Customer Reviews

Complete Capitol Singles Collection

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Many fans and music critics seem to agree that Frank Sinatra's years with Capitol (1953-61) represent the zenith of his recording career.

Sinatra's Capitol output divided itself nicely into two distinct entities: the legendary albums (Only The Lonely, Songs For Swingin Lovers, Come Fly With Me et al) and the quick 2 and a half to 3 minute shots at hitting the top 40.

While Sinatra oversaw every aspect of his albums, he had a staff of song pluggers and Capitol A&R men helping to choose the singles material.

The quality of the singles varied greatly-- from the ultra hip "Witchcraft," to the seductive "Talk To Me" right through Frank's only (thank goodness) attempt at the rock market:
"Two Hearts--Two Kisses"

In this sensational box set, Capitol has issued every commercial Capitol single recorded by Sinatra over a 7 year span.

Though the quality of the material varies, Sinatra's performances remain uniformly superb....he sings "Ol Mac Donald" with the same energy and conviction as he demonstates on "Witchcraft" and "Nice N Easy."

Though he occasionally experimented with different arrangers for his singles output, the vast majority of the material was arranged by the twin geniuses: Billy May and Nelson Riddle.

Capitol has outdone itself with his box...the mastering of the original material is superb and the booklet by Will Friedwald (from whom I lifted the title of this review) is filled with sensational anecdotes and some hip inside references.

Owning this package and the Complete Reprise Studio Recordings from Warner Brothers is like having a Mercedes and a Rolls in the same garage.

The man was the finest popular singer of our time.

Allow me to start by saying that this set is NOT for the newcomer to Frank by any means. This set is for the true Sinatraphile. A comprehensive set of every Sinatra single released by Capitol records, newcomers will recognize very few of these songs. True fans, however, will find years of delight between the covers of this set.

There are, technicaly, three different Frank Sinatras. The first, the skinny pompadoured honey-voiced crooner that made many a girl swoon in the 30's and 40's can be encapsulated by his recordings with Columbia records, and is sure satisfy your need for nostalgia with its mono recordings and the youthful immaturity of emotion which he sings. The second, exemplified by this set, shows Frank as he enters into middle age. His voice has aged somewhat and the depth of all life's emotions is evident in these recordings. The third (and, in my opinion, the best) Frank Sinatra is the Reprise Sinatra. Older, weathered, his singing shows that he has reached the bottom as well as the top in his life.

If you are new to Sinatra and have some extra cash to burn, buy the Capitol or Reprise box set, both of which come with many songs that will be familiar to you as well as some new treasures to discover. Once you're a seasoned veteran, by all means, open up your pocketbook and send Amazon.com some cash, because you NEED this set.

The trouble with buying Mr. Sinatra's recordings is that many overlap between the original vinyl now on CD,and other more lenghty collections. That's why this 4-disc CAPITOL collection is so good.There are some swingers and ballads here that to me at least,a die hard fan,were unknown before hearing them here.True, a few are not top drawer Frank,but there are many peak performances here with Frank,and usually,Nelson Riddle.These include "My One and Only Love",which I admit I almost disliked on first listening.Now it is among my all-time favorite Frank ballads.Listen to this wondrous love song,and you'll know why Frank helped make a better world with so many tunes.The same is true with "You My Love","Look to your Heart","Tell Her You Love Her" (a slightly faster tempo),"Time After Time",and "This Was My Love".Any young couple who can sing these songs together (try karaoke?!) should head right to the altar,and will probably live happily ever after. (Except for "This Was My Love",actually a sad number).For swingers try "Mr. Success",a real blaster with lyrics Frank may have helped write.The same holds for the practically unknown "Ya Better Stop",an arrangement full of fun,wit,and brassy horns,even ending on the singer's amusing fade out comments.Duets like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire",and "Well did you evah" with Mr. Crosby are just a few more of the fun numbers balancing this collection. As in any large assortment,there are a few near-misses,including a goofy "Sea Song",a 1950's version of turn of the century vaudeville (smaltz?!)But a few near misses don't take away from the fact that there must be at least 50 smashes on here,many difficult to find anywhere else.Bottom Line: This a great collection of Frank,unique from many others,and will never go out of style,and is worth the investment several times over...Listening to Frank's best 1950's recordings put the lie to the common smug comments that the 50's were dull,bland,etc...

For those who own the magnificent "The Capitol Years" boxed set, "The Complete Capitol Singles Collection" is the perfect companion piece to that set. Whereas "The Capitol Years" contained the many classic album cuts that Frank cut during his 9 year tenure at the label as well as some previous unreleased material, "The Complete Capitol Singles Collections," as its title implies, contains the many great singles he cut for the label. While certain songs are indeed duplicated ("I've Got The World On A String," "Witchcraft," "All The Way,"), the majority of the songs are new and have been hard to find for quite some time.

There's nothing as powerful as "Angel Eyes" or as technically impressive as "I've Got You Under My Skin," but what you do get is 96 perfectly crafted pop singles that while not all hits provide further proof that Frank Sinatra was and is the greatest singer of all time. Each song features Frank at his absolute peak vocally, his unique phrasing and astonshing syncopation, timing and breath control all on full display. No matter the song being a swinger or ballad, all of these songs are imbued with a great sense of artistic integrity as Frank put the same amount of passion and sincerity into every recording he ever made, whether it was something as beautiful as "All The Way" or as inane as his risque take on "Ol' Mac Donald."

The cd is very nicely packaged and comes with a great booklet and essay by various Sinatraphiles. A worthwile purchase for sure.

Frank Sinatra parted ways with longtime label Columbia after creative differences (to put it mildly) with Mitch Miller, signing a seven-year contract with Capitol in March 1953. Part of the agreement was that he retained his longtime arranger Axel Stordahl for several sessions to see if the orchestrations resulted in hit records. They didn't, and Capitol switched Frank over to Nelson Riddle in the style of Billy May.

Sinatra's earliest singles from this period are strongly transitional; indeed, I'm Walking Behind You from April 1953 sounds as if it could have been plucked from mid-40s takes, with Frank's soft, restrained vocals failing to "rock the boat." However, I've Got the World On A String from April 1953 under Riddle shows a brassy, assertive Frank, although not quite in command of his hard-swinging persona as he would be in later years. On later tracks such as River, Stay `Way From My Door (1960), Frank is aggressive, poised, and in full command of the nuances of the song, pushing his voice to its edges until the song culminates in a fireworks-filled climax. Frank's recording of Sentimental Journey from 1960, conducted by Billy May, features the fascinating combination of the more assertive, swinging 1950s Sinatra with a mellow, nostalgic arrangement. He takes Day's song and makes it his own. Frank also recorded several nods to other popular experiments such as Bobby Darin's Clementine in his rollicking update of Ol' MacDonald (complete with "eh-huh" imitation of Darin's "hup-hups").

The four discs are chronologically arranged, and many of Frank's most memorable songs came from his golden Hollywood era: Three Coins in the Fountain, Wait For Me, Well Did You Evah?, To Love and Be Loved, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, rerecorded versions of I Believe, Time After Time, It's the Same Old Dream and Everybody Loves Somebody. It's fascinating to compare Frank's rerecorded Columbia catalogue, particularly when compared to his even later Reprise rerecordings to hear how his style (and the tastes of the time) changed. Disc three includes some of Sinatra's Christmas favorites such as The Christmas Waltz and Mistletoe and Holly. The five bonus tracks featured on disc four are interesting; Look to Your Heart from 1955 sounds much more like mid-40s Columbia, while You Better Stop from 1953 is bold and sassy.

Of particular merit are the excellent liner notes by Will Friedwald, filled with fascinating trivia, musical analysis, recollections of those who worked closely with Frank, vintage photos and reproductions of sheet music and album art. There are also cartoonish line drawings printed in gold on heavy cardstock that add to the period feel. The back lists the tracks, catalog numbers, conductors, recording dates, and musicians.

For the casual Frank fan, this highlight of the massive Capitol box set (21 CDs total) should be enough to amply display Frank's maturation since his earliest days in 1939 with Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, and his works with Axel on Columbia from 1943-1952; his embracing of a bold, jazzy, aggressive swinging persona and more vocal experimentation with phrasing and timing, his parroting of popular trends, and the wide range of film and stage material that he recorded. The liner notes only sweeten the deal.

I'm buying this set only because of one song that's never been on any Sinatra album ever. That song is "You, My Love" -- last song of Disc #1. A very popular torch song in Manila, Philippines -- this is also the "other" theme song of "Young At Heart" -- the movie's theme music being composed by the Sinatra character in the movie and couldn't complete the score till the end. Give the song a listen sometime and see if this isn't the most underrated song of Frank. I still need to hear this song on the airwaves (Attn: Sid Mark & Charlie Tuna) --

Lino Aldana adaldana@uci.edu

Many of us baby boomers fell in love with the great voice of Frank Sinatra when we were kids in the 50's hearing adults around us playing his great lp's and listening to his wonderful Singles on the radio which is what this wonderous collection of Sinatra classics is all about so each great song was specially crafted for the radio to be a hit and many more than were should have been...this is an incredibly great collection of gems from the genius!!! Arrangements are first rate and this collection is a keeper from a peerless legend who continues to enrich our life in a way that only he could...thank you Mr. Sinatra for leaving us such a treasure chest of musical magic to enjoy over and over again and you are missed!!!

The original reviewer is quite wrong when she states this is not for the purist.All of these singles where not included in Franks concept albums and to miss this collection would be a shame.You need this collection to go along with all the others,I know I have them all.Ring a ding ding!

I will not waste my time - or that of the 'gentle reader' - trying to add to Will Friedwald's analysis and history of this music - both in his notes to this set and his book, THE SONG IS YOU. But I WILL say that Bob Norberg's transfers are stellar; the original ambiance of these tracks has been RESPECTED, and put over beautifully. If only he had done the "Entertainer of the Century" series in the same way. (Instead...)

It should go without saying that a collection of tunes - all intentionally marketed as singles - will run the whole gamut...There are hits ("I've Got The World On A String", "Three Coins In The Fountain", "Young At Heart", "Learnin' The Blues"); 'nervous' hits ("My One And Only Love", "South Of The Border", "Rain Falling From The Sky"); near-misses ("Ol' MacDonald Had A Farm...and on this farm he had a chick..." - you can go from there); outright misses ("It's Over, It's Over, It's Over"), and some hidden gems ("To Love And Be Loved", "Half As Lovely, Twice As True", "Sleep Warm", "Time After Time", "Weep They Will").

The real boon, though, is that we get first-class transfers of the "singles" which comprised ALL THE WAY, OF LOVE AND THINGS, LOOK TO YOUR HEART, THIS IS SINATRA & THIS IS SINATRA, VOLUME 2. The latter was a collection of several choice "B-sides" and hidden gems. But the "first" volume of THIS IS SINATRA was one of the GREAT Sinatra albums, period. Not, strictly speaking, a "Concept Album" recorded around a "theme", nevertheless, the performances - and the songs themselves - are so strong, so artfully sequenced in an alternation between the sassy and the wistful (or both !) , that the whole album "played" as cohesively as a "Concept Album". Or to put it another way, this "alternation" was itself the "theme" or Concept (sort of like life?). Since the contents of this box are NOT in strict chronological order to begin with, it would have been nice if these 12 tracks had been presented in that perfect, original LP sequence. But if you KNOW that sequence, you can arrange it, yourself :

"THIS IS SINATRA"

SIDE 1 : I've Got The World On A String; Three Coins In The Fountain; Love And Marriage; From Here To Eternity; South Of The Border; Rain (Falling From The Skies)
SIDE 2 : The Gal That Got Away; Young At Heart; Learnin' The Blues; My One And Only Love; Love Is The Tender Trap; Don't Worry 'Bout Me.

The box itself is, unfortunately, of that slim, long-verticle design so popular in the 1990s - which makes for awkward storage. Meanwhile, the inner booklet simply falls out of the box - it is not stapled or fastened in any way. Still, this is a minor quibble, and it DOES make for more convenient armchair reading. But reading is not the point - LISTENING is. And especially if you own any of the various editions of the Concept Albums, this set of singles is their essential mate.

When Frank Sinatra decided not to sing-a-long with Mitch (Miller) at Columbia Records and signed a recording deal with Capitol Records, it ushered in an incredible output of albums and singles with the new label from 1953-1961.

The collaborations were with the finest musical arrangers of the era - including Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, Billy May and Mavis Rivers - and Sinatra delivered a depth of emotion, along with an emerging hipper persona, with arguably the best material in his iconic career.

The four-discs include 96 tracks and is a welcome addition to the Sinatra collection of any fan or for those wishing to delve into the history of pop music from that time period.