Yet another Charlie Parker comp I couldn't resist for the price...Maybe $1.99? Can't be for certain, but it didn't put me back much.
This one, I'm not as embarrassed about. This was part of a Verve reissue series that began in the 80's. Verve founder, Norman Granz, supervised the series, pressed a number of classic Clef releases (before Verve it was Clef) in Japan and made sure the mastering was done in mono to be as true to the original as possible. I have a few and while I'd be better versed talking about varied pressing of rock records, I'm pretty happy about the sound quality on these.
Mainly due to the mono sound. Once stereo became vogue, Verve (and countless other labels) cranked out awful remastered stereo versions of classic albums that were still in demand and needed repressing. When the original selections found on this compilation were first mastered, they were done so in mono, because that's what everybody had: a speaker and a turntable.
Even after two speakers and a turntable became standard, mono still sounded great. Despite that, labels had to adjust levels and create effects. Great if a band like Led Zeppelin was behind it and using it to their advantage. Terrible for anything originally mixed in mono, it wasn't the artists or engineers intent to have some guy adjusting volume knobs to give the perceived effect of "surround" or "large", the mono mix hits you in the face all at once, it can be great and in many ways; better.
This comp particular has some moments that punch you in the gut along with standard fare, vocal tracks and Parker with strings. It's a solid representation of the many styles Parker covered and brought his innovation, too.
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