Frank Sinatra Set from Sony/Legacy, 1935-1955 Radio Performances, "A Voice on Air"*

You can listen to the song 'Long Ago and Far Away' here:
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/10/08/frank-sinatra-long-ago-and-far-away/

 

That alone is worth more than the price of the set.

 

This is gorgeous! Can't wait for this! (Amazon USA price did drop to $58.99 after starting higher than that.)

 

Very exciting!

 

Wow , even on my phone that sounds fantastic !
If the rest are this good OMG.

Peace and love✌

 

Even better than the version that appeared in the V-Disc set way back when. There's a more languid tempo here. I love it.

 

This is fantastic! more importantly the tonality in Frank's voice and resolution of these recordings is what has been missing from his Columbia recordings from the blue box. Those recordings have always seemed terribly flat to me.

 

Chuck Granata asked me to post this:

For myself, I'm truly proud to be part of presenting this material in the manner we are on A VOICE ON AIR. The restoration was all done very judiciously. Our amazing engineer Andreas Meyer of Meyer Media (http://meyer-media.com/) worked to do the restoration as transparently as could be, including - and this is no exaggeration - thousands upon thousands of manual fixes of ticks, damage, etc., all to preserve the sound as best as could be. He should be canonized. All the eq was done to present each song in the best possible light, often tweaking the inner balances just so, locking in things musically and letting them "sing" and "speak". Even the lesser sounding tracks, irrespective of restoration, have been carefully eq'd to hopefully let your ears forget their inherent lower fidelity, and get lost in the music. Even "Shine", not exactly inherently hi-fi, sounds better here than you'd likely expect - due to the source we used, transfer playback refined just so, equipment used, plus finely tuned restoration and eq. At the other end of the spectrum, some of the material - even from say 1943 - sounds amazing. "Birth of the Blues", for instance, will knock you out sonically (and musically, of course!), I guarantee.

I've been listening back to the set a few times over the last couple of days. It's gratifying and humbling to hear it all together, and to have been entrusted with being part of handling Mr. Sinatra's historic recordings here is a tremendous honor which I don't take lightly. It's also exciting to know that in six weeks, you'll be able to enjoy what I have been here, and finally get this music out there officially and forever.

 

Thank you Martin. It's most appreciated by Sinatra fans.

 

Sold!

 

Does Sony still use that "Rockport" turntable for projects such as this?

 

They do, but most all of the new transfers were done at Andreas' studio, utilizing a Technics SP-15 in a custom stone plinth, with this amazing vintage Pickering 190 arm, which looks crude at first, but sounds anything but. How it "floats" the cartridge is a beautiful thing to see (and use). Various custom styli by Expert in the UK for his Shure were utilized, each best suited to whatever disc was being transferred. The Expert styli further enhance the cartridge's overall sound as well. Between the components themselves, the plinth, and the way Andreas has setup everything, it sounds fabulous. The icing on the cake was a vintage McIntosh C8S tube phono preamplifier we brought in (with Telefunken 12AX7 smooth plates installed), sourced from and newly restored by the great Dave Dintenfass of Full Track Productions (http://fulltrackproductions.com/).

 

It's been our pleasure. We hope you love it.

 

How long has this project been worked on? Sounds like a mammoth undertaking.

 

It's taken time, and a lot of dedication from everyone involved, even beyond sound related matters.

Chuck Granata has dreamed of doing this project for 20+ years.

 

Now up on YouTube:

 

Exquisite vocal.

 

The product shot is now on display on Amazon, folks. Interesting packaging.

 

From a transfer session for A VOICE ON AIR:

The McIntosh C8S:


Original lacquer disc containing "My Heart Tells Me":


How did they break out?:

 

I love seeing this much painstaking attention being given to these releases, especially in this day and age. Thank you Chuck and Martin!

 

OH MY GOODNESS! Be still my heart!!

For me this set is worth it JUST for the alternate "Why Try to Change Me Now"!

 

As stated by Chuck and Martin it is NOT an alternate...it is a radio performance.

 

To clarify, "Why Try To Change Me Now" is not a Columbia alternate - it's a live performance from 1953 made for the Treasury Department's GUEST STAR program. It's a marvelous performance, in fabulous sound.

 

The packaging appears to match the 2007 box set " A Voice In Time " although the booklet appears to be more standardized
than the last set. I can't imagine what position Columbia/Sony would be in without people like Chuck & Martin. What I
mean is, the major labels that FS recorded for Columbia alway's came in 3rd in regard to quality and consistancy with regard to
re-issues...until Chuck, Didier, and I guess Frank Military came aboard in what 1986 or so. Columbia really had no decent reissues
from roughly 1967 to 1986. From the BBB onwards every new release is all about quality. It's hard to satisfy all the different types
of collector's that FS attract's.