Customer Reviews

My Way (Aniv) (Ocrd)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There is no doubt, even given the fantastic aspects of his career, that the sixties was Frank Sinatra's most diverse decade....he began by helping to elect a President and serving as the poster boy for the highball generation...he started his own record company, married and divorced a flower child half his age and wound up the decade on TV wearing a Nehru Jacket and love beads; in the interim there were some great albums, concert performances, TV specials and well publicized ugly brawls.

1969 (also the year of Manson, the Moonwalk, Woodstock and Altamont) was one of Sinatra's heaviest recording years....between February and December, he recorded 4 albums (the 2nd Jobim set, My Way, A Man Alone and Watertown)..

The 'My Way' album, released in March is Sinatra tackling contemporary material, but on a higher level than he did say on the "That's Life" and "Strangers in the Night" lp's.....

Don Costa's arrangements are sensational--Costa was often unfairly criticized for not being able to write up tempo charts--but there's fine work on 'Watch What Happens' (really outstanding) 'Hallelujah I Love Her So, 'For Once In My Life' (which became a live concert perennial) and 'Mrs. Robinson' which caused the obviously humorless Paul Simon to threaten a law suit ("Jilly loves you more than you will know!")and his incredibly beautiful chart on "All My Tomorrows" even improves upon Riddle's work in 1959.

This new 40 anniversary package is beautifully produced and mastered (I notice little bits of instrumentation I missed the first time around)...and it includes some great audio from a TV rehearsal of "For Once In My Life" (Sinatra SWINGS and the band WAILS) and a concert performance of "My Way" in which Sinatra eliminates an entire section of the song.

The man was the finest popular singer or our time and this new 'My Way" package simple underscores that fact.

If you have ANY of the previous issues of My Way, including the remastered track on the cd "Nothing But The Best", it doesn't matter, this issue is the one to buy. The My Way track on "Nothing But The Best" was a VAST improvement over all the previous issues of My Way. Indeed, when I heard it, I couldn't believe how much better it sounded. So when I bought the 40th Anniversary issue, I compared it to the original cd issue, the 1990 issue on "The Reprise Collection", and the 1995 issue on "The Complete Reprise Recordings. This latest remastering trumped every previous issue. So the only one left was the 2008 issue on "Nothing But The Best". So what did I find? The 40th Anniversary issue was even better! Almost hard to believe, but it's true. The 40th Anniversary issue has a sense of warmth and presence that is even better than the one on the "Nothing But The Best" issue. That one still sounds good but seems colder and has a touch more reverberation. The surprise on this issue was "A Day In The Life Of A Fool". For decades, Warner has issued it with the first 3 seconds missing. Imagine my suprise to hear the drum introduction first, then have the bass and piano enter. This has never been issued with the drum intro. The new remastering gives the band a startling presence that is sorely lacking on the original issue. Indeed, I was hearing instrumentations that was buried on the master tapes that are now heard in clarity. On the original issue, Frank sounds so far away and echoey on "Watch What Happens". Not so on the new one. Frank sounds like he's in the room with you. The difference is day and night. So do yourself a favor and put your original issue in your car, or give it to a friend. If you collect Frank, the incredible remastering job on this cd will have you playing it over and over again.

This has only been on CD once before, so no, it has not been 'repackaged in so many ways', in fact, it was long overdue for a remaster as all of Frank Sinatra Reprise albums are. Here is a fan hoping this is just the beginning of a thorough campaign to re-release all his Reprise albums in great package with updated liner notes (from Bono this time!!!) great remastered sound and bonus tracks.

The Sinatra family and Concord got it right. Keep up the good work folks!

This particular recording of Sinatra is the best ever recorded by him in a studio. The sound of his voice is raw and powerful. It sounds like he's singing in front of you in the studio. I'm a Beatles fan from way back..but let me say this..Sinatra sings Paul's beautiful ballad song "Yesterday" better. It sounds like Sinatra's original! And "Didn't We"..how beautiful. And "My Way"..no other recording from Albums,Cassettes,or CD's sounds like this one. The other recordings sound like copies but this one sounds like the original master piece. If you want to hear Sinatra at his best,this is the CD.

I have been a Sinatra fan for all of my adult life. Getting unreleased songs are like finding gold!

This is not one of Frank's classics but worthy to add to the collection.
This CD was ranked no. 53 of his top 100 and possibly this is a sign of things to come from the Sinatra Family Collection.
Add an outtake and a live performance track and re-release a 40th Anniversary CD.
Frank's library has been repackaged so many times and in so many ways that I have to decide whether to buy and/or replace my current collection with these reissues when a bonus track has been added.
I guess "creative marketing" has entered the Frank Sinatra world.

Bought this to get the song "For Once in My Life " to practice for our wedding first dance but enjoyed all the songs on this CD. It is classic Sinatra. Good arrangements as well.

It is a terrible irony that "My Way" came to be inextricably linked to Sinatra and vice-versa. As an artist of good taste, he loathed the song, but as someone who wanted to sell records and be played on the radio, he compromised with the poor taste of the era in which he recorded this album. Skip it: get "In The Wee Small Hours," "Songs for Swingin' Lovers," or any of the other great 1950s Capitol albums. Make Frank smile in his grave instead of wince.