This is identical to the 2002 remaster, except that it is packaged in a cardboard digipak instead of a jewel case. It is the 1956 Original Broadway Cast recording, in mono, with additional interviews with the cast at the end, which most reviewers seem to prefer the to the later 1959 London Cast Stereo version. I'm a My Fair Lady fan, and I have both recordings, and as far as I am concerned they are both great, and different enough to justify having both. Enjoy! PS: I'm not a big fan of the movie soundtrack, because it doesn't have Julie Andrews.
I agree strongly with the positive comments on the sound of this remaster. Although New Morning was well-received at the time and has generally been considered a strong effort by the fans, the remaster was somehow skipped over when the SACD remasters came out in 03. That was a crime, because the old CD version was one of the worst in the catalogue, muddy, muddled, and almost unlistenable (the original vinyl was no great shakes either). Well guess what, this sounds as good as any of the SACDs, even though it is standard 16 bit redbook. The great music is like bird released from its cage, and now it really sings.
Great Updike Essays, September 26, 2009
It's a shame that these earlier essays by Updike have gone out of print. Perceived in the same graceful style of his most famous essay collection, Hugging the Shore, which won the Pulitzer Prize, the readings in Picked Up Pieces are no less startling in their breathtaking insights and sympathetic readings of a wide range of authors and their works. Updike is so at ease with all aspects of the language and the culture that reading him is like a guided tour into the greatest pleasure and deepest instincts of the the literary terrain of the time. Highly recommended, and a vote to reprint these essays for our own time.
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