Bill Monroe - Master of Bluegrass

[Dan Cole]

I recently bought a new unplayed cassette of the 1981 Bill Monroe release "Master of Bluegrass" I tried to make a digital version to play on my Ipod. It worked, but isn't very good (the cassette however isn't much better, truth be known).

Does anyone know if this was released as a CD, or was it only as a LP and Cassette? The cassette is MCAC 818. There are a couple great tunes on there I want to learn. Old Ebenezer Scrooge and Old Danger Field are the first candidates because the tab is in Mandolin Magazine.

[Steve Cantrell]

It was never out on CD that I know of, unless you count the inclusion in the latest Bear Set. Awesome CD...has some crazy production stuff going on due to conflicts with Butch Robbins and Monroe, but still great in its own way. Worth tracking down.

[evanreilly]

I keep thinking that a few copies were released in CD format. I have never seen one, tho. It was the first digital recording of Monroe.
I don't think it was re-mastered in the Bear family release, but it certainly is good to have that in the collection as well as the original vinyl.

[Spruce]

"I keep thinking that a few copies were released in CD format."

Really? #What year? #
1980 was about the year CDs were introduced, so that would be a rare item indeed if '81 was the release date...

"It was the first digital recording of Monroe."

Really?? #I know digital recording has a long history, but I had no idea MOB was recorded on digital gear...

Ry Cooder's "Bop Till You Drop" is usually credited as being the first major-label, digitally recorded album, and that was in '79 I believe...

If MOB was indeed recorded on digital gear, it wasn't all that far behind....

[evanreilly]

Guess I could be wrong. I thought it was you (Spruce) who had seen it in CD format once upon a time!
Maybe the thread has come up so many times that i believe it.

[Spruce]

Well, I digitized it and spread it around considerably as sort of a protest against it not being officially released a few years back. My version also includes many live versions of the MOB tunes tacked onto the end....

And as far as the original recording goes, it's gotta be analog gear doing the recording...
Nashville in '80 (probably) = analog tape....

[earthsave]

You planning to renew your protest and spread it around again anytime soon? I'd support you in your protest as it sounds like a worth cause.

[AlanN]

I have it coupled with Monroe's Bluegrass Instrumentals. Tall Timber, Rawhide, Wheel Hoss, Sailor's Hornpipe with the wonderful banjo of 'Brad' Keith (cause there could only be 1 Bill in that band!)

[hedding]

i have a burned copy of that cd, i am not sure if was made from another cd or from a record. good cd though. One of my favorite parts is jesse mcreynold's short but amazing break on Evening Prayer Blues, he does this split stringing thing I found the position but I can't get it to sound just like Jesse, he's so cool its hard to beat. Some good picking though.

[Dan Cole]

Jesse on a Monroe album? Am I missing something?

[hedding]

are you talking about the masters of bluegrass cd?....listen to evening prayer blues, its around two minutes or so in ,you can't miss it.

around 2:14 or so right after the banjo solo.

[Spruce]

"You planning to renew your protest and spread it around again anytime soon? #I'd support you in your protest as it sounds like a worth cause. "

Well, it's now officially released, so no...

But I do have another version of MOB that I'll finally be releasing here pretty soon.... #
Stay posted....

[evanreilly]

The four mandolin players on the 'album' were: Bill Monroe, Joseph "Butch" Robins, Jesse McReynolds and Larry G. Sledge.
After a bit of research, it appears the "Bill Monroe and the Stars of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame" album was the first digitally recorded Monroe project. It has 'Digital' in the lower right corner of the album jacket.

[DryBones]

I picked this album up off eBay a while back and have yet to get a USB turntable so I can get it into my computer. I think its time for a trip to Circuit City or Best Buy!

[f5loar]

I searched high and low,far and wide for an official release of the MOB on CD and never found one. While the new Bear Family set runs you a hundred bucks or so it's worth it for the MOB and the unrelased cuts.

[DataNick]

Thread Bump,

I just got mp3s of the songs to this album, and all I can say is WOW!

That Loar sounds freaking unbelievable! Incredible!
I don't think it sounded like this post destruction/restoration by C. Derrington.

Anyway, I now KNOW exactly the sound we bluegrassers want out of our mandos. I had a pretty good idea, but WOW!

OK, I can die now...

[Mike Bunting]

I was fortunate to have gotten that when it was on vinyl and of course later on the Bear Family sets. That was one of the best recordings.

[brunello97]

Thread Bump,

I just got mp3s of the songs to this album, and all I can say is WOW!

Yup. I scored a digital copy of this back in the fall. "Good stuff!" as Johnny Carson used to say.

Mick

[Bigtuna]

The vinyl is even getting hard to find. I've got a very clean version I could digitize if I can find the time.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

The vinyl is even getting hard to find. I've got a very clean version I could digitize if I can find the time.

Funny I was looking for the album trying to learn Bill's version of Old Dangerfield, and I did a quick search on eBay and found a couple. Too bad I dont have a turntable. Am now thinking of ordering the 'My Last Days on Earth' boxset that the Bear Family released a while back.

BTW Evan - thanks for posting those videos of Bill on Youtube. I found a link in one of your old posts.

[Cue Zephyr]

That Loar sounds freaking unbelievable! Incredible!
I don't think it sounded like this post destruction/restoration by C. Derrington.

Anyway, I now KNOW exactly the sound we bluegrassers want out of our mandos. I had a pretty good idea, but WOW!

OK, I can die now...

I had no idea, but it sounds glorious. I've never head a mandolin sing like that before.

I'd be happy if I can even get 1% of that sound, and then again I won't have the skill to make it sound as pretty as Monroe did.

[AlanN]

Of interest are a couple of things:

Here's the song list, notice 'Come Hither To Go Yonder' is incorrectly listed as 'Go Hither To Go Yonder', on both the back cover liner notes and on the paper LP disc circle.

Song Information: Expand All
A-1. Ole Ebenezer Scrooge2:48
A-2. Right, right on2:15
A-3. Melissa's waltz for J.B.2:43
A-4. Fair play2:25
A-5. Evening prayer blues3:15
B-1. Go hither to go yonder2:49
B-2. Lochwood2:48
B-3. Lady of the Blue Ridge2:39
B-4. Old danger field2:58
B-5. My last days on Earth4:34


And the great album cover shot is post headstock fix, pre-poker vandalism, circa 1981.

[Mike Bunting]

[QUOTE=AlanN;1244843And the great album cover shot is post headstock fix, pre-poker vandalism, circa 1981.[/QUOTE]

I have that cover framed and hanging on my wall.

[Ivan Kelsall]

There's quite a bit of added reverb.on the recording,which is in itself unusual for a Monroe recording. It gives the tone an added brightness rather than letting us hear the beautiful 'woody' tone we know that Bill Monroe's mandolin had. Nevertheless,a great recording,
Ivan
http://youtu.be/xwOgTq_hrrQ - 'Fair Play' from ''Master of Bluegrass''

[AlanN]

Yeah, the mandolin and the other instruments are front and center, partly due to studio shenanigans. Bill was in his 70's when he recorded that, and it is very indicative of the later Monroe period of playing.

Several tunes on that record get regular play by me - CHTGY, Ole Ebenezer Scrooge, Lochwood. On Lochwood, I try to do the cool Wayne Benson move where he slides up/down on the opening lick.