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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outrageously good, July 29, 2000
This record launched Frank's Reprise years and what a debut! Five stars isn't sufficient for an album that contains some of the great vocal tracks ever sung by Sinatra. This is an album where you can put it on, hit play and never fast forward, all the songs are eminently Sinatraesque and exuberant. "The Coffee Song" is fantastic, "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" is another sleeper but as catchy as anything Sinatra ever sang. The highlight of this album is undoubtedly the title track, "Ring a Ding Ding," it's a never-ending joy to listen to this song, it will always make you happy.If you love Sinatra, you will already have had this on vinyl and cassette (maybe even eight track). If you're new to Frank, don't hesitate one moment: grab it and listen to it for the rest of your life.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Johnny Mandel Fits Sinatra Like a Glove..., January 5, 2005
A major reason Sinatra peeled away from Capitol Records in 1961 to form his new Reprise label was to work with a variety of arrangers with innovative styles. "Ring-a-Ding-Ding" was the maiden album he recorded for his new enterprise, and what a debut it was! Johnny Mandel's jazz-infused arrangements proved a perfect foil for Sinatra, who at this point was still at his peak of vocal abilities. As was their custom for a number of Sinatra's albums over these years, Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn composed the title track for their long-time buddy, and it certainly sets the tone for this varied and very swinging program. Old standards such as Irving Berlin's "Be Careful, It's My Heart" and "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" are revitalized with Mandel's winning charts, while a pair of Cole Porter gems, "In the Still of the Night" and "Easy to Love" find Sinatra and Mandel in full sympathy, producing results that are at once swinging and sophisticated. The light-heartedness continues with the witty "Coffee Song" and intoxicating readings of Harold Arlen's "Let's Fall in Love" and the Kern/Fields classic "A Fine Romance." During the same session, they also recorded an excellent rendition of "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart," which was cut from the final album release, since it was a thirteenth and "odd man out" track. Thankfully, it survived the intervening years and was included in several of Sinatra's Reprise retrospective collections. It is unfortunate Sinatra collaborated with Mandel for just this single occasion. They display real rapport here, and produced one of Sinatra's best albums of his Reprise era...actually, one of his best...period...
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sinatra in top Form, January 8, 2003
This, along with the "Sinatra's Swingin' Session" album, are in my opinion, proabably the best albums Frank ever did in the big band jazz idiom. Johnny Mandel wrote most of the arrangements on this album, and they are a bit more jazz-oriented than the Nelson Riddle charts from the 5 or so years before. This band and this record really swing. On one cut, "Let's Fall in Love", Sinatra pauses after the intro for a full two bars before he (and the band) pick it up again and jump into a great piano-backed arrangement that is really "in the pocket". It's the greatest use of dead space I can think of, and one of my favorite Sinatra moments of all time. The album is just full of great moments like this, very syncopated and finger-snapping. The songs here are not all standards, but that doesn't make the music any less enjoyable or interesting. The arrangements, great jazz intrumental performances, Sinatra's voice, and his phrasing make this whole album such a fun ride. It's hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this album, so rest assured it's worth twice the price of the CD.
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