Perfectly Frank

Tony Bennett | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 22, 1992)
• Original Release Date: September 15, 1992
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000028RV
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,017 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #35 in Music > Miscellaneous > Nostalgia
  • #72 in Music > Broadway & Vocalists > Classic Vocalists

Track Listings

1. Time After Time

2. I Fall in Love Too Easily

3. East of the Sun (West of the Moon)

4. Nancy (With the Laughing Face)

5. I Thought About You

6. Night and Day

7. I've Got the World on a String

8. I'm Glad There Is You

9. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

10. I Wished on the Moon

11. You Go to My Head

12. The Lady Is a Tramp

13. I See Your Face Before Me

14. Day in, Day Out

15. Indian Summer

16. Call Me Irresponsible

17. Here's That Rainy Day

18. Last Night When We Were Young

19. I Wish I Were in Love Again

20. A Foggy Day

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impeccable, September 15, 2000

By 

Jon Warshawsky "Sinatra Guru" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perfectly Frank (Audio CD)

One of the previous reviewers said it perfectly -- Tony Bennett is a living national treasure. This album is wonderful not because it seeks to replace Sinatra's classic recordings (that will never happen), but because it shows first of all how Sinatra chose the best songs to record, and secondly, that Bennett's voice is still magic.

The singer wisely focuses on the "torch and saloon" songs of Sinatra, which he delivers and interprets beautifully. It is illuminating to listen to Tony Bennett's versions of Sinatra classics -- One for My Baby, Angel Eyes, Time After Time -- and appreciate how he performs the songs while refusing to imitate Sinatra. The result is pure class, the glowing Tony Bennett and some of the best songs in the American songbook.

Ralph Sharon has been working with Bennett for decades, and it shows: class, taste and restraint.

Very highly recommended for anyone who wants to hear a legendary vocalist and songs that put to shame almost anything written since the 1960s.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2* An Excellent Take on the Sinatra Songbook, February 26, 2001

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Perfectly Frank (Audio CD)

This is a wonderful collection of songs closely associated with, Frank Sinatra. Bennett does not emulate Sinatra in the least, and therein lies both the strengths and (minor) problems with the tribute album.

The contrast is interesting, and each vocalist has his own persona, style, and validity-- and metaphors: Frank is brandy, Tony is ice cold beer; Frank's finely tuned, instrument-like voice carefully shapes each word, Tony seems to just enjoy the singing, and he is more the everyman, the colloquial. Frank is seduction and intimacy (mostly from a male dominant stance); Tony is romance and camaraderie, and is both awe-struck and egalitarian. I think that's why on just a few of the songs (most notably, "Night and Day") Bennett's overtly anti-artiste stance does not deliver the suavity, smooth control, and sexual intensity that Sinatra conjures.

However Bennett soars on almost every song, whether it be the swinging "Lady is a Tramp" or his especially tender versions of "I Fall in Love Too Easily" and "I'm Glad There is You". The accompaniment is good, but lighter and not as jazz-inspired as the superb "Bennett/Berlin." Bennett's tribute album is, ultimately, a risk: Even though he makes no attempt to emulate Sinatra, it is still very tempting to compare. It is to Bennett's credit that his versions work so well, so often. In a way, the album makes you appreciate even more the unique talents of each.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This one is a "no brainer"..., November 17, 2002

By 

William E. Adams (Midland, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Perfectly Frank (Audio CD)

How about putting out a disc with 24 songs by America's greatest lyricists of the 20th century? Hey, how about if we make it two dozen songs that Frank Sinatra, the greatest male pop singer of the century, loved and recorded in great performances? And get this: Let's have Tony Bennett, arguably the second-best male pop singer in a hundred years of the recorded music industry, and who was called by Sinatra himself "my favorite singer" do the new versions. Wait, even better---we'll let the Ralph Sharon jazz trio, Tony's favorites for 40 years provide the beat for him. Why stop there? Let's price the darn thing reasonably, as well. Any Sinatra or Tony fan, music history fan, or bargain lover who does not buy this one is cheating him or herself.