Sinatra / Capitol Sound Quality and General Discussion: "Nice 'n' Easy" - 1960*

Agreed. Of the 4 tracks in my own library, it's the clear winner. It even beats some of the half-tracks!

 

I have the tape too, along with a few other quarter-tracks. Very natural sound.

 

I just searched my collection and found that in addition to the new MOFI vinyl, I have a yellow label mono and the 4-track reel! Also the Only The Lonely and Come Dance With Me reels! Now to get my Pioneer tape deck out of mothballs and see what you guys are talking about!

 

The MOFI pressing is great, but the tape is incredible. Very smooth and musical. Deep bass extension, transparent and silky highs, and a midrange with a harmonic texture that could make a grown man weep.

 

Great review. I'm really tempted to seek out a reel to reel player now.

 

Thanks bud. I film it live without a script. Some episodes run smoother than others. The mic on my DSLR doesn't really do the tape justice but you still get an idea of its warmth and clarity. That hiss is all from the camera. Usually I don't include sound clips. Strange to think UMG now owns the rights to that episode because I played one minute of "Fools Rush In"... :/

 

About a week ago, over in the Where Are You sound quality thread (http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...e-you-1957-album.205245/page-15#post-13220831), some posts were being traded re: the Nice 'n' Easy CD releases from 1988 and 1991. The subject of the discussion was the 1988 Japan CD release, CP28-5778, and what similarities (if any) it may have had to the 1988 US CD release, CDP 7 91149 2:

Well, I now have a copy of this Japanese disc in my hands. Artwork-wise, it is very similar to the 1988 Walsh CD, except on the back: no bar code, running times added, and additional Japanese characters. Of course, "The Nearness of You" is also added to the track list. Like the Japanese Where Are You disc, the Nice 'n' Easy disc itself features not only the Japanese catalog number but also "CDP 7 91149 2-J." Finally, although the inside of the insert is blank, like the 1988 US disc, there is an additional insert with English lyrics and an essay in Japanese that superficially resembles the Pete Welding essay in the 1991 US CD release of NNE (I mean, it has similar dates in Arabic numerals).

The CD sounds, to me, identical to the 1988 US release. Meaning that the mix of the title track on the two discs is the same, although the running time of the tracks are about half a second different and start in different sectors. Their DRs look to be the same. Per EAC:

1988 JP CD:
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:48.07 | 0 | 12606
2 | 2:48.07 | 3:36.08 | 12607 | 28814
3 | 6:24.15 | 3:15.52 | 28815 | 43491
4 | 9:39.67 | 2:17.25 | 43492 | 53791
5 | 11:57.17 | 4:28.25 | 53792 | 73916
6 | 16:25.42 | 3:23.30 | 73917 | 89171
7 | 19:48.72 | 3:19.28 | 89172 | 104124
8 | 23:08.25 | 3:56.35 | 104125 | 121859
9 | 27:04.60 | 3:22.52 | 121860 | 137061
10 | 30:27.37 | 3:24.50 | 137062 | 152411
11 | 33:52.12 | 2:48.28 | 152412 | 165039
12 | 36:40.40 | 2:58.00 | 165040 | 178389
13 | 39:38.40 | 2:42.15 | 178390 | 190554

1988 US CD:
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.32 | 2:47.45 | 32 | 12601
2 | 2:48.02 | 3:36.08 | 12602 | 28809
3 | 6:24.10 | 3:15.52 | 28810 | 43486
4 | 9:39.62 | 2:17.25 | 43487 | 53786
5 | 11:57.12 | 4:28.25 | 53787 | 73911
6 | 16:25.37 | 3:23.30 | 73912 | 89166
7 | 19:48.67 | 3:19.28 | 89167 | 104119
8 | 23:08.20 | 3:56.35 | 104120 | 121854
9 | 27:04.55 | 3:22.52 | 121855 | 137056
10 | 30:27.32 | 3:24.50 | 137057 | 152406
11 | 33:52.07 | 2:48.28 | 152407 | 165034
12 | 36:40.35 | 2:56.25 | 165035 | 178259

1991 US CD for comparison:
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:46.37 | 0 | 12486
2 | 2:46.37 | 3:35.63 | 12487 | 28674
3 | 6:22.25 | 3:16.02 | 28675 | 43376
4 | 9:38.27 | 2:17.15 | 43377 | 53666
5 | 11:55.42 | 4:28.13 | 53667 | 73779
6 | 16:23.55 | 3:23.17 | 73780 | 89021
7 | 19:46.72 | 3:19.35 | 89022 | 103981
8 | 23:06.32 | 3:56.53 | 103982 | 121734
9 | 27:03.10 | 3:22.52 | 121735 | 136936
10 | 30:25.62 | 3:24.53 | 136937 | 152289
11 | 33:50.40 | 2:48.07 | 152290 | 164896
12 | 36:38.47 | 2:59.55 | 164897 | 178376
13 | 39:38.27 | 2:43.30 | 178377 | 190631
14 | 42:21.57 | 2:55.70 | 190632 | 203826
15 | 45:17.52 | 3:05.35 | 203827 | 217736
16 | 48:23.12 | 3:12.18 | 217737 | 232154

Tracks 2 thru 11 are absolutely identical on both of these discs, although, interestingly enough, the 1991 disc shows slightly shorter running times throughout all of the tracks. Also, tracks 12 on both 1988 discs have different running times, although they once again sound the same. A sampling of DRs look to be the same also.

Now, tracks 13 on both the 1988 JP CD and the 1991 US CD are "The Nearness of You." They sound different:
- the vocals on the 1988 JP CD are wetter than on the 1991 US CD
- the 1988 JP CD has a slight dropout in the right channel at 0:01 that's not on the 1991 US CD
- the percussion that enters at 0:30 is louder on the 1991 US CD than on the 1988 JP CD
- using TT DR Meter (http://www.dynamicrange.de/es/es/download), we have DR11 on the 1988 JP CD; DR13 on the 1991 US CD. However, I can't vouch for how accurate this program is.

Different mixes for "The Nearness of You," though, yes? Is this a new one (for us, anyway) on the Japanese CD? Or is it simply the original stereo mix of the song, as initially released on the 1962 Sinatra Sings...Of Love and Things LP? I will send samples to the usual suspects, of course, for their thoughts.

 

Likely "Nearness" is the original stereo mix...I don't *think* it was ever remixed until it was used for a bonus track on the '91 CD of the album.

 

The "running times" or lengths in the EAC reports include the post-track gaps. Since track 12 is last on the 1988 US CD, it has no following gap. That is why it appears longer on the 13-track Japan CD. The 1991 US CD has slightly different gap times. To determine absolutely if tracks are identical, you need to do a binary compare of the digital data in the .wav files (EAC can do this for you), but I would bet that tracks 2 thru 12 are the same on all three discs, except for the silent gaps at the ends.

BTW, the date of the Japanese CD is 1989 not 1988. I've seen multiple Japan websites which specify February 1, 1989. The OBI strip, if you have one, should confirm this. Those usually show the release date in year-month-day format (e.g. 89-2-1).

 

The OBI has no dates other than 1960, but the insert, back cover, and disc itself show 1988, although I knew (but forgot) that the disc was actually released in early 1989.

 

BTW, I'm currently reading James Kaplan's new 'Sinatra: The Chairman', and he gets it wrong when he claims (p. 323) that after the recording of "Nice 'n' Easy" the following month...

As we know from this discussion, "The Nearness of You" was restored to the 1989 Japan CD reissue. Also, it's been assumed by some that 'The Nearness of You' was the intended album title, but I don't think I've ever seen official confirmation of that. Will Friedwald states ('Sinatra! The Song Is You', p. 256): "Nobody remembers what the original title for the project was..."

 

I believe Arnold Shaw wrote that Sinatra really wanted to call the album "Songs I Want To Stop Columbia From Reissuing"....and that probably was the "concept" of the album as well as the "concept" of "Sinatra's Swinging Session".

Sinatra was no doubt saving any "new" material he had in mind for Reprise.

"The Nearness Of You" however did have a history at Capitol records. Bob Manning recorded it on Capitol and no less than the it's composer Hoagy Carmichael called Manning's record the greatest recording made of the song.

Manning's idol Dick Haymes included "The Nearness Of You" on his Capitol LP "Rain Or Shine" and delivered another of his great ballad performances. Whether or not Capitol was thinking along those lines when they decided to drop it from "Nice And Easy" is open to question but they may have thought that of the 12 songs it was not as strongly devoted to Sinatra as the others.

 

Is there more than 1 MoFi Nice ' n' Easy LP?

 

Just got the 2002 version of the LP and it's pretty wonderful. I really have to stop buying records...

 

Weren't the final few LP's recorded on Capitol dictated by Capitol management as to what Mr. S would sing? I remember reading somewhere that he was complaining to someone about having to sing "Paper Doll" and "I've Heard That Song Before" saying he couldn't believe they were making him sing that "s&%t".

 

Love the album but wish it had less echo on the vocals.

 

So you agree?

 

I believe the separation agreement with Capitol only dictated the number of albums and singles Sinatra was to record to fulfill the contract. Capitol enforced the terms in 1962 when it made Sinatra give them one more recording: "I Got A Right To Sing The Blues".

Sinatra would never have agreed to have Capitol dictate WHAT he would sing. Mickey Rudin was too shrewd a lawyer.