charlie77
09-14-2014, 04:36 PM
Pal Joey is probably one of the more "messy" cases in terms of soundtrack releases. Morris Stoloff conducted the Columbia Pictures pre-recordings for the movie, and most of Sinatra's major numbers where then re-recorded by Capitol Records with Nelson Riddle conducting (Sinatra's steady conductor at that time). And since Columbia isn't MGM, most of the OST recording session tapes where destroyed before decent transfers could be made. The official OST album that was released back then, and ever since, is a composite of all these recording sessions. - And that is just a simplified version of the story. If you have an afternoon with nothing to do, check here for further reading:
SOUNDTRACKS: HIGH SOCIETY 1956 / PAL JOEY 1957 / CAN-CAN 1960* (http://sinatrafamily.com/forum/frank-sinatra-recordings-25/soundtracks-high-society-1956-pal-joey-1957-can-can-1960-a-8437/)
All recent OST releases are in mono and rather flat sound. There is one CD release from 1989 which sounds much better and is a mish-mash of mono, fake stereo, and "real" stereo (with "real stereo" sometimes not meaning much more than the backing chorus or a few single instruments/'sweeteners' overdubbing actual mono tracks, since the studio had not yet properly adapted to the innovative "stereo LP's" technology.)
For this "reconstructed soundtrack compilation", I used about a handful of different sources and grouped all the soundtrack versions in one block, studio re-recordings (made for the soundtrack album) in a second block, and related recordings (and an alternate take) in a third block.
The special treasure here are 3 (!) songs by Rita Hayworth's vocal dubber Jo Ann Greer that were apparently transferred and released on a Rita Hayworth album before the material deteriorated or disappeared. "Zip" is in brilliant, full-scale stereo, and "Bewitched" may or may not be stereo, however has a crisp HiFi sound and does, IMO, musically rank next to Ella Fitzgerald's "Rodgers and Hart Songbook". For some reason these HiFi versions haven't been used on any recent soundtrack releases or compilations. I assume the studio has just forgotten about them.
Total of 29 tracks. All in 320 kbs (however the Jo Ann Greer tracks have been transferred from a tape copy).
https://www.sendspace.com/file/psr1vm
SOUNDTRACKS: HIGH SOCIETY 1956 / PAL JOEY 1957 / CAN-CAN 1960* (http://sinatrafamily.com/forum/frank-sinatra-recordings-25/soundtracks-high-society-1956-pal-joey-1957-can-can-1960-a-8437/)
All recent OST releases are in mono and rather flat sound. There is one CD release from 1989 which sounds much better and is a mish-mash of mono, fake stereo, and "real" stereo (with "real stereo" sometimes not meaning much more than the backing chorus or a few single instruments/'sweeteners' overdubbing actual mono tracks, since the studio had not yet properly adapted to the innovative "stereo LP's" technology.)
For this "reconstructed soundtrack compilation", I used about a handful of different sources and grouped all the soundtrack versions in one block, studio re-recordings (made for the soundtrack album) in a second block, and related recordings (and an alternate take) in a third block.
The special treasure here are 3 (!) songs by Rita Hayworth's vocal dubber Jo Ann Greer that were apparently transferred and released on a Rita Hayworth album before the material deteriorated or disappeared. "Zip" is in brilliant, full-scale stereo, and "Bewitched" may or may not be stereo, however has a crisp HiFi sound and does, IMO, musically rank next to Ella Fitzgerald's "Rodgers and Hart Songbook". For some reason these HiFi versions haven't been used on any recent soundtrack releases or compilations. I assume the studio has just forgotten about them.
Total of 29 tracks. All in 320 kbs (however the Jo Ann Greer tracks have been transferred from a tape copy).
https://www.sendspace.com/file/psr1vm