Sinatra's Radio Years

I recently bought two new CDs released to commemorate Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday. The first is a four-disc boxed set called "A Voice on Air 1935-1955" released by Columbia/Sony. The second release is a single CD only available via the Smithsonian website (http://si.edu/) called "Lost and Found - The Radio Years." They both cover the years Sinatra was active on radio, largely before he signed with Capitol Records.

Most of what’s here has never been commercially available and they cover a largely undocumented and vibrant time during Sinatra’s career. These are live broadcasts and have a freshness and spontaneity not easily captured in the recording studio. The fidelity is better than broadcast recordings from this era have any right to be. The early days of digital sound "restoration" were problematic with frequent overuse resulting in lifeless, artificial transfers that removed all the detail of the originals. These two releases are revelations in comparison. There's very little in the way of record surface noise (the bulk of these tracks were recorded live to disc) with a small handful of exceptions that remind you these are early disc recordings, not tape. The occasional surface noise that does get through is never distracting and, when noticed, kind of charming.

The overall fidelity is outstanding, that's where the real surprise is. It's very hard to believe the oldest track here is from 1935. There's a warmth and a broad, clear frequency range throughout.

Speaking of that oldest broadcast, that's another revelation. Until now, the earliest recording of Sinatra available anywhere was a live date he did with the Harry James Orchestra in July 8, 1939, a recording of "Stardust." Here the oldest recording is from September 8, 1935! It's an appearance Sinatra did with "The Hoboken Four" on the "Major Bowes Amateur Hour." Surprisingly, even though Sinatra is one of four blended singers and his voice is radically different from the older Sinatra, I have no trouble picking his vocal line out in the group.

The next oldest recording (May 12, 1937) is unusual in that Sinatra doesn't even sing! It's an appearance on "The Fred Allen Show as "Frank Sinatra and his Four Sharps" and it's an instrumental. Sinatra kibitzes a bit with Allen to introduce the song ("Exactly Like You"), but that's all you hear of him. I assume he was their vocalist, but for some reason he doesn't sing.

These releases have a lot of early-Americana charm. You get many period commercials (including for cigarettes) and frequent interruptions for war bulletins, all of which puts a great framework around these releases and fleshes out the era. There's a lot of sweet cornball humor, and a Sinatra whose voice is clear bordering on operatic, almost unrecognizable from the later Sinatra.

It's fascinating to hear Sinatra evolve from a shy, tentative - yet still outspoken - young unknown, to a confident bobby-soxer idol. You hear him stretch on these live broadcasts, occasionally ad-libbing to the squeals of the studio audiences. And those audiences! On one number, "I'll Get By" from May 6, 1944, Sinatra toys with them, teasing and flirting and making funny asides that are greeted with the kinds of worshipful squeals The Beatles might have thought they'd invented. The relaxed feel of these recordings is priceless and shows another unexpected level to this well-known singer. (Wait until you hear "Cement Mixer" with the comic jazz singer and musician Slim Gaillard, it's a gas!)

If I had to describe these releases with one simple phrase, I'd say they're sweetly charming. The performances are as enjoyable (often more) as the commercial releases he did for Columbia. In these recordings there's a sweetness, a certain naiveté maybe, or a kindness, that reflect a more innocent time.

If you're a Sinatra fan, this is obviously a must-buy. If you like popular entertainment and/or old time radio from the era, you'll love this. If you're a fan of good audio restorations, this is for you. I can't rave about these releases enough.


http://sinatrafamily.com/forum/showthread.php/48263-FRANK-SINATRA-LOST-AND-FOUND-%C2%96-THE-RADIO-YEARS-(Smithsonian-Columbia-Legacy)-2015-nbsp

https://subscribe.smithsonianmag.com/sinatracd/?no-ist=

http://www.allmusic.com/album/a-voice-on-air-1935-1955-mw0002887297

http://theseconddisc.com/2015/11/25/review-frank-sinatra-a-voice-on-air/

Bob Dylan's "Original Mono Recordings" CD Boxed Set

I have a lot of Bob Dylan records but I’m far from being a completist. Many of the early releases I’m not very familiar with, and I never picked up or heard his first album from 1962 titled “Bob Dylan.”

I’m not a huge fan of folk, though my mother played a lot of it when I was growing up and I love some of it, the more melodic stuff. I tend to prefer folk-rock, things like Simon and Garfunkel’s later recordings. I think of acoustic folk as boring in general, and pretentious at worst.

Dylan is admired for his song writing, obviously, and since his first album “Bob Dylan” is mostly covers (it only has two originals), I was never anxious to get it. I was sure at that stage in his career - he was 20 when it was released - and with so few originals, it would be boring.

In 1985, when I was in the Air Force in Hawaii, I bought the first boxed set ever put out for a popular artist, Dylan’s 5-LP “Biograph.” Got it at the Tower Records downtown in Honolulu. I still have it and it’s in great condition. It was the first time Columbia went back to Dylan’s masters and the sound was revelatory. It contains highlights from his albums and many rare B-sides and previously unreleased recordings. One of the songs is “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down” from Dylan’s first album.

This is an early 2-track recording and on “Biograph’s” stereo version, everything’s panned hard left and hard right with nothing in the middle. With a 2-track recording, there aren’t a lot of options. Many early 60s albums sound weird today because of that. At the time people didn’t mind, it let them know they really had a stereo album, but those recordings were meant to be mixed down to mono. The stereo releases were afterthoughts, gimmicks. The best way to hear them is via the mono mixes. That’s why the Beatles mono vinyl boxed set was such a hit; mono was the way the band intended you to hear that early music.

The other day I picked up the 2010 mono box set of Dylan’s first eight albums on CD. These were the albums that had mono releases - I think everything later was intended for stereo - and as far as I know, the mono versions have been out of print since the originals. I’d wanted the vinyl mono box when this first came out but it was God-awful expensive, I think around $250. The CD set was pricey too, though not as bad. I recently saw a great deal on the CD box and picked it up.

I listened to the first album tonight, “Bob Dylan,” and what a shock. It’s fantastic! It’s mostly covers and it’s just Dylan’s vocals, harmonica, and guitar, but I’m stunned at how powerful and confidently executed it is. Dylan can sing “nice” when he wants to - listen to the beautiful “Lay Lady Lay” from “Nashville Skyline” as an example - so when he chooses to get gruff and gutteral, it’s deliberate. And brilliantly effective. He takes known traditional songs and reinvents them. The kid was 20-years-old, a nobody, recording for the biggest label in the country, for the first time, and he lets it rip without a hint of self-consciousness or insecurity. How did he DO that? Was it the desperate hubris of youth when you have nothing to lose and will go-for-broke to make a mark? That’s something that can push you to take chances and reach heights people often can’t as they get older. The playing, the certainty of the singing, Jesus, even the falsettos are amazing! This is a rocking album!

Here’s another interesting thing. I compared the stereo version of “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down” from “Biograph” on vinyl to the mono version on the CD box and there’s no comparison; the CD blows the old vinyl out of the water. First, the CD’s in mono and sounds much better with all the music blended nicely into one point in space. But more than that, the fidelity is so much more vibrant than it is on the stereo vinyl, which sounds a bit muddy in comparison (and weird with the extreme stereo spread). I was surprised. The vinyl was sourced for the first time from the masters and is great. But this CD mono boxed set sounds much better. Were the mono mix tapes in better shape than the stereo masters? Was better technology used in the transfer for this latest release?

I’m not saying CDs sound better than vinyl, things aren’t that simple. The reason I’ll still buy CDs and never stopped buying vinyl is because done properly, they can both sound fantastic. I’d wanted this Dylan mono boxed set in vinyl, but the great price on the CD boxed set persuaded me to pick that up, and it sounds unexpectedly great.

In the end, it’s all about the ears of the engineers working on any release, whether the medium is vinyl, CD, or hi-res digital.

So the CD boxed set sounds great and Dylan’s first album sounds great. Good purchase! Now to listen to the other albums in the set…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Original_Mono_Recordings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biograph_(album)