The Sad Story of Sinatra’s Capitol Catalog
This is meant to be a guide for those people interested in the current crop of Sinatra's Capitol releases and their sound quality. I will slowly update this over time to make it as comprehensive as possible.
The rare Japanese CD’s:
The are nearly impossible to find today. They are easy to spot as the spine is all Japanese characters. Very little is known about these releases and their actual mastering. From the one copy I own, it sounds like a straight, flat transfer of the master tape.
Capitol 1st Issues
Capitol finally decided to re-issue the Sinatra Catalog. These CD re-issues were all mastered by Larry Walsh and were done from the original master tapes and some were even remixed from the original multi-track session tapes.
Awesome? Not quite. Larry Walsh made the mistake of following the notes on the boxes for the LP cutting masters and the LP cutting masters had notes for added echo. As a result, Mr. Walsh added echo to recordings which didn’t need it.
The Second Capitol Issues
The second re-issues were done by Bob Norberg. AVOID THEM! Every bad thing that can be done to a historic recording was done to the Sinatra Catalog by Bob “no-noise” Norberg. You can recognize these by the “Entertainer of the Century” branding on the spine. AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE!
The British Box (Alan Dell)
The best of a bad lot. This is the sure shot way to get almost the complete Capitol Catalog in one swift move with decent sound quality to boot!
All of these albums are sourced from the original master tapes except for one (Songs For Swingin’ Lovers) which is direct copy of the Walsh master (complete with added echo!). Another thing to note is that “Come Dance With Me” is missing the first 2 seconds of the second track.
Overall this set is great. The packaging might not be impressive but it seems EMI actually tried to do a decent job with this release.
The DCC Releases
The DCC releases are done as perfect as can be. Up until 2009, you could find these releases for $25 each. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
The MFSL LP Releases
MFSL released the Sinatra Box set in a silver colored box. This was meant to be a definitive re-release but fell fall short. Some of the recordings were pulled from the wrong tapes.
The MFSL CD Releases
The first MFSL Gold CD was Songs For Swingin’ Lovers. Unfortunately, this release was pulled from the wrong tapes and contains echo which should not be present on the recording. The EQ is also off.
Other Releases
The sad fact of it all…
The entire Frank Sinatra Capitol Records Catalog needs a re-working. They need to go back to the original session tapes and remix the stereo versions with NO echo and remaster and release the mono versions as well. Analogue Productions did an amazing job with some Nat "King" Cole SACD releases. They should do the same with Sinatra. It CAN be done but until someone (Chad Kassem....are you there?! You're our only hope!!!) takes the initiative, we'll all be left wishing we had something better.
THE DETAILS!!
1. Songs For Young Lovers (Reply #16)
We'll start out with details, in order with his first Capitol record...
Songs for Young Lovers
(http://www.bourbonhours.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/frank-sinatra-54-songs-for-young-lovers-1.jpg)
This is in fact, Sinatra's 7th album but it was his very first Capitol album. It was released as a 10" LP as a set of eight songs. One must keep in mind that this original eight song line up is how Sinatra conceived of the album and it is the best way to be heard. That said, shortly thereafter, with the introduction of the 12" LP, Capitol decided to bundle together his second album, "Swing Easy!" along with "Songs For Young Lovers".
The best way to hear this album is to find a pristine 12" LP with a gray label with prefix D on the stamper number. The D means it's an original west coast Los Angeles pressing and that it comes directly from the master tapes. The other option is to find the same LP with an N prefix. The N means it was made from a 1:1 dupe tape in New York. While it was pressed from a dupe tape, the sound quality is still superb.
Finding pristine vintage vinyl is quite the hard thing to do in 2012...nearly 2013...so we must look at what's easily available or relatively easy to find.
THE MFSL Vinyl LP
The MFSL vinyl LP comes DIRECTLY from the first generation master tape. How can you tell? There is a complete lack of echo! This is probably the best option currently available as the tone of the recording is fairly spot on and the vinyl noise, if the vinyl has been well kept, is hardly audible.
The British 21CD Set
The CD available on the British set is made from a dupe copy of the master tape. While it is not from the master, it still has good sound quality and there is no echo present. The tone is a bit sterile but it's nothing a little bit of EQ can't fix. :)
The original Capitol release 2-for mastered by Larry Walsh
This two for set is not taken from the master tapes but rather from the master cutting tapes and has added echo.
The second Capitol release 2-for mastered by Bob "No-Noise" Norberg
This, like the original Capitol release, is drenched in echo. To make matters worse, it has too much no-noise applied. You're better off catching the plague than buying this release.