News

The Electric Recording Company just announced a limited to 300 copies edition of Sonny Rollins Way Out West (ERC 053M).

This 1957 recording featuring Ray Brown and Shelly Manne was first issued in mono. The "stereo" came later. It was "stereo" in the same way early Beatles albums were "stereo". Really recorded in two track mono for a post production mix down that allowed the producer and engineer to better blend the lead instrument with the rhythm track, which in this case was minus a piano, at the time a radical idea.

Another Contemporary Records issue with a similar "left-right" balance was Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section. On the "stereo" version Art never really gets to meet the rhythm section. In any case, whether or not you prefer the "stereo" or mono version, the Craft Records stereo reissue cut from a digital file was problematic in that the producers clearly did not know about engineer Roy DuNann's +6dB wide high frequency boost during the recording that needed to be reversed during mastering. ERC REPORTS THEY APPLIED THE PROPER ATTENUATION, so this release should be outstanding