Hi Guys, I'm late to this one, just getting into Sinatra, I've just collected 1993 BBB, the Reprise suitcase, The Capital Years, This songs for you Box, Complete Capital singles set, + some single CD's, all in the last 5-6 weeks! Can anyone tell me if the 1993 BBB came with a cover, over the blue box? Cheers, Mal UK
With both versions of the BBB, there was a pretty plastic frosted cover that slid over the cds and books.
Yes, I've got that...but I've seen a copy on E-Bay which shows a wrap around blue coloured cover, over the blue box?
Same as Martin... I left mine on. It's been on since I got it, about 20 years ago! If you don't have the box, I can't say enough good things about it. Each of the 12 discs has its own unique artwork, the hardcover book has a session by session breakdown by Will Friedwald (noted Sinatra scholar), the frosted "glass" cover, etc, etc. First-class production all around!
Yes, even whrn they switched from a wooden to cardboard box it was still excellent because of the outstanding effort. Man that was a great age for boxed sets. Not good for the wallet, but good for the soul.
Granted, it's "just" a Canadian release, but it's still an official product: Pretty lame-o artwork! Looks like a grey-maket job, IMHO. https://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Ballads-Songs-Frank-Sinatra/dp/B0010DJ138
Wasn't there supposed to be a new re issue of the complete Columbia material? I read that on here about a year ago. Anyone know if this is still going to be a thing?
What makes you think it is just a Canadian release? This comp came out ten years ago, as part of a Sony Valentine's series for various artists. The cover art matches other CDs in the series. There was also a 5-CD gift box. See my thread at the SFF: BEAUTIFUL BALLADS AND LOVE SONGS (Columbia/Legacy) 2008
No new news since last reported. My guess: If it happens, it will be next year for the 20th anniversary of Frank Sinatra's passing.
An unusual rare photo. Unknown fellow. As it is a studio portrait, it must be someone important to Frank.
Al Silvani. (Boxing trainer and good friend of Sinatra; later appeared in films, including Robin and the 7 Hoods and the Rocky movies.)
I sincerely hope it does!! Been holding off on finding the blue box in hope that this new set comes out. I seem to recall mention of a redo of the Dorsey era material too...
When did the Big Blue Box officially go out of print? That is, about when was it that the price of circulating copies went way up because new stock was no longer available from the distributor? I believe it was before Frank died. I got it on the day of release, so I am unsure....
From my January 2005 post at the SFF: Columbia Blue Box is OOP “In a conversation yesterday, with a representative of the Consumer Relations office of Sony Music Operations US (in Pitman, NJ), I was told that The Columbia Years 1943-1952: The Complete Recordings was deleted as of December 16, 2004.” That was when they stopped producing the faux wood (cardboard) version. I'm not sure when they switched from the original stained maple hardwood box.
My guess is that the wood box first edition was out of print before 1998. I seem to recall that it was not that common in major stores that carried everything (like NYC Tower) around the time in 1995 that the Reprise Suitcase was issued, though I think it was still technically in print at that time. I actually believe that the handful of private "Sinatra Dealers" that existed around this country (and in the UK too) actually sold a pretty good percentage of the total number of Blue Boxes sold overall. For example, one of my friends sold out his initial order off 100 boxes before the thing was even released, and placed his second order for 100 copies before the release date. He sold them like crazy. Now you take what might have been the biggest music dealer in the USA before the later internet boom, NYC's Tower Records. They may have sold about 10-20 copies on release. After that, most of the time, their display copy sat there. It was more money than most people were accustomed to spending on music. I know that others in the center of the craze to buy Sinatra - the private fans who sold Frank's music out of their home - were selling the Blue Box briskly. It just hit me that those guys did a great thing....getting Frank's Columbia Recordings in the hands of people who loved the music. Now I realize that they did a lot more to help that happen than the corporate big wigs in music distribution. Most of these guys are dead and gone now. It is too bad that the businessmen at SONY don't seem to catch their spirit
No, I think the wooden box edition lasted much later than 1998. Per Chuck Granata in January 2005: Columbia "Blue" Box » “[…] the blue-stained solid maple box that the original set was housed in was both expensive and difficult to produce (it was imported from Mexico), and a couple of years ago one of the top execs at Sony Music decided to change the packaging by substituting a faux-leather covered carboard box for the solid wood one. The hardcover book and the CDs are the same, though.”
Seems to suggest that it was around 2002 (he was writing in Jan 2005) that SONY decided to manufacture the cardboard edition, but that does not necessarily say when they last manufactured the wood case edition. But the idea is the similar. I do not think it was generally available when Frank died, from most sources. Though I can imagine that a few isolated copies may have existed in various marketplaces. Let's face it, copies are not common, because not many were made - at least relative to what a good sales campaign could have accomplished. A good campaign would have been selling copies for the last ten years, and hopefully with improved sound and more complete.
Ah! Sorry, Bob. My lack of depth on the Columbia history is showing! (Hey, there are worse things that could be showing.) The listing I saw mentioned Canada. Should have known.
Getting off the topic of Columbia era music, but more about Al Silvani may be found in this 1984 New York Times article: SPORTS OF THE TIMES; FROM MOVIE 'CUTS' TO RING CUTS Here's another photo of Sinatra with Silvani and heavyweight contender Tami Mauriello: Frank was a huge boxing fan, of course. He had been a boxer himself at one time, as had his father Anthony Martin Sinatra (using the pseudonym Marty O'Brien in Irish Hoboken).
Is the version of "Christmas Dreaming" that has shown up on recent-ish releases of the Columbia Sinatra Christmas Album an alternate take?
