The *Frank Sinatra* recordings thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Sean Keane, Sep 22, 2008.

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  1. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Heh, I can answer that one. We are talking about the Francis Albert Sinatra/Antonio Carlos Jobim album. No, it is a dedicated 1967 mono mix from the four track.

    Usually UNITED had a mono machine going at the same time, even in 1967 but since much of Frank's vocals had to be fadered down to eliminate the ad lib "ching ching ching" stuff he was doing they needed to remix to mono.
     
  2. My first exposure to these track was via the old Columbia Lp's, and I had to adjust to hearing the correct "dry" versions later on. But I still like/prefer the reverb drenched "Saturday Night..." on the Love Is A Kick album.
     
  3. aoxomoxoa

    aoxomoxoa I'm an ear sitting in the sky

    Location:
    USA
    Anyone know if the mono is worth seeking out or am I better off sticking with the stereo?
     
  4. Ian Bradley

    Ian Bradley Forum Resident

    Sinatra mono mixes

    I think all Sinatra mono mixes up to about this point (including That's Life?) are worth seeking out since they were mixed live there and then as Sinatra sang.

    Great idea, by the way, Sean! Good to have a dedicated general Frank discussion place.


    It's Frank's thread... we just hang in it!
     
  5. Sean Keane

    Sean Keane Pre-Mono record collector In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Here's a CD from Rod McKuen's Laserlight label that I recommend. It contains a better take (and a better sounding one) of Boys And Girls Like You And Me than the one on the Hollywood 1940 - 1964 set.
     
  6. Sean Keane

    Sean Keane Pre-Mono record collector In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Forgot to upload the image.
     

    Attached Files:

  7. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    JOBIM ALBUM:

    It depends on what CUTTING. Martin loaned me his pristine mono and it had a quite nice sound. The stereo cutting I have on the original label is dreadful. Every "S" has been de-essed until it sounds like Ol' Frank has a bad lisp:

    "Quiet nigthhs of quiet stharrs, quiet chordths from my guitar..."

    Sylvester the cat lives.

    Maybe a different stereo cutting would sound better, don't know but the one I have truly stinks (oops, sthinkks):)
     
  8. Sean Keane

    Sean Keane Pre-Mono record collector In Memoriam Thread Starter

    There's a lot of sibilance on The Summer Wind session alternates.
     
  9. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Better than THIBBILENTHE.
     
  10. Sean Keane

    Sean Keane Pre-Mono record collector In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Then you gotta use a de-ether.
     
  11. I really don't notice an effect like that on my stereo copy, (30,653 FS.) But the album as a whole does have somewhat dull treble.
     
  12. MMM

    MMM Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Lodi, New Jersey
    1961. "Stereo spreads its wings", etc., noted on the back cover. No early reel tape version predating the stereo LP that I'm aware of - only WHERE ARE YOU? had the early issue 2 track reel (which may have come out before the stereo LP), instead of the typical 4 track.
     
  13. MMM

    MMM Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Lodi, New Jersey

    I was really glad they played that, as many people listening to the show are likely unfamiliar with the mono version and how different it sounds. Furthermore, it was great that at the beginning (and between the "sides") the differences in the sound were noted before playing the music. I believe Chuck Granata used two different LP's to transfer for the show - one for each side that had the best sounding cutting to him from his collection...

    Really showed how important it is to reissue this stuff correctly in both mono and stereo where applicable. Most people would probably think "what do I need the mono for if we have an album available in stereo", so the broadcast of the MONO "Come Fly..." hopefully opened a few minds and ears...
     
  14. MMM

    MMM Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Lodi, New Jersey
    Worth seeking out. My "1A" cut WLP has lots of compression and probably not much above 8k, but it's a neat listen occasionally nonetheless and sounds pleasant overall. Would be nice if the mono were reissued. The old mono LP's are not the easiest thing to find, but there's out there. It's not as rare as the MONO Ellington album, which took me a long time to get a copy of. Shares the basic quirks of the Jobim mono mix... :)
     
  15. MMM

    MMM Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Lodi, New Jersey

    Not to take anything away from the engineers involved (such as Mark Wilder, Darcy Proper, Larry Walsh, etc.), but I feel I should make note of the reason the above CD releases sit above and beyond the typical major label Sinatra reissues (meaning releases outside of the DCC Gold's, etc.) - they had producers involved in the projects that know what they're doing. In the case of the Columbia era noted above, from the release of the Blue Box forward, Didier Deutsch and (my buddy) Charles Granata work on those releases. Columbia reissues for years often came from tampered masters pre-blue box, but they ended that and, with little exception (sometimes beyond their control), have reissued this early (and sometimes rough shape) disc master material in very fine sound without excess processing/noise removal. THE CAPITOL YEARS, and also the COLLECTOR'S SERIES singles compilation, were Ron Furmanek's projects. Considering the very uneven quality of Capitol's Sinatra reissues, that these releases stand out shows the importance of his role in these sets being of the quality they are. I mean, this is a guy that got very good sounding releases (non-Sinatra) issued when working with Bob Norberg! :eek: :) I'm probably one of the biggest critics of Mr. Norberg's mastering techniques (pick up basically any Capitol Sinatra album Bob worked on and you'll understand why), so for Ron to have been able to rein in the processing, etc., that Bob liked to do and produce good sounding results when having worked with him is quite impressive to me...
     
  16. bartels76

    bartels76 Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    CT
    Can we do an album by album on this thread?
     
  17. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    The set I have is called "The Voice - Columbia Years..." It is 6 LPS in a slip
    case box. Each record is a different style he did (Broadway, Big Band etc...)
    I'm just wondering if it's worth putting togther a needle-drop mix of some of
    the songs from these records. This is my Dad's set, so I thought he might
    enjoy a cdr mix from it.
     
  18. Bob F

    Bob F Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts USA
    That's the 1986 set I mentioned [post=3813363]above[/post], Chris. It's a beautiful package, but the sound is much inferior to the later Legacy transfers which have appeared on CD since the Complete Recordings "big blue" box in 1993.

    The Columbia recordings are a case in which needledrops of existing LPs are NOT going to produce better results than the latest digital releases. There are two four-disc collections which I would recommend wholeheartedly: The Best Of The Columbia Years 1943-1952 (1995), which is a subset of the complete 12-CD set, and A Voice In Time 1939-1952 (2007). The latter includes newer, even better remastering, plus some earlier (Harry James and Tommy Dorsey big band) material and a few newly-issued radio tracks and alt takes.
     
  19. johnny33

    johnny33 New Member

    Location:
    usa
    Its about time another Frank Sinatra thread was started. It gets lonely going through ghost town in the archives :) .

    Great thread guys! I have learned gobs from the generous knowledge of Martin and others through the past year or so. Invaluable information to learn what best sounding recordings of Mr Sinatra's to purchase.

    Never enough of these kinds of threads.. thanks!
     
  20. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    Thanks Bob, you really know your stuff! :agree:
     
  21. Bob F

    Bob F Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts USA
    Question

    This is a question about acceptable protocol here at SH Forums:

    On the Sinatra Family Forum, there exist separate discussion threads for each of Frank's albums (e.g. as linked from the index page in my signature). It's my habit in postings at the SFF to include the link whenever I provide an album or box set title. For example: The Voice: The Columbia Years 1943-1952.

    I've refrained from doing the same here, because I didn't want to appear to be trying to direct traffic to the other site. However, I've been posting that way for so long on the SFF that it's become second nature for me, and it's actually difficult to refrain from doing the same thing here. :)

    So, I'm asking if anyone would object if I used that method of highlighting album titles, even though the web links point to a different forum?
     
  22. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Bob, you basically read my mind on this. As much as I enjoy chatting about Sinatra, a lot of this stuff has already been covered in some detail both in the archives of this forum and over at the Sinatra forum. I don't know about forum policy, but from a strictly personal-opinion stance, I would have no problem with pointing people to answers that already exist within the two forums.

    My two cents....

    Matt
     
  23. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Please, repost the info here. Thanks.
     
  24. Bob F

    Bob F Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts USA
    Please clarify, Steve: Are you saying I should NOT post links to the SFF?

    Note that my intention is not to direct people to the other site for answers. Those I will gladly repost here as appropriate to current discussions. I'm only suggesting that I would like to highlight any album titles I might use with links to the existing threads over there.

    For example, when you asked about the stereo version of Come Fly With Me earlier, I would answer no differently than I did before, but any mention of the album title would appear as it does in this sentence. That serves two purposes: It makes the title stand out, and it offers a place to read existing (sometimes extensive) info about the album.

    The reason for linking to the SFF is that ALL (official) albums are already represented there, and I have the links at my fingertips (as indicated in my sig). OTOH, if you'd prefer not to see the links, I understand, and that's fine with me. It's just hard for me to break the habit of doing it that way. :)
     
  25. bluesbro

    bluesbro Forum Hall of Shame

    Location:
    DC
    Im listening to the album 'Softly as I leave you'. Sounds like a mix bag. 'Pass me by' has got to be one of the worst records Sinatra ever did. There is also a great 'Here's to the losers'.

    Anyone know the background of this album? Is it a compilation?
     
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