Sinatra / Capitol Sound Quality (and general discussion): Singles, Soundtracks, Etc.

16-track was W-9028; 12-track was T-9030.

[Added:] I've never been completel6y sure of the release date(s), but it's been reported that both LPs were from 1957. I find that curious, since A JOLLY CHRISTMAS was also released that year.

 

Thanks Bob! So they at least reduced the price when they removed four songs ("W" changing to "T")...

I think the first release should be 1954. I say that because I've seen copies of the 12 song version that still have a turquoise label with that 3/4 circle on it. By '56 (or possibly late '55?) that was removed.

Now that I have the original catalog number, here's the real deal:

http://www.popsike.com/MERRY-CHRIST...Label-VARIOUS-Les-Baxter-NM/320765075208.html

It looks like they used a different colored label for this album initially...

 

Re: Loulie Jean Norman and Norma Zimmer (coloratura sopranos)

Here are a pair of posts copied from my FS history thread at the SFF:
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Loulie Jean Norman

Loulie Jean Norman was also a member of Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians, as featured in the album America, I Hear You Singing. Listen at her memorial website here: Memory of Loulie Price (1913–2005).


Loulie Jean Norman

She is often credited with solo vocals on some FS recordings, such as "Wait for Me" (Theme from Johnny Concho) and "All Alone" and "The Song Is Ended" (from All Alone). However, I believe the soprano vocalist on those numbers was Norma Zimmer, who was also present as one of The Ralph Brewster Singers at this [1957] Christmas carol session.
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Norma Zimmer

Gonzo, I've bumped up the thread where you mentioned Loulie Jean Norman [as the "vapor voice" of the Star Trek theme music]: "Wait For Me".

According to session reports, it was Norma Zimmer on "Wait for Me" and the All Alone tracks. Loulie Jean Norman does sing the soprano part in "Song Without Words" on Trilogy: The Future.

Norma Zimmer's was also the haunting background voice on "Look to Your Heart" from the Our Town EP mini-album.


Norma Zimmer

As long as we're mentioning Sinatra background singers, she was famous as the "Champagne Lady" on Lawrence Welk's TV show from 1960–1982. See her page on the Welk website: Norma Zimmer. [She passed away in 2011 at age 87.]
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What about LOOK TO YOUR HEART?

 

It's a pretty nicely compiled set, though I would have sequenced the tracks differently. They really seem to have tried to make a proper album out of the stray tracks, except for sticking the swing stuff at the end of each side, which don't fit. I guess they figured you could easily just stop each side before getting to those, if you wanted. Those two remind me of putting "Sloop John B" on PET SOUNDS years later, and it's placement there...

 

1958 (March 31st). It filled the void between COME FLY WITH ME (January 6th) and ONLY THE LONELY (September 8th).

 

Sorry, brain fart. Thinking of THIS IS SINATRA, VOLUME TWO. :blush:

It was April '59, between COME DANCE WITH ME (January) and NO ONE CARES (July).

 

From earlier:

The complete show is on Disc 17 of the 30-CD box set. It aired August 15, 1954.

 

Yeah, that would have worked better. Sort of like the title track to NICE 'N' EASY (mid-tempo, but the same sort of idea).

This should have been released before NO ONE CARES, which the stalemate began after recording of...

Given that these songs mostly weren't big hits (or hits at all), I get the feeling they wanted to give some of them new life here. Some of these songs might have not been known to people at the time if they didn't have the singles, and I imagine Capitol felt they could get people to think they were buying a new Sinatra "Concept" album. To me, most of the songs seem to go pretty well together for a collection, with a similar mood/feel. Looking over the track list, some songs seem sequenced well enough, while others clash...

For myself, "Anytime, Anywhere" and "I Could Have Told You" fit perfectly together, with "Half as Lovely" (on THIS IS SINATRA V.2) in between. I sometimes play the three like that, and the downward slide in the relationship sung about is pretty powerful. I remember once even hearing the three played together on the NANCY FOR FRANK show - it was great to hear she likes those songs together as well...

 

In addition to "Half as Lovely," FS did a duet of "Sam's Song" with Gary Crosby.

 

Did you see I uploaded a clip of the 78? How does that compare (besides the fact that it isn't in the best condition?)

 

Here are the 2 different running orders on the back of This Is Sinatra 2. The first is the Color band version with the correct song titles. The second is the original gray label version.