Sinatra / Capitol Sound Quality and General Discussion - Come Dance with Me (released 1959)*

My last word on this issue so as to not divert away from the main thread topic but I think one problem with used LP sellers is the utterly worthless Record Collector Grading System they all seem to lazily refer to, as though this gives them an excuse to blame someone else for woefully inaccurate grading. But let's look at this a bit closer for a minute. What does "a little lessening in sound quality" really mean? Call it ambiguous or misleading but it could be anything: distortion, muddy playback, crackle, surface noise, regular clicks etc. However, that's just a small part of the story. In my own personal experience none of the retailers have looked very closely at the vinyl and sleeves anyway. Scratched records usually reveal themselves to me within seconds of me slipping them out of the sleeves. I'm not examining them at length under a tungsten lamp either, just a quick glance over in normal daylight. So what is the excuse of these sellers sending scratched LP's graded as NM? Arrogance? I'm sure a lot of them simply (over)grade everything as NM and hope for the best, knowing that a) some actually might be and b) the customer might not look at the LP / play the LP and / or complain anyway.

Some people are very easily pleased. I can document this fact with plenty of hard evidence. I never understood those who do not get what they pay for and elect to keep quiet. I'm with you, Matt, I'm a pretty finicky so 'n' so!

I will try out recordsbymail.com if international shipping costs are not too high. To be fair, most of my purchases have been from UK based sellers so maybe it is more of a UK problem than a wider problem?

 

Yep, Craig Moerer doesn't mess around. Their prices are not typically on the lower end, but they are excellent record dealers. I remember buying (among other things) a copy of The Parliaments "Testify" 45 from them for $35, and had no qualms about the price on what they delivered - a *beautiful*, essentially like new record.

 

Just to bring things back "on topic" here.....I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the 70s - 80s "SM" reissue of COME DANCE WITH ME!!!! I bought a beautiful NM copy on Ebay a few days ago for $4.99 (with free shipping) and, man, does this thing swing!!! It blows away my new 2015 UMe reissue on all fronts. Sinatra's vocal is clear as a bell with just the right tinge of reverb added. The stereo separation is dead-on with lots of bite in the brass, too. When compared to the 2015 release, this budgewt reissue (on the funky yellow Capitol label) sounds as if somebody lifted a wet rag off of my speakers. It's that much of a "holy s**t" difference!

I only wish I had found out about this pressing sooner.....Thank you to Matt Lutthans for emphasizing this beauty on his scorecard as the winner.

 

I forgot to add that my particular copy is on fairly thin but dead-quiet vinyl, too. It's not "Dynaflex" but it's significantly thinner and lighter than the original 1959 pressing. Although the jacket states that this is "A Capitol Re-Issue", it uses 99% of the original cover's graphics. The spine blends in perfectly alongside my true original pressings (gray label monos and early "9o'clock" stereos)....My only quibble is that yellow label! Frankly, it's quite ugly.....Regardless, I'm still quite a happy camper

 

Many of these are excellent pressings, it has been reported many times around here. They often had the "mastered by Capitol" stamp on the deadwax area. Some are "abridged", though, they will miss some songs.

Regarding the gradings of records, one simply should not believe or at least be a little suspicious of "NM" records, especially when related to original pressings of records which where quite popular back then. I constanly see original 60s pressings of popular bands, like Beatles records, advertised as "minty" or "NM". While not totally impossible, many sellers apply or send listening samples and any one of them I auditioned had some kind of groove damage. How come a NM record or yet "never played" has got groove damage?? It's simply overenthusiastic. While a bright tungsten lamp will reveal a lot about record condition, it still doesn't tell anything about what happened to the groove and many if not the majority of these records were played with sapphire needles with unknown number of hours on them. I had my share of 45s where a reputable seller obviously had an habit of applying some kind of cleaning agent which makes records look incredibly shiny, yet they sound awafully distorted.

 

Dang! If the record above was "Come Dance With Me" I'd be all over it but I've recently bought the brand new MFSL of SSS for considerably more! I did check and neither recordsbymail.com nor Burka Jazz have CDWM in SM/SN series currently.

 

That narrowed "Saturday Night" on the current releases + the "Dell" '84 UK LP sort of reminds me of the *first* (bad) stereo mix of the album on the earlier vintage cuttings, with the echo on Frank mixed right, though not narrow like here.

 

Millenium Edition, I think from 1999. The Centennary ones were SWINGIN' LOVERS! (the Walsh CD on LP ) and COME FLY (mono).

 

Help a fellow out by completing the lyric:
"Come, dance with me, what an evening for... some..._____________________ (almost rhymes with harpsichord)."

 

—> Terpsichore

(pronounced with three syllables instead of four; i.e. "core" instead of "curry" at the end)

 

Thank you Bob!

 

Forgot about the Lipton commercial. Great to see that again. Thanks Matt!

 

Is that Joe Piscopo doing the voice?

 

What an awful choice for a photo on the GH one though.

 

Forgive my ignorance here...Why is it not proper to post boxes of the master tapes? Trade secrets?

 

OK. got it now. Thanks!