What's the best sounding Patsy Cline?

I need me some Patsy Cline, and I want it in warm analog goodness.

I prefer vinyl, and I prefer mono vinyl. What are the labels and pressings to look for?

I won't ignore CDs either, so put in your two cents about good Cline on CD, too.

 

The out-of-print Patsy Cline Story I think is very good.

Could be better mind you but no tricks with this one, just the music hiss and all.

 

Decca mono vinyl. For good sounding Patsy on CD spanning her entire career in one shot, get the Patsy Cline Collection boxed set or as John posted, Patsy Cline Story is decent on CD. There are a lot of collectors who like the Everest vinyl for a lot of the early stuff, but start with the Decca stuff.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, gents.

Am I correct in assuming the MCA vinyl reissues from the 80s are to be avoided?

 

MCA vinyl reissues are great for stereo but since you prefer mono, Decca mono.

 

The Patsy Cline Collection 4 CD box set (MCA) sounds great.

 

On Decca, you need,

Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline Showcase
Sentimentally Yours
Greatest Hits

All on original mono vinyl are superb sounding.

On CD,

The current remaster of Greatest Hits is excellent but in Stereo. The Patsy Cline Story is also very fine.

 

That is an excellent sounding CD. Remixed from the three tracks tapes by Bob Ludwig during mastering. Very thick, rich sound!

 

i love the way this cd set sounds. I guess I am in the minority, as The Patsy Cline Story was my favorite collection in perfect sequence, but I hate the sound of the cd others in here are liking and suggesting. I've actually made my own Patsy Cline Story CDR from other cd sources excepting one or two tracks that I had to take from the actual cd, these stand out and pale in comparison...anyway, you cant ever have enough Patsy, so get the box set, i predict if you get the bug for her, you'll want it anyway....

 

Does anyone know how the gold cd on MCA of the greatest hits sounded?

 

In my opinion....
the Box is a no-noised piece of garbage.
The Time-Life 25 classics CD cleans the clock of any other CD's by a mile .

 

i have this and it sounds pretty great as well. there is/was also an early pressing that was in mono on cd and I've got a cdr of that and its also great to my ears.

surprised we had a :thumbsdn: for the box set...still there you have it, not much agreement on anything with Patsy's catalog...

 

i'm not even aware of this Time-Life cd, so I'm going to hunt one down, thanks for the tip...

 

You might get a kick out of Always. Long after her death, Owen Bradley, her producer, set her vocals to updated instumental tracks. The album shows how she could of sounded had she lived longer, sort of. So, a "new" Patsy Cline album came out in 1980. Purists may hate it but I ain't no purists. I enjoy it and the original recordings.

It's definitely her different soundin' album.

 

no disrespect Rachael Bee...but, yeah put me in the big time hater of this one....but I didnt like much of eighties country, could be that...seems kinda sacriligeous to me...my advice to any purist....tread carefully with this one...

 

Really, I have always heard great things about this box...

 

Hmm, I never noticed no-noise on the box set. I actually always thought of it as having a pretty natural sound, and you can certainly hear tape hiss.

 

it does sound natural but I have no vinyl to compare it to, but of all the MCA cds I've got and I've got a ton of them, the box is the best sounding to my ears.

 

The Patsy Cline story isn't all that bad to these ears. While it IS revisionism, I think it's certainly worth a listen, not to be confused with any original mono Decca finds.

It stands on its own, IMHO.

 

There are so many CD compilations of Patsy Cline that it can be a little daunting. Many of these are cheaply made on no-name labels like St. Clair or Prism, and are best avoided. Some good options for Cline are:
- If you're looking for mono, the original CD releases of "12 Greatest Hits", "Sentimentally Yours" and "Showcase" are all mono. Probably not from 1st generation masters, but they sound fine.
- The remaster of "Greatest Hits" (remixed by Bob Ludwig) does sound good (although some of the original analog warmth was lost in the remixing). But the biggest problem with "Greatest Hits" is that it's way too brief to serve as an effective overview of Cline. Some relatively big country hits and important tracks are missing, such as "When I Get Through With You" and "Imagine That". In addition, it uses the stereo remake of "Walking After Midnight", which sounds nothing like the mono hit version.
- "The Patsy Cline Story" is a more comprehensive compilation of her 60s material and a good value. Mastered at a low level, and almost certainly not from original masters, but still sounds nice.
- The best CD release of Cline's is still the "Collection" box set, which has almost all her studio recordings and nice natural sound. But this may be too much for the casual fan, particularly if you are more interested in the 60s material.
- The compilations mastered by Doug Schwartz actually sound pretty good...not as warm and natural as "Story" or the box set, but not bad. Either "Gold" or "Ultimate Collection" (exact same product with different title/packaging) are good overviews of her 60s material. All stereo.

 

no on this comment i am refering to a 1980 release that Owen Bradley had musicians cut new music to accompany tapes of Patsy's voice in the 1980s....NOT The Patsy Cline Story...

 

I'd say to a populist, try it. You can proablly find it on CD, used for $5 or less.

Myself, I have the old stuff too. It's just more is merrier with me.

 

Oh nuts, I thought the Patsy Cline story was the one that was facelifted. My bad!

 

Poor Patsy. She had so many cases of "new" releases with the original instrumentation stripped off and "modern" instrumentation applied. That 1980 release was called "Always". Heavy on strings, keyboards and syrupy female background vocals...amazingly, the title track actually was a country hit.

Then there was an album a few years later where they did the same thing but with Jim Reeves included as well. They even concocted a horrendous "duet" between the two of "Have You Ever Been Lonely".

The 1985 Sweet Dreams soundtrack had a number of tracks with new instrumentation, but at least that served a purpose for the movie. Actually, some of these aren't bad as they attempted to create a late 50s honky-tonk sound.

The final insult was the 1999 release "Duets" with new vocals by a variety of country stars: Crystal Gayle, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and others. This album was terrible as well, made even worse by the fact that many songs were originally mono recordings. Somehow they managed to strip out most of her vocals, but the process used left nasty artifacts.

Enough already! The original recordings are fine and there is no need to modernize them!