle with the discussion on As Time Goes By, as that Allmusic.com review was discussed on the very first page of this thread several years ago!

It is a harsh review in a sense, although re the demo tracks, I think the reviewer has a point. Demos by their very nature aren't supposed to sound like a finished product and, as the original demo of 'Nowhere Man' demonstrates, the original was just fine as it was without any embellishments.

I haven't listened to the actual demo in quite a while. It's so GOOD.
 
I believe that they emanate from the same basic recording, but the TV version is "pinched" and a bit compressed. The mono promo 7" has fuller fidelity and a better dynamic range.

The difference is similar to the way the single mix of "Please Mr. Postman" differs from the album version.
 
I think the differences have more to do with how they sounded over the tv platform not so much that they were a different version from the 45 rpm. These tv tracks, "Carol of the Bells", "Sleep Well Little Children" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" sound really compressed and boosted in treble, it is missing the fidelity that we are use to hearing, they just don't have much depth to the sound. The plus is you can really hear Karen very nicely...much like the mono version of Santa Claus on the 45 rpm. The drawback is the tv clapping is in some cases overlapped into the start or end of some of these track which ruin the experience of listening from an audio only aspect.

I didn't realize that the short track of Sleep Well Little Children with Karen and Perry has actually not been released on CD in a digital format, correct? It has Karen harmonizing in a different way that we don't usually hear. It's cool to hear these.
 
Yeah, and "Carol Of The Bells" is very different with a chorus singing some of the words. Richard's piano is different too - it's a completely different recording.
 
This is probably the wrong thread but since we are talking about these tracks. I did the same for these tracks as I did for the Christmas Memories DVD. I made album versions of the audio from the DVD for my own personal use and listening. I included album artwork to make it official. I guess I am a completist huh? lol

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I believe that they emanate from the same basic recording, but the TV version is "pinched" and a bit compressed. The mono promo 7" has fuller fidelity and a better dynamic range.

The difference is similar to the way the single mix of "Please Mr. Postman" differs from the album version.
The single mix of Postman has the majority of vocals and handclaps mixed to the Center. Whereas what you are talking about for compression for TV occurs after the mixing stage so that the signal doesn’t overmodulate and distort. It depends on the production. Sometimes it’s addEd during editing or at the station when it’s airing. So it would be on the tape, but otherwise it’s the mono single mix of Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town.

And with Carol of the Bells I’d disagree, as I’ve listened to both quite a bit, and aside from the singers, Richard’s piano sounds the same, just in stereo on the album version.
 
I'm tired of this Tom. If it makes you happy, you win. (The 7" single STILL sounds miles better than the TV audio.)
 
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