Sinatra - Box Set "A Voice in Time" spans 39-52*

I saw this today in a indy record shop and bought it not realizing its just about out this tuesday. Gorgeous package, with huge hardcover book and 78rpm style album holding the 4 discs...sound on first disc is kinda noise free... , still its not the worst I've heard this material sound...I'll know more after a few listens and some A/Bing...still a nice looking thing, got it for $40 and well worth that IMO....and very timely for the debut of Ken Burns WW2 documentary airing later tonight..



SINATRA: A VOICE IN TIME (1939-1952)

DELUXE 4-CD COLLECTION – FIRST BOX SET EVER TO GATHER COLUMBIA AND BRUNSWICK MATERIAL IN SAME PACKAGE WITH VICTOR AND BLUEBIRD

80 SONGS – 20 PER DISC – DIVIDED INTO CHRONOLOGICAL THEMES:
• Disc One – The Big Band Years: 1939-1942 (Harry James, Tommy Dorsey)
• Disc Two – Teen Idol: 1943-1949 (Bobby-soxer mania in Times Square!)
• Disc Three – The Great American Songbook: 1943-1947 (Standards forever)
• Disc Four – The Sound Of Things To Come: 1947-1952 (Capitol inspiration)
Includes two previously unreleased alternate takes and 11 previously unreleased radio airchecks.
Box set compiled and produced by Frank Sinatra reissue collaborators Didier C. Deutsch and Charles L. Granata; liner notes chapters written by Will Friedwald, Granata, Deutsch, and Nancy Sinatra.

4-hour-plus box set arrives in stores September 25, 2007, on Columbia/RCA Victor/Legacy.

“The war years were essential for my father. He represented something for so many young women whose fathers or brothers or husbands were away. There weren’t a whole lot of guys around! I love ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’ because it’s the perfect example of the vulnerability he had that made women want to take care of him: to be with him, hold him, and nurture him.”

– from the liner notes written by Nancy Sinatra

“The girls loved Sinatra, but did the boys have a choice? Whether you were a boy or girl in the ’40s, you eventually succumbed to the mystical power of Sinatra. Many men were drawn to him through the ardent passions of their sisters or girlfriends. Some were young servicemen who were grateful for the monthly cache of V-Discs that were dropped on the frontlines throughout the war. Sinatra was omnipresent on those discs.”

– from “Frank Sinatra: Teen Idol,” by Charles L. Granata, liner notes for Disc Two, Teen Idol: 1943-1949


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The Voice. It wrapped itself around America – and then the world – but first, it won the hearts of every living, breathing member of the fair sex. None were immune, mothers and daughters, sisters and wives, especially those who stayed home during the Second World War, and dreamed their dreams, as The Voice provided the soundtrack of their lives. And then, when our soldiers returned from their duty, “the sentiments he conveyed in song embodied the deep emotions that boys and men of the greatest generation had long bottled up inside,” writes Charles L. Granata. The Voice was a catalyst through which, “begrudgingly at first, they confronted those repressed feelings. The soul searching made them better men, and even better lovers.”

The consummate artistry of Frank Sinatra (December 12, 1915-May 14, 1998) was a tsunami of change in the way Americans thought about popular music and the way they regarded their stars. It was a metamorphosis that took place in three major phases: his initial development as the boyish band singer with the orchestras of Harry James (in 1939, on Columbia and Brunswick Records) and Tommy Dorsey (1940-41, recording for Victor); then his emergence as a solo artist in 1942 (on Bluebird); and finally his explosion on Columbia from 1943 to 1952. During that time he was, quite simply, among the top entertainers on the scene – on records, on radio, in movies, and eventually on television – and the #1 personality to everyone under age 30.

For the first time in history, the merger of Sony Music and BMG Music enables the production of the first deluxe four-CD box set to encompass his music on the first formative record labels of his career, Columbia, Brunswick, Bluebird, and Victor. Contained are 80 songs – among them two impossibly rare previously unreleased alternate takes (“From The Bottom Of My Heart” with Harry James in 1939; and “All The Things You Are” in 1945) and 11 previously unreleased radio airchecks spanning 1943-52 (from such shows as Songs By Sinatra, The Vimms Vitamin Show, and Lucky Strike’s Your Hit Parade). In advance of next year’s 10th anniversary commemoration of his death, FRANK SINATRA: A VOICE IN TIME (1939-1952) will arrive in stores September 25th on Columbia/RCA Victor/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAIN*MENT.

 

spent some time A/Bing this box with the duplicate tracks from the 4 cd box set of "The Best of The Columbia Years"...About 30 songs overlap the two sets and the sound to my ears is pretty similar overall. both are virtually "remarkably" silent as far as surface noise goes, and I wonder if his vocals would sound warmer with less sterile presentation. Still I've not heard this material on any other cds or vinyl or shellac, so I have nothing to compare it to.

the new box was mastered by Marc G. Wilder and Maria Triana

I do like the flow of the 4 thematic cd's and the 120 page hard back book is really a nice bonus to a nicely priced and thought out box.

Worth checking out if you're curious about the first era of Sinatra's output.

 

This is the first I'm hearing of this set, although I now see that the kids on the Sinatra Family site are talking it up.

No interest from Hoffman board members? (I'm on a CD-buying sabbatical so I'm hoping to feed off of the enthusiasm of others.)

 

I have all the Frank Sinatra I need. Sounds tempting though....

 

I probably own 90% of that material. But if I had more disposable income, I'd probably still buy it. Having music from all the earliest labels he recorded for, wrapped up with decent remasterings, makes it look very worthy. Budding Sinatraholics have it pretty good now.

 

I'm a bit surprised as well, usually we have a Sinatra contingency on here...i'm sure a few will get it for Christmas I imagine.

 

Well...isn't this ground already covered by the Dorsey/Sinatra Song Is You box, the previous Columbia Years boxes, and the V-Discs box?

It'll be good for those who need to fill in a gap or two, that's for sure. But for someone like me, Capitol and Reprise is all I need. Plus "Brooklyn Bridge".

 

I don't have it yet and haven't heard it. The transfers themselves though, compared to the "Blue Box" for instance, are better than the older box sets as they were done on Sony's custom Rockport turntable. The old Complete Columbia set (and the 4CD distillation) were from transfers made with the old CBS records studio turntable. They also now have many custom styli to get the best from the disc masters that they didn't have then. As far as noise, or lack thereof on the first disc, lots of the RCA/Dorsey stuff is in better condition than some of the Columbia masters, so many of them aren't overly noisy to begin with. Again, I haven't heard it yet, but Chuck is a minimal processing kinda guy (like what was done on the Blue Box). That doesn't mean that someone higher up within Sony didn't request changes, etc. - if something has a "processed" sound, well...

 

What, no "Mama Will Bark"? Outrageous!

 

Same here.

 

PRX radio special made to complement this set :

http://www.prx.org/pieces/21023

 

I've got the 12CD Columbia Blue Box - what would I be getting here that I haven't got already?

 

as stated in the top post....
among them two impossibly rare previously unreleased alternate takes (“From The Bottom Of My Heart” with Harry James in 1939; and “All The Things You Are” in 1945) and 11 previously unreleased radio airchecks spanning 1943-52 (from such shows as Songs By Sinatra, The Vimms Vitamin Show, and Lucky Strike’s Your Hit Parade).

 

Anyone have this to comment on the sound yet?

 

i love frank but don't care for the columbia years....

 

i used to say the same thing, but i'm older and over time, I've really come to appreciate this period of his career as well. A great singer is a great singer no matter what period he's singing in. this year I've embraced the end and beginnings of his career. its all good.

 

I have the 2CD Portrait of Sinatra set and I’m good w/ just that. I think Sinatra’s early stuff sounds really primitive compared to what he did from 1955-on. I can only take it in small doses. I like when he stopped "crooning" and really sang- when he finally lost the Bing Crosby-esque voice.

He had better material and arrangers working with him as well during the Capitol and Reprise years, not to mention the strides made in studio technology.

The Sony Christmas album (Jolly Christmas w/ Frank Sinatra) is amazing though and his version of Ave Maria is definitive.

 

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?p=2190979

 

Does the box include any "original master takes" where only "alternate takes" have been issued on earlier cds.

 

There's a fine alternate of The Sunshine Of Your Smile (Dorsey) that I think they should have added. There's nothing in this set that anyone collecting Sinatra material in the nineties couldn't have found on unofficial, but very well produced, compact discs. Why, also, did they not include the original take of Among My Souvenirs? It's not on the big Columbia box. A long out-of-print Japanese Sony disc is the only way to get it on CD.

 

Still no other comments on the sound of this release? I am encouraged by the fact that it is mastered by Marc Wilder. Not really my *favorite* mastering engineer, but much better than Mr. Norberg. Any additional comments? I might have to spring for this myself...

 

with nothing for me to compare these two, i find them listenable, clearly cleaned to anti-distraction, but he sounds nice on them.

really nicely packaged and the 4 thematic discs flow nicely. worth getting IMO if you want some of this material.

 

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?p=3066075

 

I never listened much at all to the Sinatra/Dorsey recordings myself, but I did last night and have to say Martin is right about the sound being filtered. I remember thinking that at the time I bought it but hearing it again reminded me of that. I compared it to the RCA Sinatra/Dorsey Greatest Hits expecting that to sound better. It does not. There's no filtering, but there is some kind of processing that sounds like widening. These discs sound awful.

 

I thought I'd kick this one up as a forum member mentioned its only $30 at Amazon and its a terrific box....and its Sinatra week!