Sinatra / Capitol Sound Quality, etc.: "Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely" (1958)

MLutthans,

Your oddball is exactly what I own. I have that variation. Definitely an RCA Victor pressing.

 

Nope, mine is pressed in the UK and has this number---->SW1-1053. Not sure if this pressing is recommended or not-but I'm recommending it to myself since it's my first copy. ;-) Tried to upload an image, but the option seems to be off limits to me as a new member(I'm guessing).

 

Currently spinning the UK 1984 "Dell" series LP.

Very impressed with the sound on this one.

 

I went one step further with my newfound Sinatra mania-and picked up a new copy from Mobil Fidelity that should arrive soon(an Ebay sealed).

 

You won't be disappointed, bought mine a few weeks ago, terrific record!

 

I'm starting to suspect that as a general practice, EMI was laying in wait (so to speak) for all of us future-world Sinatraphiles by providing us with many questions to wonder about.

 

After going through a few different stereo versions from boxed sets, etc (and not willing to shell out for the MoFi), I finally came across this record today in mono, super clean and there were two copies . . . one was D and one was an N - both very nice. I thought I remembered that the N's were the first cuts? Hoping I'm right . . . I wanted to buy both, but at $10 each, I bought the N. It sounds great - Frank's voice is right up front. Some light crackle, but I would be surprised to see a copy this nice again for quite a while if ever . . . The D maybe was in a little better shape, but I thought it was a later press - the labels were slightly different, too. I'm not a huge Capitol/Sinatra buff, so I get a little confused, but my gray label Wee Small Hours is an N cut and that is nice (albeit noisy). Thanks for the help.

 

"D" and "N" are not necessarily older or newer cuts. They refer to location of where the lacquers were cut.

 

The labels would help date it with the earliest pressing having the Capitol logo w/vertical text on the left side, next a Capitol logo w/spire in the place of the text and finally the Capitol logo in the 12 o'clock position.

 

Is there a consensus on which might be better? The D was hand-etched. The N copy I got has the nine o'clock Capitol w/vertical text . . . the D was a different variation of the rainbow label, but not at 12 - couldn't say after that.

 

*All else being equal*, a "D" cut should beat an "N". More than not they do, though not always.

 

I'd take a machine stamped "N" cut over a hand etched "D" cut any day. In my experience, Capitol Sinatra records with the machine stamped matrix sound better than the ones with the hand etched matrix.

 

I'd bet those hand etched ones were pressed in LA vs Scranton. The pressings tended not to be as good from there.

 

Eagle-eye award of the day!

 

Me too - today.

Can't wait to hear it......

 

Hi!

First of all, I have say that this forum is wonderful and I've been reading here as a guest for a long time and it has helped me a lot when hunting down great pressings of mostly Sinatras capitol records.

A few weeks ago I got my hands of a copy of Only the Lonely in mono. It is printed in the UK but I haven't seen this pressing before. I have both Rainbow labels and original Grey label pressings of Sinatras other recordings but I haven't seen this kind of Capitol/EMI-label anywhere else.

Anybody know anything about these pressings? To me it doesn't sound as good as the Grey and Rainbow labels. The record itself is very silent with almout no extra noise and in great shape, but sadly the sound is a bit muffled in my opinion.

It would be nice if anybody knew more about these kind of pressings?


https://www.dropbox.com/s/hr6exn2ru3nfer0/2015-01-19 13.03.02.jpg

 

Thanks for the quick reply @MLutthans . I guessed that it was some kind of re-issue from the seventies. As I said I don't really like the somewhat "muffed" sound of it, so I guess I have to hunt down one with the Rainbow-label. The Rainbow and Grey label Sinatra records that I have sound more crisper.

 

I'm sure someone will yell at me for an unnecessary and duplicative thread, but I've plugged it into a search and damned if I can find it. So if someone can point me to it, I'd be much obliged.

That said, I just heard Jonathan Schwartz say that copies of Only The Lonely 33 1/3 LP covers exist with Lush Life listed. Can anyone verify this? I'd sure like to see an image of this.