Sinatra / Capitol Sound Quality and General Discussion: In the Wee Small Hours (1955)*

Thanks for the info on "Last Night." I thought I recalled Jonathan Schwartz saying that it only became part of WEE SMALL when it went from a double 10" to a single 12". But I could be misremembering.

 

Here's a clip from a very nice grey label pressing. Got it for 6 bucks. They're still out there.

W1-581-D10
W2-581-D11

Dynamic and clear, it's got much of that desirable 'Frank's microphone plugged into your stereo sound to it.'

Non EQ'd sample of 'Glad To Be Unhappy.'

PLAY

 

I was watching for news of the Sinatra reissue vinyls, but dropped out for a couple months only to find all of this here.

Anyway, I just listened to the 2009 vs Grey Label comparison, and WOW that's depressing. I imagine that the 2009 sounds alright on a TT in the living room, but man...hearing it side by side with the dryness and intimacy of the original issue is a no-contest slaughter. It reminds me of hearing the dry tapes from Elvis at Sun compared to the Sun Sessions for the first time.

I've tried to look online for a grey label but most of the listings now are for the reissue. I think that my parents are considering getting me a Wee Small Hours vinyl for Christmas. (I mentioned that I had been looking for one yesterday and I practically heard the light bulb light up on the other end of the telephone). I'm curious to know if they'll look for an original or just find that there's a reissue and get that.

 

You really don't want the 2009 reissue LP for another reason (in case you missed it.)

The end of side one has the wrong song cut on it. They somewhow mixed up a song from 'A Swingin Affair' for one of the 'Wee Small' ones.

They might fix the problem in future runs, but since the tracklist on the outer sleeve is correct, it's going to be hard to tell, regardless.

 

1. Are the rainbow band, 9 o'clock, mono versions (as mentioned in the first post) unabridged and from the dry tapes? They're much more common, but I'm hesitant to take a chance on one unless they all use the same (good) tapes.

2. This is off thread, but since the Sinatra experts seem to reside here, are all of the left-side-logo rainbow issues from dry tapes where applicable?

 

Question #2 pertains to all of Sinatra's Capitol albums with that label btw.

 

Yes the 9:00 labels are generally the same as the gray labels. There may be subtle differences just as there are between 2 gray labels. Some masterings are better than others. In fact some 9:00 labels are better than the gray ones. It wasn't until the 12:00 rainbow labels that changes were made. The 9:00 labels are often in better shape and almost always cheaper. You won't be disappointed.

 

Well, I went and took the plunge on a VG++ 9:00 rainbow that I found online. Here's hoping.

 

Problem with this comparison is that there were three gray labels (Long Playing w/silver ring, Long Playing w/o ring, Long Playing w/High Fidelity) and MANY different cuts, with some sounding quite different.

 

i just got this email

PRODUCT ISSUES
　
Frank Sinatra "In The Wee Small Hours" (50999 6 88654 1 2 – Vinyl)
and "Come Fly With Me" (50999 6 88653 1 3 – Vinyl)
have been recalled due to a manufacturing error.
Please do not continue to solicit these titles.
exact problem:
come fly with me- mono recording in stereo packaging
In the wee small hours- track 8 is wrong on the vinyl.

 

oh okay!

just wanted all the info to be out there.

thanks.

 

well that only took them A MONTH after some in here informed us of these issues...

 

I don't believe the actual recall of those LPs were discussed in that thread. There's a difference.

 

The album arrived last week. I haven't had a chance to play it yet because I went out of town for the holidays right afterward. I do have this to say: I would have paid the same just for the record sleeve. The sight of Sinatra in that emerald green fog blown up to full size is stunning.

 

A mono with the logo at 9:00 on the label should sound very good.

 

Dry Tapes!!! We have a winner! The appearance of the record is flawless and it plays great with only the occasional pop. Thanks for the guidance guys, particularly whoever it was that realized that the 9:00 monos were from the dry tapes. I would highly recommend one to anyone that can't find a good condition grey label.

 

I picked up a MFSL pressing of Wee Small Hours that had been separated from its boxmates. I'm certain that "Mood Indigo" and "Glad To Be Unhappy" on the MFSL were taken from the reverb-added tapes. But the other tracks sound like they were mastered from the dry (no reverb added) tapes. It seems very strange that most of the album would be dry, with only two clearly reverb-added tracks.

Lord only knows what tapes Capitol gave MoFi back when they did these, but I find it hard to believe they were actually the original master tapes.

 

wow, that is interesting, I'm going to pull my mofi and grey label on this one and A/B it and see if I concur with you.

 

Let me know what you think. I would be shocked if you didn't hear the reverb on "Mood Indigo" and "Glad To Be Unhappy" they sound very different from the tracks on both my grey label and 9:00 rainbow copies. I think all the other tracks sounded dry and basically similar (EQ differences aside) to what I hear on the grey and 9:00 rainbow LPs, although it is possible there was another reverbed cut that snuck in there and I missed.

I'm just guessing at what happened here, but I imagine it goes something like this: By the time of the MFSL release, WSH had already been reissued in truncated form a few times. The production masters had probably been cut up and reassembled a few times, and the tapes probably got mixed up when Capitol put all 16 tracks back together.