Original Capitol Sinatra CDs?

Are the late 1980's longbox versions the best sounding Sinatra Capitol-era discs available? I checked the archives and didn't really find a definitive answer. I have the opportunity to purchase some sealed longbox Capitol and Reprise discs at a reasonable price and wanted to get some advise prior to doing so. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks, Chris
As an aside, some of these longboxes are the generic ones - no artwork, just a cutout on the "face" to reveal the jewel case underneath.

 

Yes, most of the original Captiol Sinatra CD's are better than the current discs. Which ones are available to you?

 

I would say go for it. I had a similar experience a few weeks ago, and picked up a number of 1991-1987 CDs... all sound very good. I have two of the 2002 Entertainer of the Century cds for comparison... No One Cares and In the Wee Small Hours... and they both sound horrible compared to their respective 1991 releases.

Heres a thread that may help out...

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?threadid=14435&highlight=Sinatra

 

Martin,
Thanks for participating. I'll check on the titles. I'm a little weary of eyeballing them too much lest the store owner think he has something worth jacking the price up. There filed separately from the rest of the discs. I'm speculating that they were purchased by a Sinatraphile back in the day when the discs were still a novelty and never opened for that reason. Of course, now were in the day of remasters and re-remasters coming along and most peoplebelieve newer is better.
David,
Thank you also for participating. I used your thread as the starting point for my Archival search. I don't know enough about these discs yet but I'm guessing they predate 1991. I'm going to buy Come Fly with Me and get a grasp of what else he has.
Chris

 

Do a search using Sinatra and the poster name of MMM and you will read a treasure trove of info on Sinatra's recordings. That triple M knows his stuff!

 

Thanks!

 

Yes Chris - get the original 1987 CD of Come Fly With Me. It's much better than the current issue disc. The 1987 disc is not perfect and not without it's little quirks - IMO many of the ballads have the orchestra mixed a bit too loud, and Around the World (besides this problem) has a narrowed stereo image and Frank off center. However, unless you have or can find a much better than average sounding "magic stamper" copy of this album on vinyl, the 1987 CD is the overall best sounding version of this album you'll probably ever hear that's been released so far.

(Edited again to add a word )

 

Martin,
I jotted down some notes when I bought "Come Fly with Me" (haven't listened yet). The notes are kinda sloppy so I might get some of the titles wrong and I believe most are from 1987. The longbox I have is factory sealed as it has a "The Legendary Masters Of FRANK SINATRA on Capitol" sticker and the disc 15 cuts with 3 of indicated as bonus tracks. The other discs he has are:
Only the Lonely
Collectors Series - 1991
Come Dance with Me! - 1987
Sinatra-Basie
It Might As Well Be Swing
In the Wee Small Hours - 1991
Swing Sessions
Swing Lovers
September of My Years
Only the Lonely
Concert
Young Lovers/Swing Easy
Thanks again for your advise.
Chris

 

I'll give some brief comments:

IMO both the original 1987 CD and the current one aren't good. I'd probably actually choose the current one over the previous disc - the tonality of the voice is a little better, but it's so heavily processed - ugh. Read the old "Sinatra Capitol 20 & 24-Bit Masters" thread (in the FAQ Forum) and you'll see in detail what I think of the current disc and why. Did I say I think both CD's of the album are bad? . Of course I'm not speaking of the music.

A compilation of songs previously released as singles. Steve turned me on to this one. The best mastered Sinatra Capitol CD available. Not mastered with ideal electronics (none of the Sinatra Capitol CD's were), but it is good - don't pass it up.

The channels were folded in on the original 1987 CD, but not on the current CD. But the current CD is NR'd, while the old one wasn't. I would take the current disc over the previous one. I don't actually like the current CD (again read that old thread for some detail on it), but the old CD wasn't that good. However, if you care about the bonus tracks, then get the old CD - it has the real Billy May arrangement of "It All Depends On You", while they goofed and put the Nelson Riddle version from Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!! on the current disc. The other 3 bonus tracks sound better on the old CD compared to the new.

I've never heard the original CD. All I can say is that the current CD is better than the same tracks on the 20CD Reprise box.

As above. The current CD is actually pretty good, though the bass is a bit much. It's probably the best mastered Sinatra Reprise CD available, except for the two that Steve did for DCC/Artanis.

The 1991 CD has stereo echo added to this mono recording. I'd still choose it over the current CD though.

The channels are folded in on the old CD, but not on the current CD. However the current CD is NR'd, while the old one isn't. I might go with the old CD over the new, but both aren't very good - flip a coin . The original recording is exceptional however - too bad about the CD's.

Get the old 1987 CD. It comes from the correct mono masters. It's not perfect - the Eq isn't the greatest and what sounds like digital echo has been added - somewhat like what Capitol did around 1962 when they dubbed off a copy of the master, but instead of a flat, pure dub, they added Eq and echo (albeit natural echo instead). That "wrong" tape was used by Mobile Fidelity for the Gold CD. However, while I don't have the current issue disc, if the 3 songs from Swingin' Lovers on the Classic Sinatra compilation are any indication of what the current disc sounds like (haven't confirmed it myself, but I was told it is except that the current Swingin' Lovers is supposedly may be a bit worse), than the current CD must be really bad. It got some really bad reviews over at Amazon.

I don't have the original CD, but I'd say get it anyway. It's got to be better than the current CD. However, this album is supposed to be reissued again later this year.



(Running out of space - continued in next post)

 

Are you asking about The Concert Sinatra or one of Frank's live albums? Let me know.

Both the 1987 CD and the current one come from the "wrong" tapes. But get the old CD - it's much better than the current one.

 

MMM wrote:

To my ears, the best sounding version of this album (probably from the same masters that were used for the british Megabox and/or the EMI Centennial LP release) is the one found on the British MFP ("Music For Pleasure", EMI UK's mid price label) CD "20 Classic Tracks", which is basically a "Come Fly With Me"/"Come Dance With Me" Twofer.

Arne

 

Martin,
Thanks for taking the time to make these comparisons, I'll definitely be buying the ones you recommended.
Steve,
I got the turntable, its just that the emerging realization that recent "jacked-up" remasters (of all bands) may not hold a candle to original press CDS made me take a second look at these unstashed discs.
Now that I'm getting turned on to Francis Albert's music, I may have to start seeking out those "hot stamper" pressings.
Chris