(This thread seems to have gotten eaten; luckily Google had it partially cached.)

Seeing as we're in the 25th anniversary year of my favorite musical, for better or worse, I thought it prudent to put together a sort of retrospective of the many, many cast albums that have been compiled over the years, from the original concept album through the twenty-fifth anniversary tour recording -- not just the music, but the overall product.



A great wealth of official albums has been made available over the years, and as such, it's easy for some to get neglected or lost in the shuffle. I make no pretense of these posts being comprehensive, as I'm limited by the scope of my own collection. I'm going to try to refrain from editorializing (though I can guarantee some will seep through), but please feel free to add your own thoughts and critiques on each of the albums as I post them. I'd like this thread to be a sort of hub for discourse on these recordings, so don't be afraid to sit in judgment over anything.



ETA: Please, be aware that these posts are going to be *very* image intensive.

ETA II (1 Nov 11):

Here's an index, for ease of reference:

1980 - Original French Concept Album
1985 - Original London Cast
1987 - Original Broadway Cast
1987 - Original Tel Aviv Cast
1988 - Original Budapest Cast
1988 - Original Vienna Cast
1989 - Complete Symphonic Recording
1990 - Original Stockholm Cast
1991 - Original Amsterdam Cast
1991 - Paris - Édition collector
1992 - Paris Revival Cast
1992 - Highlights from the Manchester Company
1992 - Original Prague Cast
1992 - Original Copenhagen Cast
1993 - Original Madrid Cast
1994 - Japanese Tour Cast - 1994 Red
1995 - In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall (10th Anniversary)
1996 - Original Duisburg Cast
1996 - Musikteatern i Värmland
1998 - Original Antwerp Cast
2003 - Japanese Tour Cast - 2003 Green/Light Blue/Orange/Violet
2004 - Prague Revival Cast: Forthcoming
2008 - Rotterdam Cast: Forthcoming
2008 - Québec City Cast: Forthcoming
2010 - 25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast: Forthcoming
2010 - 25th Anniversary Concert (video only): Forthcoming
2010 - Valjean Quartet Charity Single: Forthcoming
2010 - Warsaw Cast: Forthcoming
2010 - Madrid Revival Cast: Forthcoming
2011 - Brno Cast: Forthcoming
2012 - Film Soundtrack: Forthcoming

ORIGINAL FRENCH CONCEPT ALBUM



Release year: 1980
Trema Records, 2LPs, Catalog #: 310 086/87
Runtime: 1:27:30

SIDE A:
1. La journée est finie (At the End of the Day)
2. L'air de la misère (Cut song of Fantine's to the tune of On My Own)
3. Les beaux cheveux que voilà (Crone scene from Lovely Ladies)
4. J'avais rêvé d'une autre vie (I Dreamed a Dream)
5. Dites-moi ce qui se passe (Fantine's Arrest, starting at Javert's entrance, featuring an extended intro and cut verse)
6. Fantine et Monsieur Madeleine (Fantine's Arrest continued)
7. Mon prince est en chemin (Castle on a Cloud)
8. Mam'zelle Crapaud (Mme. Thénardier's entrance)

SIDE B:
1. La devise du cabaretier (Master of the House)
2. Valjean chez les Thénardier (The Bargain)
3. La valse de la fourberie (Waltz of Treachery)
4. Donnez, donnez (Look Down)
5. Rouge et noir (Red and Black)
6. Les amis de l'ABC (The ABC Café)

SIDE C:
1. A la volonté du peuple (Do You Hear the People Sing?)
2. Cosette: Dans la vie (In My Life)
3. Marius: Dans la vie (In My Life, continued)
4. Voilà le soir qui tombe (Cut song for Eponine, to the tune of the Eponine/Montparnasse bit in the Plumet Attack scene)
5. Le coeur au bonheur (A Heart Full of Love)
6. L'un vers l'autre (Cut song for Eponine)
7. La faute à Voltaire (Little People)
8. La nuit de l'angoisse (Night/Dawn of Anguish with other Barricade bits strung into it, as well as Drink with Me)
9. Demain (One Day More)

SIDE D:
1. Ce n'est rien (A Little Fall of Rain)
2. L'aube du 6 juin (More Barricade bits)
3. Noir ou blanc (Javert's Soliloquy)
4. La mort de Gavroche (cut death scene for Gavroche; only the Little People reprise at the end remains in the modern version, though it was performed in full in early Barbican previews)
5. Marius et Monsieur Gillenormand (Cut song)
6. Le mariage, "Soyez heureux" (Wedding Chorale)
7. L'aveur de Jean Valjean (Valjean's Confession, mostly cut and rearranged from this to its current form)
8. Marchandage et révélation (Thénardier scene preceding Beggars at the Feast)
9. Epilogue: la lumière (Epilogue)



This magnificent beast was originally released as a double album in 1980 through French record label Trema. There is often a misconception that this record represented the totality of the show as performed at the Palais-des-Sports, but that is not the case. (For the record, even the majority of the cast was different in the physical production.) I would recommend anyone interested in how it was performed check out Orestes' thread on the subject here: viewtopic.php?t=77265

The overall feel of this album is markedly different from anything that came afterwards. The score makes much greater use of a traditional rock combo than it would later in its life, and a number of the songs present had not been revised to incorporate the big Broadway finish they would acquire later in the show's life (most notably "Demain," the precursor to "One Day More"), contributing to this being a very subdued, intimate Les Mis.

The interior gatefold boasted a color portrait of Victor Hugo accompanied by what should be a very familiar quote regarding his masterpiece.



The back cover featured portraits of the principle characters that I think are enlargements of illustrations from a 19th-C edition of the novel. (If someone could confirm the source of these renderings, that would be fantastic!) It's interesting to note that M. Gillenormand, who sadly became "Sir Not Appearing in This Play," was considered a major enough player to warrant an illustration.



Also included with the album was a 12-page booklet featuring black-and-white pictures of the cast and creators, as well as the complete lyrics.



As noted earlier, the cast on the album was not the same as the one that performed at the Palais-des-Sports; rather, to take full advantage of the format, the album's producers were able to assemble a plethora of popular (at the time) French singers and actors to offer unique vocal takes on the roles, some of which came to define the overall sound of the characters to this day, among them Rose Laurens as Fantine, Mireille as "Acheteuse de cheveux," Salvatore Adamo as Combeferre, Michel Delpech as Feuilly, Maurice Barrier as Jean Valjean, Michel Sardou as Enjolras, and while perhaps not then nearly as famous as he is now, and also perhaps not as well known for his singing as his claims towards an inability to play piano, a gentleman named Claude-Michel Schönberg as Courfeyrac.



I don't think these were ever included with the album, but when I purchased this copy, a series of photocopies were sitting inside the gatefold. Most of them were just copies of the booklet, which are convenient, as the pages have almost worn through the staples, but these were also thrown in the mix. First Les Mis musical fan art?



A number of singles were released from this album on 45's, including "L'air de la misère" by Rose Laurens ("J'avais rêvé d'une autre vie" Side B) and "La faute à Voltaire" by Fabrice Bernard ("Donnez, donnez" Side B). It should be noted that on the Fabrice Bernard single, "Donnez" has been edited down to only the call-and-response segments between the chorus and Gavroche.





The album would later see a highlights release featuring the same cover art as the original LP, except on a purple background, released to promote the show's opening in London. This was a single disc available on vinyl and CD featuring the following tracks:

1. La journée est finie
2. J'avais rêvé d'une autre vie
3. A la volonté du peuple
4. L'air de la misère
5. La dévise du cabaretier
6. Le coeur au bonheur
7. Donnez-donnez
8. Mon prince est en chemin
9. Demain
10. La faute à Voltaire
11. Noir ou blanc
12. La lumière

The OFC's UK/US CD release (and repressing on vinyl) in 1989 featured a different cover, taking the full etching of the famous Cosette image, rather than the cropped version seen above:



The album was later remastered for CD in France in the early 2000's and released in two versions, one a "coffret luxe," which apparently replicated the design of the original LP version (scaled down for the CD's, of course) and a version in a standard double-CD case. It was later repackaged for the "Intégrale" release alongside the 1991 Paris Revival Cast.

[Please note that some revisions were made to this post since its initial ingestion into the ether, per Gargamel's suggestion within the original thread.]

ORIGINAL LONDON CAST RECORDING



Release year: 1986
First Night Records, 2LP's/2CD's, ENCORE1
Runtime: 1:20:27 [LP]/1:37:03 [CD]/1:37:38 [1998 Remastered CD]

Track listing [LP version]:

SIDE ONE
1. At the End of the Day
2. I Dreamed a Dream
3. Lovely Ladies
4. Who Am I?
5. Fantine's Death: Come to Me/Confrontation

SIDE TWO
1. Castle On a Cloud
2. Master of the House
3. Stars
4. Look Down
5. Little People
6. Red and Black
7. Do You Hear the People Sing?

SIDE THREE
1. Love Montage: I Saw Him Once/In My Life/A Heart Full of Love
2. One Day More
3. On My Own
4. The Attack
5. A Little Fall of Rain
6. Drink With Me

SIDE FOUR
1. Bring Him Home
2. Dog Eats Dog
3. Javert's suicide: Soliloquy
4. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
5. Wedding Chorale
6. Beggars at the Feast
7. Finale



This spectacular double album was recorded at the tail end of the London production's initial run at the Barbican Theatre, between 28 October and 12 November 1985. While I do not have a firm release date, it can be conjectured to be sometime early in 1986. The Les Mis of this album is a particularly raw creation. The show has not reached its standard form, making some songs appear in markedly different places (or, in the case of "I Saw Him Once," at all); the tempi are slower, allowing some moments to breathe that would later pass in a heartbeat (the first third of "Valjean's Soliloquy" and the whole of "Confrontation" spring to mind immediately); and the show's signature DX-7 keyboards are mixed more loudly and fiercely than they ever would be in the future. Its cast range from relative newcomers at the time, such as Michael Ball and Frances Ruffelle, to veterans of the Royal Shakespeare Company, such as Roger Allam and Alun Armstrong, with Irish folk singer Colm "C. T." Wilkinson creating the role that would define his career for decades to come. Our friend Colm, like the show itself at the time, is raw and unpolished, making for one of the most impassioned Valjeans on record. Rounding out the cast is the legendary Patti LuPone, but I'll let a...curious...piece of promotional material handle that introduction for me later.

Moving along to the records themselves, they featured on the center label the familiar Cosette logo, and came slipped in picture sleeves printing the entirety of the album's lyrics (in lieu of a booklet).



The interior gatefold featured a magnificent spread of color pictures from the Barbican production, many of which have not been reprinted in subsequent CD releases, along with a series of superlative review quotes and a brief essay by Sheridan Morley:



The back cover featured, in tiny print, the full album and production credits on a grey background:



There were also several singles released from this album, namely "I Dreamed a Dream" on 7" and 12" (more on this later), "Bring Him Home" on 7", and "On My Own" on 7". There was also a maxi-single of "I Dreamed a Dream" featuring Patti LuPone's rendition in addition to Rose Laurens' from the concept album, and, if memory serves, either "One Day More" or the Finale chorus.

The album was released simultaneously as a double CD, including over fifteen minutes of material left off the vinyl release due to space, namely the Prologue, Thénardier Waltz, Plumet Attack, the first half of Dog Eats Dog, and Turning.

Track listing [CD version]:

DISC ONE
1. Prologue (Work Song/Valjean Arrested/Valjean Forgiven)
2. What Have I Done?
3. At the End of the Day
4. I Dreamed a Dream
5. Lovely Ladies
6. Who Am I?
7. Fantine's Death: Come to Me
8. Fantine's Death: Confrontation
9. Castle on a Cloud
10. Master of the House
11. Thénardier Waltz
12. Stars
13. Look Down
14. Little People
15. Red and Black
16. Do You Hear the People Sing?

DISC TWO

1. Love Montage (I Saw Him Once/In My Life/A Heart Full of Love)
2. Plumet Attack
3. One Day More
4. On My Own
5. The Attack
6. A Little Fall of Rain
7. Drink With Me
8. Bring Him Home
9. Dog Eats Dog
10. Javert's suicide: Soliloquy
11. Turning
12. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
13. Wedding Chorale
14. Beggars at the Feast
15. Finale



The enclosed booklet featured the complete lyrics as heard on the album, full credits, the Sheridan Morley essay, and a selection of photographs from the production. Throughout its entire history of releases and remasterings, this booklet has remained essentially the same:





In 1998, the album was remastered and re-released on CD:



Some minor changes were made to the cover, namely the replacement of the Newsweek quote with "The Musical Sensation," some gold embossing over the title, and a more pronounced "Original London Cast" across the top. As to the material itself, aside from an incredible leap in sound clarity, a track break was inserted between the Work Song and Valjean Arrested, and more significantly, At the End of the Day saw the removal of Patti screaming "Gimme that letter back!" and the insertion of the factory workers' "And the boss, he never knows/That the foreman is always on heat..." lines.

2004 saw a repackaging of the '98 Remaster boasting a new cover and two video clips from the Tenth Anniversary Concert:



This is the version that can be found currently at retail, which begs the question, why does the packaging still recommend that its buyers use Netscape?

Finally, just last year, a highlights edition was released. You can tell it's a highlights edition, because the show's full title is absent from the cover:



Runtime: 1:10:38

1. At the End of the Day
2. I Dreamed a Dream
3. Lovely Ladies
4. Who Am I?
5. Come to Me
6. Confrontation
7. Master of the House
8. Stars
9. Red and Black
10. Do You Hear the People Sing?
11. Love Montage
12. One Day More
13. On My Own
14. A Little Fall of Rain
15. Drink With Me
16. Bring Him Home
17. Javert's suicide: Soliloquy
18. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
19. Finale

The album cover is inspired by the poster designed for the Broadway Revival. A rather lush foldout insert card is included, featuring the full cast listing, a smattering of photos, and the usual suspects of superlative quotes along with Sheridan Morley's review for the International Herald Tribune, dated 16 Oct 1985:





Pieces of the OLC were also used in a promotional disc featuring a narrated synopsis from Sir Ian McKellan. I have no further information on this disc, but it sounds a particularly cool curiosity, speaking of...

Finally, as promised, a bit on the 12" Single of "I Dreamed a Dream" mentioned above:



I took a gamble and waited to create this post until this gem arrived at my doorstep today, and what I found inside was quite possibly the foundation for the OLC/OBC flame war that has raged through Les Miz fandom since time immemorial. You may notice that a letter from a gentleman at Relativity Records is included with my copy, which I can only assume was pat of a promotional batch sent to radio stations, record stores, and the like. The text of this message follows (as transcribed to the letter by my lovely wife):

"Relativity
"194-03 Guy R. Brewer Boulevard – Jamaica, New York 11434
"Tel. xxx/xxx-xxxx – Telex: xxxxxx MPORT – Facsimile: xxx/xxx-xxxx

"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

"She was unforgettable to millions as the Tony Award-winning face and voice of Eva Peron in Evita; she is a motion picture and television actress of wide experience; as Fantine, the luckless factory worker turned prostitute in the multi-honored London cast production of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, she took home more hearts each night than E.T. She’s Patti LuPone, and her rendition of “I Dreamed A Dream” became one of the emotional high points of the 3 ½ hour production of “Les Miz”.

"Unfortunately, Ms. Lupone has not repeated her role as Fantine in the current Broadway production of “Les Miz”. Her passionate performance, however, has been saved for posterity as part of the original London cast recording (available domestically on Relativity Records) and has now been released as a 12” containing both a full length and special edit version of “I Dreamed A Dream”.

"There have been, to date, three stage productions of “Les Miz” in Paris, London, and New York with several more planned around the world this year and next; however, it’s the London cast that has received the best reviews. The New York Times offered the view that “…the American supporting cast does not act with the consistency of its West End predecessors”. With worldwide sales in all formats exceeding 300,000 units, the public certainly seems to be in agreement. Now Patti LuPone, one of the key figures in that supporting cast, steps into the spotlight with a song that will claim your heart.

"For further information, please contact:

Michael Krumper
National Publicity
xxx-xxx-xxxx"

So, there you have it. The opening volley from Mr. Krumper, backed by a New York Times quote. Methinks the folks at First Night/Relativity may have been just a bit peeved that Geffen snagged the US recording rights at the time.

ETA 8 Feb 2011:

Just received an interesting curiosity recently -- Les Misérables: The Synopsis, narrated by Sir Ian McKellen, is exactly what the title would suggest.



Release year: (2000-2004, though narration probably recorded in 1985-1986)
Promotional, no catalog number
Runtime: 12:00

1. Synopsis, Part One [Features clips from At the End of the Day, I Dreamed a Dream, Lovely Ladies, Who Am I?, Come to Me, Master of the House, Look Down, Red and Black, and Do You Hear the People Sing?]
2. Synopsis, Part Two [Features clips from A Heart Full of Love, One Day More, On My Own, The Attack, Bring Him Home, Soliloquy: Javert's Suicide, and the Finale]

This disc features what sounds like audio taken off of an old 45 -- analog pops and clicks abound, leading me to believe that the narration is of a particular vintage. The spoken narration is underscored entirely by selections from the OLC, detailed above. The cover art indicates that this particular pressing/release is from the early 2000's, sometime before the show transferred from the Palace to the Queens. My understanding is that this disc was handed out as a promotional items to educational groups, as indicated by the band in the bottom right corner. The sleeve is a simple cardboard one, with the disc sleeved just inside. The back cover features promotion for the School Edition, as well as contact information for educational groups (blurred in the scan, as I have no idea whether the info is current):



And the disc itself features the Cosette logo and the title of the disc:



It's an interesting piece. Sir Ian McKellen's narration has all the strength and bombast that one would expect from the RSC veteran, and the choice of selections used to underscore/supplant the synopsis is very smart. Overall, a nice promotional item -- I'd love to hear a proper digital mastering of this, assuming the original elements exist.

ETA 15 Feb 2011:

A fellow fan was kind enough to pass along some images of another OLC promo disc, available (I think) in the early 2000's. This promo EP comes in a standard slimline CD-single case, featuring the Cosette logo on a dark blue background:



The inside of the insert features a track listing and a wide shot of the barricade:



And the disc itself features a beloved remix of the Cosette logo sporting some nice studio headphones:

When the PRC comes up, I'll see if I can dig up my old copy. Part of the data portion of disc two just flat-out disintegrated when I left it unchecked after an...incident involving me leaving my car windows open during one of those remnants-of-a-hurricane that occasionally hits New Jersey. I've never seen damage quite like it on a CD, and if I'm somehow able to snag a decent picture of it, I'll add it up there.

Looks like the forum swallowed up my reply, but thanks so much for uploading all this information! This is an invaluable and really detailed summary. I'm looking forward to seeing some of your more unusual releases!

And your cat is gorgeous. =D

I never knew this! Here, all these years I've been listening to a copy of the OLC that has minor differences from the original release?! I've been gypped! Time to look for a copy of the original CD release - I can't make any judgements about Patti LuPone's Fantine without having her delivery of "Gimme that letter back!" to compare to Randy Graff's!

By the way, does anyone here know if Fantine actually just shouted that one line on stage in the early days of the show, with the full "Give that letter to me, it is none of your business..." passage only reinserted later (I know it was in the original French version), or if she always had the complete sung passage and the OLC and OBC just cut it to save space?

Anyway, this retrospective is incredible. I never knew so much about these recordings and I can't wait to learn more!

@MSam:

Many thanks! Bigby would probably thank you as well, but you're simply affirming what she already knows in her heart of hearts.

@Vanessa20:

Thank you! I'll try to speed up the frequency of posts to about one per week, now that the more complicated releases are out of the way. Fantine's "Gimme that letter back!" yelp was reserved exclusively for some earlier recordings as a space saver (though, really -- considering the amount of space left on each album side, they probably could've spared the 10 seconds). To the best of my knowledge, it has always been performed on stage a la the CSR.

Sorry -- I just got a new scanner that my graphically-challenged self is getting used to (to aid in the CD releases, mostly; its flatbed is tiny). The wife's teaching me some basic editing/cropping tomorrow, and hopefully you'll get a double post of the OBC/Tel Aviv later in the week. Sorry about the delay!

Wow, I'm not as big of a LM fan as I used to be, but this is really interesting!
I hope to learn more soon!