[Domenico]

Keep them coming! I have 99% of the cds ever released but its great that his older lp's are being re released again on compact disc!

Originally Posted by Ronald Sarbo

I believe "The Meadowlands" is also being issued on SHM.

All eleven titles are SHM CDs in Japan, but the "new" albums, Live At The Meadowlands and Christmas With Sinatra And Friends, are not limited editions in mini LP cardboard sleeves. These are the Japanese catalog numbers and links to the Amazon Japan product pages (translated):

1. UICY - 1458 Live At The Meadowlands
2. UICY - 1459 Christmas With Sinatra And Friends
3. UICY-94362 Ring-A-Ding Ding!
4. UICY-94363 Swing Along With Me [Sinatra Swings]
5. UICY-94364 Sinatra–Basie
6. UICY-94365 The Concert Sinatra
7. UICY-94366 Sinatra At The Sands
8. UICY-94367 The Sinatra Family Wish You A Merry Christmas
9. UICY-94368 My Way (40th Anniversary Edition)
10. UICY-94369 Sinatra & Company
11. UICY-94370 Some Nice Things I've Missed

All of the above were released on December 2, 2009.
[Added:] Above were re-released on April 3, 2010; see Availability of Japanese issues.

The following additional SHM-CD titles were released on February 24, 2010 in Japan:

1. UICY-94420 Sinatra And Swingin' Brass
2. UICY-94421 Sinatra Sings Great Songs From Great Britain
3. UICY-94422 Strangers In The Night
4. UICY-94423 That's Life
5. UICY-94424 Cycles

The following additional SHM-CD titles will be released on July 28, 2010 in Japan:

1. UICY-94599 I Remember Tommy
2. UICY-94600 Sinatra & Strings
3. UICY-94601 It Might As Well Be Swing
4. UICY-94602 Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back
5. UICY-94603 She Shot Me Down
6. UICY-94604 L.A. Is My Lady

Originally Posted by Bob

Josh: As I stated above, the Amazon UK listing is wrong. The image is correct. This is confirmed by someone who has seen the disc. It includes "Luck Be A Lady."

Sinatra At The Sands contains only 21 tracks! It does NOT include the bonus track "Luck Be A Lady" after all.

This is very strange, because the rear cover image shown at amazon.co.uk clearly shows 22 tracks, with track 13 being "Luck Be A Lady." So, contrary to what I assumed earlier based on the image and a private report, the Amazon track listing is not incorrect. There is no bonus track.

The booklet and rear cover use the same layout as the 1998 EOTC release (including photos which do not appear with the earlier 1987 Reprise issue), but the listing of "Luck Be A Lady" has been removed.

As for the actual audio, I will report back after I've had a chance to study it. The back cover does state "(P) 2009 Frank Sinatra Enterprises, LLC", which might indicate a new mastering this year. The only thing I can say for sure immediately is that the disc is NOT an exact digital copy of either of the previous Warner/Reprise CD issues.

A special 2-CD Christmas edition, combining Live At The Meadowlands and Christmas With Sinatra & Friends, has appeared for release today in Australia. I don't know about other countries. UMG catalog # 06025 2724675 8.

[SinatraFan]

Originally Posted by Bob

As for the actual audio, I will report back after I've had a chance to study it. The back cover does state "(P) 2009 Frank Sinatra Enterprises, LLC", which might indicate a new mastering this year. The only thing I can say for sure immediately is that the disc is NOT an exact digital copy of either of the previous Warner/Reprise CD issues.

Will be interesting to learn sound wise just how different the new CDs are compared to the old discs.

Originally Posted by Bob

This is very strange, because the rear cover image shown at amazon.co.uk clearly shows 22 tracks, with track 13 being "Luck Be A Lady."

For those interested in such trivia, there's a lengthy discussion of this at the Hoffman forum, beginning with my post titled Sinatra at the Sands (post #342 in a VERY long thread).

Apparently, there was a printing error by UMG, and copies HAVE been sold which list 22 tracks. The disc itself contains only 21 tracks in any event.

(None of which has anything to do with the sound, but I'll be getting to that soon.)

[Jeffrey Simmons]

It was great to see a big add in The Times during this week for all these re-released Sinatra Reprise albums. Wonderful to have these back on the shelves at the record stores. I am not sure if there are any changes in mastering to the previous versions?

BTW, Bob, I am beginning to think you must have somehow invented the 30 hour day for yourself. With all the amazing work you do here every single day, as often as not, you somehow still find the time to post on other forums. I find it hard enough to find time to post on this forum, I couldn't possibly cope with others.

[Nancy]

Apparently, there was a printing error by UMG, and copies HAVE been sold which list 22 tracks. The disc itself contains only 21 tracks in any event.

Yes, Bob, there was an error by UMG (UK) printer - a few got out to retail but they told us they have since corrected the problem. We'll have to wait and see.

Originally Posted by Nancy

Yes, Bob, there was an error by UMG (UK) printer - a few got out to retail but they told us they have since corrected the problem. We'll have to wait and see.

Yes, the copy I received from the UK has the printing error corrected. (Amazon is displaying the incorrect back cover still, though.)

Nancy, Can you tell us why the "Luck Be A Lady" bonus track was eliminated? It's been a source of much discussion elsewhere. (Also disappointment, by those who thought the new release would help them complete their collections with the out-of-print US titles.)

[David M Bond]

Regarding Luck Be Lady, maybe it is to do with the masters used. Are all the discs masters from the original album cd releases or the EOTC disc masters?

I am waiting to see some of the members opinions on the new discs, as I stated earlier in thread I have most of these as inidividual discs at the moment and wasn't going to repurchase them unless there was some improvement in quality or 2009 remastering etc.

Originally Posted by David M Bond

Are all the discs masters from the original album cd releases or the EOTC disc masters?

"Street Of Dreams" on the UMG At The Sands release is the EOTC version (with Sinatra's scat vocals).

When I've had a chance to listen and compare properly (real soon now), I'll tell you more. Note that not all of the new UMG CDs had EOTC versions, though.

Originally Posted by Nancy

Yes, Bob, there was an error by UMG (UK) printer - a few got out to retail but they told us they have since corrected the problem. We'll have to wait and see.

Unfortunately, they failed to correct a MAJOR screwup in the Stan Cornyn liner notes. From my review at the Hoffman forum:

Originally Posted by Bob

There is a major omission in the liner notes by Stan Cornyn, which are taken from the original 1966 double-LP release. Five paragraphs are missing in the middle of the last two pages. This was not an intentional omission; the missing text picks up in the middle of a sentence. Note that the entire text was re-typeset in a different font, so that page breaks do not occur at the same spots, but all photos are positioned identically on the same pages. It is obvious that a mistake was made during copy-and-paste, and no one at Universal and/or FSE even bothered to proofread the final result.

[Nancy]

Maybe the folks who put this together don't speak English? I don't know. I wasn't a part of it.

Originally Posted by SinatraFan

Will be interesting to learn sound wise just how different the new CDs are compared to the old discs.

Audiowise, Sinatra At The Sands is identical to the previous (1998 EOTC) release, except for the missing bonus track, "Luck Be A Lady" (and the incomplete liner notes).

I haven't examined the other new discs carefully yet, except I can tell you that the version of "Granada" on Swing Along With Me [Sinatra Swings] is the one from the EOTC release (which differs from both the original CD and the suitcase versions).

Originally Posted by Nick_Bradley78

Would be interested to see what you think/hear on the ones that weren't released under the EOTC label a decade ago, but carry the "remastered 1999" tag to see if you notice differences, I havent so far aside from volume, but I've not listened as closely as usual to them yet.

Well, in the case of Some Nice Things I've Missed, there's not even a volume difference. The tracks are DIGITALLY IDENTICAL to the 1991 Warner/Reprise issue. The "Digitally Remastered (P)1999" date is wrong.

I've only examined a few of these UMG releases critically, but I've yet to detect any difference from the most recent out-of-print Reprise CDs, except for the missing track on Sinatra At The Sands.

I don't want to get too technical on this site, but you can follow along with my results on the Hoffman forum, starting with my post about Sinatra at the Sands. (Caution: LONG thread over there.)

[SinatraFan]

Thanks for the results, Bob. I read your posts on the Hoffman forum too. Even though there isn't any real difference in the audio, it's still great they're getting re-released. I hope She Shot Me Down makes its way onto CD soon, and since these are using the remastering from the previous editions, it should have the original take of Hey Look, No Crying instead of the longer alternate take that's on iTunes.

[David M Bond]

Bob, I had read of your thoughts on the Steve Hoffman thread, interesting reading.

So from what I gather the titles that had a EOTC release are that version, minus Luck Be A Lady on Sands and the others are reprints of the late 80s, early 90s releases.

I found My 40th SHM cd on Amazon.de and it is listed here

http://www.amazon.de/My-Way-2-40th-A...7847974&sr=1-3

What is strange is the Title "My Way +2", it probably means nothing but curious whether it is different again??????

I was wondering if Sinatra New York sells well, maybe they could release the reprise albums in a few boxes at a time, think of the James Bond film dvd releases the different colour boxes, you could have like Albums 1-7 then 8-15 etc, just a random idea.

Originally Posted by David M Bond

So from what I gather the titles that had a EOTC release are that version, minus Luck Be A Lady on Sands and the others are reprints of the late 80s, early 90s releases.

Correct, for the several I've examined thus far.

I found My 40th SHM cd on Amazon.de and it is listed here [German link]

It will show up on all the different Amazon sites eventually as an import. The key to identifying international Amazon listings is the ASIN number, in this case B002S0E0UG. It will cost you less to buy it directly from Amazon.co.jp (Amazon Japan). See my earlier post Universal Music Japan Releases for links to product pages (translated) for all the Japanese SHM CDs.

What is strange is the Title "My Way +2", it probably means nothing but curious whether it is different again?

The "+2" refers to the two bonus tracks on My Way (40th Anniversary Edition). It won't be any different, IMO. (Although, as Ron Sarbo says, we don't know that for sure yet. )

Christmas With Sinatra And Friends (06025 2723269 0)

The following titles are now listed by Amazon for a January 19, 2010 release by Universal Music in Germany:

1. Sinatra And Swingin' Brass
2. Sinatra Sings Great Songs From Great Britain
3. Strangers In The Night
4. That's Life
5. Cycles

More details as they become available...