Customer Reviews

The Complete Recordings Nineteen Thirty-Nine

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This recording is amazing, largely because it is over 60 years old and completely listenable. It is remarkable because in 1939 neither Sinatra or Harry James were making much money, traveling to engagements where they were treated less than royally. Kudos to Sony/Columbia for producing such a first-rate CD with a nicely done narrative booklet by George Simon (who reviewed the Harry James Band in 1939 and commented on Sinatra's "very pleasing vocals"!) and Will Friedwald.

The music -- well, it's a mixed bag, but 'All or Nothing at All' is often regarded as Sinatra's first step to stardom, and the recordings here are ample evidence. 'Ciribiribin', the James band theme song, is catchy, 'From the Bottom of My Heart' is is heartfelt, and overall the singing and orchestrations are fun. The most exciting part of this release, however, is the Roseland Ballroom performance, taped for radio, that includes 'Stardust', 'Wishing will make it so' and other great performances. What just floored me the first time I listened was that Harry James and Frank Sinatra are almost a backdrop to the evenings festivities -- you can hear people talking and milling around even on the tape.

While some of the songs are just okay ('My Buddy' seems never to have reappeared in Sinatra's next four decades of performing!), this is a great sample of Sinatra's absolutely (too?) smooth and creamy vocals of 1939.

I would recommend this if you are already a Sinatra or James fan, but Sinatra fans looking for more "swinging" vocals will want to visit the Capitol Records albums of the 1950s.

Some of Frank's very earliest recordings , and the only ones he made with Harry James. As was often the case in the big band days , the vocalist was secondary to the band. It doesn't take much when listening to this package to hear how that was all about to change in Mr. Sinatra's case.

The eighties and the nineties saw an explosion of complete reissues of Frank Sinatra's recordings. The fact that he is a germane singer of popular music from the thirties to the nineties is an important fact in itself. I can't add anything new to the thousands of words other people have written about Frank Sinatra. Maybe this should be new listener's first Sinatra disc. People tend to see 20th century popular music as being in blocks, separated from each other. A better way to look at popular music is to see it continuously through the entire century and see what changed and what remained the same. From a technical viewpoint, I can see people who are new to Frank Sinatra's work complaining about the sound quality of this compact disc. It's in monoaural, stereo was around but it wasn't used on a widely available basis until the fifties.

Wonderful music to listen to while checking email and being on the PC!!!Look forward to adding to
my music library in the future.

I bout this album and thought it was great. I like music in the 20s and 30s. If you do you well like this to.



ROGER CANNON