[David M Bond]

Does anyone else beside me find it ironic that the title that was put on the LP incorrectly was called "I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plans"?

The track 8 that was missing should have been renamed "When Your Song Has Gone".

Did they actually print the wrong song title name? I thought they just put the wrong track on the record!

[And if so, are you saying they printed it as "Plans" (plural)? That's almost as bad, because they're supposed to verify correct titles when they check for publishing clearances.]

[David M Bond]

My bad I meant Plan, rather than Plans. Also I meant the title as in song title on the record itself not Title as in title of the track on the record sleeve.... so.. They put the wrong song on the record and the title of that song is ironic.

My english is not the finest in the land.

Understood now, David.

[raylinds]

I was fortunate enough to find a gray label mono pressing of this in excellent condition. What a magnificent record!

I am fortunate to also have a superb copy of this LP. It is an early pressing with a silver U/semi-circle and "W1-581-D2" on the dead wax. I am interested to know if anyone can shed light on when the grey label with the silver U/semi-circle was pressed and what, if anything, W1-581-D2 says about the pressing I own. It really is a wonderful copy – not a mark on it and sonically excellent.

[MMM]

The gray label with 3/4 circle is the original 12" pressing. By '56, the label switched to the variant without the 3/4 circle, and LONG PLAYING only at the bottom.

W1-581 tells you the prefix in the catalog # (W, which retailed for more $ than the "T" prefix Capitols), the side (1), and the actual catalog # (581).

D2 signifies two things - the "D" refers to the "Don Lee" history of the Capitol Melrose building, when it was used by KHJ radio. The "D" also tells you the lacquer was cut from the master tape, since it was kept in L.A. - if there was an "N" used here instead (for Capitol New York), it would have been cut from a dub sent to New York. The 2 denotes a pressing made from the 2nd lacquer cut. So D2 = 2nd lacquer cut off the master.

What's in the dead area on side 2?

[SinatraFan]

I recently got a copy of this LP and it's in excellent shape too with almost no clips and pops all. In the dead wax is "W1-581-N20" and a little "#3" for side 1 and "W2-581-N14" "#2" on side 2. So my LP must be from NYC.

Originally Posted by MMM

The gray label with 3/4 circle is the original 12" pressing. By '56, the label switched to the variant without the 3/4 circle, and LONG PLAYING only at the bottom.

W1-581 tells you the prefix in the catalog # (W, which retailed for more $ than the "T" prefix Capitols), the side (1), and the actual catalog # (581).

D2 signifies two things - the "D" refers to the "Don Lee" history of the Capitol Melrose building, when it was used by KHJ radio. The "D" also tells you the lacquer was cut from the master tape, since it was kept in L.A. - if there was an "N" used here instead (for Capitol New York), it would have been cut from a dub sent to New York. The 2 denotes a pressing made from the 2nd lacquer cut. So D2 = 2nd lacquer cut off the master.

What's in the dead area on side 2?

Great information. Thanks Martin! I knew what the W-581 meant but I had no idea what the "D2" meant. The dead area on side 2 has "W2-581-D2" on it. There is also a symbol on side 1 which looks like a house or perhaps an open book.

Martin...out of interest, how many copies would have been made made from the 1st and 2nd lacquer cuts?

If anyone is interested I have recorded approx 30 seconds of the opening track of side 2 - “What Is This Thing Called Love”. I use a cheap USB turntable so its not audiophile quality by any means (and it seams to only record the left channel even if records are stereo – with low gain) but its good enough to show the excellent quality of the LP. I can upload it to my web site as an MP3 and provide a link.

[mlutthans]

Originally Posted by earlcole

Martin...out of interest, how many copies would have been made made from the 1st and 2nd lacquer cuts?

If anyone is interested I have recorded approx 30 seconds of the opening track of side 2 - “What Is This Thing Called Love”. I use a cheap USB turntable so its not audiophile quality by any means (and it seams to only record the left channel even if records are stereo – with low gain) but its good enough to show the excellent quality of the LP. I can upload it to my web site as an MP3 and provide a link.

(edited to ensure thread remains public)

[jtsjc1]

Allen I have the exact copy you do and it is a nice sounding vinyl. I'd like to hear the difference between this one and the new copies.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by earlcole

Martin... out of interest, how many copies would have been made made from the 1st and 2nd lacquer cuts?

There's no way I could tell you that, sorry. Stampers made from this could be out there pressing records for quite a while. They cut a lot of lacquers for this album, even in use during the initial label run.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by SinatraFan

I recently got a copy of this LP and it's in excellent shape too with almost no clips and pops all. In the dead wax is "W1-581-N20" and a little "#3" for side 1 and "W2-581-N14" "#2" on side 2. So my LP must be from NYC.

Well, the lacquers were cut there from the N.Y. tape, but Capitol didn't actually press records there. It was likely pressed in Scranton, PA.

The extra numbers, "#3, #2" are the mother #. I don't know why Capitol was inconsistent in noting this - sometimes you see it, many times you don't.

[SinatraFan]

Originally Posted by MMM

Well, the lacquers were cut there from the N.Y. tape, but Capitol didn't actually press records there. It was likely pressed in Scranton, PA.

The extra numbers, "#3, #2" are the mother #. I don't know why Capitol was inconsistent in noting this - sometimes you see it, many times you don't.

Interesting. Thanks for all the info, Martin.

For those who like to download their music, this album is the MP3 Daily Deal at Amazon.com. Super price for the complete album, one-day-only, today (Sunday, Jan. 17th): In The Wee Small Hours.

[SinatraFan]

Anniversary bump: February 1955

[Edwin]

I just read once again the Sinatra tribute by Stephen Holden published in the New York Times a couple of days after Frank Sinatra's death. It's a beautiful piece and in a portion of it, he says this about "Wee Small Hours:"

"As for the lost art of intimate popular singing, the training grounds for that kind of performance no longer exist. That art that was largely invented and perfected by Frank Sinatra is all but dead... if you want to discover it in its purest and highest form, put on the CD of Sinatra's masterpiece, 'In the Wee Small Hours.' In his shattering version of 'Last Night When We Were Young,' you will hear an entire lifetime of love and loss summed up in an interpretation that scours the peaks and depths of human emotion in search of an elusive equilibrium."

[ceruleus]

Very delicately put. Couldn't agree more - those songs are like whispered confessions and wishes. Intimacy is key.

[sschweiger]

I have truly never understood the reasoning behind the decisions to "re-do" some of what I consider to be "immortal" Capitol recordings, many of which are the basis for "Sinatra's Sinatra."

In particular, I'm referring to a quintet, four-fifths of which are: "All The Way," "Witchcraft," "I've Got You Under My Skin," & "How Little We Know?"

The fifth is, of course, "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning." The end result of my, let's call it "naivete," always leads to the same question, "How Can You Improve On Perfection?"

A SinatraLand Enigma