Frank Sinatra established Reprise Records 65 years ago today. He’d grown unhappy over the years with Capitol Records, despite a string of albums considered his prime work. His first try at owning his own label was by attempting to purchase Verve Records. What he really wanted was full artistic freedom. He formed Reprise with the principle that any artistp signed would have the same freedom, and would in time own their work, including the publishing rights. That was all but unheard of at the time. In creating Reprise Records, he became known as The Chairman of the Board.

The initial roster included Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., along with Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Nancy Sinatra, and Redd Foxx. Sinatra inaugurated Reprise with the album Ring-A-Ding-Ding!, an upbeat album of swing tunes that stayed on the charts for 35 weeks in 1961. Frank had four different logos for Reprise, depending on the release: a cherub for Jazz, a riverboat for Pop and Rock, an owl for Spoken Word and Comedy, and, of course, a picture of himself for his own albums:

Reprise was losing money rapidly by 1963, at which time Frank sold it off to Warner Brothers while managing to keep a one-third financial interest. Record company legend Mo Ostin kept his label president title and moved Reprise to become almost exclusively a Rock label by 1966. Frank continued recording for Reprise into the 80’s, a tenure on the label matched only by Neil Young who signed with Reprise in 1968 and remains there to this day (though really it’s a distribution deal now). Over time, Ostin signed future legends Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Arlo Guthrie, Ry Cooder, Captain Beefheart, Emmylou Harris, Van Morrison, and Fleetwood Mac. Ostin also secured the US distribution rights to the British label Pye Records, enabling Reprise to release the first eleven albums by The Kinks.

In January ’68, The Kinks released Something Else by The Kinks, in both mono and stereo, including the British hit singles “David Watts,” and “Death of a Clown,” which was actually a Dave Davies solo cut. Closing the album, to my mind, is the greatest British single of the 1960’s:

Ray Davies had the melody for “Waterloo Sunset” in his head for 2+ years by the time The Kinks began recording it in April ’67. It was originally “Liverpool Sunset,” but was amended to “Waterloo Sunset” following The Beatles release of “Penny Lane.” The lyrics were inspired by several things, both factual and imagined. Most importantly, it was spurred by Ray’s childhood memory of the days following a tracheotomy, at 13, and being wheeled out by nurses at St. Thomas Hospital to look at the river. Davies also used the image of two lovers strolling along the Thames to recall dreams he shared with his first wife. Though he claimed at the time the characters Terry and Julie reference actors Terence Stamp and Julie Christie, he stated later that the song is “a fantasy about my sister going off with her boyfriend to a new world,” when she emigrated to Australia. He also said “it’s about the two characters – and the aspirations of my sisters’ generation who grew up during the Second World War. It’s about the world I wanted them to have.”

Whatever inspired it, it is stunning and timeless.

Despite the intricate arrangement, the recording required only 10 hours of studio time. Dave Davies claimed much of the time was dedicated to coming up with a different type of guitar sound. They ended up using the echo of a tape delay, considered new at the time. Steve Marriott of Small Faces loved it, prompting Dave to say “we were almost trendy for a while.” Pete Townshend called the song “divine, a masterpiece.” It hit the top 10 in England, Austria, Australia, Ireland, Denmark, Rhodesia, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany. And it never even charted in the US.

Ray Davies closed the Olympics in London 2012 performing the song, but I’m partial to his version a couple of years earlier, in tribute to original Kinks bassist Pete Quaife, at Glastonbury complete with choir:

In honor of Reprise Records and “Waterloo Sunset,” Today’s Playlist is a SomethingIsHappening compendium of Sunset songs…

By the way, speaking of Frank, check this out. This is incredible studio footage of the session for “It Was a Very Good Year,” with Gordon Jenkins conducting. It became a Top 30 single from his Reprise album September of My Years. The recording earned Frank the Grammy in 1966 for Best Male Vocal Performance:

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