The Oberlin recording seems to have some slight burbles or barely noticable skips - perhaps my copy is defective or there are dropouts in the tapes???
IF between song banter and spoken intros exist on the tapes, IMO it
is a bad production decision to have removed them.
If Heather is following this, perhaps she or someone connected
with the release can explain the thinking.
My thoughts about this issue: If the banter exists, it would require
a 2-CD set to present the songs and chatter. The cost to include
an extra CD is tiny, and from a marketing standpoint, getting 2-cd's
for a little more than 1 cd seems a bargain to the buyer, and a little
extra profit for the producer. This assumes that the SLIGHT extra cost does not put the album out of reach of those who would otherwise buy it.
Another problem may be royalty costs - in the USA, royalties are paid
on a per song basis, in the UK on a per album basis (this is the reason the US versions of the BEATLES albums had tracks deleted which were on the UK version). I do not know if this system still pertains, or if there is some way to limit the royalty costs. A recent A.L.Lloyd 2-cd set was priced at slightly more than a single CD.
I'm happy to have this live YT, but think it could have been even better...
Nicely annotated!
Thomas.