Singles album

[paul jh]

Will the Singles album contain only songs that were released as official singles, i.e., a 45 vinyl single was produced and sent to radio, retail, or jukeboxes?

My major pet peeve is when Singles albums are released and they contain songs that weren't official singles, but include lost tracks or favourite songs by the compiler or record label. If that's the case, then it should get some other name and be a various collection.

[Rmoore]

It's early days at the moment, we will need to look at the number of discs allowed by EMI and then depending on this it will definitely include the A's & B's of all UK singles and hopefully (room permitting) any that were released exclusively in the USA.

Hopefully it will be all of both UK & US singles. It will not have anything that wasn't released on a single to the general public.

My plan is also to include as many track in Stereo as possible I think there are only five or six tracks in total that only exist in mono, but in all cases I will do my level best to make sure the version on the set is EXACTLY the same as the single as there are a few alternate takes out there.

The only exception if we use the US singles will be the edited 'Softly' that was issued on liberty, we would of course use the unedited British issue.

Richard

[paul jh]

What about singles that were released in Europe, Latin America, Canada, or Asia? If you're not including them, I guess I don't understand the need to clutter this release with the US singles. I would prefer a collection of just the UK singles.

There have been only two or three reissues of Matt Monro material on CD in the US. I know that's not a reason to not include the US singles. But there just doesn't seem to be much interest in the US releases here. That's very typical for the American audience.

[paul jh]

The only exception if we use the US singles will be the edited 'Softly' that was issued on liberty, we would of course use the unedited British issue.
Richard

What is the problem with the US edited version of 'Softly'? Which version appears on the UK CD re-issues?

[john]

It will be great to have all these songs on cd. Some of my singles are a bit crackly, not surprising for the age of them.

[Rmoore]

The problem is that you are never going to please everyone. If we ignore the US Singles someone will complain, if we include them it seems they will complain too!

OK so Matt isn't as big as he was in the USA, but he was a Capitol artist and there are a number of US fans on this site. The US had some exclusive releases too. In fact out of the 14 songs not issued as singles in the UK but issued by Capitol and Liberty in the US, 8 were exclusive songs that were not released in the UK even on album until recently (one of which still hasn’t!) So in many ways it makes his US releases just as important.

To include every song released everywhere in the world on single would be ridiculous - and a large number of those would be in Spanish (in fact you might as well include the whole of the two EMI Spanish LP's) and this would then be a 6 (or more) disc collection.

At the end of the day it’s not my decision what is included, it’s up to the estate and EMI.

The edited ‘Softly’ is about 50 seconds shorter than it's UK counterpart, I haven't got it in front of me so I can't be totally accurate here, but a large chunk of the middle of the song has been removed. This version has been released on CD however on Collectables "Walk Away/Invitation To The Movies." This butchers the song, so naturally the full version would be included on the Singles CD(s)

The edit was made in the USA and would have been done without Matt or George Martin's knowledge. The edited tape is also several generations from the master tape that sits in the UK archives which will have been snipped straight out of the session reel and of superior quality.

[paul jh]

Okay, but hopefully it will be clearly indicate which singles are US and which are UK and which both countries. Of course, original label and serial number would be nice. Most important is the chart history (not restricted to the top 40): peak position, date of peak postion, date it entered the charts, and weeks on the chart. I'd love to see the full chart run (easily obtainable for the UK hits), but that may be getting too extreme for EMI and their "shortened" CD inserts.

[Rmoore]

Quite, the 'shortened' CD inserts is likely to be a problem.

Michele is in charge of the sleeve notes but I will be supplying the following information to her (where available)

UK Release Details
US Release Details
Recording Date
Recording location
Producer

How much she uses (or has the space to use is open to question!)

The chart position is not an easy one as there were several charts at once in the sixties and i think giving a complete chart history for every song would be overdoing it - and probably take until 2015 to do thoroughly anyway! the Peak position is probably the best to hope for, and also remember that for most of their history the UK charts only go up to 40.

[Gray]

So, Richard, please may I ask that you supply Michele with the peak chart position info too?
I would like to see that if possible..?

[Rmoore]

Michele has all of that info already - in regards to the UK charts, how accesable the US charts are i don't know, but i will look it to it when the time comes!

[Gray]

Ok, thanks Richard for letting me know.

[David Durrett]

The US singles should be included! There were some great songs that weren't released on UK singles.

I remember years ago picking up the 45 that had "Walk Away" and "Softly As I Leave You" and wondering what happened to the rest of "Softly." It just went through the song once, and I wondered if the full version had just used a repeat of the vocal until I discerned a difference in the pronunciation of "for." That was before my ears matured!

We've seen the same thing with "Love Song" and "I Love The Little Things." What a surprise to hear those songs keep going!

Richard: off-topic but related to the editing of Matt's tracks, do you think we'll ever get to hear the full English version of "If You Go Away"?

[Rmoore]

Thanks David,

I'm aware of the differences between the EP and Single length of "I Love The Little Things" but haven't yet traced a single of "Love Song" but I will!

I want to be sure that all the versions of singles on this album are identical to those originally released so in cases where different takes have been edited together it may well be that I have to use a Mono Mix, but we will see when I get to work on this one!

Matt did record complete English vocals for this song (The session tapes have gone, but thankfully a Stereo mix survives), we'll have to wait and see what happens in the future as for if it get a release!

I will have a look at your other questions later but it may take me a while to plough through them all!

If I may contact you off list, you may be able to double check a few bits and bobs for me from your own extensive collection - UK releases are easy to find out about but finding a collector in the US is not so easy!

Richard

[paul jh]

I just read the track listing of this most exciting 5 CD set The Singles Collection. I think we can all be excited about this release in 2010. This sounds absolutely thrilling. I don't even recognise some of these titles. Thank you Richard and John for your work to make this happen. I can't wait to see the artwork. I hope an image of a Matt Monro 45 rpm record appears somewhere.

[jon]

I too am excited about this release, principally because it contains many tracks I've not heard before. Can't wait.