Sinatra / Reprise Sound Quality and General Discussion: "...Great Songs from Great Britain" (1962)*

I agree on the 1965 speculation. As to trusting dates on Universal labels, there was this re-issue of an album that came out in 1963:

That said, original mono and stereo labels for Great Songs from Great Britain had the 1962 date on the label.

 

When did the green Reprise inner sleeve get phased out in the UK? My UK stereo LP has that first-style green inner sleeve, the one with just the picture of an orchestra with the gong clearly visible, no album titles promoted, etc. Was that still in use in, say, 1965? Not in the USA, but maybe in the UK?

 

Interesting. My stereo LP is a -3L on both sides, and has the green liner.
Here are mono and stereo labels, the upper photo from discogs, the lower from my own LP:

 

Re: If I Had You intercut

I figured out the source (which take is used) of the intercut on the Japanese version. You know the horror movie cliche about the scary phone call, and the call is coming "from inside the house?" Well, the intercut that happens on the Japanese LP is merely lifted from later in the same take! On the original UK edit (as recently reused on the 2014/2015 releases), around 1:29 Frank sings, "I could sail the mighty ocean wide," but then at 2:52, he sings "or I could sail the mighty ocean wide." On the Japanese release, that phrase from 2:52 is spliced in back at 1:29, so both times, Frank sings "or I could sail the mighty ocean wide."

So, to recap: Both the original UK edit and the later Japanese edit use the same take from start to finish, but the UK version is fully intact, while the Japanese version takes just a few seconds from the second time through to replace a single phrase sung the first time through.

My big question: Why would that be done?

 

Re: The Italian LP, Sinatra in London:

Why'd you unload this, Paul? I'm spinning my new copy (just arrived thanks to our nice USPS lady), and it sounds pretty nice, I think. From what I've heard so far, this one definitely uses the original UK edits (as anticipated), not the Japanese ones.

EDIT: My UK original is very "right heavy" (stereo imbalance), but this Italian release is evenly balanced. Much better!

 

As stated before, they are well cherished here in Elmira, NY. Prized possessions from a great friend.

 

Reading through the excellent liner notes to the London boxed set, I see that Ken Barnes notes on page six, regarding session #1, "Eric Tomlinson was at the Neve console." Obviously, without photos of the console, I can't prove anything one way or another, and there is no doubt that at some point CTS acquired a Neve console, but Neve, as a company, not Rupert Neve as a person, did not even exist until 1961. I strongly suspect that Mr. Barnes comment is unintentionally errant, possibly due to the fog of memory.

Here's a photo of Neve Console #1, now a museum piece (literally), and I can assure you that Great Songs from Great Britain was not recorded on anything similar to this mixing board...

....but I do not know by how many leaps and bounds Neve technology may have improved between 1961 and mid-1962.

 

Referring again to the London booklet, on page 11, referring to the recording of The Gypsy:
<<Frank was standing with a cigarette in one hand and a paper cup in the other as he sang through the lyric.>>

 

Update on the edits for The Very Thought of You:

By carefully scouring the "sessions" material within the London box, I've been able to figure out what came from where. We already knew that both versions (original UK-released versions and later Japanese-released version) used take 5, but with some splices/intercuts. To my knowledge, we did not know from whence those spliced-in parts came. Now we do!

GREEN = Take 5; Red = Take 3; Blue = "Take 6." (It's not announced as "Take 6" on the tape, but it's an insert piece, starting late in the song, that follows take 5. It's slated as "edit from bar 32" by engineer Eric Tomlinson.)

Note, too, please, that there are actually TWO blue patches on the UK grid, with just a sliver of green between them. The first blue patch is nearly a complete measure of music leading into Frank's re-entry after the instrumental passage. The green sliver there is very odd. It's literally just the start of the word "I" (as in, "I see your face...."). Part of the word "I" that follows the "scoop" comes from take 6. Why take 6? Frank's voice cracked during the word "face" in take 5. That second blue patch, then, covers "I see your face in every," and then on "flower," we are back to take 5 again.

Is that the edit Frank intended?

In the liner notes for London, it reads:
<<It was during the session break that Frank went into the control room to personally supervise the intercuts. As Eric Tomlinson recently told me: "Frank knew exactly what he wanted as he stood over my assistant, David, and instructed him where to mark the tape and the exact point for the edit.">>

 

I need to put a plug in for this particular stereo release that I've been spinning over the last couple of days:

It uses the original UK edits, but it absolutely (albeit figuratively) mops the floor with my UK Great Songs stereo -3L original cut. No contest, and not in subtle ways. By comparison, the UK sound is pure Amateur Hour stuff.

I've got a German pressing coming in the mail, too, but it's not here yet. It's a long drive from Germany to here!

 

For those who are fans of the later mix that is used on the German and Japanese LPs, you may want to get yourself one of these Italian LPs, which are well-mastered versions of the original UK mix. Here's a clip that starts with the Japanese LP (same mix/edits as on the German LP), then transitions to the Italian LP, and no, I didn't pick-and-choose to find a flamingly-bad spot to compare. The differences are like this for all ten songs:
https://app.box.com/s/clpksx5wsppljcrzwc4s4tcyiy9te6ny

 

The sheet music in Sinatra's hand (along with the "tea") is "The Very Thought of You."


Below, the music laying sideways across the music stand is "London by Night."

 

Using the many pictures that I've seen from the sessions, I've been able to more-or-less map out the layout of the studio, more-or-less to scale. The studio was 85x40 feet, with a booth on one end, a film screen and 3 monitors on the other, and Farnon conducting from near the center, with Frank behind the piano, facing him. (The exact location of the instruments in the rhythm section moved somewhat from photo to photo, but they are all "in the ballpark" as diagrammed below.)

Trouble was, much of what I was hearing in stereo, in terms of instrument location, was not lining up with what I was seeing, but I figured out why, and that requires another diagram that I have not made yet. More to follow later today.
I should note that I could not spot the harp in any of the photos, although I did see what I think may be the top of a harp toward (from this perspective) the "bottom" of the violin section. I think that's a pretty safe bet.
Some of the mics used? All Neumann, it appears: Looks like a Neumann KM54 over the violas; another on the celli, perhaps (hard to tell); KM54 or similar over the violins; KM56 on the clarinets/saxes; M49 on Sinatra's vocal; M49 on the guitar; U67 on the bass; U47 on the celeste. That's about all I can make out. (EDIT: Nice to see some small-diaphragm condensers getting put to good use, something that was nearly unheard of at Capitol or United around this time.)

More to follow later today.