Frank Sinatra- The Essential Frank Sinatra The Columbia Years

The Essential Frank Sinatra: The Columbia Years.

This is a pretty great collection of Frank Sinatra's Columbia era material and a really good value at $12 for 2 CDs.

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Frank-Sinatra/dp/B0042OZDQQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410369343&sr=8-1&keywords=sinatra essential

Sound quality is superb throughout- especially for songs of this vintage. 70 some odd years later, these songs all still sound as timeless as ever.

Also, I can't get over how young he is in that cover photo!

 

Just to confuse things, Sony also released another compilation also entitled 'The Essential Frank Sinatra - The Columbia Years', with a similar cover - almost the same design and a similar b/w photo of FS from that era. This is just a one disc collection and has many alternative takes. It's a nice companion piece to the double CD collection.


http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Fra...8-1&keywords=essential+frank+sinatra+columbia

 

Yeah, i wish they hadn't re-used the exact same title.

Hers's the cover of the release you're talking about.

 

Most of the titles in this series are mastered by Vic Anesini. Is that true of both of these titles?

 

No, Vic Anesini is not credited on either title.

The earler single CD (Columbia/Legacy CK 61059, ©2003) was mastered by Darcy M. Proper and Andreas Meyer; session disc & tape transfers and restoration by Matt Cavaluzzo and Andreas Meyer.

The one in the thread opener (Columbia/Legacy 88697 78673 2, ©2010) is actually a reissue of a much earlier 2-CD set, Portrait of Sinatra: Columbia Classics (Columbia/Legacy C2K 65244, ©1997). Archival restoration & mastering by Mark Wilder, Tom Ruff, Matt Cavaluzzo and Ken Robertson.
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~ Frank's Albums

 

The granddad of all Sony Columbia/Legacy Sinatra issues was the 12-CD "Complete" box set from 1993, and both of these "Essential" compilations contain some alternate takes of recordings in that landmark collection.

From a sound quality standpoint, the single-disc Essential CD from 2003 is an improvement over the "newer" 2-CD release from 2010 (which was first issued 13 years earlier as Portrait of Sinatra). From a post of mine at the Sinatra Family Forum:

Additional links to SFF threads:

—> THE ESSENTIAL FRANK SINATRA (2003)
—> THE ESSENTIAL FRANK SINATRA (2010)
—> PORTRAIT OF SINATRA (1997)