Ella Fitzgerald - Sings The Johnny Mercer Songbook - 180g LP

Product no.: V6-4067

Ella Fitzgerald - Sings The Johnny Mercer Songbook - 180g LP
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Speakers Corner / Verve V6-4067 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue

Limited Edition - Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering - Pressed  at Pallas Germany

AAA 100% Analogue This Speakers Corner LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only, from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head 25 Years pure Analogue

The Johnny Mercer Songbook is very last release by Speakers Corner in the superb Ella Fitzgerald songbook series.

To speak of 'songs' by Johnny Mercer, and just calling him a 'composer', falls far short of the truth for he is the personification of a top composer, a great lyricist, and a shrewd businessman, who set up a monument to himself with his extremely successful record company Capitol Records.

Ella sang Johnny Mercer's compositions over and over again, and on this recording we have a wonderful version of "Something's Gotta Give" and Johnny Mercer's theme song and showpiece "Dream". His inspiration as a lyricist is masterly. Who else could have thought of such a gorgeous introduction to Stan Getz's number "Early Autumn" "When an early autumn walks the land and chills the breeze and touches with her hand the summer trees …"?

Or the refrain from "I Remember You": "When my life is through, and the angels ask me to recall the thrill of them all". All in all, Johnny Mercer composed or wrote the lyrics to over 1000 songs, 13 of which Ella performs here in masterly fashion and in her own inimitable style - mellifluous, electric, or swinging.

Along with her Rodgers and Hart collection, this is one of the best of Ella Fitzgerald's songbooks. Fitzgerald's assured and elegant voice is a perfect match for Mercer's urbane lyrics and Nelson Riddle's supple arrangements. In light of this decorous setting, it's not surprising that Mercer's swagger-heavy numbers like "I Wanna Be Around" and "One More For My Baby" are skipped in favor of more poised selections such as "Early Autumn" and "Skylark." Even traditionally hard-swinging numbers such as "Day In Day Out" and "Something's Gotta Give" are kept in check with Riddle's vaporous, flute-heavy backing and Fitzgerald's velvet tone.

Slower numbers like "Laura" and "Midnight Sun" add dramatic contrast with their enigmatic tonal backdrops and elongated vocal phrasing. Fitzgerald's Mercer songbook has become something of an overlooked gem partly because of the popularity of her Cole Porter and Gershwin collections. It's a shame, because this songbook is beautifully executed by Fitzgerald and Riddle and contains wonderful Mercer collaborations with, among others, Harold Arlen and Hoagy Charmichael.

This is definitely one for any Fitzgerald fan and not a bad introduction to her vast catalog.

After the long series Speakers Corner have done of the Ella Fitzgerald Songbook recordings, we come to the Johnny Mercer Songbook, later vintage in the series, not as popular as the earlier titles, dusted off here by Speakers Corner to show that it is just as impressive as any, Ella is in absolutely sparkling form, and the remastering is better than any earlier SC Ella reissue - and those were stellar. A wonderful record, superb sounding. It goes without saying - perfect pressing.

Musicians: Musicians:

Ella Fitzgerald (voc)
Nelson Riddle (arr, cond)
Plas Johnson (ts)
Willie Smith (as)
Buddy DeFranco (cl)
Paul Smith (p)
Frank Flynn (vib)
 

 Side One:

1. Too Marvelous For Words

2. Early Autumn

3. Day In - Day Out

4. Laura

5. This Time The Dream's On Me

6. Skylark

7. Single 'O

 

Side Two:

1. Something's Gotta Give

2. Travelin' Light

3. Midnight Sun

4. Dream

5. I Remember You

6. When A Woman Loves A Man

Recorded : October 1964 in Los Angeles by Val Valentin

Ella Fitzgerald - Sings The Johnny Mercer Songbook - 180g LP

                               
20 Years pure Analogue

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head 20 Years pure Analogue

 
Are your records completely analogue?
Yes! This we guarantee!
As a matter of principle, only analogue masters are used, and the necessary cutting delay is also analogue. All our cutting engineers use only Neumann cutting consoles, and these too are analogue. The only exception is where a recording has been made – either partly or entirely – using digital technology, but we do not have such items in our catalogue at the present time
 
Are your records cut from the original masters?
In our re-releases it is our aim to faithfully reproduce the original intentions of the musicians and recording engineers which, however, could not be realised at the time due to technical limitations. Faithfulness to the original is our top priority, not the interpretation of the original: there is no such thing as a “Speakers Corner Sound”. Naturally, the best results are obtained when the original master is used. Therefore we always try to locate these and use them for cutting. Should this not be possible, – because the original tape is defective or has disappeared, for example – we do accept a first-generation copy. But this remains an absolute exception for us.
 
Who cuts the records?
In order to obtain the most faithful reproduction of the original, we have the lacquers cut on the spot, by engineers who, on the whole, have been dealing with such tapes for many years. Some are even cut by the very same engineer who cut the original lacquers of the first release. Over the years the following engineers have been and still are working for us: Tony Hawkins, Willem Makkee, Kevin Gray, Maarten de Boer, Scott Hull, and Ray Staff, to name but a few.
At the beginning of the ‘90s, in the early days of audiophile vinyl re-releases, the reissue policy was fairly straightforward. Companies such as DCC Compact Classics, Mobile Fidelity, Classic Records and others, including of course Speakers Corner, all maintained a mutual, unwritten code of ethics: we would manufacture records sourced only from analogue tapes. 
 
Vinyl’s newfound popularity has led many other companies to jump on the bandwagon in the hope of securing a corner of the market. Very often they are not so ethical and use every imaginable source from which to master: CDs, LPs, digital files and even MP3s. 
 
Even some who do use an analogue tape source employ a digital delay line, a misguided ’80s and ‘90s digital technology that replaces the analogue preview head originally used to “tell” the cutter head in advance what was about to happen musically, so it could adjust the groove “pitch” (the distance between the grooves) to make room for wide dynamic swings and large low frequency excursions. Over time analogue preview heads became more rare and thus expensive. 
 
So while the low bit rate (less resolution than a 16 bit CD) digital delay line is less expensive and easier to use than an analogue “preview head”, its use, ironically, results in lacquers cut from the low bit rate digital signal instead of from the analogue source! 
 
Speakers Corner wishes to make clear that it produces lacquers using only original master tapes and an entirely analogue cutting system. New metal stampers used to press records are produced from that lacquer. The only exceptions are when existing metal parts are superior to new ones that might be cut, which includes our release of “Elvis is Back”, which was cut by Stan Ricker or several titles from our Philips Classics series, where were cut in the 1990s using original master tapes by Willem Makkee at the Emil Berliner Studios. In those cases we used only the original “mother” to produce new stampers. 
 
In addition, we admit to having one digital recording in our catalogue: Alan Parsons’ “Eye in the Sky”, which was recorded digitally but mixed to analogue tape that we used to cut lacquers. 
 
In closing, we want to insure our loyal customers that, with but a few exceptions as noted, our releases are “AAA”— analogue tape, an all analogue cutting system, and newly cut lacquers.
 
60 Years Pallas
 
Audiophile Vinyl - Made in Germany  For over 60 years the family business in the third generation of the special personal service and quality "Made by Pallas" is known worldwide. Our custom PVC formulation produces consistently high pressing quality with the lowest surface noise in the industry. Our PVC complies with 2015 European environmental standards and does not contain toxic materials such as Lead, Cadmium or Toluene. Our vinyl is both audiophile and eco-grade! 

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