What is the best release?

[Michele Monro]

Paul mentioned that 'The Rare Monro' was one of the best releases in the last five years - what did you consider one of the best before that?

In fact what do you all think is the best release to date - titles and comments please

[Lena & Harry Smith]

We have to say that "The Singers Singer "has to be among the best Michele, but we were delighted with the M & S "Matt Monro's Finest" release because of the song "More " that was included.
" A Time For Love " has many of our favourites, and so too has the 2CD "This Is Matt Monro"
" From Matt With Love" another with a superb selection, and "Heart Of The Man" was one that we both liked because it contained songs with familiar artists that we remember including...
June Marlow, who not only sang duets with Matt, but sang in the well known TV advertising jingle "Fry's Turkish Delight." and as far as we know she is still alive and well today and living just a short distance from where she grew up.

[mariana44]

I think one of my favourites now is "From Matt with Love"-I just love the selection of songs on it.

[john]

One of my top cd's is the wonderful 2 disc set "Complete Heartbreakers". The first disc has all the hits on, but cd 2 has some great lesser known tracks like the fab "One Day" and "Sarah's Coming Home".

[Michele Monro]

Not only was I on the phone to June a couple of weeks ago but then actually interviewed her for the book.
She is wonderfully well and still working hard.
She is an amazing person

[Lena & Harry Smith]

That's wonderful news about June Michele. She has had a great career on TV and radio and working with Matt , she has always said that Matt was her favourite Singer.

[Gray]

My Favourite Matt Cd is Hollywood & Broadway, for three reasons.
I adore Sunrise Sunset, just adore it. I could cry every time I hear it.
I also think 'Hello Dolly' is musical perfection, the arrangement is gorgeous and the vocal interpretation so smooth and effortless.
Neither song bears much resemblance to the versions in the original 'shows', which to me highlights the process of arrangement that we've learnt Matt put much emphasis on.

The third reason is that the Cd was in last years Fans Reunited goody bag.
So whenever I play it I remember meeting a lot of you wonderful people who visit this forum.

Gray

[jon]

Gray

I totally agree about the Broadway album and "Sunrise Sunset", which is one of my favourite Matt tracks. The other Matt album which stands out for me was the recent "From Matt With Love", mainly because of the lesser known tracks such as "Once in Every long and Lonely While" which I had not heard before. I'm also looking forward to the release of "Matt at the Movies" as this will contain a few rare tracks not yet heard (by me), though I do have most of the songs on it already. But I'll buy it anyway.

[Angela51]

One of the many CD's which I have, I particularaly like :

THROUGH THE YEARS ... Fly me to the Moon etc., etc.,



Angela

[Terence Lee]

I prefer to listen to the original albums rather than compilations. So although disc 1 of The Rare Monro is an excellent compilation and disc 4 of The Singers Singer has many rare tracks, my vote will go to any of the twofers. However it is frustrating when stereo albums are released in mono. So the EMI UK cd of This Is The Life/Here's To My Lady is particularly disappointing.

My vote for best release goes to Walk Away/Invitation To The Movies released by Collectables in 2000. Good sound,great songs and nice cover art.

[Marian]

I agree with all you have said above Terence, and on your recommendation have just bought a copy of "Walk Away/Invitation to the Movies."
I am a little puzzled however why stereo albums should be released on CD in mono. Surely the aim is to transfer as many tracks as possible in stereo.
Marian

[Rmoore]

Michele and I are working on this! It's one of the reason's i'm looking for all the Stereo Masters.

The simple reason for the Mono tracks that appear so often (From 4 of the USA Recorded albums) is that the Abbey Road archive only contain Mono mixes - However (as the Collectibles CD shows) Stereo mixes do exist - but only in the Capitol Archives in the USA.

Even they are not perfect though. There are a number of mono versions of songs from the Capitol years (Singles and Unreleased) that stereo masters exist for, but Capitol sent the Mono mixes!

At the end of they day what you have to remember is Record companies cut corners - they will use any tape they can find and do not search to find the best masters.

I'm hoping the research i'm currently undertaking will eventually solve this problem.

Richard

[Marian]

Thank you for your explanation Richard.
It surprises me that the record companies cut corners in this way. I'd have thought it was in their best interests to produce the best possible product for their buyers, but then it's all about money these days I suppose.
Great that there are people like yourself and Michele who strive to bring us the best possible quality with regard to Matt's music.
Marian.

[ROBERT M.]

Here Here - well said Marian

[Paul]

Although it's very difficult to pick ANY Matt Monro record as a fave (they're all faves for me), I do particularly like the Walk Away album.

Paul T.

p.s. Eh Terence, I recognize you from the DSB message board!