Henry, No sir you did not offend me, if that's what you hear from your pressing then that's what you hear.
As you know what Dertnarm is after is current and readily available pressings for anyone interested in participating.
My RCA pressings of Belafonte Live are not. The most recent being Classic Records 45 RPM single side box set from a couple of years back and a fairly decent early original pressing.
None of what you and Axel heard on your copies exist on mine.
The opening introduction that leads into Darlin'Cora the audience clapping is distinct and well rendered you immediately get a sense of the size of Cargenie.
The horn section puts a quick end to the clapping then the concert begins.
No where from the intro to the final of the concert do I hear anything remotely to which you described.
All and all the music is vibrant and entertaining
There are many things to be heard that the mics picked up during this concert, from the guy near the stage with some sort of bronchial problems ,subway to a transport outside going through his gears.
Its all there whether you want to hear it or not, it's live.
The current and still available double Lp re-issued by Classic Records is a fairly decent copy.
Compared to a very good pressing on a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate this currently available copy a 6.5 out of 10.Ten being the good pressing.
The intro is a bit washy,the horn section is a tad bright.
Belafontes vocals lack dynamics through out.
More so apparent on the track "John Henry" also there are portions where his voice is a tad harsh on this particular track.
Over all the musical flow of things are a little dull compared to a good pressing.
I borrowed this current issue yesterday to bring this information here.
For decades it's pretty much common knowledge this rare live RCA Victor recording is superb through and through.
However this is not what this thread is about.