Sinatra: New York (4 CD/1 DVD) [Box set]

Frank Sinatra | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 3, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 5
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Rhino Records
• ASIN: B002L2ALEU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,018 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #6 in Music > Pop > Oldies > Tin Pan Alley
  • #83 in Music > Jazz > Swing Jazz > General AAS
  • #83 in Music > Jazz > Swing Jazz > Swing General

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Introductions: Martin Block and Tommy Dorsey

2. I'll Never Smile Again

3. Oh! Look At Me Now

4. This Love Of Mine

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Overture: All The Way/My Kind Of Town/You Will Be My Music

2. Come Fly With Me

3. I Get A Kick Out Of You

4. Don't Worry About Me

See all 18 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Overture: It Was A Very Good Year/All The Way/My Kind Of Town

2. The Lady Is A Tramp

3. I Get I Kick Out Of You

4. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Fly Me To The Moon

2. Luck Be A Lady

3. This Is All I Ask

4. Come Rain Or Come Shine

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Disc: 5

1. I've Got The World On A String (DVD)

2. The Best Is Yet To Come (DVD)

3. The Lady Is A Tramp (DVD)

4. When Your Lover Is Gone (DVD)

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Five-Disc boxed set features all previously unreleased live performances of Ol' Blue Eyes in 'The Apple'. Collection highlights performances recorded between 1955 and 1990 at iconic New York City venues. Frank Sinatra may have been born in Hoboken, New Jersey, but the Chairman of the Board always held a special place in his heart for the city that never sleeps-'The Apple,' as he called it. From a surprise appearance with Tommy Dorsey in 1955 to a 1990 concert at Radio City Music Hall, SINATRA: NEW YORK follows the singer onstage at various iconic New York City venues, living out one of his most famous lines: 'If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere.' The 71 previously unreleased performances gathered here (55 on CD/16 on DVD) capture the singer giving his electricifying best, reminding listeners why Sinatra' s celebrated baritone has been hailed as 'The Voice.' The set, produced by Charles Pignone, features deluxe packaging with rare, never-before-seen photos, tributes from Martin Scorsese, Tony Bennett, Yogi Berra, and Twyla Tharp, liner notes by Nat Hentoff, and essays by William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist and The French Connection; George Kalinsky, official photographer for Madison Square Garden for over 40 years; Tom Young, engineer for Sinatra; Joe & Sal Scognamillo, owners of Patsy's Italian Restaurant in New York City; and Frank Sinatra Jr.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 50 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Poor Song Selection and Sequencing Taint Something That Could've Truly Been Special. December 26, 2009

By Anthony Nasti

Format:Audio CD

There's no denying that Frank Sinatra and New York had (and still have) a special affinity for each other. Even before Ol' Blue Eyes recorded a certain anthem to the City that Never Sleeps that has since been played at every award ceremony and sporting event the Big Apple has to offer, Frank and NYC were hand in glove: two symbols of confidence, spirit and individuality who played by their own rules and remain icons to this day.

With all of that in mind, one would think that "Sinatra: New York" - a 5 cd boxed set containing never before released material of some of Frank's most memorable performances such as Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall - would serve as a definitive showcase for some of the legendary shows Frank had performed throughout his career. After all, with the excellent "Sinatra: Vegas," one would have every right to expect a similar quality set. Unfortunately, "Sinatra: Vegas" falls short of expectations in more ways than one.

For starters, the sequencing of the first and fourth discs makes for a very awkward listening experience. With selections from two separate shows on each disc, you don't get the thrill of a full concert experience, nor are the performances chosen the absolute best they could've chosen. For example, the Tommy Dorsey reunion show from 1955 at the Manhattan Center is nice to have for historical purposes, but isn't a particularly dynamic performance by any means. Similarly, the 1963 performance at the United Nations with Frank accompanied only by piano is an interesting keepsake because of the venue and format, but the performance itself isn't anything special. Sure, Frank's charisma and voice shine through as always, but there's nothing that makes the hair on your neck stand up.

Disc 4 suffers from the same problem.... The first half is from Carnegie Hall in 1984, one of several legendary engagements Frank gave at the venue between 1980 and 1987. Unfortunately, listening to the performances chosen, you don't get the feel you're listening to something particularly special, as we get to sit through "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Luck Be a Lady" for the umpteenth time while great songs such as "Please Be Kind," "Ol' Man River", "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," and "Here's that Rainy Day" (among other rare gems) lie dormant in favor of surprisingly flat versions of "This Is All I Ask" and "Teach Me Tonight." The 1990 Radio City Music Hall show that closes out the final disc features a surprisingly still vibrant sounding Frank, but once again, a decidedly standard and uninspired selection of songs. It's nice to finally get an official live release of "Summer Wind," and "New York, New York" had to show up somewhere, but "For Once In My Life" and "Mack the Knife" have both showed up numerous times on various live releases, and quite frankly, even the most ardent Sinatra fan has tired of "Strangers in the Night." Would it have been to much trouble to include say, "How About You" or "If You Are But a Dream," both of which were performed during that run?

But the biggest disappointment about the set is that the two complete shows on Discs 2 and 3 are about the worst possible that could've been included, both from 1974, one from Carnegie Hall and one at Madison Square Garden, the latter an alternate to the show that became "The Main Event." Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Sinatra's career will tell you that 1974 was not a very good year by Sinatra's standards. He was touring behind a pretty crappy album, "Some Nice Things I've Missed," and his voice was very harsh and raspy sounding, still not fully recovered from the post-retirement boon. There are several moments on both discs where's he blatantly off-key and blows notes he'd normally glide through with ease, not to mention misses cues and is even (gasp!) off rhythm in a few spots. Listening to these shows, it's almost as if the producers just grabbed the first couple of soundboards they could find and decided to release them with giving a thought to the actual quality of the shows.

The saddest thing about this is that there are literally dozens of complete shows they could've instead of these two sub-par selections. Frank did several legendary multiple show engagements at Carnegie Hall in 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985 and 1987 (I don't even want to get into the fact that the legendary 1978 Radio City Music Hall engagement, possibly the greatest shows of his career, are completely overlooked). During this period, Frank's voice was the best it had been since the late 1960s', the team of musicians he had with him were some of the best he's ever played with and he was performing a stunning array of songs that he hadn't performed in years (or ever, in some cases): "When Joanna Loved Me," "Little Girl Blue," "As Time Goes By," "I Won't Dance," "Autumn Leaves," "All Or Nothing At All," "Lost in the Stars," "More Than You Know," and "Lonely Town," just to name a few that would've been delightful to have seen included on this set. Instead, just about every one of the songs included have been on at least one prior Sinatra live release, and a good chunk of them have been presented in better renditions on these previous releases. Having complete shows from these legendary engagements, with these rare songs coupled with familiar favorites like "My Kind of Town," "I've Got You Under My Skin," and "My Way," among others, would've made for a much more enjoyable listening experience than the two perfunctory shows we got plus snippets of shows that, while great, leave the listeners wanting more...in a bad way.

For all the criticisms lobbed upon the four audio discs, I must say that the fifth disc, a dvd of Frank's closing show of his 1980 Carnegie Hall run - is a revelation, and almost makes you wish it was sold separately. The sound and picture quality are excellent, and the show itself is outstanding: Frank is in full control of his voice, and the song selection is more than adequate, you get many of the familiar favorites, rare gems like "When Your Lover Has Gone," "I Can't Get Started," and "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry," as well as some forgotten masterpieces such as the lush "Summer Me, Winter Me" and the heartbreaking "You and Me (We Wanted It All)."

The packaging for the set is, as it was for "Sinatra: Vegas," very well done, with a nice booklet with enjoyable esaays. However, as a whole the boxed set leaves a little too much to be desired. While no Sinatra is bad Sinatra, and the set is still a worthy purchase for most fans, the feeling that this could've been something far more special never quite leaves your mind. Read more ›

53 of 56 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great - but it could have been even better..... November 5, 2009

By Aloha Bob

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is another beautifully packaged Frank Sinatra box set, very much like the "Vegas" box. The performances are mostly great, but I have a serious gripe about the content. CDs 1 & 4 are great, but why are there two 1974 concerts in this box? 1974 was not a "very good year" for Sinatra live performances. He was much better, and the setlists were much better, in 1979, 1981 and beyond. In September 1981 Frank did an incredible 2 week stand at Carnegie Hall. Among the songs he performed at those shows were "As Time Goes By", "A Long Night", "These Foolish Things", "Thanks For The Memory", "When Joanna Loved Me", "Little Girl Blue", and "In the Still of the Night". Sadly, none of these great songs are on this box set....instead we get TWO 1974 versions of the wretched "Bad Bad Leroy Brown". On the plus side, the DVD of Carnegie Hall 1980 is great - although it is edited and incomplete. "Sinatra New York" is a mixed bag overall, but for Sinatra fanatics this set is a must !

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars These Little Town Blues: Sinatra Live In New York! November 28, 2009

By Anthony Accordino VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

"Sinatra New York", is an exhaustive live 4 cd and 1 dvd set, that delivers on all accounts. The live cd recordings date from 1955 in the Manhatten Center through 1990 at Radio City Music Hall. The live DVD performance captures ol' blue eyes during a 16 song set at Carnegie Hall in June of 1980. This box set is lavishly packaged with an outstanding 47 page booklet loaded with great commentaries and photo's. The sound quality is actually quite good, and the picture quality of the DVD is much better than I expecxted. What is clear during the DVD performance,is simply that Sinatra demanded perfection from his orchestra, and he received it, giving the audience both a vocal performance and memories that will last a life time. I do caution however, that this set will appeal to mostly hardcore fans, as you will hear live renditions of many songs repeated two and three times over the course of the box set. For the novice fan, I would stick to some of the many "Best Of" packages available. This set however, is going to make most fans extremely happy. Many favorites are here for the listening, like "New York New York", "Mack The Knife", "My Way", "Fly Me To The Moon", "Ive Got You Under My Skin", and "Come Fly With Me', and "Strangers In The Night" to name a few. Sinatra is a vocal icon, who is presented here in a high grade boxed collection that is fit for a king. After all, Frank Sinatra is music royalty, and was as big in his world, as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, the Beatles and Aretha Franklin were in their world.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Francis Albert Sinatra Live In His Town Of Choice December 12, 2012

By Darren O'Neill

Format:Audio CD

There is no doubt that Frank Sinatra had love affairs with a few different cities, but there was always one town that stood above and beyond for him and that is the Big Apple. As I sit here today on what would have been Frank's 97th birthday I randomly picked out this set to listen to as a celebration to the man.

Full disclosure, I believe I own every cd Sinatra has legitimately put out and a few that aren't quite so legit. He's an artist that's been packaged and repackaged and then the repackaged have been repackaged. It's the nature of the beast when you have such a prolific career. This set features 4 audio cds and 1 dvd of performances that Sinatra performed in New York and I don't believe it disappoints.

I've read the reviews that complain about the song choices and the concerts that were chosen and can't say I believe a lot of the theories that were put out there. It seems like it is accepted that Sinatra had most, if not all, of his shows recorded and I can tell you from a conversation I had with Nancy Sinatra years ago that is not the case. There may be concerts in the archive, but it's not every concert by any means. From an audio geeks standpoint, even if these shows were recorded most would have been rough mixes to mono or two-track masters at the very best leaving little room for post-concert tweaking. Sinatra was a perfectionist and I don't blame the family at all for carefully choosing which tapes are worthy of release and which are not.

With that said, the sound quality on this set is excellent. Sinatra's voice is always up front and sounding great. Sure, there are some songs that appear on multiple discs, but Sinatra had staple songs that he performed year after year. I really enjoyed each of these shows, especially the between song banter.... Sinatra shows on this set why he was one of these best vocalists and entertainers ever to hit the stage.

To be fair I've never watched the DVD all the way though, from what I've seen the video quality is excellent for the time period. I have, however, listened to the audio from the DVD quite a few times and that is of excellent quality.

The bottom line is this is an excellent set of live Frank Sinatra material. It's not the perfect introduction for a new fan and it's not a career retrospective or anything. It's a snapshot of an artist on a few different nights of his career, and in that light it is well worth the asking price. Read more ›