Top Engineers – Ed Greene

Frank Sinatra – Trilogy: Past, Present and Future

With outstanding Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them on all SIX sides, this copy of Sinatra’s superb 1980 release will be very hard to beat
The sound here is rich and full-bodied with much less grain and much more Tubey Magic than most of the other copies we played in our recent shootout (particularly on the first five sides)
Credit the brilliant engineering of Frank Laico for the excellent sound – this record doesn’t sound like 1980, and that’s a very, very good thing
“An audacious, ambitious way to stage a comeback, each of the album’s three records was conceived as an individual work, and each was arranged by one of Sinatra’s major collaborators. . . the best moments are triumphant, proving that the Voice was still vital in his fourth decade of recording.”

The album features Sinatra singing some of the biggest hits of the day by artists such as Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, Jim Croce, and Bread
Released in 1974, this is probably the last good album the man made outside of She Shot Me Down from 1981

Bluesmith makes its Hot Stamper debut here with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish
Rich, lively and clear, with plenty of space for this exceptional ensemble to occupy, exactly the classic jazz sound you would expect from a vintage Verve recording that has been properly mastered and pressed
4 stars: “… one of Jimmy Smith’s best Verve releases… [a] surprisingly freewheeling but relaxed jam session… Fine straight-ahead music.”