[78-L] Decca operettas remastered

[DAVID BURNHAM]

I don't know if this series is still available in the US, and I've never seen it in Canada, but in 2002, I found a series of Decca Broadway Operettas remastered on CD.  As far as I know, there were only 8 titles in the series: Babes in Toyland, The Red Mill, The Merry Widow, The Student Prince, The Desert Song, The New Moon, Roberta and The Vagabond King.  The booklets include all the original cover art and the notes say they are remastered from lacquered glass masters.  I realize that most of these sets are always to be found in any pile of 78s and that most collectors wouldn't give them a second thought, but since, as a child, I had many of these albums and played them to death, I have a nostalgic attachment to them.  

But the main attraction of this series is the sound!  The quality of sound is more like late 50s than mid 40s.  Occasionally there is a hint of surface noise but it is very subtle.  The sound is rich, with brilliant percussion, clear consonnants, (text I could never make out on the 78s is crystal clear), no distortion and solid natural bass.

One interesting, (and unintentional), "bonus" for collectors is that in its first release, "The Merry Widow" included an alternate take of "I Love You so - The Merry Widow Waltz" and left off the Finale.  At first I thought they'd just included the same cut twice but they're clearly different - for one thing, at the end of the second one, Kitty Carlisle sings a wrong note and goes painfully sharp on the last note.  On its second release, the second version of this cut was dropped and the Finale was brought back.

db