Customer Reviews

Watertown

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This rare FS CD should not be rare! It tells the musical story of a factory man in a town where "nothing much happens", except that his wife has walked. It must be listened to track by track to tell the full story. It was an original concept album in 1969-70, all new songs, and these songs are all, for an unexplained reason, practically unknown today, along with the album itself. Starting out with the folk/rock sounding WATERTOWN, each track is part of the story. The best here are GOODBYE SHE SAYS, FOR A WHILE, ELIZABETH, SHE SAYS (sung along with the two sons that are part of the story,MICHAEL AND PETER). THE TRAIN, similar to Glenn Campbell's "Gentle on My Mind", but more sad, and the add on LADY DAY, which is about the best "extra" any CD has ever had. This CD is completely unique both in the Frank canon, and probably anywhere else. My only minor complaints to this as a total listening experience is that Frank's voice occasionally cracks,and I don't much care for WHAT'S NOW IS NOW, inexplicably on a FS GREATEST HITS collection. An essential in showing how Frank adjusted to the current (1969-70) sounds, and in that this holds up better than just about any other material of that or any time.

In March of 1970 Sinatra issued his first album of original material written especially for him and hardly anyone noticed.

"Watertown" sold poorly (only getting to 101 on the Billboard charts) and dissapeared quickly.

Warner Brothers reissued "Watertown" on CD in 1994, but that too is now out of print.

Unfortunate.

"Watertown" remains to me one of the all time great (and underrated) Sinatra albums.

Written by Bob Gaudio (of 4 Seasons fame) and Jake Holmes, "Watertown's" seamless collection of songs tells the everyday story of a small town railroad worker whose wife leaves him and their two kids to make a life for herself in the big city.

It's hard to put into words the pain that Sinatra's superb singing and phrasing evoke in this album.

For example in "Michael and Peter," a song written in letter form, from husband to wife ,Sinatra sings the line

"John Henry came to cut the lawn again he asked me 'where you'd gone' Can't tell you all the times he's been told-- But he's so old..."

And Sinatra's voice almost cracks with anguish.

To the general public "Watertwon" is unknown. To Sinatra afficiandos, it remains a rare work of art and in many ways the bleakest album of Sinatra's career (even considering "Only The Lonely").

I notice that Amazon is selling a British import issue of "Watertown"

Do yourself a favor, order it and give yourself a musical experience.

The haunting narrative of a man whose wife has left him and their two sons in Watertown, NY. Sinatra interprets the pain, self-deception, self-transformation, and lack of ultimate redemption flawlessly. The album demands and richly rewards attentive listeners. My only complaint is that I wanted more -- more songs, more information about the family. But our imaginations fill in the blanks. In this relatively obscure album, Sinatra cements his reputation as our greatest stylist.

This cd is one of the best Sinatra cd's ever! Its funny how the best cd's are hardly nowhere to be found. It is a cd with Sinatra's voice at his peak. Buy this album!! The song Michael and Peter is my favorite. The song is so touching, everytime I listen to it I feel it inside. If you are a collector this is a must have. The lyrics tell a life story, and the arrangement is so beautiful. Watertown is Frank Sinatra's most ambitious concept album, as well as his most difficult record. Not only does it tell a full-fledged story, it is his most explicit attempt at rock-oriented pop. With Jake Holmes, Gaudio created a song cycle concerning a middle-aged, small-town man whose wife had left him with the kids. Constructed as a series of brief lyrical snapshots that read like letters or soliloquies, the culminating effect of the songs is an atmosphere of loneliness, but it is a loneliness without much hope or romance - it is the sound of a broken man. He turns in a wonderful performance, drawing out every emotion from the lyrics, giving the album's character depth

I am not the perfect expert in Mr. Sinatra music yet, however, I am discovering all his music slowly and "Watertown" is 1 album I fell in love with.

This CD is different from all FS music I head so far. It is a more Rock Oriented Pop album and it evolves not only as simple songs but as a story of a Middle-aged man in a small town whose wife had left him with the kids; so naturally the effect of the songs is an atmosphere of loneliness of a broken man; and although this is not the usual style of Mr. Sinatra, with his great voice, he turns the music into a beautiful warm performance full of emotion giving the album lots of depth.

So far, I have heard only few of Mr. Sinatra's 70 + albums but I think "Waterfront" is and will remain one my favorite album for this great artist.

Many people think of Frank singing some of the greatest lyrics ever written , which he did so often in the mid to late 50's on his Capitol albums . On 'Watertown' , the songs place Frank in a role , something which he was used to playing .

The lyrics on this album are not up there with the standards he sang before this .

The listener should make the effort to forget all they have previously heard from Frank automatically , as soon as the album has begun - if one can do that , then this album is waiting to be enjoyed .

The above shows the problem with being a legendary singer - people are often not musically open minded to try an album such as 'Watertown' - it may not be your thing .

Frank's estate certainly do not promote the 'non standard type' of his music .

Frank is known as an icon of urban cool, but this is Frank's suburban album , if that makes sense .

I say that because of the subject matter of the songs .

This is a small scale album from a man who is better known for singing things like 'My Way' .

Try it .

If you're not the kind of person that can truly LISTEN to a CD from start to finish without interruption...please DO NOT buy this CD. This CD is for serious music listeners because it's from the most serious singer that has ever lived. Read the liner notes first, put the kids to bed, turn down the lights, pour a little wine, or a little Jack Daniels, and listen to one of the greatest CD's that Sinatra ever made. This is not New York, New York or Summer wind. Frank was one of the first artists to do "concept albums" in the sense that an album had a particular "feel" to it, "Only the Lonely" is probably the best example. But "Watertown" tells a story, start to finish, connecting all the dots. Heartbreak WITHOUT the romance, and no one can tell that story better than Frank Sinatra. When I've had breakups with girlfriends, this album has gotten me through them. Sometimes you need to listen to the "Master" sing about pain to help put your pain in perspective. This is that CD!

Frank Sinatra did a lot of concept albums in his career, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. But even within that context "Watertown" stands out as something unique and I have to believe that on some significant levels it was inspired by the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album. Not because "Watertown" constitutes pop-rock more than any other Sinatra album, but because by offering an actual story told in song it upped the ante for Sinatra the way "Sgt. Pepper" did for the Beatles. The music was written by Bob Gaudio, who wrote most of the big hits for the Four Seasons ("Big Girls Don't Cry," "Rag Doll," "Walk Like a Man," etc.) with lyrics by Jake Holmes, whom, I am stunned to learn, is apparently the original composer of my favorite all time rock song, Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused."

The result is what would be termed a song-cycle (originally conceived as a TV special/album tie-in) about a middle-aged man living in a small town dealing with the fact his wife has just left him with the kids. He loves the small town (Gaudio picked Watertown from a map of New York state), but she wants more and abandons her family for an attempt at a career. As with the saloon songs that marked the mature Sinatra a decade earlier, these are songs of loneliness. However, this time there is much more of a sense of dispair, heightened by the sad melodies and sweeping orchestration along with the modern rock sounds.

The best songs are and "Goodbye (She Quietly Says)," a ballad about the end of the relationship where people say goodbye without emotion, and "Michael And Peter," done as a letter to the wife about the children, because it is the only way he can communicate his feelings to her which begins with just a simple acoustic guitar. I also like the retrospective "What a Funny Girl (You Used to Be)." This album was recorded shortly before what proved to be Sinatra's first retirement and you can hear the limitations of his aging voice in these songs. But the cracks in his voice match the emotional strain of his character in this song-cycle; the album also finds Sinatra engaging in some rare overdubbing.

One of my all-time favorite Sinatra songs is his performance of "Soliloquy" from "Carousel," which appears on "Sinatra: A Man and His Music." This album fits the style and tone of that song, and if nothing on "Watertown" reaches the heights of that earlier effort, there is something grand here about the effort. There are clearly not commercial songs, and Sinatra's enthusiasm for this project says something about its value as well. I can appreciate that "Watertown" will not appeal to all of Sinatra's legion of fans, but I tend to like ambitious odd-ball albums such as this.

I'm not really a big fan of Sinatra. I mean, sure I dig the hits and all, I respect his body of work, but his thing is not really my bag, at least not yet. So I was quite surprised when a cohort of mine turned me on to this record, "Watertown". I don't understand how anyone could label this album "difficult" or "a failure". It's different that his other work, I suppose, but maybe that's what I'm looking for.

As soon as I heard the first four notes I knew I was home again. This record spoke to my instincts directly, hitting all the right emotional notes, something a lot of Mr. Sinatra's work does not do for me. Maybe his singing is not as rock solid on this album as his earlier work, but for me that's a plus. The man always seemed too impervious for me to identify with the feelings he was expressing. Here, you can hear some weakness in him, and you can really feel the anguish in his words. Music isn't about perfection. It's the imperfections in recordings that often open the door to true emotional impact. That's why today's music is so unmoving to me; it's all been enhanced and polished and perfected to the point that the human element has been completely removed.

Yeah, I'm square; maybe I'll get hip someday and learn to find joy in the rest of Mr. Sinatra's catalog. But I ask you, what kind of world is this where something so beautiful is kept hidden from the public? Out of print in the United States when it should be receiving the grand treatment, being re-released with high quality sound, extensive liner notes and fancy packaging. But no, it is sent away into out of print record bin exile to be forgotten forever. I didn't even know it existed until 3 weeks ago! How many more gems like this are lying dormant underground waiting to be rediscovered?

Every song here is a work of art, beautifully arranged, like a higher power was at work making the notes fall into place ever so perfectly. It's a miracle of sound recording. It speaks to the heart....my heart, anyway. If you're looking for swingin' good times, go elsewhere. If you are looking for an album of dignified beauty from an American master, give it a try. If you only hear on Sinatra album in your lifetime this should be it.

Simply put, this album is a genuine classic...completely transcendent. A grown-up east coast answer to the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" in both arrangement & narrative with perhaps some of Mr Sinatra's most heartbreaking & emotionally-charged vocal deliveries of his career (or at least the latter half of his career).