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Editorial Reviews
Released to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s passing (May 14, 1998), Nothing But The Best salutes "The Voice" with an essential single-disc compilation of hits. It features 21 legendary songs from "The Chairman Of The Board," plus a previously unissued version of "Body And Soul." The collection is part of an international initiative between the newly created Frank Sinatra Enterprises (FSE), Warner Home Video, MGM Home Entertainment, Turner Classic Movies, and the United States Postal Service to honor Frank Sinatra, whose music and movies had an everlasting impact on popular culture. For a limited time, Nothing But The Best will contain a collectible, commemorative Sinatra stamp with official USPS first-day issue cancellation.
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More from Frank Sinatra
 Swing Along with Me |  Lucky Numbers |  The Concert Sinatra Live |  Sinatra-Basie |  Everything Happens to Me |
 Francis A. Sinatra & Edward K. Ellington |  Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim |  Christmas Collection |  The Rat Pack Live at the Sands |  Greatest Love Songs |
 I Remember Tommy |  It Might as Well Be Swing |  L.A. Is My Lady |  Ring-a-Ding Ding! |  September of My Years |
 Sinatra & Sextet: Live in Paris |  Sinatra and Strings |  Sinatra and Swingin' Brass |  Sinatra at the Sands Live |  Sinatra in Hollywood 1940-1964 Box Set |
 Romance: Songs From the Heart |  Sinatra: Vegas Live Box Set |  Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely |  A Voice in Time: 1939-1952 Box Set |  The Capitol Years Box Set |
 In the Wee Small Hours |  My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra |  A Man and His Music |  My Way |  Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back |
 Sinatra's Sinatra |  Strangers in the Night |  The Main Event Live |  The Reprise Collection Box Set |  Duets/Duets II: 90th Birthday Limited Collector's Edition |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
110 of 112 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I'll be honest. When I first heard about this cd through The Sinatra Family Forums back in February, I was ready to tear it to shreds. I thought to myself, "Frank's gone 10 years now, and they're marking the event with yet another compilation with same songs repackaged for the umpteenth time?" Even when it was announced that the songs were to be digitally remastered and a never before released bonus track was to be included, my anger and resentment towards this compilation still stuck.
However, as the release date grew nearer and I got word from several people who were able to hear it before it officially hit the market told me it was totally worth it, I slowly warmed up to it and by last week was all set on buying it.
When I received the cd this afternoon, I was extremely excited, even though I thought myself, "I heard these songs thousands of time before." The first thing that struck me was how beautiful the packaging was: the cd comes in a cardboard case with one of the best pictures of Frank ever taken. The cd's booklet is made from a elegant, smooth velvet like material and the liner notes by Charles Pignone as well as the various rare photos of Frank at work are excellent. Honestly, the packaging alone is enough to grab your attention.
But enough about the artwork. What about the music?
As stated already, my biggest concern with this collection was that I heard all these songs before. I had already received the mammoth "Complete Reprise Studio Recordings" boxed set, which had all these songs (except one) as well as over 400 additional tracks, all of which featured more than satisfactory sound quality. Still, undaunted, I popped the cd onto my Ipod and went for a listen.
Needless to say, I was blown away.
The sound quality is INCREDIBLE. To hear the opening notes of "Come Fly With Me" bristle with sharpness and clarity is in itself a major thrill, and to hear Frank's voice with such depth and range only adds to the fun.
Seriously, there were parts of certain songs I never noticed before. Listen to how beautiful the harp sounds on "Bewitched" (remastered from the original 35MM tapes) or how sharp and clear Count Basie's classic piano ticklings on the intro to "The Best Is Yet To Come" sound, or how fresh and powerful the horns on "New York, New York" blaze through the speakers. Sonically, the album is as close to flawless as humanly possible.
Furthermore, knowing that many fans would be concerned with the whole "I've heard these songs before" stigma, the producers included several little bonuses on certain songs to surprise faithful listeners:
(WARNING: If you don't me to spoil these surprises, skip this section!)
-The tag on "Come Fly With Me" has been changed from "And don't tell your momma" to another line from an alternate take, "Pack a small bag."
-Though sources say otherwise , "The Best Is Yet To Come" seems to be a different mix (possibly spliced together from another take). Listen to how Frank phrases "Come the day you're mine" on the bridge, it's different from previous releases.
-"Strangers In The Night" is extended, with a few more "Do be do be do's."
But the real surprise, however, is the never before released track. "Body And Soul," an old standad Frank first recored for Columbia in 1947, dates back to the "L.A. Is My Lady" sessions in 1984 with Quincy Jones. For whatever reason, Frank was dissatisfied with the initial take on the song, and left it off the album.
24 years later, however, Frank Sinatra Jr. dusted off Frank's vocal track, removed Jones' arrangement, and instead recorded a new orchestral backing that fits the song beautifully. Listening to this new majestic chart for the song, you'd never guess it was initially planned for the overly produced "L.A. Is My Lady" (a potential masterpiece marred by too many slick, 1980s' style production values). It sounds like it was supposed to be on "Sinatra & Strings."
And if the orchestration isn't enough, what about The Man himself? Here's Frank, in the autumn of his years, still better than anyone around, punching out a timeless stanard with the same passion and fury that permeated through his most beloved recordings. It is a truly tour de force performance that was worth the wait.
For all the pros for "Nothing But The Best," there are, however a few cons. My main gripe, and it might be asking for a bit too much, is that it could've been two discs. There are a lot of Frank's best recordings from the Reprise era missing, such as "In The Still Of The Night," "The Coffee Song," "You're Nobody 'Till Somebody Loes You," "Come Rain Or Come Shine," (or anything from "Sinatra & Strings," which is undeservedly snubbed), "They Can't Take That Away From Me," "Ol' Man River," (arguably his best recording ever), "I Have Dreamed," "Soliloquy," "All Or Nothing At All," (either the 1961 ballad rendition or the thrilling 1966 swing version would have sufficed) and many others could've been included, to give the cd a bit more diversity instead of the typical hits. Also, while they were arguably done better in their initial Capitol incarnations, his redoings of "I Get A Kick Out Of You," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "All The Way," "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning," "How Little We Know," and others are still excellent renditions and are worth including.
But in the end, this nitpicking adds little. The fact of the matter "Nothing But The Best" is still an excellent compilation with unbeatable sound with 22 songs ung by the greatest singer popular music has ever heard.
However, as the release date grew nearer and I got word from several people who were able to hear it before it officially hit the market told me it was totally worth it, I slowly warmed up to it and by last week was all set on buying it.
When I received the cd this afternoon, I was extremely excited, even though I thought myself, "I heard these songs thousands of time before." The first thing that struck me was how beautiful the packaging was: the cd comes in a cardboard case with one of the best pictures of Frank ever taken. The cd's booklet is made from a elegant, smooth velvet like material and the liner notes by Charles Pignone as well as the various rare photos of Frank at work are excellent. Honestly, the packaging alone is enough to grab your attention.
But enough about the artwork. What about the music?
As stated already, my biggest concern with this collection was that I heard all these songs before. I had already received the mammoth "Complete Reprise Studio Recordings" boxed set, which had all these songs (except one) as well as over 400 additional tracks, all of which featured more than satisfactory sound quality. Still, undaunted, I popped the cd onto my Ipod and went for a listen.
Needless to say, I was blown away.
The sound quality is INCREDIBLE. To hear the opening notes of "Come Fly With Me" bristle with sharpness and clarity is in itself a major thrill, and to hear Frank's voice with such depth and range only adds to the fun.
Seriously, there were parts of certain songs I never noticed before. Listen to how beautiful the harp sounds on "Bewitched" (remastered from the original 35MM tapes) or how sharp and clear Count Basie's classic piano ticklings on the intro to "The Best Is Yet To Come" sound, or how fresh and powerful the horns on "New York, New York" blaze through the speakers. Sonically, the album is as close to flawless as humanly possible.
Furthermore, knowing that many fans would be concerned with the whole "I've heard these songs before" stigma, the producers included several little bonuses on certain songs to surprise faithful listeners:
(WARNING: If you don't me to spoil these surprises, skip this section!)
-The tag on "Come Fly With Me" has been changed from "And don't tell your momma" to another line from an alternate take, "Pack a small bag."
-Though sources say otherwise , "The Best Is Yet To Come" seems to be a different mix (possibly spliced together from another take). Listen to how Frank phrases "Come the day you're mine" on the bridge, it's different from previous releases.
-"Strangers In The Night" is extended, with a few more "Do be do be do's."
But the real surprise, however, is the never before released track. "Body And Soul," an old standad Frank first recored for Columbia in 1947, dates back to the "L.A. Is My Lady" sessions in 1984 with Quincy Jones. For whatever reason, Frank was dissatisfied with the initial take on the song, and left it off the album.
24 years later, however, Frank Sinatra Jr. dusted off Frank's vocal track, removed Jones' arrangement, and instead recorded a new orchestral backing that fits the song beautifully. Listening to this new majestic chart for the song, you'd never guess it was initially planned for the overly produced "L.A. Is My Lady" (a potential masterpiece marred by too many slick, 1980s' style production values). It sounds like it was supposed to be on "Sinatra & Strings."
And if the orchestration isn't enough, what about The Man himself? Here's Frank, in the autumn of his years, still better than anyone around, punching out a timeless stanard with the same passion and fury that permeated through his most beloved recordings. It is a truly tour de force performance that was worth the wait.
For all the pros for "Nothing But The Best," there are, however a few cons. My main gripe, and it might be asking for a bit too much, is that it could've been two discs. There are a lot of Frank's best recordings from the Reprise era missing, such as "In The Still Of The Night," "The Coffee Song," "You're Nobody 'Till Somebody Loes You," "Come Rain Or Come Shine," (or anything from "Sinatra & Strings," which is undeservedly snubbed), "They Can't Take That Away From Me," "Ol' Man River," (arguably his best recording ever), "I Have Dreamed," "Soliloquy," "All Or Nothing At All," (either the 1961 ballad rendition or the thrilling 1966 swing version would have sufficed) and many others could've been included, to give the cd a bit more diversity instead of the typical hits. Also, while they were arguably done better in their initial Capitol incarnations, his redoings of "I Get A Kick Out Of You," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "All The Way," "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning," "How Little We Know," and others are still excellent renditions and are worth including.
But in the end, this nitpicking adds little. The fact of the matter "Nothing But The Best" is still an excellent compilation with unbeatable sound with 22 songs ung by the greatest singer popular music has ever heard.
87 of 93 people found the following review helpful
By David Kenner
Format:Audio CD
I'm really surprised at all the five star reviews posted here and especially taken aback at the raves about the sound quality. I was looking forward to this disc because Sinatra's Reprise catalog has never sounded as good as it should on CD and once I saw the track listing for this disc, and assumed that it would be mastered properly, I knew it was something I wanted to buy the day it hit the shelves. A lot of the tracks do sound better than ever and the most glorious example of sonic improvement is on "Summer Wind". It's obvious that some tweaking was done on this stereo mix to improve the sound and this track really does sound incredible! But some of the remixing (which I'm assuming was done by going back to the original master tapes and making some recording soundboard adjustments) is far from an improvement to my ears. While I'm happy to have the extended fade on "Strangers In The Night", the way the tambourine has been buried in the mix makes it sound like something's missing. And holy Manhattan, what the frank happened to "New York, New York"? It sounds terrible! You can hardly tell that there was a drummer present at the recording session at all! After Frank's "A-number one" line and before the track's tempo slows and he sings, "These little town blues...", there's supposed to be a snare roll. I can't hear it at all. Why would they ruin this song by covering up the entire drum track?? It makes no sense. The power and driving energy of the arrangement has been zapped and it sounds like just another cover of an overplayed showtune (albeit one with an outstanding vocal!) So while overall this disc contains a great song selection and should be a no-brainer 5 star release, I think it's shortcomings barely qualify it for 3 stars.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I bought this with great anticipation, but I'm very disappointed. It's just loud and bombastic with Frank's voice brought up to compensate - there is very little dynamic contrast or sense of stage space or "air." Maybe this is good for car or ipod listening, but on a high-fi system it's sounds very artificial. Not recommended.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Old Blue eyes is always good. It is great
The headlines should say it all, I have no more to add.
, leave alone eight words, what more do ypu want me to add?.
, leave alone eight words, what more do ypu want me to add?.
Published 5 days ago by Maurice Lourensz.
5.0 out of 5 stars
classic sinatra
"Come Fly With Me" is the perfect upbeat start to this album; and Frank's voice is in excellent form. Read more
Published 5 days ago by C. Giosan
5.0 out of 5 stars
awesome
not a huge fan of jazz but this one has something for everyone. would highly recommend this for anyone that enjoys music.
Published 12 days ago by C. roth
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's Frank!
I'm not a die hard fan, but I like to listen once in a while. The recordings are crisp and perfect. Great selection of songs as well.
Published 14 days ago by Carolyn T.
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's Frank Sinatra
It's a decent mix to be used for someone that doesn't really know much about Frank Sinatra. Also good for playing in a public area. No surprises here...just the usual suspects.
Published 28 days ago by Girthdpd
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Collection
Has the basics if you don't have a more expansive collection. Love to listen to this. Puts me in a great mood.
Published 1 month ago by T. Brannen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sinatra is the best!
Love this CD! I was a kid when most of the songs were popular. The duet was his daughter Nancy has always been a favorite of mine. "Something Stupid" . Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mike Leavitt
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing But The Best [The Frank Sinatra Collection
A good batch of Sinatra songs. They are mostly REMIX and the sound is not quite right, but it's good
Published 2 months ago by Frank J. Solome Jr.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing But The Best is the Best
If you like Frank Sinatra and don't have a collection of his songs, this is the Album to get. It contains many of his signature songs and you will play it many times. Read more
Published 2 months ago by David
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best is right
ole blue eyes what can you say about this guy . Such a good entertainer and singer he will be missed and so will his music
Published 2 months ago by Robert Corbett
