Customer Reviews

My Way

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There are some great cuts on here: My Way, A Day in the life of a fool, If you go away and ALL MY TOMORROWS and of course FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE - one of Frank's staples in concert from 69-95.

The rest of the songs are fair at times Frank's singing sounds a bit lackluster and cold (e.g. Watch what happens). This may also be due to the extreme amount of reverb on his voice and the fact that on some songs he's in dead center in the mix. He sounds warmer on most of the ballads.

This album was co-produced by Costa and Sonny Burke and I still think Costa was the better producer.

"My Way" is not Sinatra's greatest album, but it is an absolutely essential purchase because it includes the song that defined his life, music and philosophy. There is no other song in the Sinatra discography that more perfectly defines, summarizes, and musically states what Frank was all about than "My Way." Paul Anka wrote this song especially for Frank, and it immediately became the signature song for the rest of his career. This album was recorded in 1969, and it was an attempt for Frank to incorporate contemporary standards into his body of work. He covers songs by the Beatles, Rod McKuen, and Paul Simon, but "My Way" is the song that makes this album an integral part of the Sinatra canon. Don Costa arranged the songs as he did in many of Sinatra's album's for Reprise, and it is a much more solid effort than some critics give it credit for. Frank is still at the top of his game, and my other personal favorites on this CD are "Didn't We" and "For Once In My Life." "My Way" is an essential Sinatra must-have album and is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED1

Yeah, there's some good and bad on this disk, but it's mandatory listening for the final track, which is so GLORIOUSLY awful it is criminal of Amazon not to put on a RealAudio sample. Oh, the band swings like you WOULDN'T BELIEVE, the brass is great, but it is SO wrong a song for Frank, as he does a lounge lizard parody of himself that would make Joe Piscopo and Phil Hartman blush, mangling the lyrics ("And you'll get yours, Mrs. Robinson/Foolin' wit' dat young stuff like you do/woo woo woo/boo hoo hoo"). The utter incongruity of the material and the great arrangement makes it a delight. And "Yesterday" wasn't a great choice, either ... but hell, it's got "My Way."

"...Keep dem cards an' letters comin' in, Robin baby ..."

The problem with people criticizing Sinatra's work is that they spend too much time thinking about what Sinatra SHOULD sound like. Sinatra successfully took his talents and blended his style into contemporary music. Whatever work Sinatra has done, it is still Sinatra. And Sinatra at his worst is still better than some artists at their best.

This may not be one of Sinatra's better albums, but it certainly isn't his worst, if there is such a thing as a bad Sinatra album. The numbers here are contemporary and Sinatra gives fine performances here.

I've noticed that some reviewers didn't like "Mrs. Robinson." I have to say that I like it, and it IS very much a Sinatra song. Sinatra took the lame Garfunkel tune and Sinatra-ized it, I like this better than the original. Sinatra sounds like he is having fun with the tune, and it's fun listening to him.

For Once In My Life is very much a Sinatra song and makes the original by Stevie Wonder sound like a remake.

As for Yesterday, I think Sinatra brings more feeling out of the song than there really is, much better than the original.

Sinatra punches out 'If You Go Away.'

A Day In the Life of A Fool, a song that should've been written for Sinatra, is the type of song that Sinatra has sang so many times before, of a lonely, broken man. He does not fail here; very moving performance.

This is a good album with solid material, it swings and mellows, and is not monotonous.

Watch What Happens, For Once In My Life, and All My Tomorrows are the
highlights here.

Frank Sinatra`s signature song My Way highlights this fantastic Sinatra cd.Frank is never better belting out the natonal anthem we have come to known as My Way.This Paul Anka written song can only be sung with such feeling and power by the chairman of the board himself!Anyone else singing My Way would just be sloppy seconds,Thats not all you get on this wonderful Cd.Frank`s very dark solemn interpretaion of the Beatle`s song Yesterday will leave you with an eery feeling.The Classic Simon and Garfunkel tune Mrs.Robinson(from the movie the graduate) rounds out this Sinatra must have cd!!!!

This cd is worth gettting for Frank's classic, Vegas style take on that classic Simon & Garfunkel tune. Had this unique cover been attempted by anyone else, they would've been written off and never heard from again. But in the hands of popular music's master, it becomes an endearing slap in the face to the flower children ready to write Frank off as a relic of the past. Frank is clearly having a ball on this number, and the result is one of his most entertaining and amusing, if not greatest, recordings.

Elsewhere, "My Way" is a solid attempt at contemporary material of the day, and one of Frank's most underrated albums. It of course features the immortal song that defines Frank's attitude, philosophy and career, a Paul Anka adaptation of a French tune that remains one of Frank's most powerful recordings, even though he didn't really care for the song.

The rest of the album is excellent. "All My Tomorrows" is vastly superior to the Capitol version, with a passionate reading by Frank and a dreamy Don Costa arrangement. "Watch What Happens" is a fine swinger that kicks the album off nicely, while Jimmy Webb's "Didn't We." has a smoky, late night atmosphere and a somber, elegiac reading by Frank that propels this second rate composotion into the stratosphere thanks to being handled by two wonderful musical geniuses, who saw something in the song despite being rather weak on paper.

"If You Go Away" is haunting and powerful, and Frank forces this one out quite impressively. "A Day In The Life Of A Fool" is similarly hauting and a perfect Frank song. As for the covers of contemporary material, they're all very different but ultimately satisfactory takes on these hits. Ray Charles' "Hallelujah, I Love Her So" is one of the last songs I'd imagine Frank ever attempting, but he pulls it off with a very soulful and swingin' performance. The Beatles' "Yesterday" has a great arrangement by Costa and a magnificent reading by Frank. The highlight however, is Frank's rendition of "For Once In My Life." With all due respect to Misters Bennett and Wonder, Frank grabs this one in the pocket and roars it from start to finish and making it completely his own without a second thought.

"My Way" isn't one of Frank's masterpieces but a solid and entertaining effort to anyone's Frank collection.

By early 1969 when this album was recorded, the market for 'standards' has dwindled to zero, the music business being completely dominated by rock.

Sinatra, as did many of his contemporaries, tried their best to appeal to a younger audience, while at the same time, not deserting their base....

The "My Way" album was one of the most successful attempts to blend contemporary material with the patented Sinatra style, being aided and abetted here by some nice arrangements by Don Costa (Sinatra's 'Axel Stordahl' of his later period).

Sinatra swings his way through "Watch What Happens" "Hallelujah I Love Her So" and "For Once In My Life"....there are sensitive readings of "Yesterday" "A Day In The Life of A Fool" and a sensational re recording of Cahn and Van Heusen's "All My Tomorrows" which actually improves upon the Capitol version out of 1959.......But try as he might, even Sinatra can't save Rod Mc Kuen's/ Jacques Brel's "If You Go Away" with lyrics like "I'd have been the shadow of your dog" (HUH?)

To me though the capper is what Sinatra does with Paul Simon's "Mrs Robinson".............Sinatra alters the lyrics to fit the image...
"Jilly loves you more than you will know........".........."foolin' with that young stuff like you do......."how's your bird?........."

Story goes that Simon was upset enough to consider a lawsuit and then admitted to a friend "That was kind of naieve, wasn't it...?"

Almost exactly two years after this album was recorded, Sinatra, sensing perhaps the party was over, announced his (what turned out to be brief) retirement from show business.

I wasn't crazy about the "My Way" album when it first came out, but now, almost 40 years later,I find myself listening to it on a regular basis realzing that no one but Sinatra could have pulled off singing the phrase
"mine is fine as wine and I should know.........HO HO HO...."

The man was a giant!

As a person who got their start in radio as a board op for the Sounds of Sinatra on Sunday mornings....I have to say...Frank's version of Mrs. Robinson is truly like no other. Only Frank could sing Mrs. Robinson this way and still have it sell a zillion (and one) copies. I've developed a fondness for Frank over the years....which makes me able to tolerate his version of that particular song. I am just glad that he and William Shatner never decided to team up for an LP of (very interesting versions...of previously very popular) cover songs. This would not be one of my fave Frank LPs. I prefer Frank's classics.

Sure the title number is fine ,if almost too famous,since it seems many people associate Frank with only this one, and a few others. The album has only ten tracks,none really top stuff,though I give mild applause to "If You Go Away",and "A Day in the Life of a Fool". Listen to "Mrs. Robinson" once for the jokiness Frank throws in.Trouble is once is more than enough. Once again,as in many of Frank's late 60's efforts, attempting to put a fresh sound on contemporary hits just does not work,not merely because of the swing-type arrangements which sound too Las Vegas-ish,but because the available material is well on a steep decline,a decline which we can only hope is near bottom today. Also, there are a couple of other albums from the late sixties that seem to be out of print. I would recommend "Watertown " from 1970,sometimes derided,but with all new songs including a couple of gems.Trouble is this one is difficult to find too.

Sinatra sounds like he's in great voice on this album, and there are some good tracks -- My Way is wonderful, All My Tomorrows is also treasureable and he generally makes more of the music than it is worth on its own. Didn't We is a good example, beautifully performed but not much of a song lyrically or musically.

Yesterday isn't bad, Mrs. Robinson is just awful. Not the first Sinatra album you should buy, but overall very listenable (just skip the last track).