There’s both good and bad news about Sinatra’s second mention on this list. Again, Sinatra teamed up with the genius that is Nelson Riddle. However, the results are as different as chalk and cheese. If ‘In The Wee Small Hours’ was the lonely, heartbroken, ballad-heavy side of Sinatra; then this is the day after the night before. Sinatra comes across as simply euphoric, confident, and back in love. It’s like a warm sunny walk, or more of a skip, in the park.
The maturity Sinatra brings to this album is partially why it works. The way he sings through these 15 songs in his carefree and confident manner with swinging sophisticated swagger, is great. Sinatra is also in fine voice as he eases us effortlessly through these songs. Similarly, this album includes many of the songs which many associate with Sinatra; From the opener ‘You Make Me Feel So Young’, ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ to the climatic build of ‘Anything Goes’. It’s 45 minutes of classic Frank!
Not enough credit can be placed upon Nelson Riddle. Without him, this album would not be anywhere near as highly regarded as it is. The arrangements are full of life yet subtle throughout and demonstrate his versatility after listening to ‘In The Wee Small Hours’. Although these songs are up to twenty years old, Riddle’s arrangements are fresh and new, giving new life to them. Also, given that most of these songs were originally written for piano or small jazz combos, these grand lavish arrangements are astounding.
Now for the bad news, it is this very familiarity which works against it for me. On any given day on radio stations, at any wedding reception, or any occasion which so happens to have the tag ‘jazz’ or ‘big band’ attached to it, Sinatra is not far behind and these songs are the ones played. Consequently, these songs have become a bore to listen to. On top of this is every TV reality singer wanabee and second rate singer looking to cash in on some easy money (yes Robbie Williams I’m talking about you) singing big-band Sinatra as well. The result is overkill and completely destroys these classic songs rendering no impression being left on me at all of these songs. In short, it’s quite hard to enjoy these songs.
So in conclusion, there is no doubting that this is a classic album. It’s ageless, the singing is great, the arrangements fantastic. For any Sinatra fan this is probably some of his best work. However, I will not revisit this album anytime soon. That is to say, I won’t intentionally revisit this album anytime soon. No doubt I will be subjected to inferior cover versions of these songs as well as the originals without ever intentionally wanting to.
Stand-out tracks: ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’, ‘You Make Me Feel So Young’, ‘Anything Goes’
Rating: 4/10 for the album as a whole (9/10 for Nelson Riddle)
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