From what I remember from my quad 8 track, the orchestra was mixed to mainly come from the rear channels, but I'd need to check to be sure. The Warner quad 8 tracks had terrible duplication, in my experience...I sold most all of mine, except for the Sinatras, and I still need two of those.
Luckily, three of the five Quad albums were also released on Quad Reel to Reel with superb sound. Greatest Hits Vol. 2 is one of the three.
When I want to hear Frank Sinatra, I will turn to the Reprise-era material first. There's just something about it that is really cool.
I feel just the opposite. Both Sinatra & Co. & GH 2 were the first LPs during the retirement era and just feel like that Warner Bros. was scrambling for product fill,not unlike Capitol's Best of the Beach Boys, Vol. 2 & 3. Throwing Bein' Green on both albums back- to- back was a cheat for fans that bought every long player. On GH2,the Something track,which was the "B" side of Bein' Green,seems like another filler track. As for history,I think it was not only the first Sinatra cover of a Beatle song,it was the first Beatle song "Fridays with Frank" radio guy,Sid Mark,ever played on the air. As for mood,throwing in the Star single,an upbeat song from a failed Julie Andrews film,written by long time Sinatra song writers, Van Heusen & Cahn-(a song that even never made as a full track on the actual film soundtrack LP)throws what ever mood was going on right out the window. Then the album reverts back to a ballad ,the oldest track on GH2,September of My Years,which,while sublime,seems out of place for the era the rest of the tracks are culled from. One can only speculate what would have happened if the "retirement " went on longer and the pipeline needed more product.
Mmmh, understand your point. But it's still a nice record. Be it for "I'm not afraid" alone, which is one of the most underrated recordings in the Sinatra canon. And how can the brilliant sounding "Something" be a filler track? It wasn't included in any album prior to this. Or am I missing something?
The version of “Something”on GH2 is the single version, charted by Lennie Hayton and released on the B-side of “Bein’ Green” in 1971. It’s among the final Sinatra recordings before his “retirement.” This one is often overshadowed by the string-heavy Nelson Riddle version for Trilogy: The Present almost a decade later. When George Harrison fans complain about Sinatra’s signature lyric change (“You stick around, JACK…”), you can point them to this earlier recordiing:
My father always turned the radio up when Sinatra came on. The first Sinatra songs I remember hearing were That's Life and Strangers In the Night when they were hits on AM radio. He wasn't the type to buy records but the Reprise era was very much a part of his life, I think.
Exactly! And that's why GH2 is a must have album. And "Something" definitively NOT a filler as jimac51 said. Like this version much better than the later Riddle arrangement.
I can identify with that. My dad had several Sinatra and Nat Cole LPs. I liked them from about age 5 on....
Thanks Bob! You're a Champ!! As of 52+ year fan of George Harrison and his famous mates AND as a 3+ year besotted fan of all things Sinatra, I have to say I completely love the later Nelson Riddle arrangement, even with Frank's well known "You stick around, JACK". Why? First, the arrangement is drop dead gorgeous, ranks with the best of Nelson. Could be Debussy for all I know. Also, Frank's voice is so, so expressive here, so much emotion, and even a little grit here. That "older" voice just slays me every time! Naturally, Frank makes the song completely his. But also, the song takes Frank over too! I always feel somehow transformed by a great Sinatra performance, and to me this is one. Also, I've heard plenty of interviews where George is clearly so very very proud that Sinatra chose "Something" (George's signature song after all) to record TWICE and to heavily tour with it, sometimes calling it one of the great love songs of the 20th century, and yeah I know Frank was initially name checking "those OTHER TWO Beatles", but his later credit from the stage to "George Harrison of the Beatles" is so heartfelt and warm!! Just imagine how proud George must have been! I've heard interviews where the gist of what George says is, basically, "Well, it's Sinatra after all. I grew to dig it, man." So, yeah, Jack, stick around! It's all good. P.S. No question, that 1970 performance and arrangement is something special! -- David
ALWAYS REPRISE FIRST! I don't believe it's the "cool", as much as it's the beautiful arrangements by the likes of Don Costa and Gordon Jenkins. I love the CAPITOL stuff with Nelson Riddle, near equaly as well, but I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to forgive Nelson for that horrible sounding organ, that he welcomed throughout those "Strangers In The Night" sessions. (And I know that many seem to love that sound, but to me, it's out dated and body cringing, at it's "fingers down a chalkboard" best!)
Speaking of Sid Mark...I grew up with Friday With Frank and Sunday With Sinatra..it was a tradition in my house until I moved from South Jersey a few years back. I recently listened to Sunday With Sinatra through a stream of WPHT in Philly. The guy has been on the air for 61 years! He is sounding old these days (he must be in his mid 80's by now), but still at it. Used to love hearing him do the ads for P&S ravioli "P & S present s this portion of .......Sssssinatra!"
Yes, understandably, Sid is sounding old and weak on his current shows. What is kinda spooky is that some stations are broadcasting old "Sounds of Sinatra" broadcasts instead. It's neat from a retro-perspective, but when you hear him on a current show and flip the dial and hear a show from decades ago it does make one take pause.
Are you sure of that, Paul? There are two shows: The 4-hour live “Sunday with Sinatra” broadcast from WPHT 1210 in Philly, and the syndicated pre-recorded 2-hour “Sounds of Sinatra” heard on many stations around the country each weekend. Both can be heard online. You may be mistaking the latter programs as “old,” but I believe they are freshly recorded each week.
@Bob F last year I listened to Sid on Sunday AM on his local Philly show and was very taken aback at how he sounded. Later that evening I tuned in to a SOS syndicated broadcast (I can no longer remember where) and was surprised to hear it was a "youthful" sounding Sid from circa late 80's complete with talk of Mr. S's "next appearances". Freaked me out!
Cento. And my personal favorite-Pica's Restaurant. The best pizza in the world! Just ask Uppa Daahby's own Tina Fey. Consumed more than my share of Pica's pizza years before they started advertising with Sid. If I catch one of those spots,I just wanna go down home for a large rectangle pie,1/2 pepperoni(they used to slice it in long strips for each slice). Run across the street for a Tastykake & Wawa coffee and wait for the diabetic shock!
I've taught my wife to listen for the muted trumpets now. I'll say "here we go." She'll listen, smile and say "Nelson."
Wiki indicates Sid is celebrating #85 this year. Enjoy him while you can. I've been saddened over the past 10-15 years as radio legends, local and national, have passed from the scene. The era of iconic broadcasters is rapidly fading. Radio in all its forms no longer supports that model. It's all about automation, homogination, and conglomeration.
I found it quite eerie watching Sid's interview with Frank Jr.,after news of Jr.'s passing. To think that Sid has outlasted almost all of the performers/colleagues he promoted or worked with. My beginning interest in jazz came from WHAT-FM,where Sid reigned alongside Joel Dorn(aka the Masked Announcer on TV) and others. Waiting nightly for Maynard Ferguson's Frame For The Blues @ 9:54PM-remembering when the station flipped to stereo and my Mom letting me blast Maynard on the ol' Magnavox. If stories are accurate,the Sinatra gig started before I was five years old. I'm retired today. My interest in WHAT-FM started in 1965. It took me till I did college radio that Sid was basically playing two Sinatra LPs on two turntables for each hour. Remember ads for a foreign car dealership,Motor Sport,and Sid got to try out the cool cars of the '60s(a friend witnessed Maynard & Sid playing chauffeur downtown in the '70s). I didn't buy much Frank 'cause Sid was always there on Fri. nights. Virtually no Columbia stuff,as he often said his sister was interested in the bobbysoxer era Frank and young guys just didn't listen to that mushy stuff. A new Reprise album meant lots of attention with new favorites garnering repeated playings. When FM radio finally ousted him(and the station was all-right- wing in stereo(both channels?) but Sid had been left alone 'cause the audience was always there and the ads were paid for. When he went to similar digs at WCAU-AM which may have been WPHT by then(WOGL,WPTS andwe'll kindly forget the WGMP sports era where they were quickly monikered The Gimp by listeners). 50,000 watts but the noise in mono was sad. I was told by a sales guy that in the 90s Sid had a little corner in the station,barely lit,with Sidney in full bloom wearing one of those orange sweaters he hawked onair. I think there were turntables there-this in the CD era-but since the station was all-talk;that part of the studio was only there for the Sinatra shows. Once again-loyal listenership(during the bleak ad times of Sunday morning on an AM station)and the ads were in the bank. Days that led to a Phillies game were extra nice and not so long ago.
Getting a bit off-topic (and perhaps we need a new thread about Sid Mark?), but I too was greatly influenced in my Sinatra education by his weekly programs on Philly radio. I began listening in 1959 (age 12), and I was thrilled to attend his 60th anniversary celebration. From that live event in November 2016, my photo of (L to R) Joe Piscopo, Bobby Rydell, and Sid Mark… More about Sid in my opening post of this thread at SFF: » Sid Mark (merged)
