Customer Reviews

Cycles

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Cycles" is Frank's first serious foray into the soft rock/folk music scene in the late sixties. It is an eclectic mix of tunes ranging from "Little Green Apples" to "By The Time I Get To Phoenix". The real standout, however, is "My Way Of Life" which Frank infuses with musical passion and his instinctive feel for the emotional message and tone of the lyric. There are no classic standards here from Cole Porter or Johnny Mercer or any of the other great songwriters that Sinatra revered. This is clearly new musical territory for Frank, and he stamps each song with his own unique interpretation that makes the album work. The mood is mellow and reflective, and Don Costa's soft strings provide the perfect backdrop for Sinatra's vocals. This is not a great album compared to his incomparable body of work with Capitol and his early work with Reprise, but it is still a five-star effort. Sinatra's voice is still excellent, and his timing, phrasing, and diction are flawless. Buy it if you can find a copy, and enjoy the greatest vocalist of all time as he ventures into a new musical universe and once again demonstrates what true musical genius is.

Conducted by Bill Miller, and arranged by Don Costa, "Cycles" finds Sinatra tipping his hat to Joni Mitchell & some Nashville songwriters, among others. Nothing here swings, nor is it meant to.

Sinatra tears into the opening track, "Rain In My Heart," in bombastic fashion, his baritone strong. And he turns in an oddly-infectuous, nicely-phrased "From Both Sides, Now," though I wish he would have told the organist/harpsicordist to go scram. Other good tracks include a smooth, reflective "Cycles," a sincere "By the Time I Get To Phoenix," and a nicely-orchestrated, nicely sung "Gentle On My Mind."

Regretfully, "Moody River" found its way onto a Sinatra album...

Lastly, the album's cover is one of the great Sinatra shots ever. Either a dame has just broken his heart, or he's wondering why he puts up with all us clowns.

The mainly contemplative material that Sinatra recorded for the 1968 release of Cycles did not produce a big hit that could have drawn a larger audience to the album. It does remain one of his stronger efforts from the period. The mood is almost exclusively melancholy, livened only by a rather pointless cover of Pat Boone's Moody River, delivered in a derivative fashion by Sinatra. That aside, I still regard this as a 5 star album because there is a definite theme to the album, supported by strong melodies. Sinatra rarely attempted recognisably country music material, but his rendering of By The Time I Get To Phoenix is superb: slowed down from the Glen Campbell original, sung with great sincerity and imagination - listen to the phrasing on the line "by the time I reach Oklahoma" - completely different from any other version I've heard. Little Green Apples is equally well performed, possibly the definitive version. The album's title track can be ranked alongside other memorably reflective Sinatra songs from the late 60s including I Will Drink The Wine and Love's Been Good To Me (from Sinatra & Company and A Man Alone, other albums worth your consideration). I enjoyed this album greatly - it's not the Sinatra of Songs For Swinging Lovers, but those who appreciate Frank in ballad mode won't be disappointed.

Frank Sinatra has left a legacy of so much music on record. Most of it is "top-shelf". But we all have our personal "favorites". My favorite Sinatra albums are "Cycles" and "A Man Alone- Sinatra sings Rod McKuen". In my mind, these two albums are a unity. . .and I usually play them back to back.
The song "Cycles" written by Gayle Caldwell (former New Christy Minstrel (?)) is a beautiful reverie of life and of keeping going on despite the overwhelming sadness of the moment. I love this song. . . and I love Gayle for writing it. . .and I love Frank Sinatra's recording of it.
His version of "Moody River" is catchy and you can't help but smile real large when he sings the woprd "friend" as only Frank could have pronounced it, ennunciated it and sung it!
Some have called this a conemprary "pop" album (and it is) but it is classic great Sinatra. I recommend it (together with "A Man Alone) whether you're a Sinatra fan or not. You'll become one real quick when you listen to these albums . . . even now. Thanks Mr. Frank for leaving us this great music to enjoy today . . .and yes, to even "wallow in our moods a little" every now and then. You were one of the all time greats. . . for all time!

In early 1968 Sinatra told an interviewer: "I've run out of the Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart things, the standards that have meant so much to me, so I'm going to do an album of Country-Western...so I guess the old dog will be learning some new tricks."

Six months later, the "Old Dog" was in the studio with Don Costa, recording "Cycles," not exactly a country album, but nevertheless it was Sinatra's first attempt at tackling a project that was solidly comprised of late 60's soft rock material.

By this time, Sinatra had married and divorced a flower child,30 years his junior and had appeared on TV sporting a Nehru jacket and love beads.

Though the musical results were mixed, "Cycles" certainly has its moments:

Sinatra gives "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" a world of new meaning with his uncanny phrasing and "Little Green Apples" is a five minute tribute to the simple joys of married life...Gayle Caldwell's superb "Wandering" results in one of the best Sinatra recorded performances of the era.

Sinatra would have been wise, however, to stay away from Joni Mitchell's "From Both Sides Now,"....Mitchell's wide eyed hippie

lyric seems out of phase with Sinatra's macho, tuxedo-clad image and he sounds awkward singing against Costa's harpsichord underpinning.

"Moody River," in which Sinatra puts down the writer by singing the world "frind" with his usual brand of casual hipnes, was a hit for Pat Boone seven years prior, so it's inclusion here is a mystery, especially since its out of style and context with the rest of the album, FS would have done better trying something like Bobby Lind's "Elusive Butterfly" which contained one of the great lyrics of its time--imagine Sinatra singing the line "it's only ME pursuing something I'm not sure of."

"Cycles" is America's finest popular singer at the tail end of his most diverse and interesting decade saying "Contrary to what I said a few years ago, there's some decent material coming out of today's rock market."

It's intersting to note that the "Cycles" album, though successful, did not sell as well as his more traditional album with Antonio Carlos Jobim, and resulted in one of the most beautiful albums to come out of American pop music.

If you love Frankie and if you are a romantic, this is a must for any serious collector. Probably, one of his finest albums of the 70's. One is reminded of the words; "When I was thirty five, it was a very good year....". This work is full bodied and mature. Still as sensitive as always, his pitch and diction are still flawless. This is a collaboration of unsurpassed vocal artistry and original material. His rendition of Little Green Apples would have made Roger Miller very, very happy. Don't let this CD go by.

Comments welcome.

This classic album recorded in 1968 and hard to find. If you are Frank Sinatra fan buy it you won't be disappointed. Cycles is a simple tune and simple words but very powerful meaning, too bad video of this song from Frank on Youtube was removed. Cycles was written by late Galy Caldwell.

This is Sinatra's first full-fledged album of rock material. The songs here aren't great...but I think Sinatra does his best phrasing work on this album.

Sinatra sings songs the way they were meant to be sung, the prime example here is "By The Time I Get To Phoenix," blows Glen Campbells' away, "Little Green Apples" and "Cycles" are excellent and make this album worthwhile.

"Gentle On My Mind" is given a fine reading, "My Way Of Life" and "Rain In My Heart are given knock-out performances.

Moody River is fun, but it is a mystery as to why Sinatra added it here. The rest of the songs are ok and make up a nonetheless entertaining album showing a different side to Sinatra. A must for Sinatra Fanatics.

By Sinatra's standards, this is a weak album.

Yes, CYCLES, BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX and LITTLE GREEN APPLES are done very very nicely. Especially the 1st two songs fit Sinatra to a T!

The rest of the songs are so so.....

Compared to the MY WAY album, this one pales.

This was Sinatra's first Middle of the Road attempt with Costa and they got better as they went along.

Released in 1968, "Cycles" is considered Frank Sinatra's first album devoted to pop and rock, although when you look at the tracks you are inclined to think more of folk-rock and country. After all, the most recognizable songs here are Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" and Glen Campbell's "Gentle on My Mind" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix." However, the results were not really enough to allow Sinatra to cross over and win new legions of fans. The title track of "Cycles" only made it to #23 on the Billboard Pop charts, with "My Way Of Life" (#64) and "Rain In My Heart" (#62) the other singles from the album.

Arranger/Producer Don Costa still provides most of these tracks with a layer of strings, but underneath them is a relatively unobtrusive pop music rhythm section. The biggest difference from previous Sinatra albums, such as "Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim" from the previous year, is not the instrumentation but rather Sinatra's singing. These are softer songs and that is represented by Sinatra's phrasing throughout the album. The result is less than satisfactory, especially when the album has a few misfires, such as "Little Green Apples." But there are enough good things here, such as "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," that the album does not qualify as a disappointment, even by the high standards of a 1960s Sinatra album. When Sinatra would try this route again the next year, the result was a much better album, "My Way."