Customer Reviews

Man & His Music

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
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At first glance, "A Man and His Music" would seem a Sinatra vanity project: released for his 50th birthday: his best known songs chronologically, his (allegedly) self-serving comments on them. Thankfully, this is not the case.

This 2CD set won't stand with essential Sinatra, but it's a retrospective on his unique personality and the music poured through it. His comments, heavy on hipster lingo, thank the right people: "my best friend in heaven, (arranger) Axel Stordahl," Tommy Dorsey ("He could blow for a week on one tank of air") the disc jockeys who "give me a spin in Beatleland," the musical "dreamers and doers," to which Frank asks, "Why don't I take you all out for a pizza lunch sometime?" And the USA itself, which "lets me sing for my supper and pays me for the food I eat," as an introduction to "The House I Live In."

Parts of the Sinatra mystique are revealed that you rarely (commercially) get: snippets from his Oscar-winning "From Here To Eternity," and from his "Rat Pack" concerts with Sammy & Dino. Sinatra was still near prime voice in 1965, so his remakes either outdo ("Witchcraft," most of the early Dorsey and Columbia material) or fall just under ("Wee Small Hours" here lacks the original's stark drama). And the early Reprise hits are here, too, including the (then) new "September of My Years." While that album treated advancing age wistfully with touches of regret, "A Man And His Music" cheerfully shares a scrapbook of musical memories and some of their inspirations. Recommended as part of, but not first among, a Sinatra collection.

"A Man And His Music" was originally released as a 2 lp set in 1965 to commemorate Frank Sinatra's 50th birthday, and was transferred onto CD around 1990. It is a collection that is unique for several reasons. For starters, it featured (then) new recordings of Sinatra classics dating as far back as the Tommy Dorsey days, but more importantly, the cd was narrated by Frank himself, navigating us through the first 30 years.

For that latter reason alone, "A Man And His Music" may well be the finest Sinatra compilation on the market. Frank clearly enjoys telling the tale of his long and happy career, paying tribute to the many great arrangers, composers and musicians who got him where is as well as many times over thanking his fans who were always there with him. The setting is so relaxed and intimate that are times when you feel Frank is actually in the room with you, talking to you personally.

The song selection is far from concise, but offers a solid cross section of each period of Frank's career. As mentioned, the majority of the songs here are re-recordings of his Capitol and Columbia material (the excpetions being the Vegas bits and the songs originally done at Reprise). However, considering Frank's voice was still in fine shape at this point, most of the songs equal or better the originals. This can be said especially for the Dorsey / Columbia material and the pumped up versions of "Come Fly With Me", "(How Little It Matters) How Little We Know" and "Witchcraft".

The Vegas bit "The Summit", with Frank, Dean and Sammy clowning around is hilarious, while the performance the "Guys And Doll" number with Dino and Bing Crosby is a treat.

While it may not be the concise or complete Frank collection, "A Man And His Music" is an absolute must because of its historical value and the fact that you get to hear the Frank Sinatra story as told by the man who knows it best.

In addititon to many Sinatra classics we get a bit of backround, (from Sinatra's perspective of course)on his career.

The songs are all of high quality and the little bit of comedy with Davis and Martin make it even better.

This isn't likely the best Sinatra collection but it is my favorite and in my opinion the one to start with.

I bought this when it first came out in 33 1/3 LP. That tells ages doesn't it? I was a young soldier stationed in Korea in 1967 and heard a part of it over Armed Forces radio and started looking for it. I finely found it in 1970 and put it on tape so as to save the record which I still have. I found Frank's narration to be informative and quite enjoyable because I could tell that he was talking from the heart and it seemed like he was telling his story to me personally. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to know his early music, how he felt about each song and get to know the real Frank.

I have ordered this item twice in the past two weeks through Amazon Marketplace. Although each time I received my order promptly, IN EACH INSTANCE THE SECOND DISC WAS MISSING! This 2-disc set is in completely separate disc cases, and if you are not paying attention, it is quite easy to not notice that the case is labeled "Disc One" on the spine and in the back text. As much as I would like to have a physical copy of this CD set, I can't take another chance that I am only going to get half my order again so I'm giving up and just ordering this on iTunes.

Dan Epstein doesn't know what he's talking about.

This is the album that turned me on to Sinatra as a five year old back in 1965. My mother, who liked Frank as a bobby soxer back in the Forties, bought this album that year and so it was always playing on the stereo. I knew nothing about music as a 5 year old other than my Walt Disney albums and some group called The Beatles that my older brother has just discovered. Hearing Frank Sinatra croon his way through this album, his wonderful speaking voice introducing some of the songs left a very strong impression on me.

Songs like "Come Fly With Me, "Witchcraft," "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "Learnin' The Blues" blew me away as a small boy and Frank, to this day has remained my favorite male vocalist. Most people my age (48) today don't know much about Frank and so when I sit them down and make them listen to a Frank song, I will take "A MAN AND HIS MUSIC" out and play it for them. Sometimes I am lucky and a song will strike a chord with them and later they will tell me they have been turned onto Frank. Others I have lost completely.

To read Epstein's editorial review here on Amazon about how this album isn't good or important is absolutely ridiculous! I like the song selections (forgot about "The House I Live In") and if it weren't for Frank's narration, I WOULD KNOW NOTHING about the man and his music!! This cat's cool!! Played this album today as background music for my 87 year old father who had a good chuckle over Frank's intro's.

I got this album on vinyl, reel tape and, of course, CD. As I said before it it hadn't been for this album this forty-eight year old would never know about "ol Blue Eyes" like most of my peers today, who only know about Elton John and The Carpenters from the 70s.

Enough said. This album is damn good and worth every penny. (and please do tell "your mama!")

Good for diehard fans only. Beware of the fact that only ONE disc is offered through Amazon. I know not what to do about obtaining full two-disc set,but it's worth finding out.

This album was clearly overshadowed by SEPTEMBER OF MY YEARS which came out only a few months before this one did.

However, this 1965 release does a decent job of providing the major music highlights of Frank's career. However, most of the songs can also be found on SINATRA's SINATRA so if you already own that one, don't waste your [money] on this one. When I purchased it back in early 1991, quite a number of the individual albums (including Sinatra's Sinatra) hadn't been issued yet by REPRISE so I really enjoyed this CD.

You do get Frank's brief and rather casual comments and the SUMMIT which make me chuckle.

I WAS 13 WHEN I FIRST HEARD THIS ALBUM "I THOUGHT WOW SOMBODY TALKING ABOUT THEIR MUSIC . IF YOU EVER WANTED TO INTRODUCE SOMBODY TO SINATRA WITHOUT BORING THEM TO TEARS THEN PLAY THIS TO THEM , ITS EXITING IT LEAVES YOU WANTING TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC GET IT WHILE ITS STILL AVAILABLE!

If not a huge Sinatra fan but would like to have one for the collection, this is the one I'd recommend.
Great cross-section of his music.