Customer Reviews

Best Of Columbia Years 1943-52 [4-CD SET]

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Recordings from the 1940s have a lot going against them as we begin the next century. From antiquated recording technology to the changes in our musical tastes from then to now, the listener must be ready to take a journey when slipping WWII era tunes into the CD player (or whatever comes next). The Sinatra 'Best of the Columbia Years' set makes that journey absolutely worth the ride.

Some of the finest popular recordings are found in this collection -- along with more than a couple that are less timeless and could have been left in the '40s. Forget the hard swinging Sinatra of the late '50s and early '60s. Listen to 'Stella by Starlight', 'The Song is You' and 'What'll I Do.' The long vocal passages, sung by a guy who really wants to know what he will do when his girl is gone -- and really hurts -- are still spellbinding. 'Night and Day' was an incredible song even in this early recording, and the quality of the recording is plenty good enough to recognize how impressive many of these songs really were -- and are.

With 94 tracks, it is pointless to list all the highlights here. It is riveting, however, to hear the origins of Sinatra classics such as 'Where or When', 'That Old Black Magic' and 'Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry.' What is remarkable is not that many of these songs sound dated ('Old Fashioned Walk' would be laughed off the shelves today, as would 'The Hucklebuck') but that many more make the listener forget the age of the music and feel the message.

The Sinatra of 1943-1952 is not for everybody, and there are some numbers here that have not aged well. But if you want to know Sinatra before the cigarettes and booze started to take his voice (after the '60s the effects are pronounced), this is a superb set. The quality of the music, the reasonable quality of the recordings and the first-rate booklet that accompanies the four CDs all make this a must have for Sinatra fans. No matter how much we enjoy the Sinatra of the Capitol years and the Las Vegas era, there is something compelling about these early tracks. Try this. Pick a forgotten song like 'Deep Night', turn down the lights, turn up the volume a bit and thank the engineers at Columbia for making this obscure bit of magic available to us half a century later.

"Frank Sinatra was like the Mount Everest for a songwriter: if you got Frank to do one of your songs, it was done right." ~ Antonio Carlos Jobim ~

This is *the* most comprehensive CD package I've ever came across in all Sinatra recordings. It's a 4-CD set consisting of his best recordings from Columbia Records from 1943 through 1952, which includes ninety-seven songs, most are rare recordings and some alternate takes. With the package is a very detailed and informative booklet of 76 pages that documents Frank Sinatra's fruitful tenure at Columbia Records. The introduction was written by his celebrated daughter, Nancy Sinatra, who singled out the most outstanding quality of her father, his honesty - "honesty that comes through in the lyrics, in the music, in everything that he does. It's that feeling that enables him to take for example, a Sammy Cahn lyric - with Sammy's deepest, most profound feelings - and make it understood by everybody. That's the mark of a great communicator, and not many people are able to do that sort of thing in the honest way he does!"

The booklet offers a chock-full of goodies such as photos of Sinatra with some of the musicians involved in these recordings -- mini photos of music sheets, album covers and single records; photos of songwriters Irving Berlin, Jonny Mercer, Rodgers & Hart, George & Ira Gershwin, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn; alphabetical song titles and CD location listing; a discography; a complete orchestra personnel listing in New York and Hollywood studios; brief information on arrangers Heinie Beau, Sy Oliver, Ray Conniff and Percy Faith; and the following interesting articles.

1. At The Heart of American Music by Daniel Okrent, Managing Editor of Life Magazine
2. The Essence of Axel by Will Friedwald, Author
3. Sinatra Standards by Roy Hemming, Classic Pop Historian
4. The Art of Recording by Charles Granata, Author, Sinatra Historian and Archivist
5. Sinatra In Transition - an appreciation by Will Friedwald, Author
6. Frankly Speaking - interviews and personal recollections by Dave Mann and Matt Dennis, Composers

One thing I admire about Frank Sinatra besides his many musical virtues was his deep sense of gratitude, he never fail to give credit when it's due especially to people whom he had worked with. And these are his thoughts: "I consider myself among the luckiest people in the world to have been able to make a career out of what I love to do - interpret wonderful music." It's a common knowledge that Sinatra's bright career started at Columbia and he declared that it was a "rare opportunity and a treasured gift having the opportunity to immerse himself in the talents of people like Axel Stordahl, the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Alec Wilder and Nat King Cole" while he was at Columbia Records. In addition, his pianist Stan Freeman commented that he only remembers Sinatra as "being very aware of what he wanted, and getting it! If he thought a flute or oboe part should be left out on one session, he would say so. He didn't have to take charge, but nominally he was in charge - and everybody knew that. He was always very pleasant, never any tantrums or anything."

Listening to these CDs gives me a touch of nostalgia that takes me back in time when I was growing up and constantly hearing these same songs played repeatedly by my late parents. These are the original recordings and I guess Sinatra's renditions are more subdued and reserved as opposed to the second or even third recordings. In my opinion, there is that element of restraint in the way he interpreted them as compared to his passionate performances in the succeeding years from 1953 through the last years of his recording career. But don't get me wrong, I still consider these CDs five-star materials. They are truly remarkable and the songs that stand out and the most wonderful from this set are as follow.

Disc 1
"Close To You," "If You Are But A Dream," "Stormy Weather," "Embraceable You," "Where Or When," "All The Things You Are," "Dream," "If I Loved You," "Someone To Watch Over Me," "You Go To My Head," "These Foolish Things," "Day By Day," "Put Your Dreams Away" and "I Should Care."

Disc 2
"Always," "Mam'selle," "Time After Time," "Try A Little Tenderness," "Full Moon And Empty Arms," "Begin The Beguine," "They Say It's Wonderful," "That Old Black Magic," "Five Minutes More," "The Things We Did Last Summer" and "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry."

Disc 3
"My Romance," "If I Had You," "Stella By Starlight," "But Beautiful," "All Of Me," "Night And Day," "The Song Is You," "S'posin'," "What'll I Do?," "Fools Rush In," "I've Got A Crush On You," "It All Depends On You" and "Some Enchanted Evening."

Disc 4
"You Do Something To Me," "When You're Smiling," "Nevertheless," "The Birth of the Blues," "Should I Reveal?" and "I Could Write A Book."

This is Axel Stordahl's greatest contribution to Sinatra's rise to stardom. He was called the "Father of Modern Vocal Orchestrations" for his exceptional arrangements on most of the tracks. Nelson Riddle once said that Stordahl was his favorite arranger/conductor. He was Sinatra's very first conductor and musical director. He was described by Will Friedwald as "the man who helped popular music's greatest vocalist lay the foundation for his entire career."

I agree with another great Sinatra arranger who was also very impressed with the works of Stordahl, Don Costa, when he said; "Nobody wrote ballads as pretty as he did until many years later when Nelson Riddle came along. I think he was really the "Daddy" that people began to learn from in the sense of writing orchestrations. He was really the most prolific of his time."

Here's to the magic of wonderful music courtesy of Sinatra and his great orchestrators/arrangers in these recordings: Axel Stordahl, Sy Oliver, Heinie Beau, Ray Conniff, Norman Leyden, Mitch Miller, George Siravo, Alec Wilder, Jeff Alexander, John Guarnieri and Percy Faith. And not to mention the special contributions of his guest musicians: Nat King Cole (piano "Sweet Lorraine"), Johnny Hodges (alto sax "Sweet Lorraine"), Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax "Sweet Lorraine"), Dinah Shore (duet "My Romance"), Felix Slatkin (violin "Always") and Ray Charles Singers ("I'm A Fool To Want You").

The songs in these CDs are the very same songs that launched the bright career of the Chairman of the Board. These are the original recordings that speak of simple elegance and honest-to-goodness interpretations devoid of any technical tricks.

To any serious Sinatra collector, this is an essential add-on.

"I adore making records. I'd rather do that than almost anything else." ~ Frank Sinatra ~

This 97-song, 4-CD set includes a large 68-page handsomely illustrated booklet and contains the best of Sinatra's work, mainly ballads and some swingy tunes, of the period 1943-52. One can easily hear the smooth phrasing and pure tonal quality of young Sinatra's voice in the 1940's, the silky sound that made 'em swoon, a time before years of overuse and overdoing took their toll on his instrument.

Sinatra's work at Columbia was true crooning. The Bing Crosby influence is at its most pronounced on these recordings. It's easy to see why young Frankie's weepy, longing voice kept WW II wives company while their GI husbands were away. Much more sentimental stuff than anything he did for Capitol or Reprise. The remastering of the original recordings (they took the master from a re-pressing of the record mold) is marvelous. You won't believe that records this old can sound this good. Romantic music of a bygone era. If you like Bing and Perry, you'll love Frank "Swoonatra" when he was a teen idol here. Note the very different way Axel Stordhall arranged as opposed to Nelson Riddle (at Capitol). It's not as swinging, but will tug at your heart.

Sinatra's work at Columbia was true crooning. The Bing Crosby influence it at its most pronounced on these recordings. It's easy to see why young Frankie's weepy, longing voice kept WW II wives company while their GI husbands were away. Much more sentimental stuff than anything he did for Capitol or Reprise. The remastering of the original recordings (they took the master from a re-pressing of the record mold) is marvelous. You won't believe that records this old can sound this good. Romantic music of a bygone era. If you like Bing and Perry, you'll love Frank "Swoonatra" when he was a teen idol here. Note the very different way Axel Stordhall arranged as opposed to Nelson Riddle (at Capitol). It's not as swinging, but will tug at your heart.

The greatest singer of all time, Frank Sinatra, will always live on, thanks to the countless recordings he did over his 60-year career. He is the voice of our love, happiness, sorrow, guilt, regret, and holidays. He was also the voice that provided comfort for women on the homefront during World War II while the husbands were overseas serving our country. They flocked to the Paramount Theatre or the 500 Club to see him, they screamed, yelled, caused riots, fainted, etc. Before Elvis, before the Beatles, Frankie made them swoon.

Sinatra began recording for Columbia in 1943 after a few years singing and making records with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and as a loyal Sinatra fan, the necessity of owning this 4-CD set did not go over me. These are my absolute favorite Sinatra recordings... they are tender, sentimental, heartfelt... true crooning in all aspects of the term. He was the first singer to put all of himself into the words he sang, to truly pour his soul into the songs. And the world hasn't seen another one like him since.

In comparison to his Capitol and Reprise years, Frank Sinatra's tenure at his first label, Columbia, is unfairly forgotten about by most. And at first glance, it's easy to see why, as artistically, it's easily his weakest period. There's nothing on here as memorable or as artistically impressive as, say, "I've Got You Under My Skin", and Frank's voice had not yet matured into the rich, provocative instrument it would become, nor had be begun to work with arrangers as talented as Nelson Riddle or Don Costa (though Axl Strodahl more than holds his own).

That being said, the 97 tracks featured on "The Best Of The Columbia Years" are nothing to sneeze at. This is Frank in all his youthful glory. His voice isn't as resonant or raw as it on his later recordings, but his way of interpreting a song properly like no other past or present is in full bloom.

For the most part, the songs are on the slower side of things, which for me is excellent. To hear Frank's voice in such a youthful, intimate manner is simply a thrill. It makes songs like "Close To You", "If You Are But A Dream", "The Things We Did Last Summer" and many others sound all the more endearing and passionate. Of course, the album does swing in many instances, and those tracks work just as well.

Many of the songs here (such as, "Someone To Watch Over Me", "Put Your Dreams Away", "Nancy", "Where Or When", "Oh, What It Seemed To Be", "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry", "All Of Me", "Night And Day" and especially "One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) were perfected at Frank's latter recording labels, without these, the excellent in their own right originals, as the foundation for those wonderful later renditions, it's unlikely those later versions would have been half as good (though I'm amazed at the striking difference between the lackluster 1947 version of "One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)" and the masterful 1958 rendition, as they're almost two completely different songs).

The sound quality is fantastic despite some distant static, and the booklet and overall packaging are boh simply magnifcint. This a an absolute must have that all Sinatra fans should snatch up without hesitation.

"Frank Sinatra was like the Mount Everest for a songwriter: if you got Frank to do one of your songs, it was done right." ~ Antonio Carlos Jobim ~

This is *the* most comprehensive CD package I've ever came across in all Sinatra recordings. It's a 4-CD set consisting of his best recordings from Columbia Records from 1943 thru 1952, which includes ninety-seven songs, most are rare recordings and some alternate takes. With the package is a very detailed and informative booklet of 76 pages that documents Frank Sinatra's fruitful tenure at Columbia Records. The introduction was written by his celebrated daughter, Nancy Sinatra, who singled out the most outstanding quality of her father, his honesty - "honesty that comes through in the lyrics, in the music, in everything that he does. It's that feeling that enables him to take for example, a Sammy Cahn lyric - with Sammy's deepest, most profound feelings - and make it understood by everybody. That's the mark of a great communicator, and not many people are able to do that sort of thing in the honest way he does!"

The booklet offers a chock-full of goodies such as photos of Sinatra with some of the musicians involved in these recordings -- mini photos of music sheets, album covers and single records; photos of songwriters Irving Berlin, Jonny Mercer, Rodgers & Hart, George & Ira Gershwin, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn; alphabetical song titles and CD location listing; a discography; a complete orchestra personnel listing in New York and Hollywood studios; brief information on arrangers Heinie Beau, Sy Oliver, Ray Conniff and Percy Faith; and the following interesting articles.

1. At The Heart of American Music by Daniel Okrent, Managing Editor of Life Magazine
2. The Essence of Axel by Will Friedwald, Author
3. Sinatra Standards by Roy Hemming, Classic Pop Historian
4. The Art of Recording by Charles Granata, Author, Sinatra Historian and Archivist
5. Sinatra In Transition - an appreciation by Will Friedwald, Author
6. Frankly Speaking - interviews and personal recollections by Dave Mann and Matt Dennis, Composers

One thing I admire about Frank Sinatra besides his many musical virtues was his deep sense of gratitude, he always gave credit when it's due especially to people whom he had worked with. And these are his thoughts: "I consider myself among the luckiest people in the world to have been able to make a career out of what I love to do - interpret wonderful music." It's a common knowledge that Sinatra's bright career started at Columbia and he declared that it was a "rare opportunity and a treasured gift having the opportunity to immerse himself in the talents of people like Axel Stordahl, the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Alec Wilder and Nat King Cole" while he was at Columbia Records. In addition, his pianist Stan Freeman commented that he only remembers Sinatra as "being very aware of what he wanted, and getting it! If he thought a flute or oboe part should be left out on one session, he would say so. He didn't have to take charge, but nominally he was in charge - and everybody knew that. He was always very pleasant, never any tantrums or anything."

Listening to these CDs gives me a touch of nostalgia that takes me back in time when I was growing up and constantly hearing these same songs played repeatedly by my late parents. These are the original recordings and I guess Sinatra's renditions are more subdued and reserved as opposed to the second or even third recordings. In my opinion, there is that element of restraint in the way he interpreted them as compared to his passionate performances in the succeeding years from 1953 thru the last years of his recording career. But don't get me wrong, I still consider these CDs five-star materials. They are truly remarkable and the songs that stand out and the most wonderful from this set are as follow.

Disc 1
"Close To You," "If You Are But A Dream," "Stormy Weather," "Embraceable You," "Where Or When," "All The Things You Are," "Dream," "If I Loved You," "Someone To Watch Over Me," "You Go To My Head," "These Foolish Things," "Day By Day," "Put Your Dreams Away" and "I Should Care."

Disc 2
"Always," "Mam'selle," "Time After Time," "Try A Little Tenderness," "Full Moon And Empty Arms," "Begin The Beguine," "They Say It's Wonderful," "That Old Black Magic," "Five Minutes More," "The Things We Did Last Summer" and "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry."

Disc 3
"My Romance," "If I Had You," "Stella By Starlight," "But Beautiful," "All Of Me," "Night And Day," "The Song Is You," "S'posin'," "What'll I Do?," "Fools Rush In," "I've Got A Crush On You," "It All Depends On You" and "Some Enchanted Evening."

Disc 4
"You Do Something To Me," "When You're Smiling," "Nevertheless," "The Birth of the Blues," "Should I Reveal?" and "I Could Write A Book."

This is Axel Stordahl's greatest contribution to Sinatra's rise to stardom. He was called the "Father of Modern Vocal Orchestrations" for his exceptional arrangements on most of the tracks. Nelson Riddle once said that Stordahl was his favorite arranger/conductor. He was Sinatra's very first conductor and musical director. He was described by Will Friedwald as "the man who helped popular music's greatest vocalist lay the foundation for his entire career."

I agree with another great Sinatra arranger who was also very impressed with the works of Stordahl, Don Costa, when he said; "Nobody wrote ballads as pretty as he did until many years later when Nelson Riddle came along. I think he was really the "Daddy" that people began to learn from in the sense of writing orchestrations. He was really the most prolific of his time."

Here's to the magic of wonderful music courtesy of Sinatra and his great orchestrators/arrangers in these recordings: Axel Stordahl, Sy Oliver, Heinie Beau, Ray Conniff, Norman Leyden, Mitch Miller, George Siravo, Alec Wilder, Jeff Alexander, John Guarnieri and Percy Faith. And not to mention the special contributions of his guest musicians: Nat King Cole (piano "Sweet Lorraine"), Johnny Hodges (alto sax "Sweet Lorraine"), Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax "Sweet Lorraine"), Dinah Shore (duet "My Romance"), Felix Slatkin (violin "Always") and Ray Charles Singers ("I'm A Fool To Want You").

The songs in these CDs are the very same songs that launched the bright career of the Chairman of the Board. These are the original recordings that speak of simple elegance and honest-to-goodness interpretations devoid of any technical tricks.

To any serious Sinatra collector, this is an essential add-on.

"I adore making records. I'd rather do that than almost anything else." ~ Frank Sinatra ~

Teenagers always assume that nothing interesting or important every happened before their memories begin, that their generation invented everything worth knowing about. My father understood this when I was a baby boom teen, and patiently told me that some day I might find even the most gifted pop idols of my era (the Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Hendrix) a bit musically limiting. And that I might someday appreciate the music of Frank Sinatra, who he told me was a bit of a pop idol himself in his youth.. It took a long while, but I came around, just as the old man predicted. Quality rules, and Sinatra always had Quality. And yet all my Sinatra listening to date focused on the great Capital Records and Reprise recordings of the 50's and 60's, when Sinatra was a mature singer,and no longer a pop idol. Thus it is fascinating to hear the voice that had the girls screaming back the 40's. And what a great voice it was.

In fact, Sinatra was arguably a better pure vocalist in 1944 or 1945 than he would ever be again. The young Frank was the Voice, with an impressive range, perfect pitch, smoothness and great feel for the often sophisticated lyrics he sang. True, the earliest recordings on disc 1 sound somewhat dated, but by the 2nd of the 4 discs in this set, the music begins to rival anything Sinatra ever recorded. The overall quality of this set is impressive. True, his later recordings of "Nancy with the Laughing Face" and some other classics are an improvement on the early originals in this set, but his ballads are the epitome of smooth during his young Columbia years. You can hear for yourself what all the female screaming was about.

Extra bonus treat for Baby Boomers: Sinatra's take on "Try a Little Tenderness" (young girls they do get weary) from 1944, 22 years before Otis Redding made it a hit. Not saying its better than the soul classic, but Frank's take was certainly a fine one a very long time before we ever heard it done.

This is great music! Sinatra became a superstar with the songs in this collection. So, if you are a fan of Sinatra's later Capitol and Reprise years, then you might want to take a listen to this music. It will be very worthwhile.

BUT! BUT! BUT!

But, for about the same price, you can also have three times as much Sinatra music from this period if you download the 285 songs of THE COLUMBIA YEARS (1943-1952): THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS. You will get 12 discs worth of music. It's a bargain. I know, you will need to make your own cds -- but the download will go on your mp3 player!

Anyhow, it's just a thought. Also, if you have a hard time finding this four disc set, but don't want the big download, look for PORTRAIT OF SINATRA: COLUMBIA CLASSICS. It's a two disc set, and probably the best introduction to this era of Sinatra's music.

Another way to listen to this period is A VOICE IN TIME. It's another four disc set with much newer remastering plus some additional music from Sinatra's time with Harry James, as well as his Tommy Dorsey years. Highly recommended.