No, I mean of the Reprise LP's are there any pressings in particular that I should pay particular attention to? I listened to "Strangers In The Night" and it was real nice. Any other standouts? Thanks! Dave
The key there is to have the early pressings. Martin can tell you better than I, but a good rule of thumb is to look at the label. The earliest Sinatra Reprise LP's had the "anxious" Frank on them and looked like this:
I have three of those - the Christmas one pictured, "Ring-A-Ding-Ding" and "I Remember Tommy". The rest show a smiling Frank, except "Sinatra '65" which has the steamship label. Thanks for the info. I have a later reissue of "Ring-A-Ding-Ding" and it's a favorite of mine, so it'll be a good one for comparison. Dave
A steamship label? I have never seen any Sinatra LP's on the steamship label. But in any case, if your "smiling" Frank LP's have the same color scheme as the one I linked, they are still early pressings.
Yes - it has a Reprise steamship, pink on top instead of blue. I'll post a pic tomorrow night. The others do follow the same color scheme - bluish color on top, yellowish color on the bottom. My uncle is a huge fan who is his 70's and bought all of these as they came out. He just decided to consolidate and go vinyl-less. They're all in great shape and like I said, it was an honor to be 'passed the torch' so to speak.
Actually Mia was not a factor in this album,though both the recording of these songs and his marrying Mia might have stemmed from one factor-midlife crisis,as Frank turned 50. SEPTEMBER was in 1965;the marriage to Mia was 1966;they divorced in 1968. Frank's 1968-1969 output contained real melancholy output-CYCLES,MY WAY(many tracks),A MAN ALONE,WATERTOWN- and may have overtones of his failed marriage to Mia. To my ears,SEPTEMBER is a celebration;a pause in the life to toast what has happened and a fearless look into the years that are ahead.Mac
Sinatra on Reprise What can I say? I have the Leather-bound Reprise piece of luggage (#03550) and I can STILL see the faces of my friends and wife, when I told them how much it cost, when I bought it when it was first released! Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim is the best, IMO Quick runners up: Sinatra & Strings (I also have a 2-CD bootleg of "Sinatra & Strings" that includes EVERY take of EVERY song up to the final used master! Listening to this bootleg really sheds a great education of what energy was in the room during a Sinatra session...Just beautiful!) September Of My Years (I have a 2-CD bootleg of these sessions as well. It's kind of interesting to hear how long it took Frank to nail the song "September Of My Years" (still one of my all-time favs from Frank!) The Man & His Music (This is a lovely overview of Sinatra's career, with Sinatra as it's narrator) The "My Way" album had some iffy tracks, but Frank's swinging take on "Watch What Happens" and his gorgeous reading of Jimmy Webb's "Didn't We" make it a worthy listen. and I MUST add that beauty "Somethin' Stupid". Did Nancy and Franks voices work well together? Not exactly for my ears, but that arrangement and melody was sure hard to beat. If you get the chance, hunt down the Steve Hoffman DCC version on a CD called "For My Dad". There you will find the best sound on this beauty! Chris C
Hi again, Keep 'em coming. I have the Mono LP of "Sinatra & Strings" It is a promo white label and is in nice shape. Some of the best sound I have ever heard. Magical. I also have an original Stereo pressing of "I Remember Tommy" That is also superb. Look for the anxious Sinatra on the label for original pressings. Mono and Stereo pressings are both excellent!
I have a WLP mono I Remember Tommy, but sadly it's pretty beat up...I haven't found another mono copy yet, but I like the LP nonetheless. My favorite Reprise is probably Ring-A-Ding-Ding!; I have a first pressing mono I like a lot. But my favorite is the first Jobim LP, which I have in mono and sounds really nice. I was actually listening to "I Will Wait For You" on 45 the other day...
The stunning thing to remember is that in 1965, at age 50, Frank had more years performing ahead of him than he had put in up to that point! Entertainer of the century, indeed.
After I read Steve's book, I like the work on Reprise, but it's older, obviously, and not as immediate and crucial as his earlier work.
Sinatra '65 had the steamboat label as well. It came out after Frank sold most of Reprise to Warners. His "regular" albums had "F"(or "FS" for stereo) prefixes then. For reasons unknown to me, Sinatra '65, although a compilation, was issued in the regular Reprise LP series, and not Frank's - with a "6000" series catalog #, and a "R(S)" prefix.
Some of the first Sinatra I have clear memories of hearing were his 1966-69 singles on Reprise, many of which are hard to find except on vinyl. Not too many years ago I re-discovered "Cycles," a song that still moves me, and "Rain in My Heart," which I used to hear all the time on the easy-listening station my parents listened to in 1968-69. And his version of "I Will Wait for You," which is on the B-side of some copies of "Somethin' Stupid," is definitive, too. Perhaps the greatest Sinatra single of 'em all was "It Was a Very Good Year," from early 1966. The 45 was actually issued unedited, and it was an unexpected Top 40 hit. About a year later, "That's Life" (another great song) made the top 40 of the R&B charts, of all things, at the same time it made the top 5 on the pop charts. On a more lighthearted note, there is the album 12 Songs of Christmas with Bing Crosby and Fred Waring, on which everyone sounds as if they are having a blast. His and Bing's take on "We Wish You the Merriest" long ago made everyone forget it was a remake of a Les Brown song. Even as late as the 1980s, he could still make songs his own. Everyone's heard his "Theme from New York, New York," but you also have to check out his last great LP, She Shot Me Down (1981). One of my fondest memories involves Sinatra. In 1990, as Christmas presents I got my mom, a Sinatra fan from way back (alas, I didn't get her original Capitol vinyl LPs; they ended up with a sister, who LEFT THEM BEHIND in D.C. during one of her many moves), both the 3-CD Capitol box and the 4-CD Reprise box that came out at more or less the same time. The Reprise box ended up being our soundtrack on what was otherwise a lonely Christmas Day, just the two of us together at the house where I grew up. At this late date, I can't remember why we were the only ones there. But we were playing board games and hearing revelation after revelation on the Reprise Sinatra box. So many highlights, so little time ...
I won't be able to live with myself, if I don't send out my 50th plea to the folks at WARNER/REPRISE to "PLEASE" set free those 5.1 surround versions of FRANCIS ALBERT SINATRA & ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM "The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings" and The "SEPTEMBER OF MY YEARS" album which were both supposedly completed in 5.1 by Elliot Mazor (who also did 5.1 surround mixes on Neil Young's Harvest and Sinatra At The Sands!) If you'll release them...We "WILL" buy! Chris C
Chris-Without giving too many details,let's just say I can easily walk to Merchant's Square to those quarterly record shows. This last one I missed(they have been getting progressively worthless)-the first in a long time.I have a part-time job on Sundays that requires an early rise,as well as starting a new full time job(a similar early rise) after a brief foray into the Wonderful World of Boomer-Age Unemployment,so disposable income should be available next cycle. And thanks to Mr.Joel(and his need to use the name of a city to hang rhymes on),that song will be a problem forever. Meanwhile,a few weeks ago,the local newspaper did a feature about nearby Nazareth,Pa.(home of Martin Guitars) being the Nazareth that Robbie Robertson pulled in when he wrote "The Weight".Because of the obscure,almost-biblical references in the song,most people believe that the Nazareth mentioned in the song is of Holy Land origin. Mac
Sinatra '65 was issued in the regular Reprise LP series because it had the same list price as those. The Sinatra LPs in the F/FS series retailed for one dollar more. IIRC, this was an experiment to see if more albums could be sold at the lower price.
