Sinatra 100 Campaign

Regarding any "restored" "film" these days: That word "restored" is a real bugger. A lot of films nowadays are "restored" insofar as they clean things up to the point that they look/sound good for dvd/blu-ray release, but these "restored" versions are often nothing at all like, say the TRUE film restorations of (pick your poison) Lawrence of Arabia, Vertigo, My Fair Lady, A Star is Born, Playtime, etc., for which the PRIMARY end-product was legitimate theatrical presentation that would match or surpass the original release (or come as close as humanly possible). "Restored" is to movies today as "digitally remastered" is to music or as "digital-ready" was to headphones (for you oldies): Could mean almost anything, ranging from next-to-nothing to masterful work that deserves to win an Oscar®.

I've probably seen Lawrence of Arabia projected on 70mm film at least 15 times, and the new digital transfer is one messed up mess. (I'm not a digital hater, but I do hate THAT digital mastering, AND (surprisingly) the wrongness of it even translates to the TV broadcasts on TCM. I can no longer watch that movie, if that's the source. Then again, I guess I've seen it enough.... On the other side of that coin, the new mega-k "restoration" of The Ten Commandment looked/sounded bad in the theatre, but plays okay [what I've seen of it] on television, so go figure.)

Nice to see (what I'd consider to be) a couple of surprises on there.

 

I forget where I read this (it was probably 25 years ago -- maybe it's the liner notes created for the first CD release??????), but a writer was briefly touching on How About You from SONGS FOR SWINGIN' LOVERS and (IIRC) pointing out how the opening verse sounds perfectly normal as you listen to it, but try accurately singing along with it! It's a great example of how Sinatra can take liberties with a melody and still absolutely let the melody shine through. It's masterful and subtle, and draws little attention to itself as being overtly "different." (It's an odd comparison, I admit, but it reminds me of Paul McCartney's bass playing, which comes across as just "Oh, that's just the bass part to, for instance, 'Don't Let Me Down,'" -- no big deal -- but have you really ever focused on all the cool stuff going on in that bass part? It's full of creativity without wearing a sign that says, "I'm being creative. Notice me!" It never forgets to serve the music.)

 

Just remembered that the quote I was referring to was about ANYTHING GOES. Ah, senility.......