Glenn Miller - In The Mood

"In The Mood" is 81 years old as of this post, so it's likely before everyone's time here on the board.

Does anyone have any strong opinions regarding CD sources of 1940s and 1950s tracks, like "In The Mood"? I use that song as an example, but I'm interested in overall opinions of CD series, labels, or mastering engineers for tracks of that vintage.

I ask because I listened critically to a few tracks on Time-Life's Your Hit Parade series, and I like what I hear. Bill Inglot's name is in the credits for the first 31 volumes of Your Hit Parade (but not the last nine). The YHP CDs in this time frame were released from 1988 to 1992.

On Your Hit Parade Vol. 22 1940 (1991), "In The Mood" sounds like a dub of a 78, without any attempt to remove ticks and pops, and no weird EQ or added noise reduction. It sounds like a record, which I find pleasing.

In contrast, on Time-Life's Big Bands Vol. 1 Glenn Miller (1991), the same song sounds muffled. Same with RCA's RCA Victor's Beginner's Guide To Jazz (1996) and RCA's Swing Greatest Hits (1996), both of which use the same analog transfer.

I'm curious to hear other people's opinions of what's out there for 1940s and 1950s-era pop. My gut instinct always veers toward Bill Inglot, and that seemed to work for this one track. Any other thoughts?

I think I have mentioned a couple times that I am not a big fan of Various Artist CD's. If I were to look for 'In The Mood' by Glenn Miller, I would grab Glenn
Miller 'Chattanooga Choo Choo, The #1 Hits', RCA 3102-2. Probably no one on the board has a big selection of Dance Bands or Swing music of the 30's or early
40's. I do notice that the CD was digitally mastered in 1991 and encompasses the CEDAR noise reduction process which most of us think of being abhorrent, but in
the case of music that is almost a hundred years old, it really doesn't sound as bad as you think, based on the limited fidelity we're talking about. As far as
'In The Mood', the best I've heard is the ERIC compilation, 'Iconic Pop Standards In Stereo' (ERIC 13606). Mark and Walt at Eric have done such a great job not
only separating instruments into stereo, but they have livened up the fidelity. I would think that the ERIC team had to use the RCA CD's as a starting point,
but I'm not certain. I'm not sure you are asking about this one song specifically, more like music of the 30's in general. As far as the fidelity of the 30's &
early 40's, it is what it is. -Bill.

Do we not like CEDAR? The CEDAR-cleaned recordings I've heard have blown me away with their ability to clear away surface noise but leave room noise and the like intact.

I wish I had some input to offer on this song; there certainly have been a lot of TERRIBLE releases of hits from the 30s and 40s so I can understand the desire to find the "most true to the source" copy possible.

As much as I can appreciate the Big Band Era, my 1970s-
era ears would rather hear a clean, note-perfect
recording of a big band song vs. an original version
dubbed from a 78-RPM record.

For that reason, it's hard to beat GRP's "In The Digital
Mood" album for all Glenn Miller songs. If I owned a
78-rpm jukebox, I'd probably feel differently about it.

Brian W. wrote: I'm probably the pre-rock-era "expert" on the board, but no one ever talks about anything prior to 1955, so I never have a chance to share any knowledge.

That's because most people outside the Hit Parade and comp series that were put out don't have an interest in the era before 1955. When CD was first coming out those people who wanted the 1940's and early 1950's were only 35-45 years old and had disposable income for CD's.

Now that same age group is 75-85 and those kind of compilations don't see the light of day anymore on CD since they make nothing for the labels.

I'm probably the only other person on this board to collect 1900-1954 religiously and try to assemble each years listings. I expect to run into lots of problems and so-so sounding records. I even convinced Brian W to do the entire 1954 charts and not just limit it to the top 10.

As far as In The Mood goes I have many Glenn Miller comps, I have found the Essential one to be best sounding but that is my opinion. The Hit Parade Time Life put out in the late 80's are a great source for the 1940-1954 period. That's the great thing about Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman etc. Plenty of compilations and Greatest Hits to choose from. The quality transfer though could be better. Highly doubtful it will ever get the remastering treatment stuff gets now a days.