Customer Reviews

The Capitol Years

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This box set of 21 CDs is simply marvelous; it is a CD re-issue of the 1984 20 LP vinyl album set of the same name but with the addition of "The Rare Sinatra", which appears for the first time on CD and with added tracks. To me, this 21 CD set is more complete than "Concepts", since it also includes the releases "This is Sinatra" and "This is Sinatra, Vol. 2" as well as other titles not available in the USA. The sound is identical to the LP versions, since they used the same masters. The track "Mr. Success" on "Sinatra Sings Of Love And Things" sounds a little "echo-ey" on both the LP and CD. If you want a COMPLETE discography of Sinatra on Capitol, then by all means buy this box set from England, and then supplement it with: "The Complete Capitol Singles Collection", "A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra", and also from Amazon.com there is an Austrialian import of 3 CDs which comprise the soundtracks to "High Society/Pal Joey/Can-Can". That should be the entire Capitol catalog as recorded by Sinatra. Others have written about the Sinatra/Nelson Riddle partnership and how it influenced popular singing and arranging so I won't go into that here. True fans of Sinatra would also own the 20 CD "Complete Reprise Recordings" also known as the "suitcase", the 12 CD "Columbia Years 1943-1952" in the "blue-box", the 2 CD "V-Discs", the 5 CD "Sinatra-Dorsey", and the 1 CD with Harry James. All these would be the entire Sinatra studio recordings from 1939 to 1988. There are others as well: "Sinatra Conducts the Music of Alec Wilder", "Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color", and "Sinatra Conducts Music from Pictures and Plays", which has yet to be issued on CD, but none of these have Sinatra vocals. I hope this has answered any questions about the British Capitol release.

This box set of 21 CDs is simply marvelous; it is a CD re-issue of the 1984 20 LP vinyl album set of the same name but with the addition of "The Rare Sinatra", which appears for the first time on CD and with added tracks. To me, this 21 CD set is more complete than "Concepts", since it also includes the releases "This is Sinatra" and "This is Sinatra, Vol. 2" as well as other titles not available in the USA. The sound is identical to the LP versions, since they used the same masters. The track "Mr. Success" on "Sinatra Sings Of Love And Things" sounds a little "echo-ey" on both the LP and CD. If you want a COMPLETE discography of Sinatra on Capitol, then by all means buy this box set from England, and then supplement it with: "The Complete Capitol Singles Collection", "A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra", and also from Amazon.com there is an Austrialian import of 3 CDs which comprise the soundtracks to "High Society/Pal Joey/Can-Can". That should be the entire Capitol catalog as recorded by Sinatra. Others have written about the Sinatra/Nelson Riddle partnership and how it influenced popular singing and arranging so I won't go into that here. True fans of Sinatra would also own the 20 CD "Complete Reprise Recordings" also known as the "suitcase", the 12 CD "Columbia Years 1943-1952" in the "blue-box", the 2 CD "V-Discs", the 5 CD "Sinatra-Dorsey", and the 1 CD with Harry James. All these would be the entire Sinatra studio recordings from 1939 to 1988. There are others as well: "Sinatra Conducts the Music of Alec Wilder", "Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color", and "Sinatra Conducts Music from Pictures and Plays", which has yet to be issued on CD, but none of these have Sinatra vocals. I hope this has answered any questions about the British Capitol release.

This release, like "Concepts", presents a comprehensive, but incomplete inventory of Frank Sinatra's Capitol catalog. This set contains 21 CD's, with a total of 272 tracks, as opposed to Concepts 258. However, all of Frank's Christmas songs have been excluded. An even more glowing omission is the album Tone Poems In Color, which is perhaps the most daring experiment Sinatra ever attempted. Completely devoid of any vocals, Sinatra conducted an orchestra through musical pieces that were named after various colors. Leaving that off this set keeps it from being a complete record of Frank's Capitol legacy. The digital remastering, however, is nothing short of pristine with some tracks sounding like they were recorded in 1999 instead of the 1950's. If you want all the concept albums, then "Concepts" is the set you want. If, however, you want the most Capitol material in one set, this British import is the one to have.

Frank Sinatra's recordings for Capitol represent the pinnacle of his career and, arguably, 20th Century American music. This set is a phenomenal reproduction of those recordings, and it preserves the integrity of Sinatra's concept albums.

However, the track timing is off on some of the CDs in the set (the "Where Are You" album is probably the most glaring example). Specifically, on a number of the CDs, if you decide you want to go straight to a track in the middle of the CD (say, song number 5), you will find that the song is already in progress by a couple of seconds even though the counter indicates that it is at the beginning of the song ("00:00").

If you always listen to every CD from beginning to end, then this is not a consideration. However, if you should ever want to skip to a track in the middle, you would actually have to press the rapid rewind button to the negative numbers right before "00:00" in order to hear the entire song. This is frustrating, to put it mildly, especially given the price of the collection.

I was quite disappointed when I contacted the manufacturer/distributor (EMI International) to tell them about the problem and they told me that it couldn't possibly be a flaw in their manufacturing and therefore must have been caused by Amazon's shipping or my handling. While this seemed completely implausible and I was almost certain EMI International was simply passing the buck, I asked Amazon for a replacement copy just to make sure. The replacement copy had the exact same problems, so the problems are clearly on the manufacturing side. A rather disingenuous position for EMI International to take, I would say.

To be clear, I still would recommend this set (I kept the replacement copy), as the music is phenomenal and the sound reproduction superb. You can easily listen straight through each CD from beginning to end with no issue. But this problem with the track timing does subtract noticeably from the overall enjoyment.

This is the best box set I've ever heard. The remastering puts the American versions to shame. Sinatra will never sound any better than this.

I bought this set a few weeks ago on amazon.co.uk (i'm from belgium, it's closer) and i must say that i am absolutely thrilled about it. It clearly is Frank Sinatra at his very best. The arrangements by Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Axel Stordahl, Gordon Jenkins (my favorite and best torch songs maker) ... are just fabulous and the mastering is soooo good!!!
Yes, the timing is off on the "Where Are You?" CD, but it's not really anoying (it's something like half a second). Besides, if you know how to use programs such as Logic Express (or any other music editor), it's very easy to edit the songs...
I'm absolutely delighted with these CDs and i can do nothing better than advise you to get them before they go out of stock!!!!!

If you truly love Sinatra's voice then this is the Capital set to have. Every cd absolutely makes the U.S. remastered versions sound ancient. Frank's voice is extremely clear and full on all of these recordings. The Close to You, Where are You and Songs for Swingin' Lovers albums are worth the box set by themselves. Please, if you love Franks Capital years, get this set now because it won't be around long!

The mastering on this is so much better than any other version, 24 bit or 20 bit, deluxe remastered or whatever, that it is criminal that those other editions even exist. The voice is more natural, better balanced, more direct, and the orchestras or bands are better defined. Why bother getting any other Capitol? Get this while you can.

If you want a box set of Sinatra's Capitol work you basically have 2 options, this British import or the "Concepts" box.

I recommend this (and own it myself) because:

-The British sound engineers did a much better job mastering this set than whomever was responsible for the Concepts box did, very similar but more detailed and "quieter", with none of that horrible noise reduction added like in so many re-masters.

-The track lists remain in the correct order, with extra tracks placed on separate disks. Most people won't care about this, but purists will.

-This one is still in print and less $ than the Concepts box. I had to buy mine from amazon.co.uk, it's now available again on the us site!!

One star withheld due to lack of the Soundtracks (Pal Joey, High Society Can Cans, as well as the Christmas album "Jolly Christmas" and "Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color"...would it have been so hard to make this a complete box set??? But unless you are an absolute completest you won't notice anything missing.

To make your Capitol years collection totally complete you will need to purchase:
-The Complete Capitol Singles
-The Capitol Years 3 CD box set
-Sinatra In Hollywood
-The 3 Soundtracks listed above

All in all a good buy, $15 per disk for what are probably the best sounding masterings of every major Sinatra Capitol release, all the work done for you...all you have to do is enjoy the music. I wish they would do this for his Reprise catalogue.

Great quality mastering, better than the American releases. What is this about the timing being off on several CDs? Not on mine!