Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Legacy (2011/Image Blu-ray)/Nancy Sinatra: Super Audio Best (1966 - 1968/Greatest Hits/Interscope/SA-CD/SACD/Super Audio Compact Disc Hybrid/Top Music International)

Picture: B-/X Sound: B & B+/B Extras: C+/D Concert/Songs: B-/B+

PLEASE NOTE: The Nancy Sinatra Super Audio Compact Disc is only available from our friends at Top Music International, has a Compact Disc layer that will play on virtually all CD players and can be ordered at the link below.

No doubt Frank Sinatra is a performer who will endure for the ages, but it is not a simple one and we will now look at two new releases that address it.

First we have Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Legacy (2011) in which the talented singer not only sings Sinatra hits, but hits by other artists and writers that are linked to Sinatra and explain the Sinatra phenomenon. This includes a few music lessons, understanding the rise of popular music in the and world at large, the importance of Cole Porter and even how ethnic backgrounds shaped the entertainment world. His singing might not be for everyone, but he is good and the show is more interesting than I expected, though I wish it were longer because he obviously (like an Elvis Costello) has more to say and share. His performances include:

1) Once In a Lifetime

2) I Thought About You

3) Fly Me to the Moon

4) Put On A Happy Face/A Lot Of Livin' To Do

5) So in Love

6) There'll Be Some Changes Made

7) Begin The Beguine

8) Brazil

9) For Once In My Life

10) Maybe This Time

11) New York, New York (theme from the 1978 Martin Scorsese film)

Extras include a performance of the song Sway and two pieces on the new Palladium the show takes place at and what an amazing achievement it is.

Of course, there is one other Sinatra who had great success in music and Nancy Sinatra: Super Audio Best (1966 - 1968) is a terrific new Super Audio Compact Disc Edition of her best hits that includes almost all the ones you could think of save her cover of Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down). For technophiles, here are the specs for how the disc was made:

The Project re-mastered by Povee Chan

High Precision Mastering

Monitor Speaker: Almarro M1A

Monitor Pre-Amplifier: Octave Jubliee Preamp

Power System: Isoclean Power Conditioning System

Mastered with Black Rhodium Cable

Hybrid Stereo, Plays on all SACD and CD Players

Made in by ADIS

Though it does not tell us the source, only a multi-channel version form the original master tapes can top this set, whose tracks include:

1) These Boots Are Made For Walking

2) Summertime (duet with Lee Hazlewood)

3) Things (duet with Dean Martin)

4) Did You Ever

5) Friday's Child

6) You Only Live Twice (single re-recording, not the recording in the Bond film)

7) Highway Song

8) Elusive Dreams (duet with Lee Hazlewood)

9) Storybook Children (duet with Lee Hazlewood)

10) Sugar Town

11) Something Stupid (duet with Frank Sinatra)

12) Jackson (duet with Lee Hazlewood)

13) Sand (duet with Lee Hazlewood)

14) Sundown, Sundown (duet with Lee Hazlewood)

15) Some Velvet Morning (duet with Lee Hazlewood)

16) I've Been Down So Long (duet with Lee Hazlewood)

17) Tony Rome (theme from the 1967 Frank Sinatra film, see the limited edition Blu-ray elsewhere on this site)

18) How Does That Grab You Darlin'

19) Lady Bird (duet with Lee Hazlewood)

20) So Long Babe

The first song is her biggest hit, a #1 hit, a classic and now known for ending Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987), tracks 5 & 10 are also big solo hits, the duets are all fun and they are a great group of songs all around. It is also hard to believe that this is not only Nancy Sinatra's first SA-CD appearance, but only Dean Martin's second (!) and Frank Sinatra's fourth!!!

This is a great set serious fans of the Sinatras, Namcy in particular and great music will want to go out of their way to get. I still can't believe it was released and Nancy's career was bigger than people might remember.

The 1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Feinstein has some detail limits, but is stable and looks good otherwise and the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on the disc is better than the PCM 2.0 Stereo also included, but only when there is music performance as the talking takes place on a lesser sound set-up which is not very dynamic, so expect that variation on both audio options.

The DSD 2.0 Stereo on Nancy is the best I have ever heard these songs, especially some of them where they have been played quite a bit. The PCM 2.0 16/44.1 Stereo CD tracks are not bad, but no match for the lossless Direct Stream Digital (DSD) playback. You might hear some sonic limits here and there, but they are rare and the clarity in the vocals will be particularly surprising, but the same goes for the mixing and how the musicians played on these songs. If you have SA-CD playback capacity and this disc, be prepared to be impressed.

To find out more about ordering the Nancy Sinatra SA-CD, start with this link, then go to the HOW TO ORDER tab on the left-hand side column:

http://www.topmusic.com/tm-sacd7017.2.htm

The direct order link is:

http://www.topmusic.com/to-order.htm

- Nicholas Sheffo