[warrenP]

I go through stages with my music. I listen to pretty much everything, and the last few days have had Sinatra on quite a bit. However, I don't have lots of his stuff. I have the 2-CD set My Way and the CD Romance. I'm looking to expand that to some of his other work.


Any Sinatra fans out there who can make some suggestions?

 

[warrenP]

Also looking for some Jimmy Durante suggestions... maybe the As Time Goes By album? I love Durante's voice, and just realized I have none of his music in my collection...


And, while I'm at it, maybe a Dean Martin album? I don't have any of his either.


(I know that these aren't Sinatra, and maybe the thread title should change, but I'm guessing some Sinatra fans will have some thoughts on Durante and Martin.)


Thanks!

 

[hitchfan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by warrenP /forum/post/18116265


Any Sinatra fans out there who can make some suggestions?

Some of the greatest albums ever recorded by an American singer:

Songs For Swingin' Lovers

Sinatra's Swingin' Affair

In the Wee Small Hours

Come Fly With Me

Where Are You?

When No One Cares

Come Dance With Me

Ring-a-Ding-Ding

The Concert Sinatra


However, I'm not sure this belongs in this forum...

 

[warrenP]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hitchfan /forum/post/18119617


Some of the greatest albums ever recorded by an American singer:

Songs For Swingin' Lovers

Sinatra's Swingin' Affair

In the Wee Small Hours

Come Fly With Me

Where Are You?

When No One Cares

Come Dance With Me

Ring-a-Ding-Ding

The Concert Sinatra


However, I'm not sure this belongs in this forum...

Thanks for the suggestions, if you had to pick just 2 from your list, what would they be?


Why doesn't this belong here? You mean it's the wrong place, or that folks aren't into that here? I would hope that there is a big enough cross section here to enjoy some of the best singers ever...

 

[HFXguy]

I am looking for similar suggestions for Sinatra & Martin.


I recently bought "Classic Sinatra: His Great Preformances 1953-1960 [Best of] [Original recording remastered" and it sounds great but I think I want some earlier stuff.

 

[warrenP]

Thanks to the Scooper of Poop for changing the title! C'mon now folks, Sinatra, Durante, Martin, these are some of the best ever... there have to be some fans in the mix here.

 

[General Kenobi]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hitchfan /forum/post/18119617


Some of the greatest albums ever recorded by an American singer:



Sinatra's Swingin' Affair

Easily my favorite.

 

[Aliens]

I have Sinatra Reprise: The Very Good Years, but good luck finding it, as its been discontinued. It’s going for $26 on ebay, and well worth the price, IMO. Check this link out to see what’s on the CD.


Most members are too young to be into Sinatra, so don’t expect to see a lot of replies. Doesn’t mean a 25 year old can’t like Sinatra, but they’re probably as hard to find as my Sinatra CD.

 

[tlogan6797]

Maybe you can still find the collection from the early 90s I think was called the Best of the Capitol Years. And there was one that juat came out a coupel of months ago with a lot of the Capitol stuff and some of his "newer" stuff (from the 60s and early 70s and a never before released track, but I can remeber what it the album's called.

 

[yankeeman]

The best Sinatra concert ever was CONCERT FOR THE AMERICAS with the Buddy Rich orchestra.


He was in his best voice, in a great mood, the setting was great, and the song choice fantastic.


Its only available though on dvd in some other regions, but i have NOT been able to find it anywhere either on Region 1 or Region 0. I would give anything to have one of these, if you ever find one please post the source here.


I dont know if its available on CD, i havent seen one.

 

[ratpacker]

As someone mentioned earlier "The Capitol Years" 3 CD package is the one you'll want to get for a great primer on the greatest pop singer who ever lived. Nelson Riddle conducted a great many of the tracks, and you'll come to appreciate his genuis as well.

 

[hitchfan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by warrenP /forum/post/18120047


Thanks for the suggestions, if you had to pick just 2 from your list, what would they be?

It would be so hard to pick just two. But, for the sheer history of it in terms of Sinatra's association with arranger Nelson Riddle and the number of Sinatra classics that came from it, I'd go with Songs For Swingin' Lovers as one.


As a great example of the Sinatra "concept" album and certainly the other side of the coin from Swingin' Lovers above, it's hard to beat his collaboration with another great arranger, Gordon Jenkins, on Where Are You?.


Forced at gunpoint, I'd probably go with those two...for starters.


There is a lot to like about the new compilation releases like the one you mentioned, Seduction. But they turn out to be more like great excerpts from great movies instead of the great movie itself. That's where Sinartra's complete "concept" albums/CDs as they were orginally structured come in.


As compilaitons go, I think This is Sinatra is one of the best Sinatra compilations ever compiled. As a CD, it's out of print now, but I'm sure you can re-create it from iTunes/Amazon purchases. Remember, though, there are almost always additional songs added to the end of these great Sinatra concept albums because there is more room on CDs than there was on vinyl. So, some of those last two or three songs on the CD versions may or may not really fit the original "concept" of the album. Mostly not.


Another great compilation album/CD: All The Way, which includes the best version of that song he ever recorded. Again, out of print, but can be bought/downloaded online.

Quote:
Why doesn't this belong here? You mean it's the wrong place, or that folks aren't into that here? I would hope that there is a big enough cross section here to enjoy some of the best singers ever...

I guess I thought there was a forum devoted to music/CDs rather than live action (move/TV) concerts, but I suppose it's fine here. Sorry if I misled about that.


More...

Sinatra/Basie

Sinatra at the Sands

Frank Sinatra: Vegas (box set)


Too many to name all of them, really.

 

[hitchfan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by General Kenobi /forum/post/18124186

Sinatra's Swingin' Affair


Easily my favorite.

That's the problem with choosing just one, two or a handful. That is a near perfect album/CD. Particularly since they've added Lady is a Tramp to the CD, which wasn't on the original vinyl version due to space limitation. One of the better "additions" to the CDs they've ever done. You simply cannot listen to that album/CD and feel bad. Same with Sinatra/Basie.


And choosing Where Are You? but leaving behind (When) No One Cares is unthinkable. For me, Where Are You? might or might not edge out No One Cares depending only on my mood on a given day. One I didn't mention but was one of Sinatra's biggest LP hits that falls into that same concept is (Sinatra Sings for) Only the Lonely. It's awesome. But I do find myself hitting the skip button a couple of times...but only a couple of times...on that one where I don't on the other two.


Of course, we can pick and choose the tracks to keep or delete fairly easily now.

 

[ratpacker]

If you want to get a fairly comprehensive fix of Sinatra's music, there are 3 multi-disc sets that cover the three main era's of Franks career-

Frank and Tommy. The earliest recordings of his career with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. His "The Voice" period.

The Capitol Years. The pinnicale of American pop music. The "ol' Blue Eyes" period. His voice and material at their best and he was working with the best producers/conducters in the business. IMO, the DEFINITIVE Sinatra.

Reprise- The Very Good Years. The "Chairman of the Board" period. Late career Sinatra not up to the Capitol years, but still includes some of his best known and most iconic recordings.

Also if it's still available, you might want to pick up The Rat Pack Live at the Sands. It's a great document of some of the greatest entertainers ever at their peak when they WERE Las Vegas.

 

[ratpacker]

yankeeman, you might want to check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fho7yJ2PSU

 

[yankeeman]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ratpacker /forum/post/18137669


yankeeman, you might want to check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fho7yJ2PSU

Fantastic, thank you!!!!! Did a search and found 2 sources for it, took a chance and ordered a Region 0 one from Ebay from the far East, i have actually had very good luck doing this in the past. I have ordered a few like this and havent been stuck with a copy or bad disc yet.


You know, when they put that concert on in the 1980's, I taped it on VHS, then a few years ago I had a DVD made of the VHS, but of course the picture and sound are greatly lacking. This concert truly is the best thing Sinatra has ever done to me. I have seen a ton of his stuff on tv, on vhs, on dvd, and i have seen him in person in approx 10 concerts as he used to come down here to South Florida every year and we would go see him a lot, but this Concert for the Americas to me has always been the best.

 

[hitchfan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by warrenP /forum/post/18116312


Also looking for some Jimmy Durante suggestions... maybe the As Time Goes By album? I love Durante's voice, and just realized I have none of his music in my collection...


And, while I'm at it, maybe a Dean Martin album? I don't have any of his either.

Durante's As Time Goes By is definitely worth getting.


Speaking of Jimmy Durante and Dean Martin, there was actually a Durante bio-pic planned in the late 50s/early 60s starring Dean Martin that, unfortunately, never materialized. I think Sinatra was going to produce. Probably on the order of Sinatra's bio-pic of Joe E. Lewis, The Joker's Wild. You'll see the prospective movie touted on the DVD "The Frank Sinatra Show: High Hopes" (guest stars Martin, Bing Crosby, who I think was also to appear in the movie, Mitzi Gaynor and a brief walk-on by Durante himself).


Probably the most complete single disc of Dean Martin's most iconic hits would by "Dean Martin: Greatest Hits", a 1998 Capital Records compilation.


Dean Martin fans also ought to have his Las Vegas show recording, "Dean Martin Live From Las Vegas" on The Las Vegas Centinnial Collection. Musically, it's a total train wreck...but intentionally so. Martin flat-out tells the audience if they want to hear serious versions of his hit songs, buy the album! LOL! He sings, of course. And he gets a couple of numbers out straight. But almost every other song is peppered with Martin's hilarious malaprops, false starts, self-deprecating goofs while Dean pretends to be a little tipsy. Priceless stuff. I saw him perform live a couple of times and this recording is everything those shows were.


The secret to his live performances was that he re-created as much as he could in one performer the Martin & Lewis chemistry. The unpredictability, the hilarious accident, the impromptu party among good friends. And the idea that, if you were lucky enough to have been there in the audience when it happened, it was your party, too.


In fact, that was really what was behind the success of the Rat Pack events. Those guys brought the raucus unpredictability, the ego deflating jabs, the musical interruptions and chaos of Dean's act with Jerry to their appearances together.

 

[warrenP]

I have some of these ordered, thanks all!



Here is a link to a great Youtube video of Durante's singing, with images of the incredible Ann Margret. I won't embed the video here as there are a few seconds that might be considered NSFW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30zA-5TY34Q


Enjoy!