Frank Sinatra: S/D

Re. Sinatra, I have made one observation today. I've heard a few times of Sinatra's supposed influence on Scott Walker, but wasn't convinced. I thought perhaps Sinatra was the only reference point that certain rock critics had as regards pre-rock popular song. But listening to Sinatra's 1962 record Point of No Return (from the box set), I am struck by a great similarity not just between Sinatra's vocals here and Scott, but also between the arrangements here (by Axel Stordahl) and those on Scott's early solo records.

'In the Wee Small Hours' sounds positively jaunty compared to 'Where are you?'. Another great ballads album, but darker still.

As for darkness, all these are the 1910 Fruitgum Co. next to 'Only the Lonely.'

I used to be a real skeptic about Frank. The Great American Songbook, fuck that. But what really converted me are all the great bootlegs my Sinatra-obsessed pal here in Nashvegas turned me onto--if you can track 'em down, "FS After Hours," with Bill Miller on piano, is very fine. "Inside Basie: In the Studio October 2-3 1962" is great as well, and listening to it gives you a sense of how smart he was about what he was doing, how in control.

Destroy:
Most of what he did after 1970.

I've been listening to In the Wee Still Hours of the Morning a lot lately, and guess at what hours. Man, you ain't never been blue 'till you've heard his "Mood Indigo." It's an odd album, really, in its tenacious consistency. It's one goddamn sad-ass breakup song after another, sixteen of them in all, but you can't turn it off. Amazing.

i haven't heard it, i really should. i've heard precious few proper albums. i really want the '75 comeback special in vegas that pbs is always pushing... last year i listened to, or rather studied a little 20 song capitol compilation in my car for a good 3 months last year.

oh i forgot SANG. i nailed 'i've got you under my skin' and 'witchcraft' doing karaoke with strgn last week.

Kenan, I love that album, too, bit it's still small beer, or a Saturday afternoon at the carnival, compared to Only the Lonely.

but

I bought six Sinatra albums - Wee Small Hours, Only The Lonely, No One Cares, Songs For Swingin' Lovers, A Swingin' Affair and Come Fly With Me - a couple of weeks back. Haven't worked my way through all of them yet, but so far No One Cares kicks ass.

That cover!

http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/no-one%20cares_.jpg

A certain "demonic" torrent tracker had HQ rips of the original mono vinyl releases of Only The Lonely, Swing Along With Me, etc. and holy crap they're astounding.

I imagine they're still floating around out there.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/Sheshotmedown.jpg

^^^^^^^^^^ underrated

(that's She Shot Me Down btw)

She Shot My Toupee.

Somebody I used to teach with let me pick out some albums from an old box belonging to her dad and step-mom.

http://s.dsimg.com/image/R-150-1094776-1272634544.jpeg

1989 on Wifon, seems to be a Polish pressing. Really, have you ever seen a better likeness?

of whom?

Some random guy in a fedora who the artist happened to be thinking about when he was supposed to be sketching Frank Sinatra.

I really should check out She Shot Me Down

Many of the live albums recorded in later years are surprisingly good. The voice is more gravelly and less certain, but it undercuts the saccharine sweetness of some of the string arrangements he was using and works very well. The Meadowlands set that came out a couple of years ago is very good, as is the last disc of the Vegas box set.

I think I understand a grand total of three of the jokes Sinatra tells on this Sinatra at the Sands album and two of them are alarmingly racist (the other is about how drunk Dean Martin is)

I've been thinking of nominating Ol' Blue Eyes is Back (from 1973) on the 'New Jersey' thread for the last few days actually. Big 'event' album - re-emerging from a 3-year "retirement" - that went gold, but is largely forgettable, and with the notable exception of only one song there's not much memorable from then onward.

you can usually spot the French pop that was Anglicized in the '60s, but I had no idea "The Summer Wind" was of German origin.

http://sinatrafamily.com/forum/showthread.php/26318-SINGS-THE-SELECT-JOHNNY-MERCER-(1963-1995)-(plus-Sinatra-Mercer-Songindex)/page2

Did not know that either

or that Wayne Newton did the first English version, ye gods.

have we ever had a proper poll? seems odd that we haven't. i'd like the experts to rank the Capitol albums.

this was shown Xmas eve in the UK, as good a doc about him as i've ever seen, it's available to watch for another month

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rs3w6

Eventually I would like to own all of his sad-bastard ballad LPs - for now the only ones I have are Watertown and Only the Lonely, which are both fantastic.

Bought my mother that London Sessions box that came out this year, but I haven't heard it yet myself.

I bought the whole Capitol set not long ago. Fucking fantastic.

Songs for swingin lovers is the apex imo

FInally got around to hearing Only the Lonely... damn it's even heavier and bleaker than I imagined. And incredibly slow. This is my favorite Sinatra, his gloomy rope's-end persona. Where Are You? was my previous favorite LP. September of My Years is great also, if a little too positive.

Anyone heard Close to You, the one he did with a string quartet back in '57? Turned out to be a one-off experiment.

The Hollywood String Quartet, great players. I've always wanted to hear that.

Only the Lonely era is great but it can be a bit of a slog if I'm not in the mood. Prefer the lighter late 50s stuff myself

If you like Only the Lonely you must hear In the Wee Small Hours and the especially bleak No One Cares

yeah I lost my copies of those

any love for the Sands live album mentioned upthread? song performances are great, the stage banter is inscrutable

i love the Sands live album ..
but then again, i have a lot of love for most of franks groove whether it's late night whiskey excess (only the lonely being the ultimate), or uptown party (either of the albums with count basie).

song performances are great, the stage banter is inscrutable

Yeah, that about sums it up. Haven't heard it in a long while though.

I've been listening to some of the more offbeat ones lately - the two Jobim albums (both excellent), and Watertown, an entire album of Bob Gaudio/Jake Holmes songs that baffled his clientele upon its release. Will put Close to You on my upcoming listening list.

If you like Only the Lonely you must hear In the Wee Small Hours and the especially bleak No One Cares

Wee Small Hours was one of my gateway Sinatra albums. Have never heard No One Cares, although that must be one of the best album titles ever (and of course an equally classic cover).

Also love the Sands live album, the first Jobim one, and from the uptempo ones A Swingin' Affair stands out for sheer non-stop energy.

I wrote a ranking of Sinatra's peak period:
https://medium.com/@shujaxhaider/ranking-frank-sinatra-on-capitol-records-d5f1e5e95057

I'm also a No One Cares (and Gordon Jenkins in general) fan.

Surprised I haven't seen this type of ranking before! Would be interested to see how mine corresponds to a consensus.

this piece is great, well done

def agree about the top 5, tho maybe not in that precise order

volume 2 (the Chairman) goes deep into the mafia stuff - kinda unavoidable given the Sinatra/Kennedy/Giancana nexus

I wonder who will make the biopic now Marty has given it the elbow

https://news.avclub.com/martin-scorsese-says-he-s-giving-up-on-his-frank-sinatr-1798255980/amp

Ken Roberts:

"The hat check girl, Fran, came in, and said 'Someone just shot Bobby Kennedy', and Sinatra made the comment, 'I hope they shot him in the fuckin' head.'

A couple minutes later, she came back and said 'Yes, he was shot in the head.' Sinatra turned white and became so frightened and panicked... he thought that, while he was singing, someone might shoot him"

this book is fucking insane

important new developments:

There's a QAnon follower who angrily speculates that Pope Francis is secretly Frank Sinatra, who in reality died in 1998.

Sinatra going from a world-famous boozing philanderer to the celibate head of the Catholic Church would be quite a dramatic lifestyle change. pic.twitter.com/0udwW7o2H9

— Travis View (@travis_view) January 30, 2020

the end of this reminded me very much of the last chapters of the James Brown bio "The One". Not in the particulars (Frank didn't go on any PCP-fueled cross-country car chases), more in the dynamic of being emotionally isolated (and stunted) triumphal figures with nowhere to go but down. After being on top of the world he basically just regretfully slides into creative stagnation and a sort of blank, resentful resignation: no real friends or family, nothing to do, embalmed in his own legend. Did he think it was all worth it, at the end? who knows

also yes obviously Frank is the world's first 105-year old American pope

Frank didn't go on any PCP-fueled cross-country car chases

Cannonball Run II, yo.

https://pics.imcdb.org/12851/snap480.5.jpg

"Gas, grass, or ass, baby..."

https://pics.imcdb.org/12851/snap480.5.jpg

lol fair point

Brian Wilson talking about writing "Still I Dream of It" for Frank, how awesome "Only the Lonely" is etc

https://youtu.be/YZAwYF2tLbU?t=462

(thx to Tyler for the link!)

this is so great!

Apparently Capitol Recording Studios (where Frank recorded many of his greatest records, including Only the Lonely) has closed for good - the entire staff was laid off. Would be a shame if they gut it (which I guess will probably happen) - the famous echo chamber alone is irreplaceable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hDFSbsqn5U

Really? That is ... not good. Where did you hear that?

Here's what a freelance cutting engineer in L.A. posted last night:

"Stephen Marsh just told me that Capitol Tower Studios is closed and staff has been let go, Ron McMaster confirmed all mastering engineers, Perry and Dave in Restoration and even Paula Salvatore (!!!)"

McMaster is their longtime mastering engineer - he was supposed to retire like a decade ago, but he wound up staying due to the vinyl boom. (Very few people left have his experience in cutting vinyl.) He finally called it a day in 2018.

Salvatore may be familiar to anyone who's seen Dave Grohl's Sound City documentary - she used to run that studio before Capitol.

Ugh.

I checked back with their website to see if an official announcement had been made. It now says "SERVICES TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE." (https://www.capitolstudios.com/)

Actually, what am I talking about? There's a pandemic going on, so maybe it was already up for that.

Now it sounds like the studio won't be closing altogether. The entire staff has been let go, and the mastering department is probably gone for good, but if the pandemic improves and they can start booking regular sessions again, they're hoping to re-open. I hope that's the case. I thought they were doing fine relatively speaking so I'd be stunned if this was truly the end.