Customer Reviews

Sinatra: Vegas (Box Set, 4CD/1DVD)

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The new Sinatra: Vegas box set is the most essential Frank Sinatra release to emerge since the outstanding Sinatra in Hollywood collection of rare and unreleased soundtrack material that came out over four years ago... almost. More on that caveat later.

After enduring scores of unnecessary and pointless posthumous Frank Sinatra "best of" compilations, reissues, repackagings and "limited editions," Sinatra: Vegas finally gives both the casual fan and the die-hard collector something we actually want: four CDs and even a DVD of previously unreleased (officially, anyway) live material spanning the years 1961 to 1987, all recorded in -- you guessed it -- Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada.

Marketing concerns were surely behind this concept as much as artistic ones -- an equally compelling collection of unreleased live Sinatra recordings from international venues could easily be assembled also -- but Sinatra: Vegas sounds way cooler than Sinatra: Argentina.

For starters, the thing looks and feels great, packaged in a sturdy black longbox with shiny silver lettering. The discs are housed in classy yet functional digipacks, and the booklet is chock full o' photos and remembrances, if a little skimpy on details (yes, some of us want to know the exact dates of the recordings, not just the month and year.) You even get a couple reproductions of vintage promotional posters to hang in your locker... or something.

The first CD is comprised of material recorded at the dearly departed Sands Hotel and Casino in November 1961. Performances from this same engagement appeared on the Saloon Singer bootleg years ago, but in vastly inferior sound quality. The fidelity here is pristine, capturing Sinatra in the loose, swinging, confident prime of his early Reprise years, with plenty of Rat Pack-y goofing around as well. While there aren't a lot of surprises among the tune selections, the lovely ballad rendition of "Just One of Those Things" is a welcome rarity.

Disc Two is something that Sinatra-holics have been dying to hear for a long, long time: some of those 1966 recordings with the Count Basie Orchestra that WERE NOT used on the classic Reprise live album -- essentially giving us a new "all alternate takes" version of Sinatra at the Sands!

The goosebumps begin from the get-go with a brief warmup and vamp by the Basie band accompanied by the (undubbed) off-mic announcer, and then Frank appears, proclaiming: "The cowboy is here!" Overall, these performances are looser and more dangerous than the familiar at the Sands versions and a fascinating counterpart to the more polished master takes.

CD Three fast-forwards us to Caesar's Palace in 1982, capturing Old Blue Eyes in fine voice during his underappreciated post-"retirement" early-80s phase, accompanied by Vinnie Falcone and a stellar band. Jazz combo versions of "Night and Day" and "I Can't Get Started" are especially enjoyable, making you wish he'd explored this format more often.

As an added bonus, Dean Martin stops by for some foolishness, and daughter Nancy even takes the stage to join Frank for a duet performance of "Somethin' Stupid" -- and he murders the tune so completely it becomes almost listenable for a change.

The fourth CD presents The Man at The Golden Nugget in 1987 during the twilight of his performing career -- rough around the edges but still a mighty force to be reckoned with. This set is of similar vintage to the Capitol Sinatra Live From Las Vegas CD released last year, but features superior sound quality and a better set list. He has a lot of fun with "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" and "Mack the Knife," plumbs the depths of "I Get Along Without You Very Well" and digs into the brilliant ballad medley of "The Gal That Got Away / It Never Entered My Mind."

As far as I'm concerned, the DVD should be the Holy Grail of Sinatra: Vegas. It claims to be the fabled "complete unreleased" May 5, 1978 Caesar's Palace concert performed in front of an audience of liquor salesmen, celebrities, and a Catholic priest, as recorded by CBS but never broadcast in its entirety. Sinatra predicts that "this will be shown in 1982" during his introductory remarks... and he was only off by about 25 years.

Bootleg audio and video copies of this performance have been circulating among collectors for years, and it's notorious not only because of the high quality and wide variety of music performed but also for the jaw-droppingly outrageous, hilarious, and sometimes downright cringe-inducing monologues -- even by Frank's standards.

The video and sound quality are remarkable, especially considering the date and the source, and of course it's a revelation compared to the bootleg copies. The set list is a fascinating combination of tried and true Sinatra standards ("All of Me", "The Lady is a Tramp"), interesting new arrangements ("Baubles, Bangles, and Beads"), attempts to stay hip in the 1970s ("Didn't We", "Something"), the rather surreal (an audience singalong of "America the Beautiful"), and, perhaps best of all, a riveting piano/vocal performance of "Send in the Clowns."

Then there's the monologue leading up to that Sondheim weeper-turned-saloon song, as Sinatra holds court, describing how the song is a request from an unnamed man in the audience "holding up one of them torches." Suddenly, though, I sensed that something was missing here -- so I pulled out my old bootleg CD copy of this performance and sure enough -- the monologue has been edited! Sinatra's raunchy riff on Elizabeth Taylor ("Mrs. Warner") is now missing...

"Madronn' did she get fat! I mean she was so beautiful -- she was so beautiful. Somebody blew her up with a tire pump or somethin'. She's a great dame. She's marvelous. I once offered her $10,000 just to let me look at it. I wouldn't touch it, just let me look at it, that's all. She doesn't know -- excuse me, Father -- she doesn't know what I was talking about, and neither does he. Cause he ain't never seen it either. You better not have seen it! Otherwise I won't show up at Mass!"

The audience howls with laughter, as you can probably imagine, but it's MIA on this "complete" official edition DVD. [Note how a cocktail magically appears in Frank's hand after the edit at 00:49:27. Not even Mr. S can make a drink materialize that fast!]

Why is it okay for Sinatra to take potshots at Claudine Longet ("one of the great marksmen of all times"), but not Liz Taylor? And then, during the "introductions" monologue later on, there's yet another edit. While acknowledging the presence of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley in the audience, this ill-advised off the cuff remark has been removed...

"Even if he is colored, he's a Hell of a man. He knows that, we tease him all the time. I'm glad to see ya, Thomas. He's my fella."

Too politically incorrect, perhaps? Well, that's Sinatra: Vegas, folks. Deal with it. Of course, when he calls Paul Anka "that little Arab," it doesn't get edited out.

What happened here? Why not include the complete monologues -- unedited and uncensored? There's plenty of swearing, drug references, and other off-color humor elsewhere in the Sinatra: Vegas recordings. What was it about these particular comments that was deemed "over the line" and by whom? Did the Sinatra Family insist on the edits before approving this release in order to "protect" their father's image and "legacy?" I think we can all handle the unsanitized Sinatra: Vegas experience, warts and all, just as the original audiences experienced it.

Sure, the Live at Caesar's Palace DVD is a fantastic, compelling performance regardless. People who haven't heard the bootleg version certainly won't notice the deletions. It sure seems like "the complete unreleased concert"... as promised.

So it's too bad that this otherwise outstanding collection is tainted by these perhaps minor but conspicuous revisionist tinkerings. I now have to wonder: What might have been purged from the monologues on the four CDs?

Despite this, Sinatra: Vegas is still a welcome, overdue, and highly recommended collection. Just hang on to your original bootleg of Caesar's Palace May 5, 1978 (or find yourself a copy) to hear the truly complete, unedited, unvarnished monologues in all of their pugnacious, swaggering glory -- "Sinatra: Vegas" as it should be.

Beautifully packaged, this is a fascinating and often musically important set of previously unreleased material. The 1961 recordings from the Sands may be the most vocally satisfying of the 4 audio CDs, but a 1982 Caesars Palace performance is an especially welcome document from the renaissance Sinatra enjoyed in the company of conductor-pianist Vincent Falcone. Highly-anticipated outtakes from the Sinatra-Basie Sands engagement of early 1966 range from good to excellent, even if none of them really equal their "master take" counterparts on the original "Sinatra at the Sands" LP/CD. (Proving that Sinatra and producer Sonny Burke made the correct choices the first time around, 40 years ago.)

The DVD (from a 1978 appearance at Caesars Palace) is a revelation. Sinatra is in astonishing vocal form, completely free from the rasp sometimes heard in his "post-retirement" work. The song selection is excellent and gives ample cause for regret that Sinatra and/or Reprise didn't see any commercial point in recording "American Songbook" standards during the late 70s.

It's fairly well-known that Sinatra's production crew often made tapes of the singer's various live performances during the 1980s and 90s. Hopefully the current release will sell in sufficient quantities to merit a followup set with the same elegant production values - possibly called "Sinatra: New York" - featuring the best moments from Sinatra's debut at Carnegie Hall (recorded but unreleased by Reprise c. 1974) plus his 1982 Carnegie appearance, along with the Radio City Music Hall benefit from early '86 that also boasted a stunning, hot performance by Benny Goodman.

This set contains four CD's and 1 DVD; from 1961, 1965, 1982, 1987, and 1978. The two early concerts reveal Sinatra in all of his brilliance; the later ones are hardly worth a listen, with the exception of a few songs here and there.

Sinatra is at his peak in the 1961 and 1966 shows. The real revelation for me in the 1961 performance is the wild galloping version of "On the Road to Mandalay" which is just sensational. The gong at the end really swings. The 1966 concert at the Sands consists of alternative takes of the previously released "Sinatra at the Sands" album. It's interesting to compare and contrast the familiar versions of songs with the versions here. In most cases, they're almost as good and could have easily fit on the originally released album.

While most of the songs are one-offs, for Sinatra fans, it's also interesting to compare the duplicates to see how he gradually began to sing with much more of a kick. "You Make Me Feel So Young" is a perfect example. The arrangement in the 1961 version closely resembles Nelson Riddle's arrangement on "Songs for Swingin' Lovers," though Sinatra swings the original arrangement just a little harder. By 1966, Quincy Jones has rearranged the song to match the drive of the Basie band, and it goes from being a very good performance to a genuinely great one.

I don't think Sinatra ever really got his voice back after he took an early retirement in 1971, and by the late seventies, his voice could no longer do what he needed it to do. It is true that his interpretive skills were as good as ever, but in a live setting you hear him constantly trying to sing around the deficiencies in his voice, and it's distracting. He sounds OK on the less rangy songs where he doesn't have to sustain notes, but I find myself constantly comparing the ballads to earlier better versions, and they don't come off well. There are exceptions. I liked "I Get Along Without You Very Well," surely one of the most beautiful songs ever written which he sings in almost a whisper.

Musically, the DVD is the weakest of the set; the most interesting part of it is watching Sinatra get ready for the concert, and interact with his fans, including a young, obviously awestruck boxer. One thing that's always fascinated me about Sinatra is the contrast between his remarkable singing and his occasionally churlish behavior, on stage and off. Some of that churlishness is evident here as when he takes rude and mostly unfunny shots at a variety of show business folks and long-dead gossip columnist.

If you're a big fan of Sinatra, this is a worthwhile purchase. If you're a casual fan or you want to see what the fuss is about, buy the much cheaper "Sinatra at the Sands" and go on from there. If you want to see Sinatra in concert, see his superior Royal Festival Hall concert in London from just before his retirement, also available on DVD.

SINATRA:VEGAS - A WORTHY TRIBUTE
Mark Sudock - Host - Public Radio's "The Sinatra Songbook"

Sinatra fans will love this collection. Four audio performances and a concert taped for television that capture Frank Sinatra at different stages of his career and, for each period, capture him in top form.

Disc One, a 1961 performance in the Sands Hotel Copa Room, is particularly interesting as there is precious little live performance available from so long ago. Yes, there have been airchecks from this period. But Sinatra attains a unique intimacy in his club appearances. Listeners are very much "in the room." Add the fact that this is a Sinatra in his mid to late forties and at the zenith of his considerable vocal ability. This 1961 concert's amazing! Frank's firing on all cylinders; doing whatever he wants and having the pipes to go for it. Indeed, THIS is a performance that, for age-old fans and newcomers alike, answers the question, "What was all the fuss about?" THIS is the Sinatra that made Las Vegas.

Disc Two, captures yet another 1966 collaboration with Count Basie and his Orchestra. In the sixties, Frank released the landmark LP, "SINATRA AT THE SANDS." It remains a magnificent example of two giants of American Popular Song, at the peak of their respective powers. An exciting concert, a tight, crackling band and an electrifying soloist in Sinatra. "SINATRA AT THE SANDS" remains one of the all-time great LIVE recordings. Disc Two of this collection provides us the luxury of attending yet another performance by this duo. It is no less satisfying than the performance we've known and loved for forty years. As with the original LP, a very young Quincy Jones arranges many of the titles heard in the engagement.

Disc Three, Sinatra at Caesars Palace in 1982. This is a mature Sinatra by contrast to Disc One and Disc Two. He is comfortable with his musical catalog and the showroom, Caesars' Circus Maximus. Dino surprises Frank and the crowd with a quick walk-on and daughter, Nancy, contributes to a sweet moment, dueting with her father on their huge hit from the sixties, "Something Stupid." Once again, the listener to this disc is drawn into the room.

Disc Four, a 1987 performance at the Golden Nugget, was the first disc I listened to. Believing that Sinatra was, by this time, well past his prime and would deliver the least satisfying performance of the four audio discs in the set, I decided to get it out of the way first. I WAS WRONG! Frank's wonderful; absolutely present, enthusiastic and exciting. Recognizing that it's 1987 and not 1961, Sinatra, twenty-seven years later, remains better than most at their best. As well, the band is alive and tight. It's a very strong show!

Disc Five, a 1978 Caesars performance, is a special treat. Finally, for those who always wondered what it was like to see Sinatra in a club, this splendid DVD provides the answer. Taped for a television special in which only a few tunes were broadcast, the entire performance is finally here to enjoy. The first three songs alone, "All of Me," "Maybe This Time," and "Lady is a Tramp" set the tone for the night. There is so much power and energy here. Imagine a mailbag snagged from the pole by an express train that never slows down and you've got it. Here, Sinatra is a well-seasoned professional; in full command of his talent, the room and the night. This disc opens with FS backstage, maybe ten minutes before the downbeat and continues behind the scenes for perhaps five minutes after the final curtain. Collectors familiar with this concert, in bootleg circulation for ages, are critical of the fact that elements of Sinatra's monologue were trimmed for political correctness. Those programming this set made an appropriate editorial call; one that is sensitive to personalities in question who are still among us. In truth, the minimal deletion at hand in no way compromises the spirit of this engagement.

The discs are all technically superb.

The set is beautifully packaged. The enclosed volume is filled with informative commentaries by Sinatra friends and collaborators. The photographs are well-chosen and, in some cases, rare.

The folks at the Sinatra estate have gifted the world with a collection that is at once a justifiable tribute to the artist and is a wonderfully satisfying experience for the listener.

Recommended Titles: Sinatra '57, Sinatra at the Sands, Live in Australia (1959), Sinatra & Sextet: Live in Paris.

A casual fan who only knows Sinatra from his '50s and '60s recordings may see that three of the five discs here are from 1978 and later and shy away from the box. But fans who've heard Sinatra's many live bootleg recordings from the latter part of his career know that his concerts from the late '70s and early '80s are the equal of, and in some ways superior to, anything he ever did. Even the 1987 show, from the very beginning of FS' long decline, shows him to still be in great form, even if his voice is no longer what it was in the '60s.

I have two very minor complaints with this otherwise perfect box, and neither should dissuade you from buying it. The running time of all four CDs is under an hour, and the typical Sinatra set was usually about 70 minutes. Since all four discs are compiled from multiple shows, there's plenty of room for more music. I'm particularly saddened by the exclusion of the piano-and-voice "Porgy & Bess" medley that was performed at the 1982 Caesars Palace gigs which make up the third disc, and which remains officially undocumented. And while I understand why certain portions of Sinatra's politically incorrect monologue from the 1978 show (on the DVD) were deleted, I'm still sorry they're missing. Nancy Sinatra, on the Sinatra family website, vociferously denies that any edits were made, but anyone with a copy of the unedited bootleg VHS tape can easily prove her wrong.

Still, these are very minor quibbles with a landmark collection that's easily the most important "new" Sinatra piece to have been released since his death. The sound is stunning, the packaging is gorgeous, and the music is brilliant from start to finish. A job well done.

It's hard to put into words how superb this new compilation of previosuly unreleased live Sinatra performances really is............

In the 70's Sinatra began appearing in large stadiums, but his true venue was always the nighclub floor, and "Sinatra Vegas" presents the finest pop singer of our time in his natural habitat--Vegas saloons at different stages of his career...............

Other reviewers have capsulized each disc in terms of content....I'll try to do in a more abbreviated fashion..........

Disc one--FS at the Sands--November 1961....Sinatra as the poster boy for the highball generation and the leader of the Rat Pack--he is in vocal prime as he straddles both Reprise and Capitol in terms of repetoire (sort of his own musical Berlin Wall)

Disc Two--alternate performances from his early 1966 appearance at the Sands with Basie and Quincy Jones and in almost every case I prefer these "new" takes over the 'Sinatra At the Sands' material(especially 'Skin' 'Street of Dreams' and 'Shadow of your Smile'--the monolouge is shorter and Sinatra gets to introduce visiting celebrity arrangers, namely Don Costa and Johnny Mandel..........

Disc 3 FS at Caesar's Palace 1982--I attended one of the performances during this engagement and still remember the beautiful reading of "Hey Look, No Crying"....the small jazz combo chart of "Night and Day' and the great treatment of "All Or Nothing At All" with the Riddle arrangemnt....this was the time of Frank "with no strings attached"--featuring string-free bolder and brassier charts............

Disc 4 Golden Nugget 1987--FS at 72 still in fine form---audio is far superior to the 'Nugget' release of last year and repetiore is better with a standout "At Long Last Love!"

But the centerpiece of the sensational package is the DVD....Sinatra at Caesar's May of '78 when his vocal comeback following the brief retirement was at it's peak...........this is prime nightclub Sinatra--he's loose, in great voice and having the time of his life....plus we get to watch the small jazz combo performance of "Babules Bangles and Beads" and a simply stunning "Gal That Got Away/It Never Entered My Mind"....added are bookends of FS backstage--checking himself in the mirror--having a pre show bourbon;hanging out with middleweight champ Vito Antuofermo and Jilly...........the monolouge is strictly vintage Frank...after introducing Orson Welles and mentioning 'Citizen Kane' FS proceeds to 'bury' again William Randolph Hearst, Westbrook Pegler and Dorothy Kilgallen (the 'broad with no chin')

The packaging is first rate with an informative booklet(we find out for example that William "Cannon" Conrad was hired to dub the voice of the Sands announcer on the original 'Sinatra at the Sands' release---the audio mastering couldn't be better---it's the kind of compilation Sinatra lovers dream about but rarely get....

"Sinatra/ Vegas" is about popular singing at its finest--but it is also about the art of peerless stage performance..........it also reminds us how much bleaker the lives of so many of us would have been had Francis Albert Sinatra not existed.

Each of the five discs in this boxed set, could stand alone a fabulous release, adding to the legend that was Frank Sinatra. Released as a whole, this set is nothing short of overwhelming. The packaging is thoughtfully produced and put together in a classy manner that would have made 'Ol Blues Eyes proud. The book has nice photos with well written articles that supplement the set are all top notch, but this collection is really about the man and the music, And there's lots of it.

My personal favorite is the 1961 performance at the Sands. The reason I am so fond of the '61 show is Frank's voice is pretty amazing shape, and its such a treat to hear him with a well recorded orchestra in a concert setting - during this period in his career. (I own a pretty good sounding bootleg version of this particular show, but the sound contained in this set is nothing short of spectacular.)

I must also mention the dvd of FS at Caesar's Palace in 1978. It shows Frank at his best during the latter peiod of his career. Even in 1978, Sinatra was still "the man" and this performance bears that out. The sound and picture are excellent.

I wonder how many more shows are sitting in the vault. One can only hope this set will sell well and that perhaps we will see more releases such as this in the not too distant future.

The Sinatra of 1961 (the year he began recording for own new label, Reprise) was a very different performer from the Sinatra of the 1980s. This nicely packaged set captures a wonderful slice of live FS from the onset of the Vegas years (1961) to his post-retirement comeback, and includes a DVD with video from a 1978 performance at Caesar's Palace. Whatever remastering was done is superb, because the sound quality even of the earlier material is top notch.

My favorite of the lot must be the 1961 performance at The Sands. The set list is inspired, with songs like 'You Make Me Feel So Young', 'Imagination', 'Moonlight in Vermont' and 'You're Nobody Til Somebody Love You' being perfectly suited to Sinatra. (In fact it sounds awkward when other talented singers try to pull one of these off...) His recording of 'The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else' -- a Sy Oliver arrangement from his days with the Tommy Dorsey band -- sets the mood. At the same time, Sinatra's voice in the early Reprise period (1961-67) is an amazing, wise baritone -- pleasingly deepened from the Capitol Records stint, which is generally considered his pinnacle. All of this makes the 1961 recording a real treasure and probably worth the price of the set.

Disc 2 will be familiar fare to those who have already heard the Sinatra at the Sands album re-released in '98. Again, the recording is excellent, and Basie does a credible job backing the singer. More importantly, Sinatra was a big admirer of Count Basie, and the rapport elevates this performance just as it did the previously released concert. I would give the slight nod to this concert, although it's not night-and-day better than the album released in '98 as part of the 'Entertainer of the Century' collection of individual CDs.

Leaving behind the 1960s, discs 3 and 4 take us into the 1980s and the start of the 'Sinatra the Legend' period where the adulation began to outrun the quality of the music. The voice is still there, but weakened (remember, he was 67 years old), so the swagger compensates for some skipped notes, and banter and over-narration fills in for some of the intensity of the earlier shows. Dean Martin drops in - still funny, but for a brief exchange and not the extended Rat Pack-era shenanigans. You've got to treasure this for what it is. Some clipped notes, a little rasp in the voice ('Hey Look, No Crying', for example, is sung at half mast) but it's still trademark Sinatra and enjoyable as such. The songs are well-selected, although 'Somethin' Stupid' remains beyond saving even here.

The 1987 concert, disc 4, serves up a couple of treats -- 'The Gal that Got Away' and concert staple 'Mack the Knife'. Overall, very enjoyable, although the deterioration in FS's voice is very noticeable -- and numbers like 'My Heart Stood Still' (from the 1963 Concert Sinatra album) demand healthy pipes. Great performance. He was 72, and still a treasure to listen to.

The DVD was one of the attractions of this package, and it's an incredible artifact for Sinatra fans. Musically, it's the weakest of the set, with a painful performance of George Harrion's 'Something' (nice song, but wholly unsuited to Sinatra), a rendition of 'Baubles, Bangles and Beads' that makes you long for the old 1958 'Come Dance with Me' version. Sondheim's 'Send in the Clowns' does a bit better.

Thankfully, this collection covers some of Sinatra's great songs and omits a lot of the mediocrity that had begun to drag down to the popular music world by the 1970s. There is a huge difference between hearing a battle-worn Sinatra reinterpret greats like 'Angel Eyes' and struggling to make something out of garbage like 'It Ain't Easy Bein' Green'.

I'm nitpicking here, so by all means buy the set if you're looking for a nice selection of live FS. The first two discs are outstanding by any measure, and the balance has its moments. Even the 1978 video is a revelation. There hasn't been anyone since Sinatra who could claim to be the patriarch of the American songbook. And even a diminished Sinatra, in his silvery toupee, singing 'The Lady is a Tramp', is more than we have now and something special indeed.

Those clamoring for the definitive collection of Frank Sinatra can now look no further (though they may want to dig a little deeper into their pockets), as Reprise Records has issued the definitive collection of Ol' Blue Eyes in concert, and it's unlikely we'll get anything of this caliber for a long while.

"Sinatra: Vegas" is a 5 disc boxed set consisting of four cds and one dvd that capture at Sinatra in concert in the city he loved more than any other. Spanning from 1961 to 1987, each cd as well as the dvd have excellent set lists as well as pitch perfect sound quality.

Disc 1 comes from his November 1961 engagement at the Sands Hotel And Casino, which is sadly no longer in existence. This is bar none the best recording of Sinatra from this time period, besting all others from this period (such as the sonicallly challenged 1994 "Sinatra & Sextet: Live in Paris") with fantastic sound quality and a fantastic set list that ranges from heavy hitting, energetic renditions of "The One I Love Belongs To Somebody Else", "Without A Song" and "Witchcraft" to tender, passionate renderings of "Moonlight In Vermont", "Just One Of The Things" and "Young At Heart" and a host of others. Sinatra is in great spirits, and his humour and energy shine through. Also included on thsi disc is a brief but touching interview in which Sinata tells about his hatred for bigotry and his stance he took against segregation in Vegas that affected black performers in a big way. God Bless This Man.

Disc 2 is probably the most intriguing of the discs presented on this collection. In 1966, Sinatra returned to The Sands to perform with Count Basie and his orchestra, resulting in the classic live album "Sinatra At The Sands", which is sprobably the first great live album. The performances on this disc comes from that same engagement but provide alternate versions of recordings featured on that album. Having compared this disc to the original album, I would say that the original album has a slight edge but in the end, they are more or less even. I must say, that the version of "I've Got You Under My Skin" here is even better than the one on the 1966 release, which is often regarded as the definitive recording. "Get Me To The Church On Time" is also faster and livelier than it was on the original album.

Disc 3 is the best of the five discs. The early 1980s' for me were the last time Frank's voice where Frank's voice was truly in top form. At this show, the rasp that settled into his voice as he aged is almost completely nonexistent. He sounds confident, energized and focused. This could do with the fact that he was working with a more energized group of musicians, ditching the lavish string laden orchestra for a small horn section, giving way to a swingier, more relaxed environment.

The show's setlist is pretty solid, the highlights being "I Get A Kick Out Of You" (Dean Martin pops for a cameo on this one), "Without A Song" (for those who say Frank had lost it by this point, listen to well he holds that last note at the end of the second bridge), "The Lady Is A Tramp", "All Or Nothing At All" and "The One I Love Belongs To Somebody Else". The stripped down but uptempo jazz-combo take on "Night And Day" is intriguing and excellent, while "Get Me To The Church On Time" is loose and wild and makes for a great opener. "Somethin' Stupid" with Nancy is endearing and sweet, while "I Can't Get Started" is lovely.

Disc 4 comes from his April 1987 engagement at The Golden Nugget. Now well, into his 70s', The Vocie was faltering but he still gave it all he had. The Sinatra magic is as alive as ever here. "This Is How I Feel", he utters before launching into "I've Got The World On A String". This show demonstrates that while Frank's may have deteriorated, his passion and energy and love for his fans stayed intact, and this show is him at his best regardless of his vocal condition. Timeless Frank classics "Witchcraft" and "Pennies From Heaven" are given excellent latter day interpretations, while the medley of "The Gal That Got Away / It Never Entered My Mind" moody and haunting. Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life" and "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" are boisterous and exciting, while the Hoagy Charmichael chestnut "I Get Along Without You Very Well" is Frank at his most aching and sincere, his voice dropping to a whispering rasp. "Angel Eyes" is similarly effective, and the closing "Mack The Knife" is bliss.

But wait, there's more. The unreleased 1978 Caesar's Palace show has finally been released after nearly 30 years in the vault. This is The Voice we know best. Older but still in fine shape, Frank is on fire. Some time in the mid 1970s', Frank managed to get most of the sand out of his voice that settled into his later performance and it shows here. He sounds youthful, robust and energetic. He is relishing the newfound quality of his voice, right from the hard hitting opening line of "All Of Me".

Among the highlights is a lovely "Something", a moving "Someone To Watch Over Me", a blazing "Maybe This Time", and a swinging rendition of "My Kind Of Town". Also, "My Way" makes its sole appearance on this set, and it's a great version. The whole show is not included, but only diehard fans will ntocie the changes.

The packaging is attractive, and the booklet and replciated promos are excellent. Overall, this is an absolute msut for anybody's record collection. Get this today. Sinatra is God's Gift To Music, and this boxed set is a blessing.

Downbeat Magazine's listing of this recording as among the best of 2007 reminds us that not the least of the phenomenal one's talents was his towering strength as a "jazz singer": Sinatra, in fact, was a classy hat trick, a spectacular three-act opera writ large. First, there's the Columbia, Capitol, and Reprise Sinatras; next, there's the swinger, the torch singer, and the surprisingly "legit" descendent of Caruso who projected Hammerstein ("Ole Man River," "I Have Dreamed") into orbit; finally, there's the matinee idol, followed by the reactionary who rescued the Great American Songbook, followed by the commanding Chairman with blue eyes capable of reaching higher than Michael Jordan into the uppermost rows of the same Chicago Stadium where both stars played. This set is a reminder of the latter Sinatra, who was the primary reason that Las Vegas was once a genuine "cabaret" city worth visiting as opposed to a family theme park gouging tourists before they'd ever seen a slot machine.

The first disc alone, a 1961 concert at the Sands, is all by itself worth the asking price--arguably the best live Sinatra on record (including the later Sands date with the Basie Band). Not only is the performer in perfect voice, but it's one of those sets containing magic if not miraculous moments that surprise and amaze the artist as much as the listener fortunate enough to experience them. It's also one of those times when a Sinatra profanity is less a curse than at once the acknowledgment of a higher power and the only defense any of us have against an emotion strong enough to stop the show. All the same, there's much here about which a listener can only marvel at (and, if you ever saw him, say a little prayer of thanksgiving).

On the first two discs, from 1961 and 1966, the Master Storyteller has never been in better voice (at least since the beginning of his Capitol days), his love affair with the Basie Band even stronger than the previous applauded commercial release of the same year. He also exudes confidence, quickness of wit, and no small amount of repartee that might be deemed "for adult ears." Discs 3 and 4 from 1982 and 1987 find him in rougher, weathered voice but no less communicative. The breath support may be noticeably lagging on the slow ballads, but Old Blues' interpretive and acting skills quickly disguise these technical deficiencies. Moreover, these two dates feature a kinder, more munificent and generous Sinatra, grateful in equal proportions to his composers (mentioned far more frequently), arrangers, musicians--and his audience.

The DVD, a 1978 performance, has much of the earlier Sinatra bravado and smartness but also looks forward to the 80s Sinatra, for whom the top priority was always the music and its makers, the "Vegas smart talk" actually quite limited compared to the old days. Highlights of the video (besides his acknowledging Orson Welles and using "Citizen Kane" as a platform to denounce bigotry and phoniness) include his interpretations of Web's "Didn't We?" and Harrison's "Somethin'," both with lyrics that, to put it mildly, pale alongside those of a Porter or Hart. Sinatra not only salvages something from the papery words of "Somethin'" but transforms them into exquisite poetry, even taking over conducting duties to insure a poignant result. The breath support is there for the characteristically dazzling "breathless" segues between choruses and bridges, and the man turns in arguably his best televised performance ever. Apart from an undeniably affecting "America" as a closer, the kicker is a jazz quartet that he uses for "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads," reminding us, as he does on the 1959 Australian concert with Red Norvo, of his chops as a pure jazz singer. (He's so good I can forgive him his unfortunate, dismissive remarks toward Jimmy Carter for not allowing hard liquor in the White House. It's all to easy to forget that Carter was more welcoming toward jazz greats than any President before or since, opening the American people's House and his heart to Getz, Gillespie, and a gravely ill Charles Mingus).

The joy of experiencing this music in chronological succession is mixed with not a little sadness--the elegiac sense not just of time passing but of an entire era. And the sadness is about not only the loss of a legend but, to some extent, of an attentive, receptive public for this music. One can't blame the featured performer for occasionally getting testy when outspoken members of the audience insistently demand "NY, NY" and "My Way" (for the most part, he manages to avoid both). And then there's the last concert when the Chair not only sings the lady is a "Champ" but goes to the effort to "explain" (not once but twice!) that the words for Hoagy Carmichael's "I Get Along Without You Very Well" are not meant to be taken literally.

One can only hope that Sinatra either misinterprets the public's level of literacy and understanding or that those to whom he directs his didactic endeavors represent a small minority. If not, there's not a whole lot of hope for this music or the advanced culture of which this sublimely poetic and sophisticated artistic expression was once an integral part.