“Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra” 70th Anniversary LP and Hybrid SACD from Impex Records

A digital only release would be an easy way for SONY to go like the recent Sinatra Rarities from Universal. It’s just so sad. The 1990s were the best times for Box Sets ….

 

It is so strange that the last ten years have been the glory years for the issue of classical box sets, mostly remastered and many in deluxe editions. perhaps they have different objectives in the classical divisions of these corporations than megaprofit.

The CD boxes are still easy. CDs are cheap to manufacture.

 

Yes. It is. I worked there at one time, many moons ago.

 

It’s beyond me what any of the recent postings have to do with the thread subject.

We got a marvelous LP and hybrid CD/SACD audiophile issue last year, and everyone’s unhappy about what we haven’t got. Why not start a thread called “Bitchin’ about Sinatra Non-Releases”?

 

Seriously! I clicked on the thread hoping to see an announcement of something new cooking at Impex following up on last year's brilliant success -- only to get all this December of My Years gloominess...

 

@Granata Chuck, do you also take care of Frank's recordings on Capitol?

 

@Granata Chuck, do you also take care of Frank's recordings on Capitol?

Artur, I do not...

 

Rob,

The last year and a half have been very strange - and difficult for the 'physical' record industry. You will certainly see some new and exciting LPs come through the pipeline from IMPEX in the next year. Unfortunately, the pressing plants took a while to get back into action after things opened up and there's still a backlog. They're just getting to the repressing of the Sinatra Sing and Dance LP,which won't be available until at least July. Lots of other shifts in the industry have also affected the speed at which titles can be cleared, licensed, mastered and manufactured. Things will get better!

 

Markus,

As was mentioned above, the planned physical 'Columbia Master Takes' box set was cancelled when the physical market began changing a couple of years ago. However, don't think for a second that it couldn't still happen in the future!

 

Thanks @Granata Chuck for your answers. It's so nice to see a competent person to answer questions of the community. Makes me feel like we're a family (of fans of Mr. S)

 

Tribute,

Some of what you say is accurate - some not. It's all very complex, and comparing the gorgeous classical box sets that Sony Masterworks is creating in Germany to doing a Sinatra Columbia box in the U.S.A. is like comparing peaches to watermelons. Here's why:

1. Nearly all of the "content" on the classical box sets - the actual music - is in public domain. No licensing required, no publishing fees to pay and no estates to deal with in terms of the music publishing. That shaves off a TREMENDOUS amount of up-front money the label must invest in such massive projects, and is a big reason why they can offer 100+ CDs of first-class music at a very reasonable cost. Another reason is that until recently, the manufacturing and printing costs (CDs + lavish full-color, hardcover books) were far less in Europe. This all equals MORE music at a reasonable cost to the consumer. For example, I recently bought the Eugene Ormandy Columbia Albums set (120 CDs) for $225 with shipping. At 120 CDs, the works out to roughly $1.87 per CD. That's several dollars LESS than the original albums cost when they came out - and around $12-13 per disc when they were issued on CD. The value is ASTOUNDING.

2. With any non-public domain material, one of the biggest costs (and the one that impacts profit and loss) most is the music publishing. For a 14-15 CD box set (what I planned for the FS Complete Columbia Master Takes set) there's music publishing fees on more than 300 song titles. The cost for that alone is astronomical. Now, add in artist royalties, studio costs, design and packaging and miscellaneous charges (producer fees, cost of shipping the masters back and forth between the vault and studio, etc.) and you can see how and why non-classical box sets are so expensive! In terms of packaging alone, the cost of doing even a simple brick box with cardboard "LP style" min-jackets has at least tripled over the last eight to ten years. Very hard to persuade a label - ANY label - that its worth doing box sets such as this nowadays.

Nearly all the major labels have now shifted toward digital delivery, which saddens those of us accustomed to creating beautiful packages from the labels' catalogs. However, there are still some avenues to doing so, and all the reissue producers I know (and there are very few left) are exploring them and doing their best to continue issuing quality physical product.

Hope this sheds some light on the huge changes in the "box set" sector over the last ten years.

P.S. I know people are quick to blame the artists' 'estates' for everything that happens regarding the handling of the artists' catalogs. That's really not fair - at least in most of the cases I've seen. In terms of what we have accomplished at Sony Music, the Sinatra organization has been extremely supportive of our efforts. Well before any project is presented to an estate for approval, it must go through several hurdles at the LABEL: proposal, budgeting, cost analysis and marketing review. Most projects like the ones we're talking about fall apart WELL BEFORE the estate even hears of them, because the label doesn't feel it is worthwhile from a profit/loss perspective. Just an important thing to consider...

 

Many thanks for the update, Chuck. I think that the blue box still has reference sound quality. Maybe Sony can be convinced to issue a rarities collection (physically or digitally) containing all the extant alternate takes not in the blue box. After all, many of these already exist in digital format.

In terms of sound quality, an update on the Dorsey masters would have priority for me. The original set comes from a period in which RCA radically used no-noise. The Elvis sets from that era sound the same way (although the sources are not compromised in any way - as is audible on the more recent masterings by Vic Anesini).

 

Gosh, if I had followed that course of thinking there never would have been a Frank Sinatra In Hollywood set, A Voice on Air box or an IMPEX Sing and Dance LP, for that matter...

 

I am ON IT, my friend! Over the last five years I've done a tremendous amount of vault research and studio work and am in the midst of trying to bring a new Sinatra-Dorsey project to fruition. If we can work everything out the sound will be equal to or better than what Didier and I achieved with The Essential Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey set back in 2007. I agree 100% that the RCS/BMG masters sound awful, and have been chipping away at rectifying that for quite a while now. My motto is, "Never give up." The music is historically important, and deserves to have at least one final physical release - IN TOTO - in the superb sound that is inherent in the original master discs. I am trying my best to make that happen...

 

Many thanks for all the great work, Chuck This is really good news

 

TRUE that Nancy S has been a pivotal champion for her dad's early recordings. Anyone who has read what she has written, or listened to her on Sirius-XM knows that she has a particular affinity for those recordings because they hold incredible sentimental meaning to her.

TRUE that Frank has passed. However, his music - ALL of his music - transcends time. I believe that Frank's music will always be relevant (and, mores as the years, decades and centuries go on). It IS the classical music of our time!

TRUE that the window is closing for 'physical' product. But, not because of Tina or the estate. It's largely the public, the labels and the way music is consumed today: as I elaborate on in another post in this thread, those forces are difficult to counter. I do also think that like politics, everything has its cycle. Who EVER thought vinyl would make the astonishing comeback that it has, nearly 30 years after its death? Insane! One can never say "never." Good quality music - and the methods of distributing it - will always prevail.

 

Thanks for that, Bob. The 'authority' and permission for that came from the Sinatra estate, to whom we owe tremendous thanks. When they proposed adding a handful of those tracks we were delighted! If I had been able to execute my original plan - having 6 CDs for A Voice on Air - I would have revised the repertoire to include more of the To Be Perfectly Frank tracks. As it was, In cutting down the initial concept and track listing I had to pare down my original inclusions by at least 50 songs, and it wasn't an easy choice.

The sound quality of the masters for NBC's To Be Perfectly Frank varies. Some are on tape and of excellent sound quality; others are on disc and sound rough. I have not explored whether better copies exist in the Library of Congress NBC collection because I have no permission or authority to do anything with them. Since NBC donated their entire disc and tape library to the LOC, there may be better masters tucked away within the library. Maybe someday those with the authority to issue them will check into it. Those performances are wonderful, and definitely deserve to be heard!

 

How would the Sinatra and audio fans here feel about an album's worth of Sinatra ballads from the late-Columbia period? A mix of familiar standards and a handful of the more obscure (but breathtaking) performances? This could be a followup to the IMPEX Sing and Dance LP/SACD. The sonic quality would be equal to (or better than) Sing and Dance...

 

I, for one, would be on it like a rat on a Cheeto.

 

Count me in, Chuck! Especially if some of the process takes you detailed in Sessions could be included (he says hopefully)...

 

Yes, yes and yes! This would be simply amazing!

 

That would be absolutely fantastic! Thank you for considering such a release!

 

Who takes care of that part, in this case?

 

That would be absolutely wonderful! Something to look forward to, if this project becomes a reality.

 

Do you take Venmo?