Duets 2

Frank Sinatra | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 15, 1994)
• Original Release Date: November 15, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000002TO1
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,727 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. For Once in My Life

2. Come Fly with Me

3. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

4. The Best Is Yet to Come

5. Moonlight in Vermont

6. Fly Me to the Moon

7. Luck Be a Lady

8. A Foggy Day

9. Where or When

10. Embraceable You

11. Mack the Knife

12. How Do You Keep the Music Playing?/My Funny Valentine

13. My Kind of Town

14. The House I Live In (That's America to Me)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Encouraged by the massive sales of 1993's Duets, Capitol went back to the well a year later for a sequel. The pairings are a little more inspired this time around, with Willie Nelson ("A Foggy Day"), Lena Horne ("Embraceable You"), Chrissie Hynde ("Luck Be a Lady") and Antonio Carlos Jobim ("Fly Me to the Moon") all turning in satisfying performances. Unfortunately, there's also a heaping helping of forgettable cuts (including duets with Luis Miguel, Jimmy Buffett, Jon Secada, and Lorrie Morgan), and Phil Ramone's arrangements continue to grate. And the overwrought duet with Neil Diamond on "The House Live In (That's America to Me)" has to be heard to be believed. Hardly a necessary addition to your Sinatra collection. --Dan Epstein

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Duets II is another Hit for Sinatra and Company, May 10, 2003

By 

kone "kone" (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Duets 2 (Audio CD)

Following on the heals of the wildly successful "Duets" album, Duets II is a continuation of the theme of combining Frank Sinatra with other "name" singers. If you liked Duets I, you will also like Duets II, as it is equally as entertaining as the first.

Some highlights include "The House I Live In" with Neil Diamond, "Luck Be A Lady", with Chrissie Hynde (her low sexy voice grows on you), "Fly Me To The Moon", with Antonio Carlos Jobim, and "The Best Is Yet To Come" with Jon Secada. This is by no means all there is; every track is uniquely pleasing. What I especially enjoy about this album is the finger snapping swagger that many of the songs impart - true Sinatra style.

Although my fellow reviewers do not rate this album as high as Duets I, I have to disagree - I think the two are on equal standing - both are delights to the ears. Duets II is one of my favorite albums and I think you will agree.

Jim Konedog Koenig

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Its the SINGER--Regardless, this is FRANK SINATRA, March 7, 2000

By 

"dproct01" (Medford, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Duets 2 (Audio CD)

As with virtually anything Frank Sinatra tried after his triumphs in the 1950s and early 1960s, the knives came out to attack Duets II and Mr. Sinatra.

No this is not the Sinatra that sang with Tommy Dorsey, or Capitol records in the 1950s or Reprise. Why is that such a crime? Does anyone actually listen to the Sinatra music of the 70s, 80s or 90s, and not just with their ears but with their emotions and hearts. How anyone can say that the Lena Horne-Sinatra duet on Embraceable You is anything but beautiful is beyond me. He sings with such raw emotion, such real feeling, that is what music is about. That aside however, his breath control and phrasing are not what they were FORTY YEARS AGO, but its ridiculous to expect it to be. Further, does it remotely occur to anyone that both Duets albums contain (with a few exceptions) manifestly revised arrangements of these standards. These were not the same arrangements Sinatra had been singing on the road for the past few years. Yet, he adapts. Yes his voice is weak in a several spots, but usually to great emotional effect.

There is a haunting beauty to Embraceable You, to the Lori Morgan duet and to most of the others slower pieces. The uptempo numbers find Sinatra swinging as sharp as ever, but with the occassional growl which only adds to the emotion being created.

I have heard an unending chain of great jazz, blues and rock singers who hobble out on stage, sing a song with no passion, no emotion, totally univested in the lyrics, and in relatively lousy voice (Bob Dylan--who can even understand the man) only to have the critics tell us what a riveting performance. Sinatra however, is given no such reprive. Anything that isnt the 50s Capitol era is riddled with flaws.

Well, I for one have had enough of it. TRUE SINATRA FANS can appreicate the man and the singer in all phases of his career because each phase represented something truly special and unique. His later works require the listener to actually enter the music with Sinatra, but when you do, the rewards are astounding. What Sinatra may lack in vocal precision in the 1990s he makes up for in sheer emotional power.

I would be delighted if they would release a Duets III since there are supposedly unreleased takes from the Duets I and II sessions. I have even heard their is a Sinatra duet with Clint Black somewhere out there.

Lastly, though not on this album, his final released duet with Pavoratti on "MY WAY" has to be one of the most haunting pieces ever created. It has Sinatra singing MY WAY in the arrangement he was using in the last few years of his touring, an arrangment I don't believe is avialable anywhere else (which in and off itself makes this version worthwhile). His voice is tremulous at times and I suppose in reality we could do without Pavarotti, however, througout the entire song is the underlying text that says good bye. If you really listen to this MY WAY, you can't help but be overwhelmed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More Karaoke With Sinatra, August 15, 2010

By 

Scott T. Rivers (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Duets 2 (Audio CD)

If you thought "Duets" was embarrassing, wait until you hear this equally fraudulent 1994 sequel. Perhaps the concept might have worked if Frank Sinatra shared studio time with his fellow artists - instead of relying on electronic deception. Perhaps it was too late for the aging Voice to rise to the occasion. Perhaps if Sinatra were in his prime, he might have selected more compatible singing partners than Neil Diamond, Willie Nelson and Jimmy Buffett. (On the other hand, an entire album with Frank and Chrissie Hynde could have been a real blast.) Not surprisingly, the tone-deaf Grammy committee gave "Duets II" a 1995 award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance - the same organization that honored Alvin and the Chipmunks more than Elvis Presley! Though Sinatra's final studio album managed to sell another million copies, it added nothing to his remarkable legacy.