Customer Reviews

Come Dance With Me

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although I own almost 40 Sinatra albums, I had missed this one for some reason. The critical reputation of "Songs for Swinging Lovers" as Sinatra's best Capital jazz album and my own preference for the first Sinatra-Basie Reprise meeting led me to believe I could afford to take a pass on this one (moreover, I already had a copy of the other Sinatra-May classic, "Come Fly with Me"). Now I don't see how I managed to survive without this album, which may be the most satisfying, straight-ahead swinger of the lot. It's freer and more exhuberant than any other Capital album, and the voice has edge without some of the roughness of the Reprise recordings. Hearing Sinatra work out on "It All Depends on You" was eerily like catching Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons playing the same tune in a Chicago Southside lounge on Chicago's many years ago. The added tracks with Keely Smith are fun and spontaneous, providing an additional measure of satisfaction. The listener leaves the recording with a rare sense of fullness, of having gotten far more than he bargained for in these days when record albums no longer go for $3.98.

Billy May brings his usual outrageous arrangements to back Sinatra's swingingest album. May is the guy who arranged Come Fly with Me, and everything here moves until the last track on the original record, 'Last Dance'. Sinatra fans will remember his spectacular and wild 'On the Road to Mandalay' from 'Come Fly...' and his even wilder 'Granada' from the Reprise 'Sinatra Swings' album. But 'Come Dance with Me' is fast Sinatra in his prime.

The album opens with a Cahn and Van Heusen tune that is only average (for that team), but from the second track onward the album soars. 'Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week' is a great update on the 1950 Columbia/George Siravo version, 'I Could Have Danced All Night' and 'Just in Time' are ecstatic and the list goes on. If there is anything to complain about here (and there almost isn't anything), it is that nearly every track runs at a breathless pace until the end. The remedy, of course, is to play one of the ballad albums to cool down afterward.

Capitol has added four 'bonus' tracks to the original set. These are great numbers, two with Capitol's Keely Smith, a talent in her own right, and I have no objection to hearing songs the caliber of 'It All Depends on You' and 'How Are Ya' Fixed for Love?' tacked on.

There is probably no more purely FUN Sinatra album out there. Really a classic album, with the ultimate 1950s cover art! -- strongly recommended.

Even at age 44 I am a "recent" convert to the awesome talent that was Frank Sinatra. I am an especially big fan of the "swinging" albums. In the past few months I have purchased 13 CDs in an attempt to "catch up." Most fans and critics will tell you (and rightly so) that "Songs for Swingin' Lovers!" (Frank's first for Capitol) and "Ring-a-Ding-Ding" (his first for Reprise) may be Frank's best efforts in the "swingin'" genre. BUT...

This album is amazing, and after many comparitive listens, my absolute favorite! There isn't one dog on the whole LP, and the two duets with Keely Smith are just FABulous. The Billy May arrangements just absolutely JUMP, and Frank sounds like he's having a gasser, baby.

If you have the slightest interest in the Voice, YOU MUST HAVE THIS ALBUM in your collection.

Frank Sinatra and Billy May just swing like crazy on this record. The powerful sound of this big band with Frank Sinatra blows away any big-band vocal album I've ever heard (including most of Sinatra's other records). I got this on cassette when I was 17 years old, and could not get enough of it. Almost 17 years later I am still floored by how great this music is. I think anyone who things that "old fashioned" music is dull should be forced to listen to this one cranked up loud, because there is nothing like the raw energy of a big band screaming at you like this. The trumpets and trombones are high-octane enough to blow you through the back wall of your listening room. This record is the evidence that proves Sinatra was the master of big band singing. His timing, phrasing, and his energy are just so right on and up-beat. If you don't love this record, you will never like Sinatra. To those of you interested in sound quality: Look for the older cd re-issue of this album, not the one issued under the "Entertainer of the Century" banner. The new remastering is, to me, lacking in bass and has a very "dead" sound compared to the vinyl, giving the sound very little spacial quality. The old mastering preserved more of the acoustics of the recording studio "room tone" and sounds significantly better.

Five stars doesn't do this album justice. Frank and Billy May's musical stars were perfectly aligned when they recorded their second album for Capitol in 1958. It is bold, brassy, and the most unabashed uptempo album Sinatra ever recorded. Frank is at the absolute zenith of his vocal powers, and May's in-your-face charts exude perfect synergy and jazzy exuberance. The Chairman is in perfect form - his timing, phrasing and voice are stunning. This is five-star, prime Sinatra, and it shines through on every song in the album. I wouldn't even know where to begin in picking a favorite, but "Just In Time" is arguably the definitive version of a timeless classic, and the four bonus tracks including two duets with Keely Smith are wonderful. I can't praise this Sinatra treaasure enough. It is an essential purchase for all Sinatraphiles and the greatest swing album of the last fifty years. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

"The mix was magical, the older songs sitting very comfortably with the newer ones, all united by Sinatra's effortless interpretative savvy, breathtakingly beautiful singing and easy-sounding rhythmic mastery and May's equally masterly, imaginatively resourceful and surprise-filled orchestrations. Music just doesn't get any better than this." ~ Pete Welding ~

Pete Welding says it all -- all the good points and everything beautiful about this CD, which is one of the liveliest and most cheerful Sinatra recordings. Both Frank Sinatra and Billy May have outdone themselves in the exuberant and zesty interpretations as well as its high-spirited and stimulating arrangements and orchestrations. Like most of Sinatra's orchestrators, Billy May is quite a genius of an arranger/conductor/orchestrator. Some of his greatest works include Sinatra's "Come Fly With Me," the Carpenters Christmas album "A Christmas Portrait" and of course this awesome album "Come Dance With Me!"

If I were stranded on a desert island, I would love to have this amazing CD with me. I could listen to it for hours and hours without tiring. How can you not love this CD when there's never a single dull moment listening to all the tracks especially the opener . . .

"Hey there cutes
Put on your Basie boots
And come dance with me."

And as the CD progresses, you'll be delightfully invigorated with "Something's Gotta Give," "Just In Time," "Dancing In The Dark, "Too Close For Comfort" and "The Song Is You." Tell me if you have snapped your fingers while listening or have taken a bold step and started dancing even without a dancing partner.

"I Could Have Danced All Night" "Cheek To Cheek" with Mr. Sinatra even if it's the "Same Old Song And Dance" and hoping that it wouldn't be "The Last Dance." "Day In, Day Out," he will be dancing with you. "It All Depends On You" if you'll let him, but while you're dancing with him wear "Baubles, Bangles And Beads." :)

Well, the above paragraph is just the lighter side of this review. Listening to this CD is so infectiously refreshing and it will make you feel alive and in a jolly good mood. Please pardon my pun! :)

In closing, this is one of the tops from my Sinatra collection. The fact that it earned three major well-deserved awards at the 1959 Second Annual Grammy Awards for "Album of the Year," "Best Male Vocal Performance" and "Best Arrangement" made it even more a collector's item.

"I'll never know what made it so exciting
Why all at once my heart took flight
I only know when he began to dance with me
I could have danced, danced, danced all night."

Even if you are just a casual Sinatra fan, this album is an absolute must have. Bar for bar, note for note, this is Sinatra's swingingest album. It is also among my most favorite. This is probably one of the best swing albums ever recorded in the history of music. No joking, Sinatra's voice is in top form and Billy May provides some of the greatest, most complex horn arrangements ever written. The remastering is awsome and sounds incredible. (And let's not forget Keely Smith, probably the most under-rated female singer in American music, just hearing her sing with Sinatra on two tracks is worth the price of this CD.)

This album cleary shows that Frank was the greatest singer of American song. After hearing "The Voice" sing the standards, they just don't sound quite right when sung by anyone else. Frankie made those standards his own and took numerous generations of Americans along for the joyous ride.

Noone will ever come close to Frank. Ol Blue Eyes, Mr. Chairman, and Entertainer of The Century, Frank is and will always be....simply the best.

Not only should it be required listening for all singers but for for all arrangers, orchestrators, conductors, recording engineers, band and orchestra players and finally ALL those people who purport that they are experts in being able to define the real definition of phrasing, syncopation, the difference in marcato, staccato, crescendo, climax (for non-musicians and journalists for that matter), you don't build to a crescendo. Crescendo means to build (crescendo) to a climax. Decrescendo means to relax or soften or diminish gradually from the climax...this album is an entire education in how to sing and swing this type of music. It's Perfect!! It should be used by Paramedics and E.R. Docs to restart failing hearts. It's too bad the pharmaceuticul houses can't bottle it. They'd make another fortune. Wonderful! Marvelous! Precious! Timeless! Irreplaceable! And in the the most simple terms....Excitingly Right!!!

This Frank Sinatra album, arranged by Billy May, features a lot of up tempo swinging songs, many of which are about dancing. The only ballad on the album is "The Last Dance", which fittingly was the closing song on the original album. This is an excellent album, with Sinatra singing at the top of his form. The CD adds four bonus tracks, all also arranged by Billy May. They include the two fun duets Sinatra recorded with Keely Smith, who was the wife of Louis Prima, the man she usually sang duets with. Sinatra fans will dig this album.

This is one of Sinatra's classic theme albums with all the songs revolving around having a great time. Five stars isn't sufficient for an album that contains some of the great vocal tracks ever sung by Sinatra. Riddle's arrangements are nothing short of electric and infuse Sinatra's voice with a verve and exuerbance rarely heard. This is an album where you can put it on, hit play and never fast forward, all the songs are eminently Sinatraesque and every single arrangement has a touch of genius.

Frank's phrasing is (as always at this stage of his career) letter perfect. Listen to "Something's Gotta Give," never a particular hit for Frank and he rarely sang it live, but who cares? It's immortalized here, forever. One wonders why he didn't incorporate this marvelously swinging song into his live repertoire.

If you love Sinatra, you will already have had this on vinyl and cassette (maybe even eight track). If you're new to Frank, don't hesitate one moment: grab it and listen to it for the rest of your life.