zanereed wrote:

Has anyone heard this one yet?  I have some of the other Jasmine Andrew Sisters sets, so I'm just curious.

My copy not yet arrived - I suspect that issue date might have been put back as the Amazon site says availability from  September 1st.

My interest is primarily to hear the stated Crosby interviews - I find the Andrews Sisters rather tiring in quantity, and perhaps a little "brassy".  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --  - - - - - -- - -(Safety instruction - "Light blue touch paper and stand well clear")

My semi - jocular comment earlier should not obscure the fact that the set contains some pretty rare items, stretching from the Andrews' earliest days, and reliable information now received shows that there is some imaginative programming in it too, with a mix of tracks from record and radio, including some items from Bing's KMH and Chesterfield shows. The listing on Jasmine's own site lists titles without saying much about origins, but the earlier Crosby sets give an example - there they had an imaginative mix of tracks derived from various sources. In other words, not just record reissues.  

On the basis of Jasmine's performance to date (how can one find alternatve words - I'm avoiding "track record") I think it likely that the set will be good quality.  Their audio quality is always good and supporting notes are comprehensive.


 

Anton G.-F. wrote:

Richard,
I have lots of Jasmine releases,   - - - However, the notes are, in my opinion, kind of hit or miss.   - - - - - -  I've also written Jasmine many times trying to convince them to put out a CD or a compilation by Michael Holliday (which would have a Bing connection) but have never heard from them... 

Anton, in that case I have to bow to your wider experience because I certainly cannot claim to "lots". Possibly 10 or a dozen, but from the evidence of what I have got I certainly feel that they are "hits" rather than "misses".
As to your plea for new issues I fear that we all have to concede that the CD is no longer the "sought after" medium for entertainment that it once was, and issuing companies have to choose their material with some care. With Michael Holliday there were several "official" CDs issued by his studio over a period up to about 2007 (including the admirable multi CD package issued alongside Ken Crossland's biography "The Man Who Would Be Bing"), and many of them are still offered through the usual outlets, so I suspect that there might be a pessimistic view of the potential for a new issue. The fact that many such issues are freely streamed on several internet sites must influence in a negative way as well. There are at least 22 full length LP or CD equivalents of Michael Holliday's records and several single/EP copies available on Spotify, at least for UK users. The small reissue companies also have distinct specialisations and preferences of their own.

I don't know how long the CD can last but I fear that the obvious replacement - the download or the "stream", might not satisfy some of the niche markets such as ours. And that will be partly because of the lack of supporting information that is provided in that format. At least Jasmine make the effort!
I have commented recently on the TOTAL lack of information on some issues apart from the song titles themselves (and in some cases even those have not been wholly correct).

Jasmine certainly has done a lot of great work.  I'm particularly grateful for their Ink Spots box.  

Now that the CD era has pretty much come and gone, it's a little disheartening to look back and realise what a large percentage of the some performers' catalogues - including that of the Andrews Sisters - never made it to CD.

Arch