Songs for Young Lovers/Swing Easy [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Frank Sinatra

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 8, 1998)
• Original Release Date: 1955
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00000AEVG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #82,185 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
This CD pairs the first two 10-inch records Sinatra recorded for Capitol. In 1955, full-length albums by popular singing stars were still few and far between. These two platters marked the beginning of Sinatra's phenomenally successful relationship with conductor-arranger Nelson Riddle, and presaged the "concept albums" that would become such an important part of Sinatra's Capitol period. Songs for Young Lovers includes such romantic numbers as "My Funny Valentine" and "I Get a Kick Out of You," while Swing Easy offers up danceable versions of "All of Me," "Just One of Those Things," and others. Sinatra sounds great, and there's magic galore in these grooves. --Dan Epstein

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sinatra's (almost) forgotten arranger, George Siravo, January 1, 2003

By	David A. Reitzes (Wilmington, DE United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Given the phenomenal artistic and commercial success of Sinatra's work with Nelson Riddle, it's easy to overlook George Siravo, who wrote some outstanding arrangements for Sinatra both during the Columbia years and in the earliest days of the Capitol period.

It doesn't help, of course, that Riddle has been erroneously credited as the arranger of Sinatra's first (ten-inch) Capitol album (an EP by today's standards), the effortlessly buoyant SONGS FOR YOUNG LOVERS. But with the exception of "Like Someone in Love," it was Siravo, not Riddle, who arranged this wonderful album (now available as half of the SONGS FOR YOUNG LOVERS/SWING EASY compact disc). (Riddle conducted the recording sessions, which has led many to assume that he also wrote the arrangements. Years later, Riddle was still apologetic that Siravo hadn't received credit, though the mix-up was not Riddle's fault.)

Now, having said all this, I must dissent from the revisionist attempts to portray the late-period Columbia Sinatra-Siravo collaborations (collected recently on the Sony CD, SWING AND DANCE WITH FRANK SINATRA) as lost classics. To be perfectly frank (to coin a phrase), FS swings like a rusty gate on these tracks.

To the singer's credit, however, he knew precisely what he wanted, and when he left Columbia, it was a sheaf of Siravo charts that he decided to take on the road with him. By the time he inked his contract with Capitol, he was (as he would later sing in a remake of one of his Tommy Dorsey hits, "Oh! Look at Me Now") a new man -- as the recordings prove beyond a shadow of a doubt. Simply put, SONGS FOR YOUNG LOVERS contains some of the warmest, most effortlessly buoyant singing of Sinatra's career. "My Funny Valentine" in particular is a minor miracle, with the singer swinging so gently he threatens to float away.

So next time you listen to SONGS FOR YOUNG LOVERS or the always-rousing Capitol version of "All of Me" (the one chart on SWING EASY believed to be primarily the work of Siravo, possibly with some expanded orchestration by Riddle), raise a glass to not only a superb arranger, but one of the all-but-unheralded men behind the scenes who gave Frank Sinatra a creative boost throughout "all those in-between years" -- George Siravo.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic, groundbreaking album..., January 8, 2000

By	Jon Warshawsky "Sinatra Guru" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For an album (originally two records) released in the early 1950s, Songs for Young Lovers/Swing Easy is surprisingly modern. This is the first in a series of classic concept albums performed by Sinatra and arranged by the talented Nelson Riddle, and the songs and performance are equally superb.

Sinatra's voice of the 1950s is deeper, more resonant and perhaps darker than the Sinatra of the 1940s Columbia era, purportedly because of his stormy marriage and breakup with Ava Gardner. Whatever the case, songs like 'My Funny Valentine', 'A Foggy Day' and 'I Get a Kick Out of You' (with the orginal cocaine lyric!) are anything but historical curiosities.

Songs for Young Lovers consists of a satisfying set of ballads that formed the nucleus of a Sinatra catalogue and showed up in concert through the 1960s and later. Swing Easy, originally the second side of the Capitol LP (when the two sets were combined and re-released) is the first of the Sinatra-Riddle 'Swing' albums, that include 'Songs for Swingin' Lovers' and 'A Swingin' Affair'. Put simply, there is nothing quaint or retro-sounding about this set, except that it was recorded monaurally because it was 1953. 'Just One of Those Things' would be a hit tomorrow. 'I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter' is similarly timeless. If the Columbia recordings are cherishable and collectible, Songs for Young Lovers/Swing Easy is an album you'll enjoy as perfect recordings of great songs.

Very highly recommended.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SINATRA'S BEGINNING AT CAPITOL, December 4, 1998

By A Customer

First, a little bit of history on this album. This CD is actually 2 seperate entities with 2 seperate moods. In fact, "Songs for Young Lovers" and "Swing Easy" were really 2 seperate LP's when LP's were 10", not the familiar 12" that was the norm before the advent of the CD.

Both LP's had 8 songs and Capitol in a marketing move when the 12 inch LP became popular smashed the 2 LPs into one and 2 classic albums became 1. Then, in the early 60's when Sinatra formed Reprise; Capitol re-issued the albums as seperate entities again but adding songs that were not on the original albums; the songs were fine but they ruined the concept of the original LPs and believe me,in Sintradom,concept is key.

OK,with that little history lesson, to the music. What can you say....All of these tracks, were pre- "In the Wee Small Hours" done between 1953-1955. Orchestra or better yet,lack therof, was conducted by Nelson Riddle but the arrangements were maybe a cross between Riddle and George Siravo, especially in the " Swing Easy" sessions.

"Songs for Young Lovers" was Sinatra's very first album for Capitol and he open's with a tender 'The Girl Next Door' that immediatly tells you that this 40's crooner has metamorphisized into something special.

All and I do mean ALL of the songs in this set are sung to perfection by Frank. With arrangements for the ballads that were beautiful by there simplicity. Nelson Riddle really was the perfect conductor for Frank. It just shows and shows throughout the CD. The"Swing Easy" part of the CD has Sinatra backed up by what it seems to be a jazz ensemble that came from his radio show at the time. Sinatra would not record a full studio album again with this small combo type of sound. Songs on this set,i.e., 'All of Me' and 'Just One of Those Things' are prime examples of that carefree sound that will explode a year later with the monumental "Songs for Swingin' Lovers" landmark.

If you are a beginning Sinatra fan, this set is a great introduction to the world of Sinatra. Just remember, you have all those Classic Capitols to go through and this was the begining.