Mine ships Wednesday. Just in time for Christmas music season!
Printable View
Mine ships Wednesday. Just in time for Christmas music season!
I can’t wait for mine to arrive!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I may buy this...my first copy I got in 1968 [[?) and I believe White Christmas and Silver Bells had no background vocals whatsoever.
I cant be certain but I think it was Mono...when I replaced it in the 80's with the Natural Resources [[?) issue I immediately felt like my ears were being assaulted...I prefer the "solo" takes. My 2 favs here
are Born Of Mary and Twinkle Twinkle Little Me...and to me it sounds like Mary and Flo are on those 2
I odered my copy direct from Real Gone [[in my mind, this is a sure fire way to let the company know this is selling!); ordered it Monday night and it shipped on Tuesday! And was even cheaper than Amazon! Let the holidays begin!
Yes, definitely a good option for those of you residing in the States. For those of us elsewhere, such as myself, I tend to try and order online from websites within my own country to avoid duties/import fees, otherwise it gets to be quite pricey. However, I am very happy this is coming out. Any Supremes reissue on CD will get my full support :)
http://www.importcds.com/the-ultimat...s/848064006428
Pretty good price from importcd's.
Joy & dread.
My copy just arrived today. I opened the package and began by reading the Disc 2 Track-by-track with Andrew Skurow and George Solomon. Quite informative as usual.
And the reveal that the complete 1967 Copa Show would be part of the Holland-Dozier-Holland Expanded Edition [[coming soon from Motown/UMe)!
I thought I would listen to disc 2 first , beginning with the duets. I went to take that disc from the digipak and horrors. It was so tight in the holder . I tried to gently pry it away and then even though I was trying to be as gentle as possible , it cracked. I have never had that happen before.
I am heartsick. I'm sure that I will obtain a replacement when requested.
However , I do hope that no-one else's cd's are as difficult to remove.
So, please be careful.
After working even more gingerly to remove disc 1, I am now listening to the mono versions.
My heart goes out to you, luckyluckyme. I've had that happen twice [[in one sitting, no less) and it's sickening. I don't know why the CDs are suddenly being manufactured so tight on the hub this year, but it's becoming more and more frequent with more and more releases.
Between my good Motown buddy Kenneth and I, we came up with a semi-solution to help prevent this problem from happening:
1) When removing the CD from its hub, use your thumb to press as hard as you can on the hub itself while removing the disc. This tends to release some of the pressure on the disc.
2) Think of the disc as a clock with numbers 12 o'clock), 3, 6, and 9 o'clock. While pressing on the hub with your thumb, simultaneously use your fingers to gently-but-firmly lift the disc at the 12 and 3 o'clock positions. Or at the 9 and 12 o'clock position. Any two combinations should work as long as the two positions are next to each other. DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE THE DISC AT THE 12 AND 6 O'CLOCK POSITIONS NOR THE 3 AND 9 O'CLOCK POSITIONS. It puts too much pressure on the disc and will guarantee breakage. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience!
I hope this helps. Musically speaking, there is nothing more heartbreaking than a CD breaking -- especially a Motown CD!
Hey George and/or Andy... can you tell us what other songs were recorded for this that did NOT get vocals ? I have heard Winter Wonderland and Santa Baby. Were there other ? Were these Christmas songs all done around that 1965 timeline ? They recorded that one Disney Christmas song in 1967, did they record any other Christmas in 1966 to 1969 ?
Thanks for all your hard work on these. Looking forward to picking up my copy at Amoeba in Hollywood this weekend.
I will have to try this method, thanks.
I had trouble with the new Brenda Holloway Spellbound CDs. What I did was to place all five fingers on the CD and turn or rotate the CD back and forth while pulling-up gently on the CD. This seemed to work. Maybe it's just a variation on what you suggest. Hopefully either one or both methods help someone.
#191 on the Amazon Sales Chart! ..the girls can still move product as they say in the music biz! and yes, the CDs are tight in the package so press down on the center holder until the CD comes loose don't try and grip it out! I've learned from past experience; listening to my just arrived copy right now!
I.AM.SO.HAPPY with this set! I expected a plain two disc box but it is EXACTLY like a Universal expanded edition. Same type of packaging, but in addition, it has a Motown replica label, which has not been the case for some of the Universal expanded editions. If we can get more of these licensing arrangements to get more expanded editions out, then I say do so. [[I assume this was a licensing agreement with RealGone and not that they are a subsidiary).
I did hear that Sing HDH was almost done. I think it was originally released in January 67.....hmmmm 50 years flew by
Once again a great set. Got mine today and of course went immediately to the new tracks. Mary's lead on Christmas Song is frankly one of her best. Especially from the 60s. She sings w a wonderfully full voice and phrasing. It would have been great to hear her full version on this song.
Frankly I'm not as much of a fan of these manufactured duets. But I'll take them over missing out altogether on a track. It does make me wonder if the Mary track on Christmas Song and Diana track on Silent were either incomplete or perhaps some glitches in the vocal that make the producers not want to release. I know that some fans like to throw dirt onto one Sup or another saying they can't sing. I wouldn't be opposed to getting tracks w errors or missed notes or problems. I think they'd be fascinating views into their recording process
Diana's vocal was incomplete for "Silent Night." The booklet says Mary did a gentle scratch vocal on "The Christmas Song." She probably had some vocal glitches preventing them from releasing a complete vocal, but I think the duets are great especially the ending of "Silent Night."
And where is this rare and hard to find picture of Andy posing with H/D/H Expanded? :D
Do you mean this one?
Attachment 13720
And with George holding the original mono album master tape....
Is that the Holland-Dozier-Holland EXPANDED EDITION or one of the Japanese cardboard sleeve editions?
In the comment section, it is identified as a mock-up.
got my cd and its cracked.....damn......I was so excited to see it here today but I cant listen to it
Ok I have folded and ordered on line, from import CD it was only $19 + $7 shipping which is still cheaper than Amazon UK and they are now saying between one to two months for shipping I hope mine arrives in time for Christmas if not ive got 3 other versions to listen too !!
I got it in the mail today, and mercifully I didn't end up cracking either disc getting them out of the package. First thing I wanted to listen to was the two duets. brilliant! beautifully done! Gonna listen to the 2017 mixes tomorrow on my way to work. Can't wait to hear 'em!
Rec’d my copy yesterday. Thanks to the heads up, I was very careful about removing the discs from the tray and happily managed not to crack them. They were on there pretty tight.
Real Gone has done real great on this set, packaging, photos, annotation, and sound quality all home runs. And you get every known Supremes’ Christmas recording in existence!
Having listened to all three versions of the album on this collection, I find myself going back to the mono version. It was the version I grew up with and “Merry Christmas” was one of the last Supremes albums I replaced with the stereo version. I didn’t like the stereo version as much but eventually got used of it.
Perhaps I’ll appreciate the 2017 mix more after a few listens. Right now I find too many of the alternate takes inferior. The vocal on the alternate “Children’s Christmas Song” is so less charming IMO. The loud and pounding “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” is so much less so on the alternate. The vocal intro and abrupt ending on the alternate “My Favorite Things” take away from what was already a near perfect recording. I did like some of the new mixes, especially “Silver Bells” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me”. And I love the duets that never were!
And I really love that this is a physical release. Thank You Real Gone.:)
I really loved the alternate mix on My Favorite Things. I think at this point, though, I'm predisposed to prefer any alternate take just because I've listened to the original tracks so many times that anything different is exciting. As I said in another thread, Mary blew me away in her duet.
Wish this had been released digitally as well. Looks like I'm forced to skip this release. [[Now I see how it feels when you anti-digitals don't get a physical release. I'll forever sympathize with your pain in new understanding.)
Received my copy yesterday and I am listening to disc 2 right now and love it. What a beautiful package. I hope one day they will do the same for Funny Girl. Thank you Andy, George, and Real gone music.
I ordered one last night; I'm happy to have a physical CD that I did not make.
My only disappointment in all of this is that I find I am not playing these CDS as much as I would have years ago - I'm not sure why. I think part of it is that I have Sirius in my truck and so don't listen to CDs in it. I've heard that new vehicles do have CD players in them this year.
I'm glad to have these in whatever form - but CD is my preference.
CDs are great but nearly all of my music listening is done on my laptop music collection, or my ipod. I have a disk driver that stopped working for some reason and so I cant play cds or upload them to my laptop. I have a stereo with cd player but I'm so used to being on my laptop working and having whatever I want at my fingertips. This sucks.
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/LG/P60NS50/
Works on Mac or Winders. Less than the cost of one new Expanded Edition CD set.
You guys are clearly younger! Sad for me!