Sinatra / Capitol Sound Quality and General Discussion: "Where Are You?" (1957 album)*

Already hashed out here, accompanied by audio clips:
<<The first CD release of Where Are You was in 1988 on a Japanese disc, catalog #CP28-5779, pictured above, which used the original 2-track mix. Additional releases followed:

•Larry Walsh mastered a Capitol release in 1991, remixed from the 3-track session tapes. As far as I can tell, the tracks that were used in 1990’s The Capitol Years set, produced painstakingly from original tapes by Ron Furmanek, were “lifted” from that set and re-used here, causing me to wonder if Furmanek and Walsh may have transferred all of the extant 3-track tapes for the album while working on The Capitol Years, anticipating a then-forthcoming CD issue of the entire LP, but this is strictly speculation. Regardless, the title track appears to be an exact clone in both the 1990 box set and this individual CD release. Note: This release is a remix, and either intentionally or by accident, the orchestral left and right channels are reversed when compared to all other stereo releases. Typically, the first violins are to the conductor’s left, but on this mix only, they appear on the right, so I suspect this was in error.

•The Walsh version was eventually phased out and replaced by a newly-mastered version engineered by Bob Norberg in 1998. (I think this one used the original mix, but it is so heavily processed as to make it tough to tell.)

•In Britain, another mastering was included in the 21-disc boxed set. Like the Japanese release, this release was created from the original mix, not a remix, although the mastering is unique.>>

Same Walsh remix on both; the levels may be a little tweaked. This also points out the problem with looking at DR numbers without listening and context. (My dad used to hate car dashboards that had "dummy lights" on them. He always bemoaned the lack of gauges that actually related information about things like oil pressure. The DR numbers are basically like a dummy light. They serve a purpose, but at a very "shorthand" level.) Here are DR ratings from the DR database for the 1988 version:

Here are the ratings for the 1991 CD. Note that I am only showing the first 12 tracks, so we have apples versus apples (sort of):

Now...maybe track one got adjusted by half a decibel or something and that triggered a 14 instead of a 13; I dunno. It's the same. Also, that much lower "Min. track DR" is from one of the bonus tracks, not from the 12 album tracks.

Both are those titles are Walsh masterings, yes.

 

(Let's shift the Nice 'n' Easy discussion to the Nice 'n' Easy thread, here.)

 

Is this the same Jim Jonson who did the cover art for Where Are You?
http://rogallery.com/jonson_jim/jonson-bio.html

 

Thanks, Bob. Since that Ebay page will eventually disappear, I'm posting the info here for posterity:

 

Just curious: Anybody have this Australian pressing? Very cool label and cover!


EDIT: Speaking of Australian pressings, I recently found and ordered a copy of this stereo version:

Very curious to hear this one. SFF has it listed as an 11-track LP, but both discogs.com and the seller listed it as 12-track.

 

Has it ever been confirmed that "Lonely Town" was co-arranged by (or at least with some assistance from) Nelson Riddle, as Sinatra announced (perhaps inaccurately) in later concert performances?

 

Long overdue, I've finally started to overhaul the WHERE ARE YOU web pages. If anybody has any clips they would like to share with us.....now's the time!

That said, though, I have some mono clips now posted, with thanks to @tlmusic , @stevelucille , @howlinrock . Versions currently posted are:

•D1#2 LP
•D1#4 LP
•D7 LP
•N8 promo LP
•D10 LP
•Early UK LP
•2012 MFSL LP
•2013 MFSL CD

If anybody would like to add clips from, say, non-USA pressings, EPs, etc., please let me know and I will be happy to add them.

See: http://www.11fifty.com/Site_108/1957_-_Where_Are_You_3.html

I have three mono "D" cuts, plus both the MFSL CD and mono LP, and both mono MFSL releases are excellent, IMO, and the best monos out there, but YMMV. Have a listen!

 

On the same page, I've updated and re-posted the section about the early 1958 stereo tape release. The six brief clips from reel #ZD-17 are once again posted, and I've also added (for the first time) a clip from a non-defective copy of 1958's STARS IN STEREO reel, #ZD-21, which included "I'm a Fool to Want You."

Scan about halfway down the page, here: http://www.11fifty.com/Site_108/1957_-_Where_Are_You_3.html

 

Were there cases in which the Australian branch of EMI's WORLD RECORD CLUB would release LPs that had one catalog number on the sleeve, but a different one on the label? I think that I *MAY* have been the recipient of a swapped-out LP/sleeve combination -- likely unintentional, if it happened at all -- on a recent sale, but thought I'd ask the brain trust here to see if there may be another explanation.

The album is Sinatra's WHERE ARE YOU, which was a 12-track mono album and an 11-track stereo album, but eventually there were some stereo LP releases that had all 12 tracks, one of which would be in mono or Duophonic, since one track was a mono-only recording. I've been looking for a copy of World Record Club album #S/2484, and I found one online recently, which arrived in the mail today. The jacket only lists one catalog number: S/2484, which appears three times. The jacket also says "STEREO" and lists all 12 songs, and discogs.com lists this as a 12-song release (and yes, I know that discogs.com sometimes has errors in the listings). So far, so good. The label on the record itself, however, lists catalog number S-7015, with five songs on side one and 6 songs on side two, eleven total, the same number of tracks as the original stereo release version, before the twelfth track was (sometimes) added back in.

Clearly, the sleeve and label are in disagreement, but I suppose it's possible that WRC was just packaging some old LPs they had in the warehouse or something. Hard to say. .....or maybe this sort of thing was common with WRC in Australia?

(In terms of deadwax info: This LP uses USA stampers, and those numbers are listed in fine print below the catalog number on the label.)

I think that the S/2484 release dates from about 1970.

Thanks in advance for any insights. In the end, it's no big deal. I'm just curious!

 

Label photo:

Cover detail, showing the S/2484 number:

 

Thanks, @Bob F . I had checked discogs and done a Google search for the S7015 catalog number, but struck out, so this is good to know. The S2484 cover is, indeed, an alternate cover:

(edit) ....not all that dissimilar to an earlier Dutch LP of another Sinatra album:

 

Thanks, Jae! Here's the WRC S/2484 rear address info:

 

No.

 

@Jae - you have been most helpful. Thanks!

I will add one more thing: It seems odd to me that a 1969 LP would still be using circa 1959 N1 USA stampers, but it's not out of the question.