CCM Music Releases

[mikenyc]

What's the deal with all of these CCM Music reissues...are they remastered or not ?

They have an interesting choice of reissues, but they are really short on the remastering details and it makes one wonder what's going on !

[tomcat]

I have the CCM Klaatu two-fer only. While I think it's ok for hearing the music for the first time (I have discovered the group only recently), the owner of the official Klaatu site (klaatu.org) wrote me that this CD's sound is "atrocious". No remaster, the same transfer as the first Capitol issue, not from the master tapes (there are new remasters by the group members on the way).
If my memory serves well, Collector's Choice Music has some Dean Martin CDs from his Reprise years. I have heard these tapes have not been licensed to anybody for years, therefore to me these CDs seem to be some sort of bootlegs, but I may be wrong.
My summary: there may be gems within the CCM catalog, but it looks very much like hit or miss...

[njwiv]

Originally posted by tomcat
If my memory serves well, Collector's Choice Music has some Dean Martin CDs from his Reprise years. I have heard these tapes have not been licensed to anybody for years, therefore to me these CDs seem to be some sort of bootlegs, but I may be wrong.

They are not bootlegs. The Dean Martin Family Trust, which owns all Dean's Reprise masters, recently began licensing Dean's Reprise material to Capitol. Thus, the recent Captol release of Greatest Hits: The King of Cool that includes both Capitol and Reprise material for the first time. Apparently the Trust licensed (or, more likely, Capitol sublicensed) the Reprise material to CCM for their exclusive twofers on CCM's own label. By the way, the Bear Dino Reprise sets are licensed/sublicensed to Bear through EMI Germany.

[tomcat]

Yes, that's all true as far as I know, but I thought the CCM releases came out long before the Reprise catalog was licensed to Capitol and Bear Records. This is what I meant with "not been licensed to anybody for years".

[njwiv]

Originally posted by tomcat
Yes, that's all true as far as I know, but I thought the CCM releases came out long before the Reprise catalog was licensed to Capitol and Bear Records. This is what I meant with "not been licensed to anybody for years".

Actually, the first of the CCM releases just came out last fall (2001), with the remainder coming this winter/spring (2002). The Capitol GH disc featuring both Capitol and Reprise material came out way back in 1998.

[tomcat]

Ok, so I stand corrected... I was in contact with Dave Bradley from the Klaatu site back in may 2001 and I thought the Dean Martin CDs were already on the CCM site at that time.
Best to all
Thomas

[njwiv]

Originally posted by tomcat
Ok, so I stand corrected... I was in contact with Dave Bradley from the Klaatu site back in may 2001 and I thought the Dean Martin CDs were already on the CCM site at that time.
Best to all
Thomas

Thomas,

As I recall, CCM was already advertising the first batch of Dino twofers at that time, so I think you're correct on that point. I have followed the Dino Reprise pretty closely as I had been trying to track down Dino's Reprise recordings for some time after obtaining the first two Bear sets. I was delighted to see Bear was doing the two Reprise sets to provide the whole enchilada.

Jay

[Dave B]

I own several CCM releases. As best I can tell these are typical reissues nothing special as far as remastering goes. However they are issuing titles and artists that the major labels don't feel there is enough interest in to bother with. A recent one was a Baja Marimba Band collection. I have not been disappointed with my purchases and when and if something better comes along I'll upgrade as always.

[njwiv]

Bradley has stated in the past that their releases are typically produced by the major labels' Special Markets divisions, meaning that there is no reason to expect any special remastering with CCM releases. Their forte is simply licensing material that you're otherwise very unlikely to see released by the party owning the masters.

Wish they could shake some Cameo/Parkway material loose from ABKCO!

[David Powell]

Originally posted by Dave B
I own several CCM releases. As best I can tell these are typical reissues nothing special as far as remastering goes. However they are issuing titles and artists that the major labels don't feel there is enough interest in to bother with. A recent one was a Baja Marimba Band collection. I have not been disappointed with my purchases and when and if something better comes along I'll upgrade as always.

I agree with Dave B's assessment, having recently purchased two CCM releases, Ramblin' Jack Elliott's 1968 Reprise album "Young Brigham" and Tom Rush's 1965 self-titled debut on Elektra. CCM is releasing interesting titles that have gone neglected in the U.S. market. It's great to see a domestic label reissuing stuff like this and at a mid-level price at that.

[njwiv]

Originally posted by David Powell


I agree with Dave B's assessment, having recently purchased two CCM releases, Ramblin' Jack Elliott's 1968 Reprise album "Young Brigham" and Tom Rush's 1965 self-titled debut on Elektra. CCM is releasing interesting titles that have gone neglected in the U.S. market. It's great to see a domestic label reissuing stuff like this and at a mid-level price at that.

David,

A quick hello from a fellow Atlantan and Band fan. I recognized your name from your insightful posts in Jan's Guestbook.

All the best,

Jay

[Joe Koz]

I recently picked up the two disc set on Fred Neil. Great sound & good notes. I would buy from ccm again. Didn't they pick up the Peter & Gordon Greatest Hits that Capitol shelved?

[njwiv]

Originally posted by Joe Koz
I recently picked up the two disc set on Fred Neil. Great sound & good notes. I would buy from ccm again. Didn't they pick up the Peter & Gordon Greatest Hits that Capitol shelved?

Yes. It's a nice disc that was to be part of the Capitol Collectors Series releases.

[Michael]

Amazingly they are putting out the Rowans first LP on CD. Never thought I would see that!

[pauljones]

I own the Kingston Trio CCM reissues, and prefer them to the twofers that Capitol issued in the early 1990's and also prefer them to the Capitol trio box set. At least the CCM series preserves the "flavor" of the original stereo albums. When the original stereo albums were mastered, they were run through Capitol's echo chambers. That is the sound you get with the CCM issues. Exactly true to the sound of the albums. Bob Norberg's remastering work for Capitol is very "dry" sounding. It is apparent that he went back to the session tapes and elected not to add the echo. Some may prefer that, but again, the CCM issues appear to be taken from stereo album masters, not the multitracks. Yes, they are at times hissy, but perhaps that is a good thing.