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57 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In the palm of his hand, May 18, 2005
18 months after the death of his friend Nelson Riddle, (on-or-about his 71st birthday in 1986) Frank Sinatra found a special way to pay tribute to America's greatest orchestrator: At this live show Sinatra chose to introduce an all-string arrangement by Riddle of the Gershwins' enduring love song, "Someone to Watch Over Me."
It's an exquisitely beautiful `new' arrangement (reminiscent actually of the best work of Robert Farnon --- the Canadian-born `King of Strings' as Quincy Jones dubbed him --- whose death, last month in Britain, went unnoticed in his homeland.).
But no --- it's a `new,' never-before-recorded Nelson Riddle arrangement. As the singer accepts the applause at song's end, he gives credit where it's due, saying: "That's a lovely song! What a marvelous song! The Gershwins! And Nelson Riddle's orchestration! Thank you very much! I love singing it, it's a great song!"
Sinatra immediately launches into a (then) "new song" by Ebb & Kander "Maybe This Time" - expressing hope that this would become "a new standard." (It didn't - disappearing without a trace, through no fault of Frank Sinatra, who gives it a great rendition here.) The song's brassy, bright arrangement by Frank Foster subsides at its end, with a quiet, innovative jazz-combo resolution . . . reminiscent of Sinatra's best band arrangements from Don Costa (whose mid-tempo, `in the groove' swing orchestrations were Sinatra's favorites in his final years of live performances). The singer wistfully speculates that . . .
"Maybe this time I'll be lucky! Maybe this time she'll stay! Maybe this time --- for the FIRST time --- Love won't hurry away! . . . All the odds are in my favor! Something's BOUND to begin . . . it's got to happen sometime! Maybe this time I'll win!"
Now, building from strength-to-strength, The Master segues into the next song, asking conductor Bill Miller: `Whaddya got (next)? Oh! Cole Porter! Cole Porter is so deserving to be one of the members of the club here!"
As the orchestra breaks into Nelson Riddle's famous, swing version of the song most Sinatra fans say is their all-time favorite, the singer announces, "Nelson Riddle's most identifiable orchestration, I believe this would be. It's bigger in Japan than it is here!
"I've got you under my skin . . . "
This performance is surely the best-ever, live version --- the orchestration, the recording-engineering is unsurpassed. (The "At the Sands" rendition of 20 years earlier, pales in comparison.) After a `false ending' (and Sinatra's spoken acknowledgement over the applause, "Cole Porter, Nelson Riddle,") the singer and musicians break into another, 40 second chorus, more enthusiastic than before --- again with Sinatra rising to the occasion with his strongest singing of the night, subsiding to his softest voice - no longer reduced to a croak, as at earlier moments of the `concert.'
And, speaking of concert . . . the singer bestows on this audience the most breathtakingly beautiful renditions (with original Nelson Riddle arrangements) of TWO songs from "The Concert Sinatra" album of 1963, featuring Sinatra's favorites by Broadway composer Richard Rodgers --- "My Heart Stood Still" (lyricist Larry Hart) and "I Have Dreamed" (words by Oscar Hammerstein II).
To hear a large orchestra "live" with a good-sized string section this well recorded, is sheer delight: The singer expresses sentiments many of us share to this day, about "My Heart Stood Still." The audience is teased with choice words of introduction: "Ah! this was written by Rodgers & Hart and orchestrated by the great Nelson Riddle, and it is one of the FINEST love songs ever done and I hope you enjoy the way we do this thing --- if not, I'm gonna cry!" And suddenly the years melt away as a younger sounding Sinatra recalls:
"I laughed at sweethearts I met at schools . . .
All indiscreet hearts --- seemed romantic fools!
A house in Iceland was my heart's domain . . .
I saw your eyes
Now castles rise in Spain . . ..
I took one look at you
That's all I meant to do . . .
And then
My heart stood still . . . .
The master of breath control holds his final note (in loud sustain) for 18 seconds. If that doesn't sound impressive, (for ANY singer, not just someone 71-years-old) . . . try singing along! And try it at full volume.
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Beyond a natural, phenomenal vocal ability -- which enabled Sinatra to perform like this in his 70s -- the singer actually turns weaknesses into strengths. The occasional `croakiness' (on softly-sung passages) is magically transformed into endearing vulnerability . . . an emotional fragility that lesser singers never convey, on their best day.
Listening to this remarkable recording, you can hear for yourself how the `entertainer of the century' blossoms and shines -- casting a warm spell over a loving audience. Performer and listener become as one --- rather like dance partners . . . recalling something Sinatra himself once observed --- that an audience is rather like a woman: If she senses indifference in her suitor, then the party's over! ( "Endsville" as the old swinger would say.)
And that love dance is happening here --- a fascinating moment-in-time, captured for those of us who missed our chance to be there . . . to hear Sinatra "live" in the autumn of his career.
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Late in the program the singer makes a noble attempt to introduce a "sweet new standard" by "Leiber and Stoller who wrote all of Elvis's big hits." The songwriters (who two decades earlier gave Peggy Lee "Is That All There Is?") provided Sinatra with "The Girls I've Never Kissed." One listens and wonders if any male singer, even at the peak of his abilities, could ever rival Sinatra's late-in-life rendition of this lovely ballad: a memorable melody, oh-so-poignant lyrics . . . caressed by an old Master who holds us - his rapt audience - lovingly, in the palm of his hand . . .
"The old wolf sniffs the summer breeze . . . and dreams about his youth . . . .
And the scent of honey in the trees -- whets an old sweet tooth . . .
The pretty girls go strolling by
I smile at them and heave a sigh . . .
And think of all the things I've missed
And all the pretty girls I've never kissed . . .
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37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Only for connoisseurs of Sinatra, life, and good music, April 29, 2005
No question that there are things to be suspicious, if not to dislike, about this set of 19 previously unreleased performances recorded during a December 1986 engagement at the Golden Nugget. The tie-in with Las Vegas iconography is blatant and exploitive to the point of being insulting to anyone who purchases the CD for (would you believe?) the music. (Open the album's cover, and the print--enlarged and in bold--screams: "Congratulations! You now own a special piece of the Las Vegas Centennial Celebration!") The audio balance is uneven, with the voice occasionally sounding a bit distant or taking on excessive echo. (There's no disguising the fact that the recording is not of a single performance and that equipment changes were made along the way.) Finally, the voice does waver a couple of times (imagine that!), especially early in the program on "What Now My Love."
But this may be Sinatra's most satisfying live performance on record, making up for "The Main Event" (the most disappointing Sinatra album in my entire collection of over fifty albums) and superior to the slightly overrated "Sinatra at the Sands." First of all, listen to the sheer joy and generous good will in the man's voice. No gratuitous rat pack business or Chairman of the Board posturing. He can't contain the love--from the crediting of composers and arrangers (more than usual) who have served him well to gratitude and subservience to his audience to the boyish excitement that simply bubbles to the surface during fresh readings of old and new material ("The Girls I Never Kissed," "Only One to a Customer"). And this would be one of the last times he would perform with his all-time favorite drummer, the irreplaceable Irv Cottler.
Sinatra's live performances were far too electrifying to be adequately represented by any recording, and his "bigger than life" persona never came off well on a TV screen. To be sure, not even Sinatra could create away from the studio the timeless and pure musical art realized on his precious "concept albums" for Capital and Reprise. But as a reminder of his other claim-"Entertainer of the Century"-this album at least comes closer than the other, admittedly few, live recordings.
Ignore the title and the gaudy sin city packaging. This is a live recording with genuine life! In place of the old Vegas swagger, this is a Sinatra of tremendous grace, gentility, and vulnerability. It's a Sinatra who is universal and quite frankly irresistible.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Chairman is enjoyable, but the sonics are not, June 11, 2005
I must confess I was pretty excited to hear about a new live Sinatra disc from the 80's recorded in Las Vegas, as well as the whole idea of a Vegas CD series featuring artists like him, Dino, Bobby Darin and other male and female performers known for their legendary Vegas shows. I am a huge fan of FAS and love his studio recordings during the 50's and 60's. Let me first say that on this live recording Frank's voice holds up exceedingly well to the demands of the repertoire he chose for these concerts- and I say 'these concerts' because it can't be ignored that there has been some editing done here to make it sound like it was one concert.
Although it is always a treat to hear Frank sing no matter the period in his artistic life, what spoils this particular disc is the strange sonics. Yes, some tracks are without problems. But I've listened to this disc on headphones as well as in my car, and Frank's voice often inexplicably travels all around the spectrum from track to track (and sometimes during a song, like during "I've Got A Crush On You"- it begins center right, then suddenly goes to the left). It makes for an odd presentation. Sometimes it feels like you are up on stage in the middle of the orchestra with the Chairman right next to you, and other times you feel like you are in the furthest back seat at the rear of the showroom. Intros and vocals occasionally have reverb added and other times sound dry, almost giving one the impression the recordings took place in different venues and not just at the Golden Nugget. Orchestral mixing varies from track to track. You will notice the screaming french horns in "Luck Be A Lady", "For Once In My Life" and most notably during "I've Got You Under My Skin", where their long notes obliterate the power volume builds that make this Riddle arrangement such a classic. (Actually, I don't hear the horn parts in the original studio recording or on subsequent live recordings, so the parts must've been added in by another hand. Whether or not you like the added french horns, I doubt both Riddle and Sinatra would've wanted the song mixed to sound like a horn concerto with Sinatra obbligato.)
This disc is best for collectors. New listeners who want to hear Sinatra live would be better served by seeking out more representative examples of the master in his heyday, such as Sinatra At The Sands or Sinatra '57. Yet I couldn't bear to give this disc two stars, because there are still some beautiful moments to be enjoyed here ("My Heart Stood Still" and "I Have Dreamed" are both mixed to gorgeous heights). As others have said, a Sinatra release always contains treasures to be mined.
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