Customer Reviews

The Merry Widow & The Desert Song

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The performances are great and both THE MERRY WIDOW and THE DESERT SONG are given very theatrical recordings here.

The problem is sound quality. These are bootleg Cds dubbed from poor quality 78 RPMS with no attempt to clean up the sound. It is muddy, scratchy, noisy and distant. Also several of the sides were transferred running off-speed!!

Happily Decca Broadway has sued to have these bogus discs taken off the market and have announced plans to issue these same titles under their own label. Decca owns the original masters so the sound will be much better. Do yourself a favour and wait a few months for the Decca releases, and avoid at all costs this an any other releases from Encore/Box-Office!!

Many years ago, when i was a child, I used to listen to The Desert Song on the original 78 rpm records. Since one song took in an entire record side, I got to be choosy as to what i wanted to hear, and in what order. Somehow, no matter what the record selection might be on the turntable stack, it always included the musical tale of the Red Shadow (aka Paul, the French commander's son), in his quest for justice, love, and adventure in North Africa.

The Desert Song is one of those old-time musicals that they just don't seem to make any more...perhaps we have become too cynical, too worldly, to believe that once upon a time, people would go out by themselves, shuck off their privilaged existance, get together with a band of loyal henchmen (the Riffs in this case), and right wrongs, chastise villians, win the girl, and reveal their secret identity at the very end....and do all this set to some well-written music, including one of the great polyamorous love ballads of all time - "If One Flower Grows Alone In Your Garden".

Put some fun, adventure, and old-fashioned idealism back into your life and let yourself be recruited by the Red Shadow and his band, happily roistering in the secret cave hide-out, as they plan their next sorty against the evil-doers of a simpler - and possibly better - world.

The Merry Widow ain't half bad, either!

What an amazing career this performer has has!
She was cut down in her prime [over 90] and was
still doing performances, although none singing.
She has had a long singing career and her voice
remained strong and clear as it was when she first
made these two recordings.
It is a treat indeed to hear Kitty Carlisle Hart again
in these two fine plays.
Robin Russell

I can appreciate the enthusiasm of amateurs for these recordings, and their desire to make them available. However, ineptness at this level just hurts the very recordings they supposedly seek to preserve. I swear that this CD sounds like they used every trick in the audio restoration digital book, and did them all _backwards_. It is truly the most awful sound I have ever heard on any CD I have ever purchased.

The recording quality of this CD is very poor. I was very disappointed in this recording and cannot give it a high rating.