EMI Legendary Masters Favorites

What's everyone's opinion of the EMI Legendary Masters Series CDs? I have the following ones:

Jan & Dean
Jay & The Americans
Gary Lewis & The Playboys
Bobby Vee
Ventures
Rick Nelson
Fleetwoods
and I think a few others

I think for the most part the remixes done by Larry Walsh and Ron Furmanek are pretty good. They have that late '80's/early '90's mentality of countoffs and cold endings but they sound clean and warm, not overly bright. The Jan & Dean one is a good example of why you should keep certain older CDs - the new 2CD set "From Surf City To Drag City" is very shrill and overly bright and very painful to listen to.

 

I like lots of CDs from this series: I have Ventures, Jan & Dean, Crickets, Bobby Vee, Fats Domino, Gordon Lightfoot (yes he has a title that's part of Legendary Masters Series/Legends of Rock and Roll series. The 2 CD set of the UA studio albums), Ike & Tina Turner.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the Jan and Dean. I can pick one up for $5.00.
Think I will.

 

One of my favorites is the 2-CD set of Canned Heat. Why they didn't put Fried Hockey Boogie on it is a mystery to me, though.

You'll never hear a finer "On The Road Again."

 

I have five in the series. The Jan & Dean is the best quality wise in my opinion. Lots of studio chatter too!

 

EMI Legendary Masters

>>>Yes, I have all of those and many others in the series.

They are all GREAT, in my opinion.

The Crickets one is SO great, that you think you are in the studio with them. Its that good. Its a tough one to find now, tho, it went oop very quickly.

The Ventures is worth it if for only to hear the ORIGINAL Walk Dont Run from 1959 in True Stereo!!! The 1964 remake was always stereo.
I'm a huge Ventures nut (35 CDs) and I love it.

The Bobby Vee is great, as are The two Ricky Nelsons. I agree that the Jan and Dean sounds pretty amazing as well.

The Fantastic Baggies was a JOY. Boy did that one sound great.

The Lettermen one is fine (bo those guys could SING!!)

The Timi Yuro is nice (i'm not a huge fan)

The Gene Mcdaniels is really good...much better than the EMI greatest hits Cd which was hissy hissy hissy.


I really love this series and Im sorry they cancelled some before they could come out. I wanted to see a Ventures Part two, a Chipmunks, a Standells (they were on Liberty), and a surf/drag comp (which DID come out later)


Mikey

 

I very much enjoyed the Ricky Nelson Legends CD's, with James Burton on guitar. I dont know how they would compare with the most recent box set...I wonder if the Blues Magoos got the idea from "we aint got nothing yet" from Rickys version of "summertime" on vol 2.
The Jan & Dean one is excellent especially if you dont have any of their other stuff.
I noticed that the "ride the wild surf" on rhino's surfin' hits
has the orchestra way, way up front, unlike the version on the legends.
Maybe that's from the movie soundtrack, "Ride" was a top 20 hit according to the liner notes.
I never heard the original single.
I got the Move, Fats Domino and Eddie Cochran ones too. The Eddie has a real cool demo version of pink pegged slacks, and some rarities.

 

My favorite in the series is the great Christmas compilation, Legends of Christmas Past.

It has the first decent true stereo mix of the original 'Chipmunk Song"; it has the first true stereo mix of the single version of "Little Saint Nick"; it has two Bill Haley & the Comets performances (in stereo) that were inexplicably left in the can; and it's got "The Chipmunk Song" by Canned Heat & The Chipmunks in true stereo. Plus it has Christmas singles by such artists as The Belmonts, Bobby Goldsboro, Bobby Vee, the Five Keys. Marvin & Johnny and the Holly Twins ("I Want Elvis for Christmas"). Then it'sa capped off with a bonus track of Christmas or holiday greetings recorded by various artists for DJs, mostly in the 1960s.

A wonderful compilation -- if you're at all into holiday music, pick this one up if you see it!

 

Two I wish I had bought:
The Rivingtons (the birds the word!)
Shirley & Lee (Let The Good Times Roll!)

 

Here are a few more. Don't forget the Capitol Collector's series.

Johnny Burnette You're Sixteen 99997
Canned Heat Uncanned - Best of Canned Heat 29165
Cher Bang Bang - The Best Of Cher 92773
Fats Domino My Blue Heaven 592808
Fleetwoods Very Best of The Fleetwoods 98830
Freddie And The Dreamers Best of Freddie & The Dreamers 96979
Highwaymen Best of the Highwaymen 96334
Jan & Dean Ride The Wild Surf/Little Old Lady From Pasadena 80055
Jan & Dean Surf City: The Best Of Jan & Dean 92772
Jay & The Americans Come A Little Bit Closer 172262
Gary Lewis & The Playboys Gary Lewis & The Playboys 93499
Manfred Mann Definitive Collection 596096
Ricky Nelson Ricky Nelson, Volume 1 92771
Ricky Nelson Ricky Nelson, Volume 2 95219
Various Artists EMI Legends of Rock 'n' Roll 96268
Various Artists Rock is Dead, But It Won’t Lie Down 81128
Bobby Vee Bobby Vee - Legendary Master Series 92774
Ventures Walk—Don't Run: Best of The Ventures 93451
Gene Vincent Capitol Collector's Series 94074-2
Timi Yuro Best of Timi Yuro 80182

 

This is one of the WORST examples of taking a W-I-D-E stereo mix and making it nearly mono. Get the One Way two-fers to hear what these recordings are REALLY supposed to sound like! The Cher is even worse.

 

Actually, "Worse" doesn't even begin to describe the Cher, Larry. Try "stinkin'" or "lousy" or "putrid."

 

Friends,

Generally, I like most of the releases in this series. They are not perfect but, I appreciate the "sweat equity" that went into them. Some are definitely better than others. I am glad we have them. I really like the Jan & Dean release because the big hits now have the centered impact that more mirrors the original Mono singles that have never been released on CD. I never much cared for the original Stereo mixes because they sounded so far away from their original Mono single version counterparts. I have the sound of those original 45's stamped in my brain as "the" memory of their classic cuts. I never purchased any of their Stereo albums back in the 60's, just the 45's.

Bob

 

In the Capitol Collector's Series, I got the Gene Vincent, Esquerita and Jack Scott ones. Jack has especially good sound in the car, like he's singing in the back seat while i'm driving! it doesnt have his earliest songs like "the way i walk", however. The Gene Vincent one is real good on a couple of levels; it only duplicates one song from his original US capitol albums and consists only of singles a and b sides.
The Esquerita is great in that most of it was unreleased in any form ever, with some rare capitol 45's thrown in. That it also sounds good is icing on the cake.

 

Good thread audiodrome,

I like my:
Billy J and the Dakotas
Gerry and the Pacemakers
Ricky Neson 1 and 2
Ventures (although one of the remixes seemed a little extreme)
Fats Domino
Eddie Cochran
Manfred Mann
Kingston Trio

It's refreshing that not everyone insists on the original mixes all the time. Some of this stuff sounds pretty good.

 

Speaking about great vocals, The Seekers and the Four Freshmen Capitol Collector's Series are also excellent. I still play them all the time. It's a shame because there are no good Seekers collections in print anymore. I tried to get the Australian box set but I was too late. I'll have to try ebay. For anyone who likes them, I HIGHLY recommend the Four Freshmen 9CD box set from Mosaic. Both the mono and stereo cuts sound absolutely beautiful. It covers their entire 50's Capitol catalog and worth every cent.

By the way, someone mentioned there was a Legendary Masters CD of The Move. I totally missed that one. I have the "Movements" box set from Westside and it sounds pretty good but a little uneven. Can anyone compare the sound on this to the Repertoire reissues?

 

The Westside is horrible---the Repertoire ones absolutely kill the box. Same thing goes for Procol Harum.

 

Too bad, Bob. The original Drag City Album on Liberty was incredible sounding with those dragsters panning from left to right in front of you. So was Dead Man's Curve.

 

The Julie London "Julie Is Her Name/Julie Is Her Name, Vol. 2" CD is another good one in the EMI Legendary Masters series.

 

Some of those Legendary Masters titles are showing up on Collectables these days - check out their site for more info...

 

I'm typically a stickler for original mixes, but I've got my share from this series, too. Nobody's mentioned this one:

The Outsiders
Capitol Collector's series

...or this one

The Exciters
EMI Legends of Rock 'n Roll series

 

Yes there is a legendary masters Move CD, Great Move!, but it covers a completely different part of the Move's career.

The westside covers the first 3 albums and singles etc. The leg masters covers the last album Message From The Country plus several late singles.

Soundwise there is no comparison.

 

I returned the Procol Harum box and got a refund and then bought the later individual westside releases of the first 2 albums with upgraded sound and several bonus tracks.

I have the repertoire Home from 4 or 5 years ago without bonus tracks which sounds pretty good to me.

 

How do you get the quote in the shaded box?