I just lucked into buying a copy of this tonight, sold alone from the box set. I'm excited to continue my immersion in the LP through the monos (early Capitol and 2009 MSFL) and Larry Walsh stereo and now into the stereo MFSL.
I have just pre-ordered the deluxe 2 CD version. I hope it's not a disappointment like The Concert Sinatra of a few years back. Larry Walsh has the opportunity to vindicate himself on this one. Fingers crossed!
In terms of that Concert Sinatra release, we need to remember that the product we got was very much the result of Frank Sinatra Jr having too much of a say in the re-mastering process. he gave it the final approval if I remember correctly. Fault doesn’t lie completely with Walsh. And I hope I don’t catch any flack for this but even though Jr. was Frank’s son...Jr. did not inherit his father’s ears or musical instincts...so I always found the idea pretty ridiculous that FS Jr. had the final say when it came to the sonics of ANY release.
So true. Frank Junior wasn‘t a winner on any field of life or business. I still remember his terrible Witchcraft performance on Love Boat
A few pages back there was discussion on whether this was a 33 or 45 speed record set. Did we get a final answer I couldn't tell easily.
I saw Frank Sinatra Jr. four times in concert over the years, and every one of those performances was a winner. Just to keep on topic, here is what Frankie had to say about the album under discussion… FRANK JR. ON ONLY THE LONELY: For my money, this is the greatest blues album ever made. This album should be available in drugstores by prescription only—because this is death, this record. Photographer John Engstead, who shot our family portraits, used to have records playing in the background when he was photographing people. When we went to his studio one year, he had ONLY THE LONELY sitting on the pile. I said, “Do you use that?” “No,” he said, “I can’t play that record anymore. I’d tell people to smile and nobody wanted to smile when this record was on.”
Thanks Bob, I think my confusion is that it over 4 sides but it is still 33 not 45. Confirmation that it was 33 I thought it meant it was just two sides.
If you ever have the opportunity to obtain a copy of Frank Juniors’ “As I Remember It” you may come to a different conclusion.
I believe that Larry Walsh deserves credit for most of the remastering work he has done on the Sinatra catalogue, despite the fact that, "He probably did a better job when someone was not overlooking his shoulder during the process," so to speak, as Mr. Hoffman himself once said on this great forum. I love the remastering job he did on the great wooden bread box version of the Capitol Concepts CD collection. Oh, and since Christmas is only a little over three months away, check out Larry's superior version of Dean Martin's A Winter Romance from 1989. The best sounding CD version of that classic album that I have ever heard.
I always heard that Frank Jr. knew his father's music inside and out, and Frank Sr. trusted him enough in his later years to pick out his song list or sequence during those latter day concerts. Of course, we also know that Frank Jr. also conducted for his father during the Reunion tour as well.
I’m 100% with you! Larry‘s remaster of Winter Romance is even better than the Bear Family mastering of those tracks.
Uh, around 1992 or so? When the wooden Capitol box came out with Tone Poems, I think. Not recently. But most of the Capitol digitally remastered/remixed catalogue was Norberg'd for the next decade or so after that...I don't know what Larry was up to during that time.
Certainly the technology exists to make a superb stereo remaster, combined with the use of the echo chambers and tubed electronics. I hope this is the case here. But I would not be surprised if it ends up sounding like last year's Sgt. Pepper's release. Detailed, fresh but rather loud and compressed...
Angel Eyes - 2018 remix by Larry Walsh, mastered by Ron McMaster from: Hear a Remix of Frank Sinatra’s ‘Angel Eyes’ From ‘Only the Lonely’ 60th Anniversary Set (EXCLUSIVE) Variety, Sept. 6, 2018
Ron Furmanek + Larry Walsh = some of the best-sounding projects to ever come out of Capitol. Too bad Ron is not at the helm of the reissue ship there these days.
Yes indeed, IIRC that combination was involved in Dean's A Winter Romance CD from 1989 that I mentioned in my previous post. A truly splendid sounding CD with the true warmth of a vinyl album IMHO.
Yeah, I suppose the reason Walsh's 1987 remaster sounds so rolled off compared to the LP is the obsession at the time with CD being "noise free". People were obsessed with this fact and most analog sourced material was deemed "inferior". I remember folks who only bought DDD releases or at least digitally mixed, ADD. Some were even complaining about microphone preamp/console noise on DDD classical stuff. Crazy, I know!
I’ve read that paragraph from Matt like four times and I still don’t get what happened. I’m just going to back away slowly! :lol: I really hope this stereo LP is good. I was tempted to buy the WaxTime LP even though it’s only (I think) the old Walsh mix pressed to vinyl.
Yes. But it appears to be long ago. Hopefully there is some magic left for this release from Mr. Walsh.