THE VOICE: THE COLUMBIA YEARS, 1943-1952
Saloon Songs, Love Songs, Standards, Swings, Screen, Stage

Columbia/CBS LP and CD Box Sets
LP #C6X-40343 / CD #C4K-40343
Released: September 1986
72 Tracks on 6 LP/4 CD Discs
Total Playing Time: 3 hours, 44 minutes

Produced by James Isaacs & Joe McEwen
Audio restoration by Frank Abbey
Art design by John Berg
Cover photos hand-tinted by Ken Robbins
Booklet essay by Wilfred Sheed
Liner notes by Jonathan Schwartz, Stephen Holden, Murray Kempton, Gary Giddins, Andrew Sarris, Frank Conroy

Following Frank Sinatra's departure from Columbia Records in 1952, the label pumped out compilation LPs for decades in order to capitalize on the resurgence of his popularity with competitors Capitol and Reprise. The culmination of these releases came from 1986-88, with a series of digitally-mastered reissues produced by James Isaacs and Joe McEwen. These marked the end of the LP era and the start of the CD age for the Columbia (CBS Inc.) label.*

The highlight of this series was this beautiful LP box set, which contains six separately themed and annotated albums. The set won Grammy Awards for Best Historical Album, Best Album Package, and Best Album Notes. The package was soon after issued in a four-disc CD version—the first Sinatra material to appear on Compact Disc.* The CD set comes in an LP-sized box, with a 20-page booklet containing full-size liner notes, artwork, and discographical details, which is a pleasure to read and view.

Although the sound quality of these recordings has been surpassed by the magnificent Columbia Legacy remasters from the 1990s, this monumental box set remains historically significant. SONY/Columbia/Legacy could do worse than to produce a modern reissue of this set with the same themes and song organization.

For reference, the track listing below contains the "jukebox" numbers, as shown in the thread for the definitive 1993 Columbia Legacy 12-CD box set: The Columbia Years 1943-1952: The Complete Recordings. (Code digits: 1&2 = Disc, 3&4 = Track)

The outer CD box cover may be seen in the post for the promotional Sampler LP.

*CORRECTION: See below.

CD ONE
LP: Love Songs

0622 The Nearness Of You
0621 If I Had You
1121 Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You)
0302 You Go To My Head
0205 My Melancholy Baby
0409 How Deep Is The Ocean
0201 Embraceable You
0204 (I Got A Woman Crazy For Me) She's Funny That Way
0823 For Every Man There's A Woman
0304 I Don't Know Why (I Just Do)
0301 Someone To Watch Over Me
1208 Love Me

LP: Stage (Side A)

0507 There's No Business Like Show Business
0718 The Song Is You
0422 September Song
0106 Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin'
0405 They Say It's Wonderful
0402 (Bess, Oh) Where Is My Bess?

CD TWO
LP: Standards

0111 Satuday Night (Is The Loneliest Night In The Week)
0720 Poinciana (Song Of The Tree)
0320 Try A Little Tenderness
0812 Autumn In New York
1119 April In Paris
0211 Dream (When You're Feeling Blue)
0307 Nancy (With The Laughing face)
0213 Put Your Dreams Away (For Another Day)
0808 I'm Glad There Is You
0306 Day By Day
0101 Close To You
1207 I'm A Fool To Want You

LP: Stage (Side B)

0206 Where Or When
1215 I Could Write A Book
0819 Why Was I Born?
0502 Lost In The Stars
0207 All The Things You Are
0120 Ol' Man River

CD THREE
LP: Swings

1102 Should I? (Reveal)
1222 The Birth Of The Blues
0801 Mean To Me
1003 It All Depends On You
1213 Deep Night
0605 Sweet Lorraine
1211 Castle Rock
0912 Why Can't You Behave?
1107 My Blue Heaven
0714 S'posin'
0604 You Can Take My Word For It Baby
0423 Blue Skies

LP: Screen (Side A)

1108 The Continental
0514 It's The Same Old Dream
0710 Laura
0121 Stormy Weather
0806 I've Got A Crush On You
0305 The House I Live In (That's America To Me)

CD FOUR
LP: Saloon Songs

0623 One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
0209 I Should Care
0303 These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)
1120 I Guess I'll Have To Dream The Rest
0805 It Never Entered My Mind
0202 When Your Lover Has Gone
0807 Body And Soul
0620 That Old Feeling
0318 (I Don't Stand) A Ghost Of A Chance (With You)
0112 There's No You
0424 Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry
1226 Why Try To Change Me Now?

LP: Screen (Side B)

0322 All Through The Day
0107 I Couldn't Sleep A Wink Last Night
0513 Time After Time
0701 But Beautiful
0117 I Fall In Love Too Easily
0517 The Brooklyn Bridge

There were three more Columbia/CBS LP/CD issues in the Isaacs-McEwen series, which are described individually below. These are all out of print, as they have been superseded by the better-sounding Columbia/Legacy CD releases of later years. Production credits for all of these are the same as above (except for liner notes):

Produced by James Isaacs & Joe McEwen
Audio restoration by Frank Abbey
Art design by John Berg
Cover photos hand-tinted by Ken Robbins

CHRISTMAS DREAMING
Columbia/CBS LP and CD
LP #PC-40707 / CD #CK-40707
Released: September 1987
(Modified reissue of 1957 Columbia LP #CL-1032)
11 Tracks
Total Playing Time: 32 minutes

0822 White Christmas (1947)
0902 Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
0617 Christmas Dreaming (A Little Early This Year)
1122 Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
0616 Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
0113 White Christmas (1944)
0503 Jingle Bells
0820 It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
0821 O Little Town Of Bethlehem
0501 Adeste Fidelis (O, Come All Ye Faithful)
0310 Silent Night

Liner notes by Jim Lowe

HELLO YOUNG LOVERS
Columbia/CBS double LP and CD
LP #C2X-40897 / CD #CGK-40897
Released: October 1987
26 Tracks (LP) / 24 Tracks (CD)
Total Playing Time (CD): 72 minutes

All tracks contained on single CD (except *)

LP DISC 1

1204 Hello Young Lovers
1212 Farewell, Farewell To Love
1217 Walkin' In The Sunshine
1223 Azure-Te (Paris Blues)
1012 Mad About You
0607 I Concentrate On You
0114 I Dream Of You (More Than You Dream I Do)
0713 We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye
1124 I Am Loved
1103 You Do Something To Me
0722 The Music Stopped
1205 We Kiss In A Shadow
1210 It's A Long Way (From Your House To My House) *

LP DISC 2

0706 You're My Girl
0103 Sunday, Monday Or Always
0921 The Right Girl For Me
0613 Almost Like Being In Love
0612 There But For You Go I
0504 Falling In Love With Love
0408 I Fall In Love With You Ev'ry Day *
0325 How Cute Can You Be?
0312 I Only Have Eyes For You
0406 That Old Black Magic
0603 That's How Much I Love You
0601 Always
0102 You'll Never Know

Liner notes by Jim Miller

SINATRA RARITIES: THE COLUMBIA YEARS
Columbia/CBS LP and CD
LP #PC-44236 / CD #CK-44236
Released: September 1988
16 Tracks
Total Playing Time: 48 minutes

0319 Why Shouldn't I?
0324 Two Hearts Are Better Than One
0407 The Girl That I Marry
0414 Could'ja?
0416 The Things We Did Last Summer
0611 Stella By Starlight
0703 So Far
0906 It Only happens When I Dance With You
0905 When Is Sometime?
0904 Where Is The One?
0908 Nature Boy
0913 Bop! Goes My Heart
0924 It Happens Every Spring
1112 Accidents Will Happen
1116 London By Night
1225 Bim Bam Baby

Liner notes by Jonathan Schwartz

See also the thread about Japanese Releases on Compact Disc.

The collections displayed here are amazing and the cover art photos of Frank is beyond fantastic. I just love the cover of "sinatra rarities".

Mel

Anniversary bump: Today in FS history: October 1986

Originally Posted by Bob

The package was soon after issued in a four-disc CD version—the first Sinatra material to appear on Compact Disc.

It's been pointed out to me that this statement is inaccurate. (Thanks, Ron.)

The 6-LP box set was followed by the Japanese 6-CD set (described here). The US 4-CD box came later, subsequent to other Sinatra CD releases from Columbia, Capitol and Reprise. I'm not sure of the exact timing, since the CD package only lists the 1986 date of the LP set.

[Nancy]

You guys are good.

Regarding the 'Christmas Dreaming' cd......is the cover with the gold border the one to get? I understand it's the remaster, correct? And last...does it use all alternate takes? Thank you.

Originally Posted by JohnM

Regarding the 'Christmas Dreaming' cd......

It's not Christmas Dreaming that you want. (That's an old, out-of-print CD.) It's Christmas Songs By Sinatra.

Questions answered in the thread for the latter album: post #42.

Originally Posted by Bob

It's not Christmas Dreaming that you want. (That's an old, out-of-print CD.) It's Christmas Songs By Sinatra.

Questions answered in the thread for the latter album: post #42.

Ahh....okay. Was wondering why I could not find it. Guess I got confused when I read your post on the SHF.

The post on the SHF was a reply to someone asking about the differences between the two CDs. The one described above (Christmas Dreaming) dates way back to 1987, while the newer one (Christmas Songs By Sinatra) is from 1994 and 2004.

This thread exists mainly for historical purposes. The discs described above are long out of print.

[Edwin]

I have the LP version of "Frank Sinatra The Voice The Columbia Years 1943-1952." At the time it came out, my Sinatra radio show was on the air. Columbia sent me 24 copies of the box to use as a contest giveaway on the air and in a Princeton, NJ, restaurant where I did a Sinatra show for a period.

The sound is better on the CD albums that followed, but the notes by the various writers are terrific. I recently re-read them for the first time in 15 years or so. This is especially true of Wilfred Sheed's piece in the big, colorful booklet and Stephen Holden's on the LP entitled "Love Songs," although all the notes are, well, noteworthy. A beautifully done project at the twilight of the LP era.

Of the 72 songs, Frank re-recorded 49 of them on Capitol and/or Reprise. I prefer at least half of the classic original to the remakes. Most of the songs are standards from the Great American Songbook, still familiar and prominent thanks primarily to Frank Sinatra and his musical colleagues who recorded and performed the songs as well as the younger singers and musicians who are helping to keep them alive today.