Sinatra / Reprise Sound Quality and General Discussion: "Sinatra and Swingin' Brass" - 1962*

Ah, the good ol' days are back!

 

@riddlemay --

Good question! I can look into it, or maybe somebody else who already knows can chime in.

 

@riddlemay --

Just checked at iTunes, and it sounds like the 1998 version (non-Mastered-for-iTunes) is the 1998 EOTC version, and the 2014 Mastered for iTunes version is the 2014 HD downsampled/converted.

 

I wish there were a really easy, obvious answer for this album (in terms of finding that elusive "right" version), that's for sure. In the end, your solution work fine.

 

@Pieter Kozak sent a clip from a UK LP. It sounds good, and I will be posting it and commenting in the days ahead, but in the meanwhile, I have a question for our pressing experts out there.

Pieter's UK LP has deadwax that reads R9-1005 A-21 [EDIT: It's A-2L] with a further etching of KT Z/T. The label looks like this:

Doesn't that A-21 runout info indicate a USA cut, pressed in the UK? Or have I missed something?

 

Ah, I see in the photo that it's A-2L! I thought it was A-21. That may change things, but I'll let our Reprise pressing gurus chime in. Thanks for the pics. Maybe @W.B. will have some input.

 

I've got a clip from Pieter's UK LP added to the comparison page (about midway down the page). Here's the direct audio link to keep you from having to hunt for it: http://www.11fifty.com/Site_108/1962_-_Sinatra_and_Swingin_Brass_files/Don'ChaGo'WayMadClipUKA-2L Stereo.wav

For comparison, here's my A1 USA original pressing: http://www.11fifty.com/Site_108/1962_-_Sinatra_and_Swingin_Brass_files/A1StereoClip-GAIN_02.mp3
....and a circa 1986 USA copy, pressed by Capitol, with bass panned to center, creating a narrowed image and mildly anemic overall sound: http://www.11fifty.com/Site_108/1962_-_Sinatra_and_Swingin_Brass_files/05Cap Don'cha Go 'Way Mad-NORM_01-03.mp3

My thoughts?
Well, that A1 stereo LP remains awful. Toss that one out. The Capitol pressing is okay, but has a very dark-sounding vocal mixed with a thin, airy sound to the instrumentation and a narrowed image with the bass blended to the center. Pieter's LP strikes me as having similar tonality in the instruments to that Capitol LP, but with f u l l w i d t h s-t-e-r-e-o, which helps, as does the better, less dark/heavy vocal tone.



Also, where those photos of the runout groove are concerned, I think that's the same stamp style as on my original UK Great Songs from Great Britain, so I *think* this is a "cut in the UK" LP, not made from US metal parts, but again, I'll defer to the experts.

Is that a Decca stamp? Or was Pye cutting their own lacquers?

Anybody out there have an FS-1005 1960s USA LP we could sample? That's the glaring omission in these comparisons thus far.

 

Matrix stamp in Pieter's UK copy:

Here is the matrix stamp from a similar-era Decca LP in my collection:

I think that Pye LP was cut at Decca in the UK.

??

 

Is that yours?

Still looking for a clip from Don'cha Go 'Way Mad.....

 

30-second clips from four cuts from the UK stereo LP belonging to @Pieter Kozak :
http://www.11fifty.com/Site_108/1962_-_Sinatra_and_Swingin_Brass_files/7-10clipsUK stereo LP from Pieter-NORM_01-07.wav

Same clips from 2014 HD version, for comparison: https://app.box.com/s/v0zbiyux92qc2ugqf08smb4x8hall6zy

2014 LP: https://app.box.com/s/jum1mwa2jb0c15eclew7t5c49rfsfpiw

1986 LP, pressed by Capitol: https://app.box.com/s/pkhprxmlfak1rtcor3n947cdvvo2jh3n

1992 CD: https://app.box.com/s/wwgy8tjr62i4s05r8b2nmx6lc2v5xqko

 

Funny....I've been prepping a revision to my webpage (the changes are not posted yet), and I used that exact word ("anemic") in pointing out how the 1986 LP sounds vis-a-vis Pieter's UK stereo LP, so we are hearing things the same way.

By the way, the matrix info on side two of Pieter's LP, from which those clips come, is R9-1005-B-2L.

I'll take Pieter's LP over any of the versions I currently, personally own: B4 mono LP, A1 stereo LP, A6 stereo LP, 1986 stereo LP WW-1 cut (bass centered via low-frequency blend during cutting), 1986 stereo LP LW-1 cut (bass "correctly" un-centered), Original CD, EOTC CD, 2014 LP (bass centered via low-frequency blend during cutting), 2014 HD.

Still looking for FS-1005 stereo LP clips, and I have a renewed interest in hearing non-USA LP clips for this title, if anybody has any goodies lurking in their collections.