I’m going on a mission. Cover me. I’ll report back soon. <puts on headphones> <prepare the Norberg> <grabs Scotch>
The thought of Come Fly with Me and In the Wee Small Hours HD releases being "the MFSL mastering?" Can somebody detail the thinking here?
I think there may be some confusion here with other UMe LP reissues like A Swingin Affair and Songs for Swingin Lovers.
Just confirmed: As suspected, the current In the Wee Small Hours album on iTunes is a Mastered for iTunes version of UMe's HD release, not the 1998 UK CD. Track 11 is the giveaway.
I just listened closely to several key passages in select songs on three different versions of ITWSH. 1) Mastered for iTunes 2) 1998 Norberg 3) Rip from UK MFP disc (1998?) The MFiT version is NOT the Norberg. No way. But it’s not the UK MFP version either. I see @MLutthans post above saying that it’s from the UMe HD version. I don’t have that version, but I buy that theory. I actually prefer it to the UK MFP version. There’s a warmth to Sinatra’s voice and to the bass in particular that I enjoy. That being said, I’m terrible at sound comparisons and describing what I like and don’t like.
Wasn’t the thinking that UMe might have had the MFSL HD files and somehow the rights to release them on their own after the deal fell through? Seems weird to me, but what do I know...
Capitol already had all the masters, presumably organized and ready to roll. In the Wee Small Hours had been released digitally from the correct source tapes by Capitol in the US, and Come Fly with Me had been analog-mastered at Capitol by Ron McMaster twice. No problem with source tapes there, either. Songs for Swingin' Lovers and A Swingin' Affair? Those had to be re-cobbled to create masters for MFSL's use, but those other two? I don't see that being necessary.
Thanks to this thread and the wonderful Amazon UK links provided by @Bob F , I just ordered the Walsh versions of ITWSH, Come Dance With Me, and Come Swing With Me (might as well?), along with the MFP two-fer of Songs for Young Lovers/Swing Easy.
I think people are going by the fact that both titles were announced and advertised by MFSL, well in advance of their cancellation. Five albums (including also Songs for Swingin’ Lovers!, A Swingin’ Affair!, and Point of No Return) were announced in late 2012 for release the following year, but unlike the other three, these two never made it to either vinyl OR SACD. The perhaps faulty assumption is that they had such a long lead time, MoFi MUST have had a chance to create masterings, and Capitol/UMe acquired those for its 2014 vinyl and HD issues. But of course it’s just a guess which has never been confirmed officially.
I wasn’t here to feel the pain with you all when they were canceled. But I’ve come to love those two albums and the actually-release MFSL discs over the past year or so, and I sure feel the pain now. Sigh.
The real challenge is finding the Walsh versions of Close to You and Sinatra’s Swingin’ Session!!!, and especially… Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color.
I have the Walsh version of Sinatra’s Swingin’ Session!!! but not the other two. I’d love to have Close to You. That’s one of my favorites from the Capitol era.
I ordered a copy of what is supposedly the Walsh version of Close to You. We’ll see if it’s actually the right disc when it shows up.
I believe these are the Walsh versions, but I could be wrong. Frank Sinatra - Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!! And More Frank Sinatra - Close To You And More
I just ordered A Voice in Time for $19.99 on Ebay which included shipping - seems like a great deal! Looking forward to this after the good reviews.
I found both of those in the bins a few weeks ago, along with several other Capitol and Reprise titles.
I've searched through here for the best sounding single CD or 2CD compilation, and so since most of the thread is either individual albums or otherwise much too huge box sets (even the albeit great sounding 1992 Capitol Years compilation is a bit too hefty at 3CDs for me to call it a casual compilation)... ...I've found that the 1997 2CD compilation (Reprise Records – 9362-46712-2) sounds best, good dynamics, not too warm but not too boomy either and the alternative is Reprise Records – 9 46589-2 ; I think this is just the US version of the first one in a way, but it has a different tracklist, and is just SLIGHTLY less loud (insignificantly so IMO) My main gripe with both of these - as a casual listener - is that the performances for I've Got You Under My Skin and Come Fly with Me are not the ones you've probably heard a million times in your life, which I think is a pretty big minus if you're looking for the bare essentials and not an immersive set like I am. A third option would be the 2011 single-disc compilation (Capitol Records – 5099967976423), which does have the best known (versions of) songs, and on a single disc at that, but it's much too loud and it doesn't sound very good. I also listened to the HDTracks release of "Ultimate Sinatra" which is just...weird. Not too loud (louder nonetheless), but a really strange tracklist.
Well, I take the hat for sound quality from this CD. It's not because of Mobile Fidelity, but it's because it seems to me to have been very well taken care of, with the tapes well transcribed, the sound is not so loud but also not low and a problem that occurs at the beginning of "Love Is Here to Stay "(a strange noise that I can not explain) is greatly reduced. In addition, the album is a faithful portrayal of the golden period that was Melrose's studio, with its great acoustics. And it has a great Dynamic Range. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analyzed: FRANK SINATRA / Songs for Swingin' Lovers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR12 -6.60 dB -22.09 dB 2:56 01-You Make Me Feel So Young DR13 -6.59 dB -22.21 dB 2:36 02-It Happened In Monterey DR13 -6.89 dB -22.92 dB 2:19 03-You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me DR12 -6.60 dB -22.18 dB 2:47 04-You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me DR13 -6.48 dB -21.72 dB 2:29 05-Too Marvelous For Words DR13 -6.62 dB -22.25 dB 3:56 06-Old Devil Moon DR13 -6.68 dB -22.25 dB 2:43 07-Pennies From Heaven DR11 -6.51 dB -20.33 dB 2:41 08-Love Is Here To Stay DR13 -6.57 dB -23.20 dB 3:44 09-I've Got You Under My Skin DR12 -6.92 dB -21.25 dB 2:30 10-I Thought About You DR13 -6.54 dB -22.26 dB 4:26 11-We'll Be Together Again DR14 -6.51 dB -23.35 dB 3:07 12-Makin' Whoopee DR13 -6.96 dB -22.53 dB 2:54 13-Swingin' Down The Lane DR14 -6.55 dB -23.38 dB 2:43 14-Anything Goes DR13 -6.51 dB -22.43 dB 2:44 15-How About You? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks: 15 Official DR value: DR13 Samplerate: 2822400 Hz / PCM Samplerate: 44100 Hz Channels: 2 Bits per sample: 1 Bitrate: 5645 kbps Codec: DSD64 ================================================================================
Okay, so it's also because it's Mobile Fidelity. But the fact of being MoFi is not always the best sound in the world, IMHO.
