[Marty]

Release Date 5th October 2010
Capitol Compilation

from our News Page....

Christmas With The Rat Pack, a 16-track collection of festive holiday classics begins with Dean Martin’s "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" followed by Frank Sinatra’s take on "Mistletoe And Holly" and Sammy Davis Jr.’s "Christmas Time All Over The World"

Other songs featured in the collection include Martin’s "Silver Bells", "White Christmas", "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Winter Wonderland", Sinatra’s "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" and "The First Noel" and Davis’ "Jingle Bells" and "The Christmas Song" among others.


01. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – Dean Martin
02. Mistletoe And Holly – Frank Sinatra
03. Christmas Time All Over The World – Sammy Davis Jr.
04. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing – Frank Sinatra
05. Silver Bells – Dean Martin
06. The Christmas Waltz – Frank Sinatra
07. Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Dean Martin
08. Jingle Bells – Sammy Davis, Jr.
09. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Frank Sinatra
10. Peace On Earth / Silent Night – Dean Martin
11. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear – Frank Sinatra
12. Winter Wonderland – Dean Martin
13. The Christmas Song – Sammy Davis Jr.
14. The First Noel – Frank Sinatra
15. White Christmas – Dean Martin
16. I'll Be Home For Christmas (If Only In My Dreams) – Frank Sinatra

note : this release is not to be confused with the earlier annually made over Capitol product of the same name....thread HERE

[Nick_Bradley78]

Bump.
2010 has seen the most number of Frank CD releases and re-releases ever, remarkable when you think about it. This may not be the most exciting of these, but I've ordered it anyway for some festive cheer.

[Bob in Boston]

Originally Posted by Marty

note : this release is not to be confused with the earlier annually made over Capitol product of the same name....thread HERE

Note, however, that this is merely a truncated version of the former release, with five tracks removed. The tracks that were dropped are not strictly Christmas songs:

1. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm – Dean Martin
2. Baby, It's Cold Outside – Dean Martin
3. I Believe - Frank Sinatra
4. A Marshmallow World - Frank and Dean (TV song)
5. Auld Lang Syne - Frank and Dean (TV Song)

Also dropped were the excellent liner notes and photos of the previous release(s). There are no notes at all with this disc.

[DJ Wilbur]

for you New York City area Sinatra fanatics...at Joe's Pub next week to honor Franks birthday

http://www.loserslounge.com/

Show Description
The Losers Lounge has created an all new show for the weekend of what would have been Frank Sinatra’s 95th Birthday (December 12th). Joe McGinty and The Losers Lounge will pay tribute to Frank Sinatra and his friends, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. as well as other members of their entourage including some of the female performers who were involved with The Rat Pack. If you’re going to have a birthday party, you’ve got to invite your friends! Also, since there are so many classic holiday songs in The Rat Pack catalogue, you never know what you might hear, or who might be performing at this December’s Losers Lounge. Buy tickets while they last.

also, you can hear some of the artists performing at Joes Pub on WFUV next friday night during a celebration of Franks birthday on the Whole Wide World with Rita Houston...from 7pm to 10pm eastern...

Nancy, I sent you a PM regarding a question for WFUV earlier today. I'm sure you're swamped but is a timely question. thanks.

[Nick_Bradley78]

Originally Posted by Bob in Boston

Note, however, that this is merely a truncated version of the former release, with five tracks removed. T-

True, randomly I discovered I didn't have the original release, one of very very few from your index I havent got, ordered them both now, even though repetitious, at least the artworks different!

Wasn't this Capitol's only Sinatra related release this year? Can't think of any others.

[Bob in Boston]

Originally Posted by Nick_Bradley78

Wasn't this Capitol's only Sinatra related release this year?

Yes, but I wouldn't even count it as a new release, as the title is a seasonal repeat. I don't even think it deserves a separate thread here.

Despite the "Golden Anniversary of the Rat Pack" hype, this is a budget release all the way. The only reason to remove five tracks is to save royalty fees. Last year's issue was at least worth having for the booklet, and they scrapped that as well. Bah humbug!

[Nick_Bradley78]

Its unfortunate how little Capitol is doing with Frank, but I wrote before that EMI as the parent company is on the brink of bankruptcy with losses of billions last year, I think the Beatles catalogue is about the only thing that keeps them afloat and in a couple of years, that begins to go out of copyright here as well.
However, the vast number of Reprise issues and the box at years end has not left the world with a shortage of Frank material by any means.

[SinatraFan]

This CD is in most of the stores and easy to find (like the previous Rat Pack CDs), but A Jolly Christmas is not in stock anywhere.

[DJ Wilbur]

Originally Posted by Nick_Bradley78

Its unfortunate how little Capitol is doing with Frank, but I wrote before that EMI as the parent company is on the brink of bankruptcy with losses of billions last year, I think the Beatles catalogue is about the only thing that keeps them afloat and in a couple of years, that begins to go out of copyright here as well.
However, the vast number of Reprise issues and the box at years end has not left the world with a shortage of Frank material by any means.

Terra Firma, the company that bought EMI just lost a major lawsuit against Citibank, they were suing because they felt they were mislead by the bank and overpayed for EMI Group Ltd. in 2007.

so my guess is based on things I've read in Business Week and other financial and industry periodicals is they lose control of EMI and their assets soon, the investers aren't going to infuse money into it forever....the word out there is that Citigroup may break the company into pieces and sell it off. Citigroup provided $4.8 billion in loans to finance the EMI acquisition.

which might be a good thing for the Capitol era Frank catalog if and when those assets might get sold, the right people might get ahold of it...

[Nick_Bradley78]

That was my thinking re EMI's fate..BUT if EMI thought their Frank catalogue was a money spinner as per the Beatles stuff, they'd be marketing it, and they're not, so Im not sure that does bode well.
Glad I picked their boxsets and CD's up when they were new, and I still hold out some hope someone like Bear Family or others will get to use the material.

[DJ Wilbur]

Originally Posted by Nick_Bradley78

That was my thinking re EMI's fate..BUT if EMI thought their Frank catalogue was a money spinner as per the Beatles stuff, they'd be marketing it, and they're not, so Im not sure that does bode well.
Glad I picked their boxsets and CD's up when they were new.

EMI/Terra Firma does not control the Beatles/Apple assets.

the Beatles/Apple camp makes all decisions on releases and really they make most of the profits as well. Their arrangement at this point is super sweet for Apple per unit sold and not so amazing for EMI. I am sure the Sinatra catalog based on what they would make on each cd sale is much greater than a Beatles cd. Granted the Beatles move more units than the Sinatra catalog yearly so Beatles sales may give them more dough.

Realize there are not that many retail outlets to put physical product either and there are some releases that do great sales like Nothing But The Best, but that had the stamps and a great launch behind it. I did hope and pray that they'd come up with a Sinatra in Mono box, (maybe even a Concord one for the Reprise monos too)....like they just did for The Beatles and Bob Dylan and maybe someday we'd see a piece like that. Not sure how big a ticket that would be for EMI or Concord, but it'd be a dream come true for this fan.

anyway, I think we're veering way off topic anyway...

[johnofphilly]

Originally Posted by Bob in Boston

Note, however, that this is merely a truncated version of the former release, with five tracks removed. The tracks that were dropped are not strictly Christmas songs:

1. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm – Dean Martin
2. Baby, It's Cold Outside – Dean Martin
3. I Believe - Frank Sinatra
4. A Marshmallow World - Frank and Dean (TV song)
5. Auld Lang Syne - Frank and Dean (TV Song)

Also dropped were the excellent liner notes and photos of the previous release(s). There are no notes at all with this disc.

No doubt the targeted measures of marketing and streamlining of production costs.

[sparkytect]

Hey, at least it's fresh product and if it catches the eyes of a few "first listeners" and turns them into fans, then it's worth it.

You never know who will pick this up for its nostalgic value, recognize quality and want to explore further.....

Just my two cents worth,

[Nancy]

Originally Posted by sparkytect

Hey, at least it's fresh product and if it catches the eyes of a few "first listeners" and turns them into fans, then it's worth it.

You never know who will pick this up for its nostalgic value, recognize quality and want to explore further.....

Exactly the point.

[Nick_Bradley78]

So why make it shorter than the original release in that case? More is good.
I remember years ago a couple of the classic Capitol albums had "Special Abridged version" which meant...less music.

[Steve in Philly]

I'm coming a little late to the party here (maybe on time for Greek Orthodox Christmas?--er, no, that was January 7), but the way Capitol re-released this reminds me a little bit of what they did for Vol. 3 of their otherwise outstanding "Christmas Cocktails" series of CDs. Vols. 1 (1996) and 2 (1997) were 21 and 20 song compilations of little-heard swingin' versions of Christmas songs, mostly by lesser-known artists in their back catalog (e.g., Jimmy McGriff, Les Baxter, Kay Starr) with some stars thrown in (e.g., Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole). They were packaged with great, kitschy booklets that included drink recipes, dance steps, and lots of cool photos and liner notes.

Unfortunately, Version 3, following 7 years later, was a cash grab. First they only released it as part of a 3-CD set, so people who really wanted it then would have to re-buy volumes 1 and 2. The next year (2005) they released it individually. But I held off buying it until this year (thanks, Borders 50% off coupon!), mostly because all of the reviews that pointed out that (a) it was only 15 tracks, (b) the great booklet was replaced by a track listing and nothing more, and (c) all the deep catalog stuff was gone, replaced by a "hits" collection by mostly just the bigger names (Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole, Bing, etc.). As one review I read mentioned, Capitol missed the whole charm of the series with this one! It's still a decent collection, but it shouldn't have somehow been tied into the previous releases. And at least they could have included a song by Mr. S!

Anyway, reading (belatedly) about how Capitol trimmed this re-release just reminded me of that....

[Markus]

I have the 2010 version. Is this the Norberg remastering from 2002?

[Bob in Boston]

Originally Posted by Markus

I have the 2010 version. Is this the Norberg remastering from 2002?

The 2010 CD was mastered by Robert Vosgien at Capitol Mastering.

The individual tracks are all labeled with a phonogram (P) date of 2002, so they are probably the same Norberg versions before the overall disc assembly. (I don't have time right now to compare, though, so that's just a guess.)

Bob in Boston

[Bob in Boston]

New cover this year. (Amazon link)

Release date: September 25, 2012



Bob in Boston

[Francisx]

Amazon is showing an amusing cover for an October 2012 release of a Frank Sinatra Christmas CD...looks like an import...no tracks listed, however probably a compilation of everything we've heard throughout the years. Interesting cover..a 1940's Frank carving a Turkey!