Non-Album Tracks, 1955

Thank you to SHTV’s “Bob F” for his invaluable assistance in compiling this information.

Ongoing discussion at the Steve Hoffman Music Forum (LINK)           

Album Index     <---- 1954 Sessions     1955 Singles:  March 4                                  March 7   March 23   July 29    August 19      September 13     October 17   October 31 ----> 1956 Sessions

 

Arranger/Conductor: Nelson Riddle

Original Release: Our Town EP, Sept. 12, 1955

Original LP Release: Look to Your Heart, 1959

Original CD Release: At the Movies, 1992


Releases sampled for this comparison:

•1955 Our Town EP

•1955 45

1959 Look to Your Heart LP

•1967 UK Sunday and Everyday with Frank

    Sinatra LP

•1968 The Sinatra Touch mono LP

•1974 UK Sinatra Sings Cahn and Van Heusen LP

•1980s Look to Your Heart LP

•1983 MFSL Look to Your Heart LP

•1984 UK Look to Your Heart LP

•1992 At the Movies CD*

•1994 UK This is Frank Sinatra 1953-1957 CD

•1995 Sinatra 80th: All the Best CD*

•1996 Complete Capitol Singles CD

•1998 UK Look to Your Heart CD


*Shared mastering

August 19, 1955 -

Look to Your Heart / Love and Marriage / The Impatient Years / Our Town

Song #1:

“Look to Your Heart”

Top Choice:


Our Town EP


(See notes at far right.)

Not as good:


•All other versions (aside from those marked “Avoid” below) use the distractingly compressed tapes prepared (apparently) for the Look to Your Heart LP release.  The best of these is the MFSL LP. 


Avoid:


Complete Capitol Singles - Norberged; wrong tapes, strongly “stereo synthesized”

•Green Label and MFP LPs: unpleasantly compressed sounding, beyond the norm.

Sinatra Sings Cahn and Van Heusen LP - simulated stereo (sums to mono okay)

NOTES


•The compressed and tweaked Look to Your Heart LP tapes are the source for every tested version except the original EP.


•The EP is a little “soft” on top, and is also compressed, but with a type of compression that is far less bothersome than the LP and CD releases.

Audio Clips

Arranger/Conductor: Nelson Riddle

Original Release: Our Town EP, Sept. 12, 1955

Original LP Release: Look to Your Heart or UK Sinatra Sings Music for Pleasure, both 1959

Original CD Release: At the Movies, 1992


Releases sampled for this comparison:

•1955 Our Town EP

1959 UK Sinatra Sings Music for Pleasure LP

•1974 UK Sinatra Sings Cahn and Van Heusen LP

•1980s Look to Your Heart LP

•1983 MFSL Look to Your Heart LP

•1984 UK Look to Your Heart LP

•1992 At the Movies CD*

•1994 UK This is Frank Sinatra 1953-1957 CD

•1996 Mastercard Series: The Movie Years CD*

•1996 Complete Capitol Singles CD

•1998 UK Look to Your Heart CD


*Shared mastering, but 1996 release adds even more compression

Song #3:

“The Impatient Years”

SAMPLE AUDIO CLIPS


All clips for this song mirror those freely available via Amazon.com.

SAMPLE AUDIO CLIPS


All clips posted here mirror those freely available via iTunes.  To access the 90-second iTunes free samples, click

“View,” then “View in iTunes.”

Above: 1998 UK Look to Your Heart CD, courtesy “rangerjohn.”

Above: 1983 MFSL Look to Your Heart LP, mastered by Jack Hunt

Above: 1984 Look to Your Heart UK LP, courtesy “Sinatrafan”

Above: 1994 UK This is Frank Sinatra 1953-1957 CD.

Above: 1959 UK Sinatra Sings Music for Pleasure LP

Top Choice:


At the Movies CD (mastering reused for Sinatra 80th: All the Best CD)

Not as good:


•Original EP and 45 - correct tapes, but compressed


Avoid:

Complete Capitol Singles - Norberged

Sinatra Sings Cahn and Van Heusen LP - simulated stereo (sums to mono okay)

•All others - wrong tapes (compressed)

NOTES


•As usual for tracks from the Look to Your Heart album, the processed LP tapes have been used for most masterings.

Audio Clips

Above: 1998 UK Look to Your Heart CD, courtesy “rangerjohn.”

Above: 1996 Complete Capitol Singles CD, mastered by Bob Norberg, courtesy “rangerjohn” (correct tapes used, but heavy-handed processing applied)

Above: 1983 MFSL Look to Your Heart LP, mastered by Jack Hunt (tampered LP tapes used)

Above: 1994 UK This is Frank Sinatra 1953-1957 CD.

Above: 1955 D1 45

Above: 1980s N-series Look to Your Heart LP, mastered by Jay Maynard.

Above: 1992 At the Movies CD, mastered by Larry Walsh, courtesy “OldCoder.” 

Above: 1996 Complete Capitol Singles CD, mastered by Bob Norberg, courtesy “rangerjohn”.

Above: This is Sinatra D1

pressing, courtesy eharmonica.

Above: 1967 This is Sinatra

Star Line LP.

Above: 1985 UK This is Sinatra LP.

Above: 1968 The Sinatra Touch mono LP

Above: 1980s Japan This

is Sinatra LP, courtesy “Dr. Robert”

Above: 1989 Japan Hit Collection CD, courtesy “progrockfan”

Above: 1989 Collectors Series CD, mastered by Walsh/Furmanek, reused in The Capitol Years, Sinatra 80th: All the Best, etc. (see list of BLUE and PINK titles above above)

Above: 2006 unlicensed Supreme Jazz SACD, courtesy OldCoder.

Song #2:

“Love and Marriage”

Top Choices, essentially tied:


•1985 UK This is Sinatra LP

•1989 UK The Great Films & Shows CD

Collectors Series and it’s assorted re-uses (in BLUE at left)

•Australian The Essential Frank Sinatra CD

UK This is Frank Sinatra 1953-1957 CD

•2014 This is Sinatra LP


All five have wide dynamics, excellent tone, and little or no top-end roll-off.

Not as good:

•UK This is Sinatra CD, Star Line LP, Sinatra Touch mono LP, original This is Sinatra LPs, EP, 45 - compressed.

•2014 HD download - dark, lacking dynamics (probably the best of the “not as good” choices)



Avoid:

His 20 Greatest Hits LP - reverb added

Complete Capitol Singles Collection and Frank Sinatra Sings the Select Sammy Cahn CDs - same Norberg mastering

The Hit Maker LP, 20 Golden Greats CD - subpar tone.

25 Classic Tracks and Supreme Jazz- compressed/EQd versions of the Furmanek/Walsh mastering.  Supreme Jazz is by far the worse of the two.

•Japan All the Way: The Hit Collection CD - see NOTES at right.

All-Time Classics, The Works and Twenty Golden Greats LPs; 1986 Australia The Frank Sinatra Collection CD - fake stereo

Sinatra Sings Cahn and Van Heusen LP - Duophonic

NOTES


•Japan’s All the Way: The Hit Collection CD has excellent sound, but cuts off the bassoon run at the very opening of the song, so it’s in the “avoid” category on a technicality.  Also involves stereo playback of a mono tape, but not to any sonic consequence.


•The UK 20 Golden Greats CD appears to use the same digital transfer as the Japanese Hit Collection CD (above), but is “pure mono” and does not clip off the beginning.  The two discs’ mastering styles are very different.


•Two UK CDs, This is Frank Sinatra 1953-1957, and The Great Films & Shows use the same excellent raw transfer, but the Great Films set is mastered with wider dynamics.  Both sets, I suspect, use the same digital tape that was used for the 1985 UK This is Sinatra LP, as the waveforms look uncommonly similar between the 1985 LP and 1989 CD.  (I give a very slight preference to the CD in terms of “off the shelf” sound.)


25 Classic Tracks takes the excellent Furmanek/Walsh mastering, then compresses it and adds odd EQ.

Arranger/Conductor: Nelson Riddle

Original Release: Our Town EP, Sept. 12, 1955

Original LP Release:

    Today’s Top Hits, Vol. 14, 1955(?)

Original CD Release: Australian The Frank

    Sinatra Collection, (link) 1986


Releases sampled for this comparison:

•1955 Our Town EP

•1955 45

•1955(?) Today’s Top Hits, Vol. 14 LP

•1956 This is Sinatra LP

•1967 Star Line This is Sinatra LP

•1968 The Sinatra Touch mono LP

•1973 The Works LP

•1974 UK Sinatra Sings Cahn and Van Heusen LP

•1975 Australia His 20 Greatest Hits LP

•1978 UK Twenty Golden Greats LP

•1980s Japan This is Sinatra LP

•1982 Japan The Hit Maker LP

•1983 Capitol/Pair All-Time Classics LP

•1985 UK This is Sinatra LP

•1986 Australia The Frank Sinatra Collection CD

•1989 Japan Hit Collection CD*

•1989 UK The Great Films & Shows CD**

•1989 Collectors Series CD

•1990 The Capitol Years CD

•1992 UK 20 Golden Greats CD*

•1992 At the Movies CD

•1992 Australia The Essential Frank Sinatra CD

•1994 UK This is Frank Sinatra 1953-1957 CD**

•1995 Sinatra 80th: All the Best CD

•1996 Sings the Select Sammy Cahn CD***

•1996 Complete Capitol Singles CD***

•1998 UK This is Sinatra CD

•2006 Supreme Jazz unlicensed SACD

•2009 UK 25 Classic Tracks CD

•2014 This is Sinatra HD download

•2015 This is Sinatra LP


*Shared raw digital transfer (see NOTES --->>)

**Shared raw digital transfer (see NOTES--->>)

BLUE = Shared mastering

***Shared Mastering

PINK = Compromised version of BLUE

Above: 1955 D2 Our Town EP

LOOK TO YOUR HEART

THE IMPATIENT YEARS

SAMPLE AUDIO CLIPS


All clips posted here mirror those freely available via iTunes.  To access the 90-second iTunes free samples, click

“View,” then “View in iTunes.”

Above: 1955 D2 Our Town EP

Above: 1982 Japan The Hit Maker LP

Above: This is Sinatra D4

pressing, courtesy Arkoffs.

Above: 1955 D1 45, courtesy stevelucils

Above: 1992 UK 20 Golden Greats CD

Above: 1992 Australia The Essential Frank Sinatra CD

Above: 1996 Frank Sinatra Sings the Select Sammy Cahn CD, mastered by Bob Norberg (reused in the Complete Capitol Singles set)

Above: 2009 UK 25 Classic Tracks CD.  (Don’t let the gray-market-like cover fool you: This is an official EMI release.)

Audio Clips

LOVE AND MARRIAGE

Above: 1974 Australia His Twenty Greatest Hits LP

Above: 1955 D2 Our Town EP (Correct tapes used; compression added during disc cutting)

Above: 1955 D1 45, courtesy stevelucille (Correct tapes used; compression added during disc cutting)

Above: 1992 At the Movies CD, mastered by larry Walsh, courtesy “OldCoder” (correct tapes used)

Arranger/Conductor: Nelson Riddle

Original Release: Our Town EP, Sept. 12, 1955

Original LP Release: Look to Your Heart, 1959

Original CD Release: At the Movies, 1992


Releases sampled for this comparison:

•1955 Our Town EP

1959 Look to Your Heart LP

•1974 UK Sinatra Sings Cahn and Van Heusen LP

•1980s Look to Your Heart LP

•1983 MFSL Look to Your Heart LP

•1984 UK Look to Your Heart LP

•1990 The Capitol Years CD*

•1992 At the Movies CD*

•1994 UK This is Frank Sinatra 1953-1957 CD

•1998 UK Look to Your Heart CD


*Shared mastering

Song #4:

“Our Town”

Top Choice:


The Capitol Years CD (mastering reused for At the Movies CD)

Not as good:


•most others - see notes below.


Avoid:


Sinatra Sings Cahn and Van Heusen LP - simulated stereo (sums to mono okay)

NOTES


•As usual for tracks from the Look to Your Heart album, the processed LP tapes have been used for most masterings.


•See additional notes below.

Audio Clips

Above: 1955 D2 Our Town EP (Correct tapes used; compression added during disc cutting)

Above: 1984 Look to Your Heart UK LP, courtesy “Sinatrafan”


NOTE: I chose this as a representative, “typical” LP mastering.  Every LP release of this song, except the 5-LP The Capitol Years set, uses the tampered-with Look to Your Heart tapes, and they all sound essentially identical, with the exception of the 1980s green label LP, which is slightly heavier/darker sounding. 

Click photo above to listen:

1990 The Capitol Years CD, courtesy “OldCoder” - the only uncompressed release (reused in At the Movies).

Above: 1994 UK This is Frank Sinatra 1953-1957 CD.  As with the LPs, all of the non-The-Capitol-Years CDs use the incorrect Look to Your Heart tapes.  This CD and the 1998 UK CD are very similar, with this disc having just a hair more treble.

So, what’s the big deal on this song?


Frankly, even though almost all the sources are compressed and/or come from inferior tape sources, the differences are not nearly as pronounced as on other Look to Your Heart tracks, but there’s a reason for that.  The song Our Town is extremely quiet in an Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring sort of way, and so that now-famous Look to Your Heart compression that we’ve all come to know and love just isn’t pronounced, except for at the tail end of the song.  In fact, if you look at the waveforms at right, you’ll see that the differences in dynamics are almost non-existent between virtually any LP release (wrong tapes) and the 1990 The Capitol Years CD (correct tapes) until the last 1/5th of the song, so even though the version on The Capitol Years is the only “clean” version out there, the difference is not very noticeable until one actually gets to the loud parts at the end.  At that point, the superior source tape of The Capitol Years really brings about noticeable improvement, but for the earlier sections, the differences are far more subtle than we are used to for tracks from Look to Your Heart.

Above: 1989 UK The Great Films & Shows CD

Above: 2014 HD download (at 16/44.1 resolution)

Above: 2014 This is Sinatra LP, courtesy SH.TV’s “AxeD”

Above: Today’s Top Hits, Vol. 14 D1 pressing