Non-Album Tracks, 1956
Non-Album Tracks, 1956
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
April 5, 1956, *with the Hollywood String Quartet
The End of a Love Affair* / It Could Happen to You* /
There’s a Flaw in My Flue* / With Every Breath I Take* /
How Little We Know / Wait for Me / You’re Sensational
Song #3:
“There’s a Flaw in My Flue”*
Top Choice:
•The Rare Sinatra LP
Not as good:
•1987 Close to You - good tone; reverb added; not true mono; See NOTES at right
•The Rare Sinatra CD - odd tone
•Like Never Before LP - slightly hollow tone; Also, see NOTES -->
Avoid:
•Great Romantic Memories LP - this is the 1987 CD, in jumbled order, cut to vinyl
•2000/2002 Close to You - Norberg
NOTES
•Oddly, there is a defect in the first release, “Like Never Before,” that is on no other versions. The left channel drops in volume just prior to “and dream about you,” with an actual dropout across both channels on the word “dream.”
•Once again, the Walsh transfer is “wobbly mono,” meaning that a stereo tape head was used to play the tape, and the tape did not ride smoothly, nudging slightly “left heavy” with each rotation. Regardless, if you have access to mid-side decoding and can extract just the mid element by itself, the 1987 CD can yield arguably the finest results of any release.
Arranger/Conductor: Nelson Riddle
Original Release: Like Never Before, 1973
Original LP Release: Like Never Before, 1973
Original CD Release: Close to You, 1987
Releases sampled for this comparison:
•1973 Like Never Before LP
•1978 UK Close to You LP
•1987 Close to You CD
•1988 German Great Romantic Memories LP
•1998 UK The Rare Sinatra CD
•2000 Close to You CD
Audio Clips
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: 1987 Close to You CD, mastered by Larry Walsh. (Reused for The Rare Sinatra CD.)
Above: 2000 Close to You CD, mastered by Bob Norberg, courtesy rangerjohn
Song #1:
“The End of a Love Affair”* - see Close to You pages
Song #2:
“It Could Happen to You”* - see Close to You pages
there’s a
flaw in my
flue
Above: 1978 UK The Rare Sinatra LP
Above: 1973 Longines/Capitol Like Never Before LP
Above: 1998 UK The Rare Sinatra CD, courtesy “OldCoder”
Song #5 (start of evening session):
“(How Little It Matters) How Little We Know”
Top Choices:
•1990 The Capitol Years CD
•1989 Collectors Series CD (reused, with fade, on Sinatra 80th)
Second place:
•All the Way: The Hit Collection
•1998 UK This is Sinatra, Volume Two CD
Not as Good:
•Original 45 singles - compressed, with mediocre tone (the EP is a marked improvement)
•2016 This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP - OK sound, but last bass drum note is missing
Avoid:
•1984 Japan This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP - wet tapes; dull, dark tone
•The Hit Maker and The Works LPs- Duophonic
•Complete Capitol Singles Collection - Norberged
•This is Frank Sinatra, 1953-1957 - mediocre tone; runs nearly 3 seconds slow
NOTES
•The two “top choice” Furmanek/Walsh releases are essentially clones of each other where the song itself is concerned. The 1989 release includes some studio chatter both before and after the song, while the 1990 release, perhaps accidentally, includes just the word “next” (part of Frank’s request of “Next tune”) during the fade out. Additional info here.
•There are many good masterings of this song.
•2016 LP is missing the last little “thump” from the drum set.
Arranger/Conductor: Nelson Riddle
Original Release: 45/78 #3423, April, 1956
Original LP Release: This is Sinatra, Volume Two, March 31, 1958
Original CD Release: Japan All the Way: The Hit Collection, 1989
Releases sampled for this comparison:
•1956 45s
•1956 Hey! Jealous Lover EP
•1958 This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
•1968 The Sinatra Touch mono LP
•1973 The Works LP
•1982 Japan The Hit Maker LP
•1984 Japan This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
•1985 UK This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
•1989 Japan All the Way: The Hit Collection CD
•1989 Collectors Series CD*
•1990 The Capitol Years CD*
•1994 UK This is Frank Sinatra, 1953-1957 CD
•1995 Sinatra 80th: All the Best CD+^
•1996 Complete Capitol Singles Collection CD+
•1998 UK This is Sinatra, Volume Two CD
•1998 36 All-Time Favorites CD+^
•2016 This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
RED = Shared Transfer to Digital; mastered differently (Possibly originally transferred for use in 1985 UK LP issue?)
*Shared mastering, except for the handling of the studio chatter and a slight edit leading into the chatter at the very end of the song proper
BLUE = Shared Transfer to Digital; mastered and/or edited differently
+Sourced from Collectors Series, with different mastering and fades
^Shared mastering
Audio Clips
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: 1994 UK This is Frank Sinatra 1953-1957 CD.
Above: 1958 D9 This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
Above: 1998 This is Sinatra, Volume Two CD, courtesy rangerjohn
Above: 1985 UK This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
Above: 1996 Complete Capitol Singles CD, mastered by Bob Norberg, courtesy “rangerjohn”.
Above: Japan Hit Collection CD, courtesy “progrockfan”
Above: 1956 D2 45
Above: 1956 D3 promo 45, courtesy stevelucille
Above: 1968 G2 mono The Sinatra Touch LP
Above: 1989 Collectors Series CD, mastered by Furmanek/Walsh, essentially reused in The Capitol Years and Sinatra 80th: All the Best
Song #4 (conclusion of afternoon session):
“With Every Breath I Take”* - see Close to You pages
Above: 1956 N2#2 45, courtesy bozburn
Above: 1956 D1 Hey! Jealous Lover EP, courtesy bozburn
Song #6:
“Johnny Concho Theme (Wait for Me)”
Top Choices:
•1992 At the Movies CD (and it’s reuses, marked **)
•Japanese All the Way: The Hit Collection CD
•2016 This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
Avoid:
•Complete Capitol Singles Collection - Fake stereo, poor tone
•The Golden Record - Duophonic
NOTES
•If all four releases in BLUE are not mastered from the same source, I’ll eat my hat. They stick out, sonically, like a sore thumb (with their heavily warm tonality, especially evident on the LP), and have essentially identical waveforms. (The CDs are definitely from the same digital transfer, and I strongly suspect the LP to be, as well.)
Arranger/Conductor: Nelson Riddle
Original Release: 45/78 #3469, June, 1956
Original LP Release: This is Sinatra, Volume Two, March 31, 1958
Original CD Release: One of the 1989 releases (See below)
Releases sampled for this comparison:
•1958 This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
•1974 France The Golden Record LP
•1980 UK Screen Sinatra LP
•1981 Australia The Rarities, Volume One LP
•1982 Japan The Hit Maker LP
•1984 Japan This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
•1985 UK This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
•1989 Japan All the Way: The Hit Collection CD
•1989 UK The Great Films & Shows CD*+
•1989 UK Screen Sinatra CD*+
•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 Collection CD
•1998 UK This is Sinatra, Volume Two CD
•1998 36 All-Time Favorites CD**
•2002 Reprise In Hollywood CD**
•2016 This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
*Shared mastering
+Shared Digital Transfer
**Shared mastering
BLUE = See NOTES section at far right
Audio Clips
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: 1958 D5 This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
Above: 1980 UK Screen Sinatra LP
Above: 1981 Australian The Rarities - Volume One LP, mastered by Otto Ruiter.
Above: 1982 Japan The Hit Maker LP
Above: 1985 UK This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
Above: 1989 Japan Hit Collection CD, courtesy “progrockfan”
Above: 1989 UK Screen Sinatra CD (same mastering as 1989 UK Great Films and Shows CD)
Above: 1992 At the Movies CD, mastered by Larry Walsh, courtesy “OldCoder.” Reused in Sinatra 80th, and In Hollywood.
Above: 1994 UK This is Frank Sinatra 1953-1957 CD.
Above: 1998 This is Sinatra, Volume Two CD, courtesy rangerjohn
Above: 1996 Complete Capitol Singles CD, mastered by Bob Norberg, courtesy “rangerjohn”.
A wealth of sub-par choices on this title. Need extra warmth? Choose a blue title.
Song #7:
“You’re Sensational” (re-recorded version)
Top Choice
•1983 Australian The Rarities - Volume Two LP
Second Best:
•Original mono High Society soundtrack LP
Subpar:
•1989 Australian Frank Sinatra Sings the Select Cole Porter CD - way too much treble, and some mildly (essentially inconsequential) clipped waveforms on peaks)
Avoid:
All others, which are either missing 1:38 from the performance, or are in very bad fake stereo. Life’s too short.
NOTES
•In terms of pure sound quality, the best sounding version is The Capitol Years, which, regrettably, uses the heavily edited single version. You can hear a clip: SensationalCapYrs-RaritiesVol2.mp3 that starts with the The Capitol Years CD, then transitions to The Rarities - Volume Two LP.
•As far as I can find, there have only ever been three releases of the full-length version that are not in fake stereo. (Possibly a fourth -- see here.)
Arranger/Conductor: Nelson Riddle
Original Release: High Society soundtrack LP, June 25, 1956
Original CD Release:
High Society soundtrack, 1989
Releases sampled for this comparison:
•1956 45
•1956 78
•1956 mono High Society soundtrack LP
•1964 UK My Funny Valentine LP
•1983 Australia The Rarities, Volume Two LP
•1982 Japan The Hit Maker LP
•1989 Australia Frank Sinatra Sings the Select Cole Porter CD
•1989 High Society soundtrack CD*
•1989 Japan All the Way: The Hit Collection CD
•1990 The Capitol Years CD
•1991 Japan High Society soundtrack CD*
•1991 Frank Sinatra Sings the Select Cole Porter CD
•1996 Complete Capitol Singles CD*
•1997 Australia High Society soundtrack CD
RED = Singles edit, cut from 3:54 to 2:16 (!)
GREEN = Full-length, mono
BLUE = Full-length, awful fake stereo
Audio Clips
SAMPLE AUDIO CLIPS
All clips posted here mirror those freely available via itunes.com
Above: 1983 Australian The Rarities, Volume Two LP, mastered by Alan Parsons.
Above: Original D13 mono High Society soundtrack LP
Above: 1984 Japan This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
Above: 1984 Japan This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
Above: 2016 This is Sinatra, Volume Two LP
Above: 1989(?) Australian Frank Sinatra Sings the Select Cole Porter CD