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

Can someone tell me which mix of "Cheek to cheek" was used for "Songs from the heart"? Was this an existing mix? Was that mix ever released in complete album form? Very dry orchestra version!

 

They’re his homunculi.

 

Another newbie question. A few weeks ago I bought the Furmanek/Walsh CD set, the Capitol Years. The song Come Dance With Me sounds so much better on this CD than the same track on the MFSL album or the latest Capitol reissue. Not as much echo on Sinatra’s voice. Is the version on the Capitol Years CD a remix or was a better source used?

It could be selective hearing on my part.

 

It does. That was a new remix for the set, along with "Saturday Night". For whatever reason, "Just In Time" and "The Song Is You" retained the narrow remix/blah sound from the '87 CD, but the other two songs have much better sound on the mixes done for the set.

 

Thanks Martin!

 

I was just listening to "Come Dance With Me" and "Saturday Night" on the Capitol Years set as well. I agree that they sound much better, but it sounds like the channels are reversed. Is that correct?

 

Martin - MMM is the expert. I’m a newbie.

 

Matt answered my question a while back.

 

But of course

I only noticed this now because I decided to make my own version of this album. I just got a nice copy of the 1984 Dell UK LP, so I made a lossless rip of that. Then I used Audacity to correct the reversed channels on "Saturday Night" in the Capitol Years set and substituted that for the defective track on the LP. I also tacked on the session chatter at the beginning of "Come Dance With Me" just for kicks. It shouldn't be this hard!

 

Hello from Heidelberg,

I have the original Dutch Mono edition from 1959 of 'Come Dance With Me' with the old grey Capitol Label in my collection.

Coversleeve & Vinyl both in VG++ (excellent) condition.
It's a very thick & heavy LP (Vinyl about 220 g) in top quality, shiny and planar .

Below two photos:

 

Hey everyone, I don't know what other forum to post this in so I'll put it here (sorry if it's high-jacking the thread). Those who are familiar with the label designs of Capitol records know they altered the design ever 3-5 years. I can't remember where if some forum or website that explained the reason for the different in the label layout as shown here where one label has a track above the spindle and another has 2 tracks but to summarize what I remember 'a pressing plant would have a production run of say 1/4 to 1/2 a million, but if sales were higher then the amount made and they needed to make more for that year the label would be changed to reflect a different production run, all tracks under the spindle is the 1st production, 1 track above the spindle is 2nd, 2 tracks is 3rd, and so on'.

Can anyone substantiate this. again I can't find where i read this and I wouldn't know what to google even though I've tried. It makes since, consider the first photo, according to https://www.friktech.com/btls/capitol/capitollabels.pdf that label with the Capitol logo at 9 O'clock and the and&down spires was made between 1960-62. there could have been 3 production runs during that time and the track layout could indicate which production run it was. I need to know if anyone has some explanation for these designs because for the last 5 years I have been making and editing submission on Discogs stating "all tracks under the spindle is the 1st production" ect. Now I have some know it all undoing my work removing these notes calling them fantasy.

 

The plain "1" labels are East Coast, while the "1" with a hat are West Coast. Not sure about the change re placement for one or two tracks above the spindle hole on those 9 o'clock labels. Possibly just a change made but each variant kept being used? @W.B. might know. None of these are original...1st copies have the LONG PLAYING HIGH FIDELITY black/rainbow labels, with the different colorband. On the 12 o'clock versions you posted, not the change is due to removing the credit for Sinatra's Essex Productions.

 

The 'spires' label was Aug 1959-Dec 1961, and the logo at 12 o'clock from Jan 1962 to Jul 1968 (that is, non-Subsidiary; if you count that, then up to Aug 1969).

Clearly, there were different printing runs within the 'spires' era of (S)W-1069:

The second and third examples are Bert-Co of Los Angeles, and the spacing differences (never mind how many tracks were listed atop the spindle hole) are among the wonders of letterpress printing. The first was typeset by Keystone Printed Specialties of Scranton.

The sets at right may've come first, given the justified-left spacing for Billy May's credit (as opposed to justified center on the copy sans Essex Productions credit).

 

Another thing I noticed: The stereo Scranton CDWM listed song running times, the mono Scranton (and all L.A.) didn't.

 

Here are a few Scrantons from 1962, mono / stereo:



Have yet to see a stereo Scranton with the Essex reference amongst this bunch. (No doubt the times would have accompanied the songs.) Of the stereo labels, the one at right was from after the one at left . . . the cat. # typeface and line spacing dates it to about 1963.l

 

I have a CD era letter to add to this quotable of the week. VNST (*verified Norberged sonic turd) which goes VST and then some. (big grins)

 

Were the mixes changed and reverb add on the later pressings?

 

So far, the best mastering I've found from "Cheek to Cheek" is in the 2007 "Romance - Songs From the Heart" collection. Dave McEowen was a remastering engineer on this project. The highs are good, tailor-made, Frank's voice is very natural with little reverb and the conductor has a little more sound presence than many LP and CD releases of "Come Swing With Me."

​

 

Perfectly right! Wished there would be a complete album release with this mastering!

 

Ops... Come "Dance" With Me.

 

So I tried to somewhat speed read through this thread in order to find out the consensus on the best sounding CD of Come Dance With Me. Most of the discussion centers around the vinyl pressings. So is there a consensus that the best sounding CD version is the Walsh version only available in a now OOP UK box set? Or was there a standalone version of that same disc released? Is the Capitol version released some years ago in the US, ie the generally available one, considered that much of a failure?

 

1. The Walsh version is NOT the one in the “now OOP UK box set” (Sinatra: The Capitol Years from 1998).
   
   
2. The Walsh disc (1987) is a stereo remix which is not as good as some vinyl versions, but it is probably the “best CD by default” according to Matt’s (@MLutthans) Capitol Scorecard. (Matt’s album review: Come Dance with Me - recorded 1958.) The Walsh CD is still available new in the UK: Amazon UK link.
   
   
3. Answering the last question about the currently available US CD (1998 Norberg version): Avoid!