AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head
Speakers Corner / RCA - LSP-1993 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue
Limited Edition - Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering - Pressed at Pallas Germany
The Absolute Sound Super Disc List TAS Harry Pearson Super LP List
Speakers Corner 30 Years Pure Analogue This LP is an Entirely Analogue Production
Chet Atkins In Hollywood still has considerable artistic integrity. The audacity of combining the premier country guitarist with strings in Hollywood was a big gamble. It excels because of the phenomenal setlist and its instrumental brilliance. Also, the actual sound mix was progressive in 1961 and with the superior re-mastering at Speakers Corner is even better. Sound 4.5/5 Audiophileaudition,
When stringed instruments are employed, it is often an indication that the protagonist is somewhat mature. It is an unwritten law that sooner or later every rock, jazz or folk musician will bathe in soft tones for once. Chet Atkins, however, was light years away from his artistic zenith, came up with a wealth of ideas and was in a great position with regards to recording facilities when he set down his Hollywood album in 1959. Two years earlier, “Mister Guitar” had become boss of the newly founded RCA Studio in Nashville. Here he recorded several records, which reflected his ideas of an appealing, catchy Nashville Sound as an answer to the declining rock and roll.
The Hollywood numbers were by no means dynamite movie tracks or showstoppers. Dennis Farnon’s delicate, lush arrangements rather more pay homage to the maestro with his no-frills art of playing. The gentle Italo evergreen "Santa Lucia", Chaplin’s beautiful "Limelight" with its violins and the time-honoured "Greensleeves" – all of them flawlessly performed – are a real pleasure for the ears. Atkins greatly admired the superb string orchestra and two years later he re-recorded the album using the tapes from the Hollywood session to create this new version.
If the cover of At Home evokes the 1950s, the music on In Hollywood is the 1950s: a warm, cozy, sophisticated album of mood music in the best sense. Yet this is not an album of film music (though a handful of film themes turn up). Rather, it is exactly what the title indicates: Chet Atkins recording an album in a Hollywood studio, as opposed to the familiar haunts of Nashville. Here, he places his often affectingly lovely guitar licks in front of full, lush, sometimes inspired string arrangements by Dennis Farnon. Sometimes, Atkins appears all by himself, caressing "Estrellita" before the strings kick in, and his fingerpicking technique appears on a piquant treatment of "Armen's Theme" (originally a pre-Chipmunks hit for Ross Bagdasarian aka David Seville). Farnon is particularly good when he hooks onto a lush string motif and repeats it seductively on the "Theme from Picnic," or follows Atkins' guitar in a broad, surpassingly lovely treatment of Fats Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz" -- the two most gorgeous tracks on the record.
For some, this record might fall under the category of guilty pleasures, but a pleasure it is, one of the great make-out records of its time
Recording: October 1958 in Hollywood
Production: Chet Atkins
Musicians:
Chet Atkins, guitar
Howard Roberts, guitar
Jethro Burns, mandolin
Clifford Hils, bass
George Callender, bass
Larry Bunker, drums
Jack Sperling, drums
1. Armen's Theme
2. Let It Be Me
3. Theme From "Picnic"
4. Theme From A Dream
5. Estrelita
6. Jitterbug Waltz
7. Little Old Lady
8. Limelight
9. The Three Bells
10. Santa Lucia
11. Greensleeves
12. Meet Mr. Callaghan
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
MADE FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES
AAA 100% ANALOGUE - PURE ANALOGUE AUDIOPHILE MASTERING
We use the Original Tapes and work with only the Best Mastering Studios Worldwide
180 GRAM VIRGIN VINYL PLATED & PRESSED AT PALLAS GERMANY
Faithful Reproduction of the Original Artwork and Labels
LIMITED EDITION Released in Limited Quantities
All Licences and Mechanical Rights Paid
25 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.
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!