Music history is filled with dozens of songs, recorded on vinyl by one-hit wonders, now lost to us denizens of the digital era. But it might surprise you to learn that many classic recordings -- by such well-known artists as Shirley Horn or the band Fleetwood Mac -- are also stuck in the analog age.
For the second year in a row, Weekend Edition Sunday launches its three-week-long CD Wish List series. We challenge music industry insiders with the question: What are the best albums that aren't available on CD, but should be? E-mail us your suggestions at [email protected] with the subject line "CD WISH LIST."
This week we talk to:
JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and Virginia Symphony orchestras. She chooses the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra's 1968 recording of Cage: Concerto for Prepared Piano and Orchestra/ Foss: Baroque Variations (Nonesuch, 1968). Lukas Foss conducts.
Jim Farrington, head of public services at the Sibley Music Library in Rochester, N.Y. He chooses trumpeter Maynard Ferguson's MF Horn, Volume 4: Live at Jimmy's (Columbia, 1974). Farrington calls the album's fusion of pop and jazz sounds "a real slice of jazz history."
Farrington notes that he's far from the only fan hoping Ferguson's work will make the transition to CD; at least two write-in campaigns have asked Sony to reissue his music.
"It would sell like hot cakes," Farrington says.
Rick Luningham, of the Ernest Tubb Record Shops in Nashville, Tenn. His choice for digital resurrection is The Pride of Country Music (RCA, 1967), by Charley Pride. Luningham notes that Pride was among the first African Americans to cross over into country music.
"People would gasp when he came out on stage," Luningham says of Pride. "Then as soon as he started singing, they loved him."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.