DISQUS

outsidecounsel · 10 months ago

There are ample gateways to Sinatra's work. Collections like this are actually something of a barrier to entry. Here's my thinking. Start with the premise that Sinatra's work on Capitol with Nelson Riddle ("Songs for Swingin' Lovers", "In the Wee Small Hours", "Frank Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely", "A Swingin' Affair") may be one of the greatest sustained bursts of genius in popular music. (What can match it? I think the work Miles Davis was doing in 1956 for Prestige-- "Workin'", "Cookin'", "Steamin'" and "Relaxin'"-- then with Columbia, on "Round About Midnight" through "Kind of Blue"-- fits into this category. The Sones string of releases starting with "Beggar's Banquet" and running through "Let It Bleed", "Sticky Fingers" and culminating in "Exile On Main Street" does also. After those, what?) Anyone who is interested in Sinatra would be well advised to start with those albums, which were conceived of and produced as holistic statements. Starting off with a sampler set just sets you up for redundancies in your collection.

DwDunphy · 10 months ago

You're right about the Nelson Riddle albums except in on important respect: From The Heart is going to be priced on the cheap and, for a new audience, the cost of those really great albums equal the cost of something new. More than likely they'll lose track and go for the new.

This is not really a defense, mind you, because the cash-grab luridness of it all still demeans Sinatra... But a young person suddenly struck with the notion, "I wonder what my grandparents see in Frank Sinatra" could grab this CD for a fraction of the cost of, say, the new Kelly Clarkson album and find out.