"Sadly, despite waiting years to get a copy of this wonderful Sammi Smith album on CD, I have to say it's not worth the plastic it's been put on. It's a recording from vinyl and not a good one at that. I do hope that we see a digitally remastered copy sometime in the future.
Peter Nicholls - Adelaide - South Australia"
Sammi deserves better
MikeP5877 | Ohio | 05/29/2007
(1 out of 5 stars)
"The sound on this CD is absolutely wretched, the worst sounding commercial CD I ever owned. First of all, it's from a not very good vinyl copy. It's horribly off-centered in places, and very distorted in others. Secondly, the CD sounds like it was either pressed from a very low bit-rate MP3, or it was subjected to some severe noise reduction. Whatever the case, the sound is all muffled and swishy. My scratchy vinyl copy sounds much better than this.
Sammi Smith was a wonderful singer with a beautiful, soulful voice. Her first album ranks among my all-time favorites by anyone. Varese managed to put out a nice sounding compiliation, (from real tapes, it sounds like). I can't understand why her first album doesn't get the same treatment. Instead, we have this abomination.
She deserves much better than this.
5 stars for the music, 0 stars for the sound."
Very Happy to find this CD
B. de Mil | USA | 09/15/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I am rating this album 5 stars on the general principle it has always been one of my favorites. I have the vinyl from back in the day & have been looking for the cd. I have now completed my quest to replace all my old favorite albums with the new technology.Yippie!!!!
I also hope a remastered copy comes out so I can really enjoy "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and "When Michael Calls". These 2 selections are incredibly sweet!
RIP, Sammi. Your talent was huge and I will always appreciate it."
Great selection of songs but
wallis lower | Boston, MA | 05/11/2006
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I was excited to see the list of songs on this CD. I love Sammi Smith's music, used to own two of her LP's. I was extremely disappointed with the quality of the sound reproduction when I received the CD."
Get a Life, Already! Be thankful for this CD!
OldieButGoodie | TX | 01/12/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In response to those who have been criticizing this CD because it does not meet their level of expectations, I have 2 comments: First of all, this CD was released by Acrobat, a British label which has released some of the best of the hard-to-find music mostly of the 50's, music that American labels ignore. Although their releases might not be up to the standard we expect of those released today, you have to remember that most of their music was recorded decades ago, and although there is some variation in the quality of their releases, overall they do a very good job in bringing to life music that no other label wants to touch! Secondly, the sound is not as bad as it has been painted. After reading the reviews, I rejected this CD numberous time. However, I finally decided to give it a shot, especially with the low cost. I am quite happy that I did, because I think that even though some of the songs may have somewhat of a "tin-ny" sound, the sound is quite adequate; moreover, I am extremely happy to finally get a clean copy of my favorite Sammi Smith song, her "B" side "When Michael Calls." I couldn't possibly have asked for a better copy at this price. Besides, I never expected to find this song on any of her CD's. There are numerous CD's available by this artist, so if you are looking for the "same-old-same-old" songs that are repeated on all of them, then there are better choices. However, if you are looking for her music that you never expected to find on CD, grab this one while it is still available. To the Acrobat label, I say "Thank you for bringing us music that no one else wants to touch!""