Customer Reviews

Where Are You

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Among Sinatra's favored arrangers -- the legendary Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Axel Stordahl and others -- Gordon Jenkins seems to take a few more critical blows than the others. Jenkins favors curtains of strings, lending a melancholy backdrop to Sinatra's vocals that contrasts sharply with Riddle's lighter woodwinds and reeds and May's fast brass. While Riddle and May are undoubtedly better arrangers, Sinatra clearly preferred Jenkins when he wanted to record albums of torch songs and dramatic loneliness, and this album especially bears out the singer's wisdom when it came to orchestration.

This is an immensely rewarding album to listen to, in part because it was Sinatra's first stereo recording -- and very nicely engineered (the more famous 'Come Fly with Me' is almost bombastic in comparison, due to the overemphasized channel separation.) The title track is magnificent. 'Maybe You'll Be There' finds Sinatra's voice complementing Jenkins' lush strings to perfection. 'I'm a Fool to Want You' simply aches. 'Where is the One?' is especially fine, with a lyric that never fails to put a lump in my throat: "The journey's long, much longer than I reckoned. In any throng, I'd know her in a second." Perfect rhyme, perfect timing -- and set like a diamond among Jenkins' golden string section.

There are other Sinatra albums that are more accessible, or popular in their style. While not all of the Sinatra/Jenkins recordings are this good, the artistry is without peer, and the intricacies of 'Where Are You?' make it extremely rewarding for those who share Sinatra's fascination with the brooding side of the lonely heart. Strongly recommended.

I think this and Only The Lonely are Frank's two best records in his career. On these records he reaches a level of passion and intensity that's unmatched not only by him, but anyone else in the history of popular singing. This is a masterpiece: absolutely flawless, with amazingly perfect song selection; tender, sympathetic orchestration by Gordon Jenkins; and caring, emotional, soul searching vocals, just as on Only The Lonely, though not quite as gloomy. This is THE cd to put on during those reflective moments when it's autumn, the air is crisp, the leaves are dying, and your mind wanders back to times that used to be. "There's No You" is stunningly beautiful and will leave your jaw on the floor; this is as beautiful a song as anyone could ever write about a lost loved one. "Autumn Leaves" and "Laura" are incredible, and are the definitive versions of those songs, despite the hundreds of others that exist. "Maybe You'll Be There" is a fairly unknown song with perfect lyrics. All in all, these songs' lyrics tell the tales of a lonely, haunted man deep in a wistful dream, oblivious to the world around him as he stares at the trees and lets his mind drift like the falling leaves. These songs are about loss and the resulting confusion that accompanies it when you lose someone you care about, especially by death. What we hear is how this intelligent, sensitive man, though deeply troubled, is dealing with those feelings; sometimes he's delusionally optimistic (I Cover The Waterfront, Maybe You'll Be There), other times he's sadly accepting (The Night We Called It A Day, There's No You, Autumn Leaves). In short, when you select some of the best songs that have ever been written about loss, and have a talented and passionate singer to sing them, you get a dramatic masterpiece: one of the greatest albums ever recorded in any era: Where Are You.

Among Sinatra's concept albums, "Where Are You" does not usually receive the attention reserved for "Only the Lonely" "Wee Small Hours" and "No One Cares". "Where are you" is, however, as wonderful an album as any of those three. The arangements by Gordon Jenkins are beautifully understated, never overwhelming either the singer or the lyric. Sinatra's vocals are among his best, striking just right note of longing, without losing the sense of truth he conveys in these lyrics. the song selection including "The Night We Called it a Day" and "Laura" along with the splendid title cut are perfect for teh Sinatra-Jenkins treatment. There is simply not a bad cut on the CD-an absolute classic.

I just received this CD and am on my third consecutive listen. This is GREAT stuff. The album fits in perfectly with Songs For Only The Lonely and In The Wee Small Hours. The only thing missing is the sound of the ice-cubes tinkling in Frank's half-empty glass of bourbon...

Sinatra is indeed at his peak here. The same could of course be said of many other albums, but Gordon Jenkins makes it extra special. He uses a classical orchestra, mostly strings and French horns with no saxes or rhythm section, and his writing is superb. There are some fine, little known songs here, and Sinatra and Jenkins do wonders with them. 'I think of you' has a lovely melody, stolen from Rachmaninoff's second concerto, no less! The last four songs are a fill-up and don't really fit the concept of the album, especially as the orchestra in these is Nelson Riddle's jazzy outfit, so much less refined than Jenkins'. The transition is done quite cleverly, with a Jenkins-ish track as the first of the four, but the songs really aren't as good either. This album fits the title 'Sinatra and Strings' better than the one with Don Costa, and the Jenkins strings are quite outstanding.

One of only 3 albums made with Gordon Jenkins. These remarkable arrangements stand above everything else I have heard from the Capitol years. The last four (bonus) tracks, which were not on the original vinyl, would be wonderful on their own, but after the 12 original songs, seem inferior. A real treasure that I could not find anywhere in Ontario.

It's September. The hints of October's brisk chills are being slowly reintroduced to us, as we realize that Autumn is upon us once again. Our hearts and minds cannot help but think upon the past...memories of distant friendships, lost loves, past affairs and heartaches. It is a gorgeously bittersweet time. Frank Sinatra's "Where Are You?" takes these very real emotions, and with every note and word, paints an autumnal colleidescope in music. This 1958 album is stunningly beautiful, dripping with the warm colors present in an autumn forest, ALWAYS with a palpable prescence of longing, loss, and loneliness. I have reviewed this album before, but each year, at the first hint of autumn, I rediscover its beauty. I had to publically praise it once more. It does seem that over the years this album has been VASTLY underrated, deserving as much praise as "Only The Lonely" or "Wee Small Hours". At this stage in his career, Sinatra's voice is at his most personal and mesmerizing. It is a rich, warm, and knowing voice, that comes to full fruition on this album. Sinatra interpretations are haunting; he has an uncanny connection to the lyrics, as if he is living or re-living each word as he sings them. The song selections, which remain some of the finest in our American Songbook, blend together perfectly to create a complete theme...painting a complete picture. While the bonus selections are very nice on their own, they do not augment the original concept of the album and don't stack up against the original twelve tracks. With Sinatra's artistry and Gordon Jenkin's sensitive strings, beautiful songs such as "Laura","Autumn Leaves","There's No You", and "Lonely Town" become chillingly real and will leave you breathless. Sinatra's unique ability of breathing a complete dramatic life into each word is simply unequaled and unchallenged. .......(from the liner notes) "Where Are You?, there can be no doubt, is an absolutely stunning, deeply affecting recital of pure music in which there never once is sounded a false, inappropriate or hesitant note. It is distinguished for the thoughtful, unerringly balanced equilibrium that has been maintained amoung all its parts - singer, song program, and musical settings."...It simply is musical art of the highest form. Buy it, dim the lights, and let Sinatra guide you gently through your emotions and memories.

For Frank Sinatra 1957 went well beyond being a very good year. Of the six albums that the singer released that year I would argue that three of them--the swinging "Come Fly With Me," the hard-driving "A Swingin' Affair!", and the melancholy "Where Are You?"--end up on the short list of the ten essential Sinatra albums. Another two, "Close to You and More" and the soundtrack for "Pal Joey" are only a step or two below that highest level, and only "A Jolly Christmas with Frank Sinatra" is a marginal effort. Three great albums and two very good albums in one year is remarkable (when the Beatles exploded they were releasing "only" two great albums a year), and the cold hard fact is that in 1957 Sinatra had a better year than the entire careers of 99% of the world's recording artists.

"Where Are You?" is not only Sinatra's first album recorded in stereo, it is actually something of a change of pace for the singer since it was the first album he recorded at Capitol with a producer other than Nelson Riddle, beginning a successful collaboration with arranger/conductor Gordon Jenkins. The key difference between the two producers was that Jenkins tended towards the classical touch of lush string-dominated arrangements in providing the proper touch of melancholy for this collection of torch songs. The result is not the stark sadness of earlier Sinatra collections of saloon songs (e.g., "In the Wee Small Hours"), but more an overwhelming sense of sadness. Ten years later he would win the Grammy for producing another essential Sinatra album, "September of My Years."

The choice cuts off of "Where Are You?" would be "The Night We Called It a Day," "I Cover the Waterfront," and "Lonely Town." However, the tone is set by the title track, where Sinatra displays a new sense of delicacy in his vocals, the orchestra effectively reduced to subtle background color. "Where Are You?" is one of these classic Sinatra songs that you get to discover (or rediscover), when you get away from the boxed sets and hit collections and just listen to the albums. Nobody did a better job of putting together thematic collections for each release than Frank Sinatra and this album, which reached #3 on the Pop Charts, is one of his very best in that regard.

with Gordon Jenkins. Interesting to note that Frank actually wrote some of the lyrics to "I'm a Fool to want you" which of course, is a reference to Frank's failed marriage and stormy times with Ava Gardner, and you can sense Frank's pain in his interpretation of that song which was also well interpreted by Billie Holiday on her CD (Lady in Satin). This is a mellow and reflective Sinatra in top form.

Where Are You? is an overlooked masterpiece. The orchestrations behind Sinatra are absolutely stunning and "the voice" is impeccable. The tracks of "Autumn Leaves" and "Laura" are worthy of the disks price alone. They are the definative versions. The bonus track of the rarely heard "Rain" is a real treat as well. Sinatra is at peak form on songs like "There's No You" "Where is the One?" and "I'm a Fool to Want You". This album is an absolute must for any and all Sinatra fans, and should also be owned by those few who aren't Sinatra fans (are there really ANY?) A fine testament to high musical artistry!