Diggin' in the Crates "Six of Frank, Half a Dozen of Sinatra" Edition

Every once in a while, I get in the mood for the music of Francis Albert Sinatra, and and I'm in the beginning of one of those periods:

Additionally, there have been times when I feel the need to kickstart or expand certain parts of my vinyl collection. Last year, after I got my Numark TTUSB, I started grabbing Miles Davis and John Coltrane records, then records on the Blue Note label. Now, I'm expanding my very meager collection of Frank vinyls (as of this writing, 90% of my Sinatra library is on CD). A first package of six Sinatra LPs from eBay arrived in my PO Box over the weekend, and I bought a second lot that includes the vinyl of one of my favorite Frank albums, Songs for Swingin' Lovers, this afternoon. Until that package arrives, here's the exact booty I opened up today:

Clockwise from top left:

• Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra featuring Frank Sinatra (Cornet CX-186, 1963)
• That's Life (Reprise, 1966)
• The Broadway Kick (Columbia, 1959)
• Adventures of the Heart (Columbia, 1957)
• Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (Capitol, 1958)
• Pal Joey soundtrack (Capitol, 1957)

The two Columbia albums are really compilations of material from when he was with that label for about the first decade or so of his solo career, and the Tommy Dorsey album, or at least Sinatra's cuts on it (only half the songs on the album feature Frank's vocals), predate even those recordings. Also... ALL of these albums are in MONO. I've only played The Broadway Kick and That's Life (the latter is spinning on my turntable in the top photograph and just finished playing Side 2 while I was writing this) but they sound pretty damn  good for records that are eight and one years older than I am! So, yep, vintage pressings all around (the two Columbia releases are with the "six-eye" labels, trainspotters...). 

In a side note, I'm not completely sure of the legitimacy of the Tommy Dorsey record, only because I've nevered own any of the guy's records in any format until today, but as far as I know, recent legit CD releases are on RCA and its vintage jazz imprint Bluebird (and thus currently under Sony Music ownership)... anyone knowledgeable want to clue me in? 

End note: Speaking of Frank's Reprise masters... his estate took the rights back from Warner Bros. (who manufactured and distributed Reprise for Frank, then bought the label off of him a few years later) last year, and all of his Reprise-era albums are being reissued soon on CD by Concord (they're already on iTunes and AmazonMP3.com!), the same folks who are the caretakers of the Fantasy,  Stax, and Prestige tape libraries (amongst others)... that includes quite a few titles that have either been available only as import CDs or not released on CD EVER. Excuse me while I check my download options...