Sinatra / Capitol Sound Quality and General Discussion: Come Fly with Me (recorded 1957)*

The back cover w/Frank has no "Flight Log" variant at all? Does the one without Frank have a clipboard illustrating the "Flight Log"? Are these both U.S. pressings? Is "Mandalay" on both?

 

Here is a picture of the two US back covers with the promo copy on the left:

 

Pilot : Frank Sinatra

That's funny. They should have kept that.

 

this is a very good post.

 

The promo copy on the left is the more common one. The one on the right looks a lot like the UK pressing that swapped out Road To Mandalay with It Happened In Monterey. The UK one also mentions Nelson Riddle (Monterey).

Here's a photo of the UK issue.

View attachment 137713

I'd never seen that before on a US cover.

 

'Mandalay' of course, having been removed from the UK LP, over protests from the family of Rudyard Kipling.

 

I think I remember seeing another U.S. copy with the clipboard back cover, but I thought it was a reissue. It's been a lot of years though. I couldn't figure out why it had the alternate back, as I was used to that from British pressings.

Is the promo a yellow label?

 

Here's the label of the promo copy. It's matrix info is N2/D4#3 while the gray label copy (with the clipboard jacket pictured on the right) is N2/D3.

 

thanks Matt, that yellow label sounded pretty good - a bit brighter than the MFSL. How do you think it compares?

 

Yeah, that MFSL has a nice full sound - pricey to locate though. I was also thinking of trying the UK '20 Classic Tracks' version but it's going to suffer from squeezing 10 tracks on one side. I'll pick it up if I can find a really cheap one.

 

I have heard only the mono LP and stereo CD.

Is the high-end distortion I'm hearing on the stereo CD the result of a bad digital transfer, or were there issues with the original stereo recording? I realize from experience that early Capitol stereo could be dodgy, while the mono recordings generally sound terrific. I'd like to upgrade to a better CD if that is possible.

 

There's no way IMHO that you will improve upon an orginal mono LP. I have 2 gray label monos and even the one that is kinda beat up gives a better warm sound than any stereo CD.

 

Agreed, but for the convenience of having it on CD, I wonder if there are CD versions that DON'T have that high-end distortion.

 

Which CD? All are in stereo, but there are at least three different mixes of the complete album.

 

Thanks. Did the mono ever make it to a Mo Fi CD like "Only the Lonely?"

 

No. Unfortunately, that was a one-of-a-kind to date.

 

Thanks. Time to burn some of my mono Sinatra LPs onto CD-R!

 

I have yet to hear one....sorry.

 

Well I'm glad fate smiled when I went looking for this in late winter and found two very clean gray label mono copies of it locally; one for $5 and one for .99 cts

 

Oh, these gray labels are still out there in good shape. It is just a lucky find when one is REALLY in great shape. I never pass one up if it's cheap and looks good. As Dean said in Ocean's 11..."Sometimes it rains, sometimes the sun's out!"

 

As others have said, that distortion is inherent in the 3 track - limited to one of the three sessions for this album.

Which CD version? All are stereo, but the Walsh version from '87 is much better than the Norberg from '98. There's also the disc in the UK box set.