Customer Reviews

New Sound 2

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...that is , if you have 'The Hitmakers/Time To Dream' (Blue cover, also sold on Amazon). Together, those two CD's are the best, in my opinion, of what made Les Paul & Mary Ford a unique and talented duo. I had purchased the 'Hitmakers...' first, but when I watched the Les Paul documentary on Public TV, I heard a really amazing instrumental that was not on the 'Hitmakers..'. Turns out the song was called 'Lover' and it is available on this, 'The New Sound Vol I/The New Sound Vol II'. Volume I also has 'Brazil' which I have a soft spot for also. One thing to keep in mind is that Volume I was Les Paul's first material utilizing the new technology he would become famous for, so Mary Ford was not present for those recordings. However, she joined up in time for Volume II, with her aboard the rest is history for this legendary duo!

A friend who transferred an old EP to a CD for a friend of his introduced me to the first half of this album. It amazed me how weird the music and guitar playing was. It was kind of like a sped up music box. It seemed sort of inhuman but I was familiar with many of the tunes so that kept it grounded. This album combines that record and the follow up record. The fidelity is much improved over the scratchy record I had heard. I don't know that I enjoyed the improvement due to the much more noticeable rhythm track. It sounds like a click track and I found it to be slightly annoying. This is something I did not notice when listening to the record. Still the music is amazing but I found listening to the record to be a warmer experience. Most the tunes are fun songs in themselves and they're done in a whimsical style. Les Paul was a brilliant guitarist and a recording pioneer and innovator. This is a landmark recording but it's more than just a curio. It's a lot of fun even if the rhythm track is a bit crude. It's well worth the money.