Because I'm a Phantom Addict ...
I've broken the Phantom portion of my list into five pages. The videos are all together on one page, and the audios are split to four pages - by decade. This has a lot to do with me being a little OCD about my filing system offline lol.
A few things to note ...
The grades I give my audios are subjective. I seriously debated about using them at all, but ... the old school trader in me wouldn't allow me to do without. Please understand that a B from say, the 1980's or 1990's is not the same as a B from any bootleg past 2000. Why? The vast majority of recordings prior to 2000 spent time in an analog format - typically cassette. Between HSD and generation loss I expect a lot less in terms of quality in an older audio than I do a newer one.
About my Phantom Of The Opera audio reviewing:
Back when I first started trading, I actually listened to the entire audio from beginning to end. Probably about the middle of my last trading run, I started listening mainly to the principal material, and at that sometimes only a few songs.
Since I decided not to list things until I could review them to some extent for quality and completion purposes, my backlog is MASSIVE. (This also explains why you might not hear back from me right away on a trade ... because I have to cross check EVERYTHING I have to keep from getting duplicates ... and it still happens!)
So here goes.
I can guarantee that if Wandering Child / Bravo Monsieur is on the recording, that's the first thing I've been listening to. It's why you'll see it often mentioned in any of my reviews.
If Wandering Child / Bravo Monsieur is not on the recording, my next stop is typically either the Mirror, the Title Song, or Music Of The Night. This also goes to say if there are any issues in Wandering Child / Bravo Monsieur, those songs above are my next checks to see if the issues are in one track alone, or over the entire audio.
There has been one audio recently where I based my grade off of All I Ask Of You, but that was only because I'd had, then lost, that audio, and I knew there was some mis-information on Raoul's identity.
I can typically tell if it is the complete show just by run-time. To do this I highlight all the tracks, right click and select properties to get a run-time. If the entirety is under two hours I know that there's missing pieces and will check to see what IS there. With older audios I'll typically assume there's gaps from flip points.
If there is copious amounts of description, then the review may be from my old list. Unless it's labeled as TRACKED, because if I'm tracking an audio, I'll listen to more material than I will on a typically traded audio. Since I did lose so many audios, I've used my old notes to double check the identity on many. And since there were quite a few that I know for a fact I transferred to CD from Cassette, those will likely have the most accurate reviews, as those audios when I did the initial transfer I had to sit and listen to the whole thing, put together pieces, and cut tracks, etc.
I do not consider missing the Entr'acte, Prologue, or Overture to constitute "Highlights" status. Truthfully, I usually won't label something Highlights unless there's more than 15 minutes of missing material. I'll still typically say there's something missing, but anything in that 15-30 minute window would be more like "Most of the show" rather than "Highlights".
So there you have it. If there is anything on any audio that you do have questions on, I can give a more accurate listen upon request.
Now that you've sat through all that ... Let My Opera Begin!
About my Phantom Of The Opera audio reviewing:
Back when I first started trading, I actually listened to the entire audio from beginning to end. Probably about the middle of my last trading run, I started listening mainly to the principal material, and at that sometimes only a few songs.
Since I decided not to list things until I could review them to some extent for quality and completion purposes, my backlog is MASSIVE. (This also explains why you might not hear back from me right away on a trade ... because I have to cross check EVERYTHING I have to keep from getting duplicates ... and it still happens!)
So here goes.
I can guarantee that if Wandering Child / Bravo Monsieur is on the recording, that's the first thing I've been listening to. It's why you'll see it often mentioned in any of my reviews.
If Wandering Child / Bravo Monsieur is not on the recording, my next stop is typically either the Mirror, the Title Song, or Music Of The Night. This also goes to say if there are any issues in Wandering Child / Bravo Monsieur, those songs above are my next checks to see if the issues are in one track alone, or over the entire audio.
There has been one audio recently where I based my grade off of All I Ask Of You, but that was only because I'd had, then lost, that audio, and I knew there was some mis-information on Raoul's identity.
I can typically tell if it is the complete show just by run-time. To do this I highlight all the tracks, right click and select properties to get a run-time. If the entirety is under two hours I know that there's missing pieces and will check to see what IS there. With older audios I'll typically assume there's gaps from flip points.
If there is copious amounts of description, then the review may be from my old list. Unless it's labeled as TRACKED, because if I'm tracking an audio, I'll listen to more material than I will on a typically traded audio. Since I did lose so many audios, I've used my old notes to double check the identity on many. And since there were quite a few that I know for a fact I transferred to CD from Cassette, those will likely have the most accurate reviews, as those audios when I did the initial transfer I had to sit and listen to the whole thing, put together pieces, and cut tracks, etc.
I do not consider missing the Entr'acte, Prologue, or Overture to constitute "Highlights" status. Truthfully, I usually won't label something Highlights unless there's more than 15 minutes of missing material. I'll still typically say there's something missing, but anything in that 15-30 minute window would be more like "Most of the show" rather than "Highlights".
So there you have it. If there is anything on any audio that you do have questions on, I can give a more accurate listen upon request.
Now that you've sat through all that ... Let My Opera Begin!