Frank Sinatra

Gareth

I can't stand the man myself, but there is a strongly held view that the three (?) LPs that he made for Capitol in the late 1950s (?) with Nelson Riddle, one of which was called "Songs For Swinging Lovers", were about the highpoints of his career. I believe that they're available as decent CD remasters and on quality vinyl.

Can't be more specific, as I'm not a fan!

Graham

Can't go wrong with;

Come Fly With Me
In The Wee Small Hours
Songs For Young Lovers
Only The Lonely
Songs For Swinging Lovers

steer clear of the later, showbizzy stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by Malky:
Can't go wrong with;

Come Fly With Me
In The Wee Small Hours
Songs For Young Lovers
Only The Lonely
Songs For Swinging Lovers

steer clear of the later, showbizzy stuff.

My father if he were still alive would have said ditto to those and your view about the showbizzy stuff - I can take him in small doses (sinatra that is)- I've got you under my skin with the full nelson riddle treatment is a treat. One nice memory is my father teaching me 'in the wee small hours of the morning' when I was about 10.

Malky's list is right on. I would also add Sinatra at the Sands, with the Count Basie Orchestra. This guy was a great talent IMHO, even if he was a complete prick (actually, couldn't the same be said of Beethoven?)

Thank you all for your help I have my list in the wallet so as soon as there is also some cash in there we shall go shopping.
My wife introduced me to the finer points of FS and I must say that I find it very hard to find any performer who can take a song where it needs to go like he does.

I will post on my findings when I have shopped

Sinatra? The best!


Strangers in the Night is excellent.

quote:

Originally posted by graham55:
I can't stand the man...I'm not a fan!

My sentiments entirely.

This is all you need. A compilation of his best work.

I vastly prefer the young Sinatra, the crooner, to later Sinatra, the swinger. I really don't care for all that Rat Pack shit.

Can anyone point me to a definitive collection of early Frank, the crooner?

Fred

quote:

Can anyone point me to a definitive collection of early Frank, the crooner?

The Voice. ( dunno about definitive. but this is a collection of his earlier work )

Thanks, Kuma.

In researching this further, I find that the 4-CD box set Frank Sinatra: The Best of the Columbia Years: 1943-1952 is widely recommended as a good collection of early Frank.

The one you recommended, The Voice, seems to be out of print. How is it different than the Columbia collection?

Thanks,
Fred

Two excellent albums that haven't been mentioned:

Point Of No Return (1961)
Where Are You? (1957)

quote:

Originally posted by streetpunk:
Two excellent albums that haven't been mentioned:

Point Of No Return (1961)
Where Are You? (1957)

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There are many Sinatra albums which are good to excellent, mainly on Capitol. As mentioned earlier, I would recommend staying away from the later, caberet 'New York, New York' years. Later on in his career Sinatra drifted from superb anti-racist 'fellow-traveller' of the American communist party to booze soaked, reactionary Republican. A process brilliantly captured in Martin Smith's book, 'When Ol' Blue Eyes was a Red'.

I simply can't stand him.