Just One of Those Things

Included with this deluxe reissue is a 2,200-word essay by Jordan Taylor about the album.

This hybrid SACD is playable as follows: A three-channel SACD section includes all songs listed in the tracks section except for the alternate take of “Just For The Fun Of It,” which was recorded in Mono. There is a Stereo SACD section with all songs in stereo except for the alternate take of “Just For The Fun Of It,” which was recorded in Mono. There is a Mono SACD section with all songs included. The Stereo CD section includes the same content as the SACD Stereo section and the Mono CD section includes all songs.

Analogue Productions’ Blue Note and Nat “King” Cole Reissues WIN A Positive Feedback 2010 Brutus Award!
“…if you haven’t picked up every one of the Blue Note and Nat King Cole reissues from Chad Kassem and company at Acoustic Sounds, you’re really missing out!” – David W. Robinson, Positive Feedback, Issue 52

“As much as I adore the work of Gordon Jenkins, I am partial to the arrangements and conducting skills of Billy May…His work for Cole on this 1957 release resulted in one of the swingin’est track selections in the Cole cannon.” Sound Quality = 96% out of 100% – Ken Kessler, HiFi News, January 2011

This has been a totally no-expenses-spared project. Using the original three-track work tapes from Capitol’s vaults, mastering engineers Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman along with DSD specialist Gus Skinas bring you an entirely incomparable SACD experience. In addition to the stereo mixes, this SACD includes a three-track transfer for multichannel playback and the original mono mix taken from separate microphone feeds, mixing consoles and tape machines at the original sessions. In order to master from the three-track masters, AcousTech had to be outfitted for three-channel playback. That meant Kevin Gray had to find a third identical monitoring channel chain (including mixing board, amplifier and speaker) as well as a three-track playback headstack and also a three-track preview head for the vinyl cutting system. It was a massive assignment. We’ve spent a fortune to include these extra bells and whistles and to make this a truly historic reissue.

Contrasting downbeat ballads with an ironic brassy, upbeat big band attitude, the ironic Cole Porter standard Just One Of Those Things sets the tone for a distinctive, pungent experience of love and disillusionment with a swing. Brilliantly backing the intimately expressive and supremely musical voice of the incomparable Nat “King” Cole, a big band with no “strings” smolders, swings, saunters, storms, sighs and sizzles with the arrangements of the distinctive Billy May. Featuring top shelf interpretations of “These Foolish Things,” “Who’s Sorry Now?” “The Party’s Over” and more, this album is among its era’s finest recordings of popular music and its quality, style and spirit remains unexcelled.

Just One Of Those Things was recorded in finely polished monaural and more minimalistic 3-channel stereophonic versions, each with dedicated microphones, console, mix and recorders. Each offers a different sonic perspective. The monaural recording was heard on the original hit records while the stereophonic recording offers the potential for a stunning wide-range realism. Using the original first generation full-track mono and 3-track session tapes from Capitol’s vaults and custom headstacks, console and monitoring chain installed at AcousTech specially for these releases, mastering engineers Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman along with DSD specialist Gus Skinas bring you an entirely incomparable SACD experience.

For this deluxe hybrid SACD, both mono and stereo versions are available in standard resolution on the CD layer and in high resolution on the DSD stereo layer, while the stereo versions are also available in high resolution 3-channel sound on the DSD multi-channel layer. Also included in 3-channel, stereo and mono is a superb track recorded for the album, “You’ll Never Know,” which was omitted due to space constraints – this release is the very first ever of the original mono version! In addition a 2,200-word essay by Jordan Taylor about the album is included. No expense was spared to make this the ultimate digital version of this album and a historic reissue.

Originally released in 1957.