Top Artists – Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra / Sinatra and Swingin’ Brass – Our Shootout Winner from 2012

This nearly White Hot side two showed us just how good sounding this original Tri-Color Reprise original pressing could sound. Don’t get me wrong; they have their share of problems, but the better copies are as musical and enjoyable as many of the best Capitol releases from Sinatra’s prime period. (Most of which sound dreadful by the way, due to Capitol’s awful mastering. Just play an early Beatles album to hear what I’m talking about.)

This very side two was the most tonally correct and musically enjoyable of any second side we played. We call it A++ to A+++. (If we could find ten more clean originals we could probably come up with a Triple Plus side two, but considering how many years it took us to find the copies we had on hand to do our shootout, that is probably not in the cards.)

Check out the great material on the album, with lively, fun (even goofy) arrangements by Neil Hefti: Goody Goody; They Can’t Take That Away from Me; I’m Beginning to See the Light; I Get a Kick Out of You; Tangerine; Serenade in Blue. This is the kind of material Sinatra can really sink his teeth into! (more…)

Letter of the Week – “I’ve never heard it sound remotely close to this level.”

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

Hey Tom,   

Wow!! Extraordinary copy.

On other copies Sinatra’s voice sounds reedy and unnatural.

Here, it is fully present, deep, rich and filled with highlights.

The whole atmosphere of a live performance is captured and evokes a breathtaking sense of being there completely in the moment. The orchestra is alive and filling every space on the stage.

I’ve never heard it sound remotely close to this level. Just brilliant. 

Thank you again. A real treat. Worth every penny.

Phil

Frank Sinatra / Songs for Swingin’ Lovers – Reviewed in 2006

This is a Minty Capitol Black Label original LP with No Bar Code. They don’t come any better than this! It is amazingly quiet for an old Capitol, with excellent sound throughout.

Makin’ Whoopee is definitive in Sinatra’s and Nelson’s hands on this release. Never heard a better rendition. Love Nilsson’s but I think I have to hand the tallest trophy to Frank.

Many of the Sinatra Capitol Black Label releases do not sound good. They’re full of harmonic distortion, much like The Beatles’ records from that era. This copy is the exception. It’s full of life and clearly made from a good tape.

Sinatra pressings like this one benefit from better mastering, with those occasionally shrill upper mids under control while keeping the rich, warm sound of Sinatra’s voice intact.

Many reissues are flat and compressed, not to mention thin, grainy, and irritating. (more…)

Sinatra Sings… of Love and Things – Key Tracks to Play

More of the Music of Frank Sinatra

The music is excellent as one can see from the track listing. It’s hard to go wrong with these later Capitol Sinatra records. They’re almost always a fun listen.

This album comprises the last group of singles Capitol released of Sinatra’s music. Reprise had started in 1960 and the rest of Sinatra’s music would come out on his own label. Somehow he managed to record and release six studio albums in 1962, with this compilation making a total of seven for the year. Even more remarkable, all seven of them made the Top Ten of the pop charts.

Side One

The first track is especially good sounding – note how full-bodied the lower registers of Sinatra’s voice are rendered.

Side Two

Some of the better sounding tracks are the fourth (big, rich and breathy vocals) and fifth (it really swings!).

Side One

The Nearness of You
Hidden Persuasion
The Moon Was Yellow
I Love Paris
Monique (song from “Kings Go Forth”)
Chicago

Side Two

Love Looks So Well on You
Sentimental Baby
Mr. Success
They Came to Cordura
I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues
Something Wonderful Happens in Summer

Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra was arguably the most important popular music figure of the 20th century, his only real rivals for the title being Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles. In a professional career that lasted 60 years, he demonstrated a remarkable ability to maintain his appeal and pursue his musical goals despite often countervailing trends. – AMG Biography

Dindi, or, The Man Is a Genius

sinatjobim_1311_1_1226514510

More of the Music of Frank Sinatra

More of the Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim

If you like romantic music you would be hard pressed to find a better album than this one. The song Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars perfectly encapsulates the mood of the album.

Our favorite track here is Dindi. Sinatra is the king of lost loves, and the song Dindi offers him another opportunity for regret. Nobody does it better than Frank. It’s a cliche to say he wears his heart on his sleeve, but the man made a career out of it. If the cliche fits…

Frank Sinatra – No One Cares

More Frank Sinatra

  • This orchestrated album of ballads boasts superb 1959 Sinatra All Tube Analog sound
  • This early pressing has the MIDRANGE MAGIC that’s missing from the later reissues we’ve played – it gives you the sense that Frank Sinatra is right in the room with you
  • These two exceptionally good sounding sides have two very important qualities – both the breath, and the front and center immediacy, of Sinatra’s vocals, with Jenkins’ tubey rich orchestral arrangements in support
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Jenkins gives the songs a subtly tragic treatment, and Sinatra responds with a wrenching performance.”
  • If you’re a fan of the man, and what right-minded audiophile wouldn’t be, this superb All Tube Recording from 1959 belongs in your collection.
  • The complete list of titles from 1959 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

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Sinatra at the Sands – Mobile Fidelity Reviewed

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Frank Sinatra Available Now

It’s actually pretty good. Compressed and veiled, but the tonality is correct. I give it a B.

It will beat the vast majority of reissues, which tend to be thin, gritty, and woefully lacking in Tubey Magic.

And the vinyl will be quiet, which is something not many of the best pressings can offer. 

But who wants to listen to a B grade record when we you can buy A and better pressings from us? (more…)

Frank Sinatra – Point of No Return

More Frank Sinatra

More Point of No Return

  • This vintage stereo pressing of Sinatra’s 1962 release boasts outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last
  • Both sides are big and full, with a nice extended top end and wonderfully present vocals
  • About as quiet as they come — Mint Minus Minus on both sides (with two issues, noted below)
  • “… someone persuaded the singer to make the album a special occasion by reuniting with Axel Stordahl, the arranger/conductor who helped Sinatra rise to stardom in the ’40s. Sinatra would never sing these standards with such detailed, ornate orchestrations, and, as such, the album has a feeling of an elegy.”

Check out the AMG review for the story behind the album, which teams Frank up with his former collaborator Axel Stordahl, who arranged and conducted the album. The results are wonderful.

We love doing the work that it takes to find Sinatra albums from his prime recording days that actually sound the way we want them to — lively and fun. This means slogging through lots of bad pressings in order to find gems like this one. But hey, that’s what we do. We love it when a record with music this good can be found with sound like this.

Believe me, these Capitol pressings don’t usually sound like this. From the very first notes you hear Billy May’s colorful arrangments come to life in a way you are very unlikely to have heard before. (more…)

Sinatra at the Sands – What to Listen For

There is some edge on Sinatra’s voice on every side of every copy; it’s so common it’s got to be on the tape. Those copies with less edge and grit on the vocals which are not overly smooth or dull tend to do very well in our shootouts.

Also, richness is very important. We look for a combination of rich, Tubey Magical sound that still maintains a fair amount of space, clarity, transparency and freedom from smear.

The original label pressings (always in stereo; the monos are really a joke) are richer and thicker as a rule.

The pressings with the orange two-tone labels tend to be thinner and clearer. A high percentage of them are much too modern sounding, bright and gritty, and when they are we throw them right in the trade-in pile.

Finding the copy with “best of both worlds” sound is the trick. Pressings on both labels have won shootouts in the past. With this album we do what we always do. We play the record without looking at the label and simply grade the quality of the sound coming out of the speakers. Any other approach is liable to fall prey to unconscious biases. As we like to say, record shootouts may not be rocket science, but they’re a science of a kind, one with strict protocols developed over the course of many years to insure that the results we arrive at are as accurate as we can possibly make them.

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