Sinatra / Reprise Sound Quality: "Sinatra and Strings" (rec. 1961) - incl. NAB/AME EQ, etc.*

This is your friendly cage rattle reminder

 

Aw, crap! I read through this whole thread and then got to this post from earlier this year in which I previously said I was going to read the whole thread. I need to just get a mid-60’s FS-prefix pressing and get out of this Sinatra & Strings timeloop.

 

Get an early Reprise Mono version. "Come rain or come shine" is it worth alone

 

I got one and really enjoy it!

 

This is one of those albums that didn’t stand out to me at first, but gets better and better each time I listen to it. I can see it landing in my Sinatra Top Ten soon.

I’m debating picking up a copy of the MFSL vinyl. Not sure if I will though, given the opinions expressed above.

 

Yes, the mono LP is worth it for "Come Rain or Come Shine" alone. Awesome performance and the mono mix is superior.

 

Hi Folks, just bought an early stereo pressing of Sinatra and strings which has the scowling Frank on label and no. R9-1004 30,080-A1.
Can someone tell me if this is an original pressing and is it the 1st stereo mix?
Thanks in advance!

 

Thank you very much Matt!

 

@roda12 Enjoy! I have the same. Let us know what you think of yours.

 

Oh my!!!! That is INDEED a rarity. You MUST have purchased it....otherwise you are off the team!!!!!

 

Don Costa's arrangements are beautiful, but they are too explosive. A little more dynamics and subtlety would do well.

Besides, I don't like the sound of United on these Sinatra records. If Capitol, in its early years of stereo sound, suffered from insufficient open microphone, editing and acoustics, United is even worse because it is less sensitive in sound treatment. It is a harsh, inelegant, unbalanced sound.

The only old record I can hear recorded on United - part of it, of course - is Ray Charles' Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, which was engineered by Bill Putnam.

 

That'd be a post-1970 pressing for sure (I presume CBS Santa Maria, given the 'S' etched in the deadwax) . . . notice the rim print was right after Kinney dropped the "Seven Arts" from Warner Bros.' name. In addition, the tan part of the label looked more like raw sienna than raw umber which was a shade darker and more brownish in comparison, so it could also have been pre-1971. Lacquer looks like a Columbia Hollywood cut, though as you noted the dash number was 1E which tells you who cut it and where. Sifting through Discogs, I see this variant you just presented is nowhere to be seen or heard.

I presume the 1E's were in use all through this label variant (the first tan/orange design):

Sinatra Reprise labels on Columbia pressings at the time Warner/Reprise switched their main pressing supplier to Capitol would have looked like this (sorry for the "other" record seen here, as with the prior example):


The "Capitol style" part may have more to do with the Portland orange label color, which was used on Capitol's 1972-78 labels.

 

That's the other thing . . . @MMM's copy is a Pitman with a hybrid of Pitman (on the top) and earlier Bridgeport (at bottom) label typesetting. So 1D and 1F went to Pitman, 1E to Santa Maria . . . wherefore art 1G to?

 

I have an angry Frank mono with A7 and B7 etched. Haven’t heard it in a while so will give it a spin and see how it sounds.

The label is the same colors as Matt’s 1E shown above.

 

I will look and see if I still have the 1G W7. I have sent around a couple batches of FS dupes to friends since that 1G was reported, so ... it very likely may be unavailable.

EDIT: It's here, but I may have given you bad info, @MLutthans ... it's post-W7.



@W.B.

 

Hmmm. Sounds like Pitman got 1G too, huh? The hybrid Bridgeport/Pitman type is in evidence here, too . . .

But this is the label I call "smiling Frank II" ('I' was 1965-67).

 

Unfortunately, I don't know the sound of the Mobile Fidelity remastered edition. Now, one thing is certain: This album needs a deeply audiophile editing. The masters need to be properly transcribed and the volume needs to be well balanced, as the sound of this album is too heavy and loud.