Victory at Sea - original LPs Vs Remastered LP or CD
One frequently hears excerpts of these stirring symphonic works on public radio and I have always thought of picking up a copy, either LP or CD. Reading the reviews on Amazon is largely worthless as one reviewer will give 5 stars and the next 1 star for recording quality with little in-depth comment as to why. If you own these works I would be interested in hearing your recommendations. One question I have is I assume these are all monophonic recordings, is that correct.
It has been my experience that the monophonic RCA recordings from this era were quite good, often as good as the remastered versions on certain labels. So my thought is I do not want to spend a wad-o-cash if the originals are reasonably close to any remastered versions.
Equally you see the people at home working 24/7 on the DVD to get out tens of thousands of planes , tanks , ships and weapons of every kind . Detroit was the hub and now is nothing .
Every American man should see , and not forget, the Heroic part of the US women in the factories, who were as important as a man in combat.
Indeed many women worked harder and longer than many men in the service !
In addition to fighting a war, men had to go through many other hardships that are not mentioned.
My uncle had a nervous breakdown in Burma because of the snakes. There was a snake that is now extinct, called a "Bamboo Python" that looked exactly like a bamboo pole. My uncle saw a bamboo pole on his bunk, he picked it up to throw it away, and the thing bit him. That sent him over the edge. That last snake was one snake too many.
US now has less than 10% of industrial power it had then and every American should see how this DVD makes it clear as clear can be better than anything you will ever see or hear.
I just listened to some of it in remastered stereo on Tidal. It sounded rather good. This is definitely NOT elevator music,* but film score by the composer Richard Rodgers. Like many film scores, whether it can be listened to in isolation, or must be attached to the film for appreciation, is up to you.
Thank you 4Track. I did not know there were separate records for the soundtrack and for the recording sessions. The only vinyl I have seen is the two record set RCA VCS-7064. This appears to be the recording session and not a movie soundtrack, which would be most preferable.
As the owner of Vols. 1 and 3 of, actually, the Living Stereo REEL TO REEL copies of the Robert Russell Bennett conducted re-recordings RCA issued between 1959-1961: they are in genuine stereo (if these are the same sources you're speaking of and not different ones lifted directly from the soundtrack of the 1952 miniseries?) and are great. I wouldn't think the originals would be more than $20 per volume in VG+ shape (because, unfortunately, it has been relegated to being called "elevator muzak" thesedays by people that don't respect the artistry of it).
If there's one complaint one might (possibly?) cite about the recordings, it's that: there are A LOT of authentic WW2 sound effects mixed in with the score....in that late 1950s, "ping pong stereo" kind-of-way(!). Some people might be annoyed by that or find it jarring because there was very little compression used it seems when, for example: there will be an orchestral track THEN -BOOM!- a klaxon horn will scream or a fighter plane will zoom across the speakers(!). It's gimmicky, but there's a certain "historical" sense of spirit it will evoke upon each listen.
To me, it all depends. At times the original pressing is better than a ‘remaster’ or ‘reissue’, and sometimes not. I certainly would not discount a reissue if the price is right vs a high cost original.
There are times when collectors drive up the cost of the original pressing that has nothing do do with sound quality.
Your best bet in possibly making this determination is using Discogs, as the various releases are rated by users, and one may be rated higher than another, and those ratings are typically rated on sound quality vs rarity of an original pressings, and in direct opposition to their worth/value.
Hi lubachl, I have both the original red seal label and shaded dog label versions (RCA Victor) Both are in Mono. I found these very clean copies for 25 cents each. I'm listening and enjoying right now ((thanks to your post) Excellent sound quality! I have no reissue to compare, although a close to mint original should be easy enough to acquire very reasonably. Good Luck
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