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 (http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/digital.html), 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.... #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
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.