Sinatra on Columbia (Official/Authorized Releases)*

ah!

Columbia Sinatra does it to me again "The Nearness of You". This is just so impossibly, impossibly beautiful. I know Frank recorded this again for Nice 'N' Easy, but this is just so unbelievably gorgeous!

 

D'oh......

I realize "The Nearness of You" is a bonus track on the Nice 'N' Easy CD... I believe it was not on the original LP.

... How'd I do @Bob F ?

 

That is correct, David. The song was originally recorded for the album (and may even have been the intended title track), but it was bumped at the last minute by Capitol in favor of the contemporary "Nice 'n' Easy" single. All of the other tracks on the LP were remakes of songs Sinatra first sang in the '40s.

BTW, the 1947 version of "The Nearness of You" in that YT clip was not released in the US until 1956, when it appeared in the Columbia compilation, That Old Feeling. The 1960 Capitol remake was first issued in the 1962 compilation, Sinatra Sings... of Love and Things, after Frank left the label.

 

My understanding is that LP was planned as a ballad style concept album, but the concept got killed

 

Just substitute "The Nearness of You" for "Nice 'n' Easy," and that's what was planned. The "concept" was to remake Columbia ballads for Capitol. It was essentially the culmination of the unfinished album represented by the "orphan" tracks which showed up on This Is Sinatra, Volume Two in 1958.

 

I like all Sinatra, especially the early RCA and Columbia recordings.

 

I have the large "Blue" Sinatra Columbia box...has anything yet bested this release in sound quality?

 

Yes: The 4-CD box set, A Voice in Time 1939–1952, based on newer transfers.

 

thanks! and no one would know better than you!

 

Has it ever been determined what the original album was to be titled?

 

Page 143 of Chuck Granata's book says it was tentatively called The Nearness of You.

 

Good going! Thank you.

 

I recently bought a CD (eBay) called Swing and Dance with Frank Sinatra, which appears to be a compilation of Sinatra's final LP on Columbia which of course was Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra. ( Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia » ) The CD claims to be a Sony release from 1998. (pictured below)

Anyway, on this CD is an ALTERNATE recording of I've Got a Crush on You. It sounds like it was recorded the same day as the official version (11-05-47 New York w/ Axel). Very very similar vocal reading by Frank, maybe just a little more hesitant. But a fairly different trumpet solo by Bobby Hacket.

It's a great alternate reading, by the way. I LOVE it! I see why they picked the official one as final, and yet this earlier reading is lovely too.

Anyone here ( @Bob F @paulmock @Tribute @MLutthans ) know anything about this alternate take? I don't see it collected in the Columbia big blue box. Thanks!



-- David

 

Sure, it's a playback take (-PB2) from the original session. Many of these exist in the Columbia vaults, and since the release of the "BBB" in 1993, a number of these have appeared in newer Columbia/Legacy compilations. Chuck Granata explains in his liner notes to this 1996 CD:

 

Thanks so much @Bob F !

Alas, my version of Swing and Dance with Frank Sinatra is from 1998 and is sadly missing all its liner notes -- maybe it was a knock off re-issue?

Sounds great though. LOVE these alternate takes.

 

It's probably been done before, and I may have even asked about it before, but I certainly would like to see a complete list of Columbia alternates/masters and their CD/LP/78 sources which did NOT appear on Big Blue Box, perhaps separating those from proper Columbia STUDIO sources from radio/aircheck/V-Disc sources. There are many of course.

 

Alas, that must have been a budget reissue. The original CD is dated 1996, Columbia/Legacy CK 64852. It included a 12-page booklet with Chuck's essay and full recording details.

See also posts by @paulmock and myself —> earlier in this thread.

 

If you can find it cheaply enough somewhere, it is worth buying just for the liner notes!

 

MANY thanks to you both! I'll keep a weather-eye out for it! The game is afoot, as Holmes may have said!

-- David

 

EBay is looking pretty good right now...although you'd need to find out which editions they are...

 

Amazon.com has been offering this title as a press on demand title. I've never bought one of those, and don't know if they come with the standard liner notes.

On the spine and rear, do you see the Sony/ Legacy logos?

 

I have a nice little gaggle of them.
The promo CD for the 12-CD box set uses the 78 promo label which gives it a nice touch.

Some are easier to find than others, you can find them on eBay.
BTW, they sound great!

 

Why would you buy a CDR? None of the Amazon custom CDRs that I have seen have full graphics (about 5 of them)

 

I went and looked up "gaggle"

gag·gle
ˈɡaɡəl/
noun

1. 1.
   a flock of geese.
2. 2.
   informal
   a disorderly or noisy group of people.
   "the gaggle of reporters and photographers that dogged his every step"

Did you really mean that you had "oodles" of them

oo·dles
ˈo͞odlz/
noun
informal

1. a very great number or amount of something

78s are great!!

 

I have to quit using Florida lingo, gaggle means "a bunch".

The Columbia promo 78's do sound great.