With killer Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) Living Stereo sound from start to finish, this original pressing is practically as good a copy as we have ever heard, right up there with our Shootout Winner – fairly quiet vinyl too
Both of these sides are exceptionally relaxed, natural, and musical, with an incredibly sweet top end
The brass is breathy with a nice bite, avoiding most of the blare-y quality we heard on so many other pressings
And you’re not going to believe all the ambience surrounding this room full of musicians, especially on the drums – we love that sound
Amazing sound throughout this early 360 Stereo pressing, with both sides earning superb Double Plus (A++) grades
Rich, smooth, sweet, full of ambience (maybe too much ambience!), dead on correct tonality, and wonderfully breathy vocals – everything that we listen for in a great record is here
Huge amounts of three-dimensional space and ambience, along with boatloads of Tubey Magic – here’s a 30th Street recording from 1962 that demonstrates just how good Columbia’s engineers were back then
The title track became a gold-selling Top Ten hit that stayed on the charts for almost three years (!) and earned Bennett two Grammy Awards (Record of the Year and Best Solo Vocal Performance)
To hear the real Tony Bennett, play “Once Upon a Time” – it’s here and nobody sings it better
5 stars: “…Bennett had been searching for a … musical approach beyond his long-gone pop work…. With this album, [he] found the key, not only by happening across a signature song in the title track, but also in the approach to songs like ‘Once Upon a Time’…and Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh’s ‘The Best Is Yet to Come,’ which Bennett helped make a standard.”
