Sinatra / Capitol 180g LPs: Wee Small Hours, Come Fly with Me, Come Dance with Me*

i was thinking it was only mono after i posted that. as far as obssesing about the absolute best pressing it has absolutely nothing to do with that. as someone just mentioned some prefer the dry natural sound of Franks voice on the grey labels.

one of the major things this forum is about or use to be for the majority is narrowing down the best sounding pressing. its one of the things that make this forum fun. never saw it as a negative thing. i enjoy the music and strive for the best sq. maybe some cant do both without feeling frustrated and it ruining the music. oh well, though i can understand that, its a pity the frustration keeps them from enjoying music or ultimately finding the best sounding cd or lp.

Randy, please let those who do care know if the lp has echo on Franks voice. Or any other details.

thanks!

 

Honestly, I do not recall any echo at all but I will throw a side on again and listen for it. I recall his voice sounding very natural to me and FWIW, the LP is using catalog #W581 without the 'S' or 'D' prefix indicating a stereo or duophonic pressing. It says that it is a faithful restoration on a sticker on the front of the shrink. More to come after a second listen.
Randy

 

Randy: if it's not too much trouble, do you have a copy of the Bob Norberg CD you could compare it to? Heck, you could even compare it to a thirty-second sample on iTunes—it should be evident immediately whether they used that mastering or not. If that's do-able, it'd be a fantastic boon for some of us (myself included) on the fence about this one!

 

Randy, what does the label look like on the Wee Small Hours reissue? Is it a rainbow Capitol label or is it a reproduction of the original grey label? Thanks!

 

I do have the 1998 CD remaster so I will do a comparison to that one. Honestly, I got all of the 1998 remasters years ago and long before I had even a clue that all remasters were not the same. I got these titles thru BMG on some deal or another an figured for a couple bucks per CD why not 'upgrade'. I never even unwrapped it. I will post after the listen.

I am attempting to upload a pic of the label. Hopefully this works..Randy

 

I hope it sounds as good as it looks. Deelish...

Shiny, heavy weight vinyl.

 

thats a first pressing grey label on the reissue, right guys? Man it would be sweet if this was a dry cut with Frank up front and proper mastering.


Randy, anyway you can post a sound clip? (sorry we are pelting you with questions and requests)

 

Listen to "Mood Indigo". If Frank sounds like he's singing in a cave, it's taken either from the tampered dubs, or possibly the Norberg master made from it. If not, on any song, switch (if you can) between stereo/mono. Does the sound change when doing it? Do you hear echo get reduced when summing the channels? If not, it wouldn't be from the Walsh master, which has stereo echo added that reduces considerably when folding it down.

If it passes all the above, it should be sourced from good tapes. If you need a sample posted from one of the CD's, let me know...

 

*fingers crossed*

 

Ok...I have the cd and the lp running at almost the same point and it is quite obvious that the cd is mastered quite a bit louder than the lp. I switched my mono/stereo switch back and forth while listening to the lp and honestly did not notice any difference. Take that FWIW. I did not get the sense he was singing in a cave...again, I am no expert nor a sound engineer.

They did a nice job on the packaging. The inner sleeve is made of a thick stock. Here are a couple pics of it. I should receive the other two titles by the end of the week. Randy

 

The dark horse Sinatra release of the year?

 

Wish I could believe that sticker after their decades of being digital revisionist central. But they certainly worked hard through the digital era to earn the skepticism. Their digital-era policies have probably succeeded in devaluing these assets now: the folks who bought their digital-era kool-aid won't buy these "inferior analog" records and those they're marketing these to are the people they burned and ticked off for decades... so a hard sell now.

They probably don't even have an analog lathe to make an actual analog record, it'd be converted to 16 bit 44.1khz CD-level digital then back again even if they (possibly needlessly) used the tapes rolling in the studio with Frank. But beating their CDs, that they can easily do - in fact I'd be surprised if these aren't appreciably better than the CDs and probably the best short of a real audiophile release or lucking out on a really clean pre-digital vinyl. If one doesn't have access to a lot of good used vinyl, and that covers a lot of folks, these are probably a good buy. Who mastered it?

 

man this is tempting. Thanks for your input and hard work Randy.

 

Now with sinatra & vinyl , i own some originals Gray label , some aqua labels & i think black labels , i do not own any of the Rainbow rimmed of them , what does this signify in 1950's pressings , are these good ??
I know i have encountered some of those with Bright green lables that are 80's pressings with missing tracks & those sound terrible , but i am curious about the Rainbows & sinatra ?? thanks !

 

The beauty and quality of the artwork on "Wee Small Hours" and the grey label are alone worth the $16.00! If the record stinks, you can just ignore it. Great job Capitol!

 

not to me it isnt. i cant listen to a cover. sure would like for a clip or two to be put up by someone.

 

Are these sorts of reissues ever reviewed by Fremer or the like?

 

IIRC, Fremer reviewed the Pet Sounds reissue and raved about how good it was but then changed his review for some reason afterwards. If you look around the thread here, you'll find some discussion of the about-face. I'd love to find some web archive of his original review to compare the two. I can't recall specifics but I did read the original review and seem to remember his being pretty ga-ga about it so the change to his lukewarm review seemed strange.

 

I have a rainbow label copy of In The Wee Small Hours and it is definitely the dry version. It sounds just like my gray label copy, only with less damage. At least for this album, rainbow labels with the Capitol logo on the left hand side (instead of at the top) are probably okay. I don't know about rainbow labels with the logo on top, those might have added reverb. Definitely avoid any LP reissues of Sinatra albums that don't have all the songs, those seem to be fake stereo (and, obviously, are missing tracks).

 

Amen. I'm willing to wait until I hear some more feedback on these, or even needledrop samples, before buying. I have spent enough money on completely fakakta Sinatra reissues for one lifetime already.

If it was MoFi I'd buy it on faith, but Capitol has not earned my trust with the way they have treated Sinatra's music over the years.