What do you guys think of Time-Life Music?

[ThatM1key]

Like the title says.

 

[levimax]

Like the title says.

I have found their CD's to be surprisingly well mastered with good quality sound. They can be picked up cheap in thrifts. The content may or may not be interesting. I find the "hits" from a year compilations to be fun sometimes but in actuality seldom listen to them.

 

[ThatM1key]

I have found their CD's to be surprisingly well mastered with good quality sound. They can be picked up cheap in thrifts. The content may or may not be interesting. I find the "hits" from a year compilations to be fun sometimes but in actuality seldom listen to them.

I bought some "Rock N Roll Era" CDs a few months and the mastering isn't the greatest but I think that was Time Life's first time doing CDs. I found some Time Life CDs too at the thrift stores, usually its just "Your Hit Parade" and "Piano" Cassettes/CDs. I have some Time Life cassettes, chrome bias and the recording, those tapes were made well, almost sound like there CD counterparts at times.

Time Life recently brought back the "AM-Gold" and I don't like that. 9 CDs and no actual "Deluxe" version. The OG series had like what 30 CDs? I noticed Time Life has gotten lazy, like they'll mash 2 different "9 CD" sets and call it a deluxe.

 

[mhardy6647]

Well...
I have almost nothing on the titular topic except one thing.
I love "holiday music" and maintain a large (embarrassingly so) collection.
One of my very favorite-est albums is this one:
Simple, tasteful arrangements of a bevy of songs & carols, many of which (at least in the US in the mid-1960s) were pretty obscure.

 

[ThatM1key]

Well...
I have almost nothing on the titular topic except one thing.
I love "holiday music" and maintain a large (embarrassingly so) collection.
One of my very favorite-est albums is this one:
Simple, tasteful arrangements of a bevy of songs & carols, many of which (at least in the US in the mid-1960s) were pretty obscure.

I never heard of Time Life's Older Christmas albums, but I do love Time Life 1980s Christmas CDs.

 

[mhardy6647]

I never heard of Time Life's Older Christmas albums, but I do love Time Life 1980s Christmas CDs.

That one is fine, but it's not unique. Try the other one.
You may well not like it -- but it inhabits a special place in my memory & in my heart.

 

[Timcognito]

Costco often has their compilations for cheap for different genres, decades or artists. As others have said they are often pretty good. It's a way to get nostalgic for very little cash.

 

[Robin L]

I've got a lot of the Time-Life Oldies Rock 'n' Roll series and some of the Country series. Good mastering, particularly considering how so many of the collections on other labels are derived from bad needledrops. Got a very long collection of oldies, mostly Time-Life derived, about 300 songs on a playlist. If you like this sort of thing, The Art Lebow "Oldies but Goodies" is good, as is the fabulous "East Side Story" series of low-rider classics:

 

[anmpr1]

I used to have the LPs. The jazz reissues. As I recall (I could be wrong on this for sure) it was a subscription thing, where the company would send you a box set every so often, you'd review it, pay, or return them. But now all of it is gone, because of bad decisions on my part.

Since the historical reissues were (I guess) sourced from 78s, they were all mono with limited dynamic range and FR. I dubbed them to open reel tape, which sounded OK even at three and a quarter ips. Then I gave all the records to my friend, who owned a used record store. Then, my open reel decks began to require service, and after looking at the estimates I decided that format was no longer viable. So I sold my decks and stacks of reels. Since then I've acquired most of the old stuff on CDs.

The quality of the TL records was average. Nothing special, but not horrible, either.

 

[Timcognito]

If you into getting compilations, box sets and inexpensive CDs, DVDs and some LPs. Oldies.com is a good place for brand new overstock stuff. Make sure to read reviews on sites like allmusic.com before buying because there are some funky recordings as well as some rare gems. YMMV

 

[ThatM1key]

Speaking of oldies, I remember getting some Oldies But Goodies CDs (Not the Time Life ones), there were so awful. The mastering was very very poor and the song selection was horrible, like why mix 1950s music with 1970s music? I am glad Time Life later bought the name later down the line.

I used to be big in LPs, I sold off my record players but I'm still keeping my oldies records like "Cruisin 1958" and "Senior Prom (By Sessions Company)".

 

[Scottso]

Let me disclose that I'm an old dude and recently found among my rubble a bunch of CDs burned from original TL as a Christmas gift compilation from long ago comprised of 50ies and early 60 R&R from TL. The CDs were less than optimal but the music brought back fond memories and uplifted my spirits during these downtimes. artist include; Carl Perkins, the 5 satins, the platters, Little Richard, Frankie Lymon and the teenagers, Clyde McPhatter, the Coasters, Bobby Darin, the Fleetwoods, Mary Wells, The Marvelettes, The Drifters, Danny and the juniors, Little Anthony, Buddy Holly and so many more.Real Americana. Can you tell I'm getting off typing their names? 3 minutes of sweet teenage songs of love and life. Thank you Time Life it was the time of my life.
Sorry for the duplicate post it was typed on an small computer and as you may guess I'm an analog guy in a digital world and was trying to edit obviously I screwed up lol. happy holidays.

 

[Robin L]

Let me disclose that I'm an old dude and recently found among my rubble a bunch of CDs burned from original TL as a Christmas gift Disclosure I'm an old dude digging through my audio rubble I found a TL compilation of 50ies and early 60 R&R from TL the CDs were less than optimal but the music brought back fond memories and uplifted my spirits during these downtimes. artist include; Carl Perkins,the 5 satins,the platters,little Richard,Frankie Lymon and the teenagers,Clyde McPhatter,the Coasters,Bobby Darin,the Fleetwoods,Mary Wells, The Marvelettes, The Drifters,Danny and the juniors,Little Anthony,Buddy Holly. Can you tell I'm getting off typing their names. 3 minutes of sweet teenage songs of love and life,

eleets

I've got the CDs of the same. The SQ is all over the place because the source material runs the gamut from the great to the gawdaful. The transfer work is as good as any I've heard.