The Sinatra (Photos by Robert Greeson)
The Eight Track Museum museum will be exhibiting for the first time at the Roxbury opening on October 13th the rarest and most treasured 8 track tape. The album entitled Sinatra/Jobim, a collaboration between Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlo Jobim, is known to afficionados of the format as The Sinatra.
Set to be released in 1969, the 8 track versions of Sinatra/Jobim were the first format manufactured and shipped. For some reason, subject to intense speculation in the 8 track world, the release of the album was called off, manufacturing of the LPs and cassettes was cancelled before the process was even started, and the eight tracks, the only production in any format of this project, were immediately recalled and destroyed.
Less than five of the 8 tracks are believed to have survived the edict to annihilate the lot and these modest yellow cartridges with the Greyhound bus cover art remain the most valuable and elusive holy grail to 8 track collectors. One of the Sinatras, a gift to the Dallas museum from an anonymous donor, will command its own room in the Roxbury Eight Track Museum, available at last for public viewing.
