Another New Matt CD

[karl]

I wouldn't recommend holding your breath!

Don't worry I know how record companies can be, there are three American Dusty LP's originally due for an August release, this is now September. They used to blame the delays on Dusty saying she was still recording the album, who can they blame now I wonder?

[mike]

OK, so I bought the "Portrait Of My Love" 2CD. I wasn't expecting too much from a public domain release, but it was only £3.86, and I wanted 3 tracks on it that I didn't (exactly) have.

So the plus points are that the photos are attractive. The 3 tracks I wanted were worth the price alone (to me). "You Keep Me Swinging" features the Peter Sellers part, which I didn't have. "Ghost Of My Past" and "Quite Suddenly" were both much better quality than the mp3s I bought years ago, and both had short instrumental openings that were not on the mp3 versions.

On the downside the sound quality is not great on a lot of tracks. The "Love Is The Same Anywhere" tracks are mono, as are other tracks from that period. But these mono tracks also seem so be muffled.

So a mixed bag. Most fans won't need this. Casual listeners wanting a Matt collection will probably be disappointed with the sound quality.

[Rmoore]

This is the problem. When the estate issues material, we make sure it is as good as it can be. A lot of PD labels don't care - They are in it for the money. But you pay your money and you take your choice.

Another annoyance for Michele is the inclusion of the lamentable "Quite Suddenly" and "Ghost of your Past" which we never include as Matt took legal action to stop these two demos being released and won. The tracks should never have been issued again, but the copyright laws have allowed them to surface. These were sold by composer Merrick Farran without Matt's consent.

Those two tracks are bad, but then consider that Matt made a whole series with the same composer/arranger for the BBC transcription service - which the estate have the misfortune owning a copy - with Matt singing more of Farran's dreadful songs and dreary arrangements. We haven't found a single track that we thought worthy of issue!

[mike]

If you can't beat them.....

[john]

I have the original single, on the Ember label if I am not mistaken and both songs are pretty awful, I would put them in the bottom three of the worst recordings.

[ROBERT M.]

You can listen to the songs here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UsgFb5AAvY ............first track Quite Suddenly is quite atrocious.........just plodding along ...........Matt sings only the first two songs.

[mike]

Complete Recordings 60-62

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-1960- ... matt+monro

This is full price at over £12. It includes "Bound For Texas". Another unpopular selection.

[Rmoore]

Complete 1960 - 62 - Wrong! Doesn't include all the recordings from that time that have been issued subsequently and also contains recordings from 1957! Doh!!!

[mike]

Another one


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Absolutely-Ess ... matt+monro

[ROBERT M.]

Track 1.............."A" Portrait of My Love

[Rmoore]

How many times can they flog the same tracks. It was silly enough when the Decca tracks first fell into PD there must have been 20 different discs available using those tracks also included here. All these new releases contain exactly the same things. It's the law of diminishing returns.

[karl]

Look at it this way, they must think Matt is still popular enough .
A few years ago several cd's by The Springfields were released in quick succession some being billed as Dusty Springfield which was rather cheeky but obviously using her name to sell it.

[maureen & harry]

We agree these songs have been issued many times and can see that Warner don't have any incentive to issue them again but there must be a reasonable market for them for others to do so.
We wonder if all Matt's Capitol Albums will get issued as we presume the 1966-67 are now out of copyright and the 1968 ones are almost there. Perhaps some of the other labels might issue them or could it be that Warner might try to do something!

[Rmoore]

A change in the copyright law in 2013 means that Matt's recordings from 1963 onward are still protected, as all recordings are now protected for 70 years. This means that no more recordings will go out of copyright until 2033. The Capitol recordings are still in copyright.

The only material that still falls out of copyright after 50 years is anything unreleased for that period of time.