Bob, it's me again. I ordered from ImportCDs through Amazon.com, and sure enough, like you believed, it is a numbered album release. And also like you said, "Quality is excellent: very quiet heavy vinyl pressing." It's playing right now, and honestly, if I wasn't looking at the gold vinyl disc turning on my turntable, I'd think Frank was right here in the room with me. It's a beautiful thing. I'd recommend this collection to anyone. And if they didn't like it, oh well, like I often say, "you have the right to be wrong." Thanks again for your help Bob. It's a great catch. It's also presented as well as I could ever want. A nice outer jacket cover, and really nice inner sleeves. Totally satisfied. Be good.........Dave
Qwest was an imprint started by Quincy Jones under Warner Records (owner of Reprise), so I doubt a special contract was actually necessary outside of the session itself.
At the time L.A. Is My Lady was released (1984), the Reprise label had been mostly inactive for a number of years. Except for Sinatra and Neil Young, all Reprise artists had moved to the main Warner Bros. label or one of its subsidiaries. (As mentioned, Quincy Jones’ Qwest label was owned by Warner. No special “signing” was needed.) It wasn’t until 1986 that Warner relaunched the Reprise brand.
LAIML came to be recorded because of the Sinatra-Lena Horne 3-record set was cancelled. I think " Stormy Weather " was a bad choice. He could not top the 1959 version, and it is not a very good Jazz arrangement.
It is too bad that Frank, along with many other artists, did not simply go into the studio more often in that time with a small group of musicians and do some quick "head arrangements". Record companies had such an obsession with producing the "big record" with the big commercial sound that they completely missed the opportunity to create simple masterpieces that allowed the singer to communicate deeper emotions. The many examples of FS in concert just accompanied by a guitar or piano should have been replicated in the studios, perhaps augmented by trios, quartets, quintets and the like. Lost masterpieces.
Yesterday (January 7th) was the 65th anniversary of the release of the Come Fly With Me! album. It was released in mono only at the time. The stereo release came out 4 years later.
I’ve been listening to the Bob Dylan mono box on Apple, comparing the recordings to the stereo ones. It’s fun. I doubt a similar box on Sinatra has much commercial appeal, but it would be fun to compare them.
Great album! It is also one of few albums that prefer to listen to in mono, rather than the stereo mix.
I prefer the mono Come Fly With Me as well. It has that warm Capitol feel that I love. The stereo is certainly nice, but I like the unique vibe and tight focus of 1950s Capitol mono. Check out the the tuba in "Let's Get Away From It All." Delicious.
Frank Sinatra Collected is a worthwhile compilation - an enjoyable program in good sound. I do enjoy comps like this for when I need to focus on the wine, sauce and company.
Yep! It's fantastic too!! There was some speculation that these might have been what was prepared or supplied to MoFi before they were forced to abandon their SACD/LP releases. I don't know if there's anything to that or not.
I've idly started buying the Reprise albums and singles in mono on vinyl in the hopes of digitizing them for personal listening, as in appears the Sinatra Family may not see a market for them, unlike the Columbia Years (mono only, of course) and Capitol Years (all albums up to 1959 are available in true mono on CD or digital, albeit some difficult to obtain). I'm almost done with the LPs, but have only one single to date.
I adore the To Be Perfectly Frank radio sessions from 1953-5, which are probably as close as we'll get to a small group set outside of the first two Capitol EPs and the Sextet World Tour in 1962; here's "A Hundred Years From Today" in a version which I feel far excels the studio version cut with Quincy Jones in 1984:
That Tenderly being added to a random grey market release clued me in to the existence of the To Be Perfectly Frank sessions. The ballad version of Our Love Is Here To Stay is a gem.
Rare footage of the Chairman singing "Moonlight In Vermont", "I've Got You Under My Skin", and "The Lady Is A Tramp" (as a duet with Sammy Davis, Jr.) during a benefit for the American-Italian Anti-Defamation League at Madison Square Garden on October 19th, 1967:
Looks like someone tried to sync a video with an audience-made recording. The audio is not coming from Sinatra's microphone.
From what I've seen they haven't really done all that much with this opportunity. Disappointing really.
As much as I love to grouse about The Powers That Be, it has been a great decade for Sinatra releases given the relatively depressed state of the music industry (what with digital not being all that profitable and tangible releases being even less so), and the fact that Sinatra's been dead for twenty-five years. Sinatra: London, A Voice On Air (SO SO awesome), The Retirement Concert, Standing Room Only, Around The World, the Watertown Reissue. Sure, there might be an increasing sense that the fun might be done, and people with a Sinatra Problem like me might be impatient for more, but there has been a lot for which to be grateful. Now give me my Trilogy Deluxe release.
