Newly-launched label Mint Audio recently made a splash with Operation Santa Claus: Live from Hong Kong 1962, a previously unreleased concert from vocal great Matt Monro. The label’s two other premiere releases salute two other titans of song – Rosemary Clooney and Jim Reeves.
Rare and Unreleased features 30 radio performances from Maysville, Kentucky’s favorite daughter, Rosemary Clooney (1928-2002). Most are from the period of 1955-1961, with the earliest tracks dating to a few years earlier. The first five tracks, from 1951-1952 sessions, feature the young “girl singer” backed by the Earl Sheldon Orchestra. Producer Larry Jordan of Voice Masters has taken this quintet of songs – including the Finian’s Rainbow swinger “If This Isn’t Love,” the ballad “All the Pretty Horses,” and the recitation “What is a Baby?” (commissioned by Gerber Baby Foods) and supplemented the original musical tracks with new percussion, strings and more to create new stereo recordings from the mono originals.
The next sixteen songs are all taken from 1955-1961, during which time Clooney moved from Columbia Records (her home since 1947 with Tony Pastor’s Orchestra and since 1949 as a solo artist) to Coral, MGM and RCA Victor. Beginning in March 1955, Clooney hosted her own show for CBS Radio, produced by her friend Bing Crosby’s production company. Crosby and Clooney stockpiled enough masters that many were used when the duo co-hosted 1957’s Ford Road Show program and for 1960’s five-times weekly Crosby/Clooney Show. Her repertoire was varied, and highlights presented here include her rendition of the Johnny Mathis favorite “It’s Not for Me to Say,” a lightly Latin “That Old Black Magic,” a bright “New Sun in the Sky” and stately, elegant “All the Time.” Clooney retains the spirited, loose jazz feel on “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” from a composer with whom she certainly felt an affinity, Irving Berlin.
Clooney’s voice is front and center throughout, and at its most pristine; the once-overpowering organ of Buddy Cole that many felt marred the performances has been sonically minimized with the new stereo overdubs. A singer’s singer, Clooney was confident and relaxed in her radio performances bringing equal parts sensitivity and cool. She was a pure “pop” singer in the days before that was a pejorative. Her direct, honest approach to a song was closely akin to that of her friend and frequent collaborator Crosby, and as a result, she managed to keep her class even when recording some of the most egregious novelties of the era. Those novelties – which frequently found Clooney singing children’s songs, “ethnic” pastiches or even faux country-and-western – are absent here. Her more adult hits “Tenderly” and “You’ll Never Know,” however, are here, in beautiful interpretations from a vocalist in her prime. Clooney reinvented herself in later years as a contemporary jazz singer, fully revealing her gifts for lyric interpretation and emotional honesty without sacrificing her innate sense of rhythm and swing. But those who had been listening all along knew that Clooney’s strengths as a vocalist went far beyond “Come on-a My House” or “Mambo Italiano,” as enjoyable as those records are. The collection is rounded out with eight classy, largely uptempo performances recorded for the U.S. National Guard with the orchestras of Ray Conniff and Russ Morgan. These include a brassy “April in Paris,” swinging “My Runaway Heart,” and spirited “After You’ve Gone.”
As this is a collector-oriented release, it’s disappointing that the original broadcast dates aren’t included, not to mention more specific information about the restoration and overdubbing process. Happily, Jordan’s new orchestral settings are tasteful, well-executed and thankfully free of modern touches. Happily for purists, the original versions of these recordings are available on Mosaic’s recent box set The CBS Radio Recordings 1955-1961. Needless to say, Mint Audio chief Richard Moore has delivered impressive fidelity on this set. For those who don’t know the original radio performances – or for those who do, but would like to hear them in a new light – Rare and Unreleased makes for an enjoyable hour-plus with one of the greatest voices of the American songbook.
The life of Jim Reeves (1923-1964) was tragically curtailed when the vocalist and Grand Ole Opry star perished in a plane crash at the age of 40. But in the short time he had, “Gentleman Jim” became one of the purest, most distinctive voices in country-and-western, deploying his smooth and resonant croon to great effect on such songs as “He’ll Have to Go,” “Four Walls” and “Welcome to My World” and helping to popularize the lush Nashville Sound as well.
Voice Masters and Mint Audio’s Jim Reeves and Friends: Live from Nashville preserves the Golden Age of the Grand Ole Opry live from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium with a diverse “Who’s Who” of performers including Reeves, The Everly Brothers, Patsy Cline, The Jordanaires, Chet Atkins, and Janis Martin (the “female Elvis”). The 34-song release recreates four broadcasts in pristine sound, in which Reeves shares the spotlight with these stars and others. Following the four shows, there is also a selection of other previously unreleased performances from the star – some from the Opry’s television show. In total, Reeves sings on 23 tracks, only one of which has been previously released. In addition, this release includes dialogue and announcements from the original broadcasts.
Gentleman Jim calls a square dance with “Arkansas Traveler” and joins The Jordanaires on a stirring “I Love You More.” He’s tender on the numerous gospel songs here including “Peace in the Valley” and playful singing a duet with June Carter on “Worried Man Blues.” The guests’ highlights here are numerous, too, from The Everly Brothers premiering their “brand-new record” on Cadence, “Claudette,” to Atkins’ mellow instrumental “Please Don’t Talk about Me When I’m Gone” and jaunty “Pennsylvania Polka.” In her Opry debut, Janis Martin offers a brash “Love Me to Pieces,” and pianist Del Wood serves up a ragtime treat with “Twelfth Street Rag.” There’s plenty of furious fiddling from Shorty Lavender and the Stony Mountain Cloggers (“Soldier’s Joy”) and Tommy Jackson (another square dance tune, “Snowflake Breakdown”) and a delightful pair of songs from Patsy Cline (“There He Goes” and “Crazy Dreams”).
Producer Jordan, author of the nearly 700-page tome Jim Reeves: His Untold Story, has previously overdubbed numerous Reeves recordings including those found on the 8-CD box set The Great Jim Reeves. But there’s terrific pleasure in these original recordings which all sound vibrant as restored by Voice Masters’ David Lawrence and Mint Audio’s Richard Moore (who also remastered). Once again, one wishes that original recording/broadcast information had been included in the booklets. (Both the booklets for the Clooney and Reeves releases do contain brief liner notes.) Note that these recordings are released in accordance with current E.U. public domain laws.
With this pair of releases as well as Matt Monro’s Operation: Santa Claus, Mint Audio gets off to an auspicious start. Watch this space for news of the label’s future endeavors!
Rosemary Clooney, Rare and Unreleased (Mint Audio CDMT0003, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
- Our Love Affair
- I’m Only Ambitious for You
- Shine
- If This Isn’t Love
- All the Pretty Horses
- What Is a Baby?
- There Goes My Heart
- You’ll Never Know
- It’s Not for Me to Say
- There Will Never Be Another You
- How About You
- I Love You
- I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
- That Old Black Magic
- New Sun in the Sky
- I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter
- Tenderly
- Every Time I See You I’m in Love Again
- All the Time
- I Should Have Told You Long Ago
- Love Letters
- Danny By
- April in Paris
- Always Together
- My Runaway Heart
- After You’ve Gone
- Wide Wonderful World
- You Are My Lucky Star
- Love and Affection
- A Foggy Day
Jim Reeves and Friends, Live from Nashville (Mint Audio CDMT0002, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
- Overnight – Jim Reeves
- Claudette – The Everly Brothers
- I’ll Fly Away – Jim Reeves
- Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone – Chet Atkins
- Eight More Miles to Louisville – Stringbean
- I Love You More – Jim Reeves
- Arkansas Traveler – Jim Reeves and Shorty Lavender
- Waitin’ for a Train – Jim Reeves
- Love Me to Pieces – Janis Martin
- Peace in the Valley – Jim Reeves
- Pennsylvania Polka – Chet Atkins
- Twelfth Street Rag – Del Wood
- Four Walls – Jim Reeves
- In a Mansion Stands My Love/Billy Bayou/Yonder Comes a Sucker – Jim Reeves
- When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again – Blue Boys
- I Missed Me – Jim Reeves
- Honeycomb – The Jordanaires
- Soldier’s Joy – Shorty Lavender and the Stoney Mountain Cloggers
- Billy Bayou – Jim Reeves
- Snowflake Breakdown – Tommy Jackson
- There He Goes – Patsy Cline
- I’m Gettin’ Better – Jim Reeves
- Crazy Dreams – Patsy Cline
- I Know One – Jim Reeves
- Highway to Nowhere – Jim Reeves
- Worried Man Blues – Jim Reeves and June Carter
- Suppertime – Jim Reeves
- An Evening Prayer – Jim Reeves
- Partners – Jim Reeves
- Losing Your Love – Jim Reeves
- How Can I Write on Paper – Jim Reeves
- Roly Poly – Jim Reeves
- I’m Gonna Change Everything – Jim Reeves and Bobby Dyson
- Danny Boy – Jim Reeves
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The Weekend Stream: September 25, 2021
Joe, thanks for the great reviews of the Clooney and Reeves CDs I produced. I wish I could have provided more detailed information on the recordings themselves but was simply lacking some of those details.
In re Rosey, I did write an essay about the production, which you can read at: http://www.rosemaryclooneymusic.blogspot.com/
If you read the entire narrative you will find a before/after sample, plus unreleased material I did not use on the actual CD.
The Jim Reeves CD, of course, is one in a series I've done over the years after discovering a lot of unreleased material on him during the course of my book research. I formed an indie label as a way of sharing this with the fans, and it has evolved into releases on other classic artists.
It's pleasant to read such a detailed and intelligent review for a change. So many writers just go through the motions and completely fail to comprehend the music or the motives behind these projects.
Thanks again!
I think the motives were to make some money for Mr. Jordan and not provide proper royalties to the estates of both Mr. Reeves and Ms. Clooney while overlaying overdubs onto original recordings without any authorization of either of those estates.
You have no basis for conjecture whatsoever as you cannot possibly know my motivations. BOTH releases were done in the EU and under European copyright law, copyright expires in sound recordings after 50 years. All MCPS (song licensing/publishing fees) were paid.
With regard to Reeves, I acquired public domain material in the form of military transcriptions OR tapes that I obtained from the estate through legitimate means. ALL of the Rosemary material was out of copyright.
Approval was not required from either estate and if the motive was to make money, we could have slapped together a CD without going to the considerable expense, time and effort to engage pro musicians, orchestrators and engineers to overdub new instrumentation on Rosemary.
Be careful imputing motives to people you could not possibly know.
I knew that would not take long. Yes, European laws are great loopholes for avoiding paying royalties to artists estates, or for needing the permission of artists estates.
LOOPHOLE? Other countries aren't allowed to have their own laws? The entire European Union has a consensus about this. Our releases are entirely lawful and legitimate. Furthermore, you began your attack with the supposition the artist estates did not benefit financially. On what basis do you have any reason to make that assertion? Actually, they also benefit from airplay and the releases I produce get extensive airplay from big league media like the BBC. Scores of labels specialize in recycling the back catalogs of p.d. material. Have you never heard of Amazon? It's filled with similar imports. Your compassion for artists is deeply touching. But they are not entitled to claim any rights that the laws do not allow. Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 made it clear that you can sell products here (not just CD) that are LAWFUL IN THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN. I'd say that settles the matter.
There is a fellow on Amazon that goes after anyone that objects to these unauthorized overdubs with a ferocity and a writing style that is extremely similar to Mr. Jordan's (using the Hemmingway alias).
"Legal" does not equate with ethical.
I bet collectors would like to know that these are burned CDRs. Yes, they may be "manufactured", but they are burned CDRs nonetheless (probably at 48X).
I just wanted to say thanks to all involved in the Rosemary Clooney release. This is clearly a professional labour of love and NOT in any way a quick throw together for the sake of a profit.
The recording of Eb Tide has become one of my all time favourite Clooney recordings. So THANKYOU for making it what it is.
Perhaps if 'Kevin' took the trouble to listen to this cd he might just see how wrong he is.
I listened to a copy.
Sounds like you have an agenda Kevin. There is also someone on Amazon who has attacked me personally and even members of my family for 16 years, filling 81 pages on Amazon with lies and smears. You sound amazingly like him. His latest attack is on Daniel O'Donnell and Mary Duff, two entertainers with sterling reputations who have raised millions for charity, but whom he is attacking because they are appearing in TV ads promoting one of my REPLICATED CD sets. He accuses them of selling their souls for money and claims their endorsements of my products were just based on their greed. You are obviously hellbent on disparaging the two releases reviewed here. ALL CD manufacturers offer two options: duplication and replication, depending on quantity and cost effectiveness. If duplication to commercial standards was not a viable option, it would not continue to be available. There is NO difference in sound quality and the data from the master is acquired in the same way...burned on a CD-R. Even the world's largest online retailer, Amazon, uses replicated CDs in their "CreateSpace" program, and brags they have partnered with major labels. Why aren't you going after them Kevin. I have a lot of defenders, who have followed my label over the years, and address the venomous personal attacks and misrepresentations of the CDs I produce. I am not a shrinking violet who ever hides behind anonymity as I notice most of the ad hominem flame throwers do. Your posts have just been filled with wild speculation that you cannot even back up, and yet you're lecturing me about "ethics"? I imagine you will not tire of this exchange and you'll just keep on posting and posting and posting like that guy on Amazon who's attacked me for 16 years. What a waste of time as it hasn't stopped any of these superb releases from coming out. But if it bolsters your ego, go for it.
I mean Amazon uses DUPLICATED CDs in their CreateSpace program...
Well, that is not me. I have never used any alias. But I will close in saying that CDR's do not have the durability of proper CDs. Any collector knows that. As for Amazon, they do not go on the attack. They want customers.
I don't go on the attack either Kevin. I merely defend myself against spurious comments about how my CDs are somehow illegal, or ripoffs of artists' estates, or inferior productions, or I am only out to make money, blah blah blah. Come to think of it, exactly what YOU did in attacking these CDs. We do just fine on customers. If we didn't, I'd never have been able to release over 35 different CDs over the past years. We also rely on repeat business. And big media from Billboard to the BBC and many, many broadcast and print outlets have praised them. As for longevity, that's an old canard. Call me in 100 years and tell me if your replicated CD is still playing. I have duplicated disks 25 years old that are still playing well while replicated ones (supposedly the inferior type) are not. And the people who attack never buy anyway. Being a producer and wanting to sell copies doesn't mean laying back and watching people lie about the product. I always respect honest differences of opinion when they are at least well intentioned, if not well informed.
Wow Kevin, I'm not sure what your agenda is, but both these releases are fantastic in my opinion. I never realized I liked Rosemary Clooney until I heard this cd as well as another cd Mr. Jordan produced (Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney - The New Recordings). The only exposure to Rosemary Clooney I had was the movie "White Christmas". So, if you had your way, neither of these releases would be available to the fans? Is that what you're saying?
Those releases are available in their unaltered, un-overdubbed form on an officially licensed version, with all proper royalties paid to the estates of both Bing and Rosie on the Mosaic Record label. If you like Rosie, I recommend the classic recordings all issued officially with proper royalties paid on the Bear Family label. My agenda is that I do not believe overdub recordings should be issued without either the permission of the artist or their estates.
How do YOU know "all proper royalties [have been] paid" on any release by ANY label. Isn't this just a supposition on your part? I have on tape an interview with the head of one artist's estate who, in referring to the owner of Bear, said that he was "an absolute genius at not paying anybody any money."
What makes you privy to the business relationships between estates and labels? The two releases reviewed above on Clooney and Reeves are EU based and in full compliance with EU law, whether you agree with that law or not. Would you pay MORE taxes than you owe to Uncle Sam? Why would any label pay an estate money that is not owed under the law?
As for the overdub aspect, Elvis Presley's estate did not approve overdubs that were issued on him both before and after his death. In fact, he was even upset about some of them.
It's easy for people like you who have no last names to make ad hominem attacks under the guise of taking the moral high ground, but if the ethics of this situation were really your concern, why did you target just ME, and not the label owner of Mint who released these 2 projects and is based in Europe? What estate(s) or label(s) are YOU associated with?
I suppose that is why most artists have expressed gratitude to Bear Family for doing reissues, and artists or their estates have assisted Bear Family in their reissue projects. And, no I do not work for or have any association with Bear Family. I do purchase most of their products though.
Where's your proof that "most artists have expressed gratitude to Bear"? You claim you do not have any association with that company so how do YOU know? I am also an author of a 672 page book that took 13 years to write. AND I wrote a 7000 word book of liner notes for Bear for one of their box sets. (BTW, I was not given even one track of the hundreds I was to write about. Richard Weize expected me to track down my own copies and listen to them so I could write about them. So his cooperation in this endeavor was minimal. I turned over my manuscript and he made ONE change...that I later proved was historically inaccurate. I later decided to launch my own label where I had complete control.)
During research for my book I interviewed over 500 people. A lot of them were artists whose material was later released on Bear box sets without their prior knowledge or consent. They claim all they got was a copy of the CD(s) and no compensation whatsoever.
I personally know sources who gave or loaned photos and other important documents to Bear for their boxed sets and received ZERO in return.
I trust these people were not all lying to me. The artists had mixed emotions about all this: happy to be remembered after all these years, but not happy they received no compensation. But as I indicated, since Bear is located in the EU, Mr. Weize was not legally obligated to pay them.
I taped all my interviews so have the documentation for what I'm telling.
When Bear works with material that is still in copyright, OF COURSE they have to pay the labels. But our releases are p.d., and many labels specialize in releasing p.d. material. But usually they don't give a damn what it sounds like and just throw it out there in the marketplace. We, on the other hand, invest time, money and a lot of effort to restoring audio and bringing it up to today's listening preferences with the addition of new and better music played by some world class musicians, who don't come cheap. It is A LOT more expensive to do that than just issue a CD of retreads.
This has been an interesting dialog. One last question: do you have a Bear logo tattoo?
I support Larry Jordan 100%. He is an innovator. The whole public domain schtick has been thrown at me endlessly over the years, but I ignore it at this point. The U.S. is not the world, meaning the U.S. respects profit most whereas the world respects the right of music lovers to have access to music that is over fifty years old. I guess some people will never get it. I could use stronger language to describe these people, but won't.
Much gratitude to Larry Jordan and all the talented musicians for this stellar Rosemary Clooney release. I own over 60 Rosemary CDs and this one is quickly becoming of my absolute favorites.
The orchestrations are lushly beautiful and showcase the wonderful vocals of Rosemary so perfectly.
How anyone could have a problem with this release is beyond me. Thanks to everyone involved for this wonderful new gift of song.