Great Music...Very Poor Reproduction

Beyond a doubt, "That's All" was (and is) among the greatest albums in the nightclub genre. HOWEVER, this CD sounds as if it were remastered from some,... worn-out cassette tape. Musically, this album rates 5 stars, and the music is SO great that I still give it 3, even though the sound "quality" is so utterly ...[wrong].

Poor Remaster of a Great Album

I own both the CD and Mono LP version of "That's All," and without a doubt, the original vinyl sounds ten times better. I was stuned at how bad the mastering of this CD is. For example, on "Through A Long and Sleepless Night," the vocals only go through one channel. It seems whoever mastered the tracks for CD either didn't play it back after it was finished, or just is not a Bobby Darin Fan. If you own a record player, get it in it's original format. It does the album more justice. If not, still buy the CD, because "That's All" is, in my opinion, Darin's best among is short but amazing career.

I'm in my 20s and I never got the chance to experience Darin's music when he was still alive. But when you listen to the orginial LP, it's an experience that makes you feel like you're back in the late 50s and early 60s. Nothing comes close to the quality of vinyl. Record companies should consider making it a mainstream format again.

Worth the price for "Beyond The Sea" alone

Bobby Darin said one day he'd be just as good as Sinatra, maybe better. Well, if he ever did deliver on that promise, "That's All" was that day.



Ignore the rest of the album. "Beyond the Sea" is so good it's worth the price of the album for that track alone. Darin's performance is energetic, aggressive, and so in the pocket it just could not be topped. Like Sinatra, he makes it sound effortless and smooth, but with a harder edge than Sinatra would have had at that time.



Arranger Richard Wess deserves at least half of the credit for this masterwork of big band recordings. The arrangement is brilliant, subtley building from one muted trumpet theme into a sort of countermelody on saxes, then behind it all shimmering strings. It has great structure and builds excitement beautifully.



The key to this arrangement is contrast: After the first chorus, Wess delivers up an instrumental interlude for Darin that starts with blasting brass, followed by a thundering drum fill, immediately followed by the most lilting and gentle string passage imaginable. Then he hits you over the head again with the brass again, the drums again, then more brass, ending with a hard drum beat followed by the teriffic silence of absolutely nothing. The end of this instrumental passage with it's outrageous dynamics of loud versus soft is the musical equivalent of a freight train stopping on a dime. Just at this moment Darin fills the void with a long "I----- know beyond a doubt". This is exciting music, and Darin can't help but sound great with this kind of backing.



In short, buy the CD. Even if you hate every other track it's worth it. Thankfully, all the uptempo tracks are very good, and are fun to listen to, with Darin belting out lyrics as only he can. He's not as good on the slow numbers but still a very skilled performer all around. All in all you can't lose with this collection.