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Frank Sinatra – Young At Heart
Frank Sinatra with the orchestras of Nelson Riddle, Axel Stordahl, Hugo Winterhalter, Mitch Miller, George Siravo and Percy Faith
Recorded 1945-53
ASV LIVING ERA CD AJS 2002 [77.02 + 76.36]

Crotchet Budget price

Young at Heart
Where or When
All the Things You Are
Begin the Beguine
I Should Care
Dream
If I Loved You
That Old Black magic
I Only Have Eyes For You
A Ghost of a Chance
The Coffee Song
All Through the Day
Time after Time
Stella by Starlight
Sweet Lorraine
One for My Baby
But Beautiful
Almost like Being In Love
Laura
What’ll I Do?
Mean To Me
All of Me
I’ve Got A Crush On You
Body and Soul
You Do Something To Me
Autumn in New York
One in Love with Amy
Some Enchanted Evening
It All Depends On You
Don’t Cry Joe, Let Her Go
American Beauty Rose
London By Night
Lover
April in Paris
When You’re Smiling
Nevertheless I’m In Love With You
It’s Only A Paper Moon
The Birth of the Blues
My Blue Heaven
Why Try to Change Me Now?
I could Write a Book
Don’t Worry ’bout Me
I’ve Got the World On A String
My One and Only Love
From Here to Eternity
South of the Border
My Funny Valentine
I Get A Kick Out Of You
Rain, Falling from The Skies
Just One Of Those Things
Three Coins In The Fountain

 

What is there left to say when another Sinatra compilation hits the racks? This one spans the years 1945 to 1953 and so just nudges the 50-year copyright date. And despite the fact that these tracks have been re-issued so many times and despite their currency in popular culture there are still things to be said about them. Collectors should note firstly that Sinatra is accompanied for the most part by the bands of Axel Stordahl and Nelson Riddle though there are isolated instances of his work with Hugo Winterhalter, Mitch Miller, George Siravo and Percy Faith.

The arrangements sound crisp – slick strings and good pizzicati in Young At Heart and imaginative brass counter themes in If I Loved You. That Old Black Magic is here but banish thoughts of blowsy bleary finger-snapping kitsch; this is a laid-back and intelligent piece of introspection and a far cry from glitz and glitter. Then there’s the relaxed joviality of The Coffee Song, which adds a little light heartedness to the love-lorn romanticism heard elsewhere. Stella by Starlight opens with a big, burnished string intro but in the context Sweet Lorraine sounds rather incongruous. Backed by an all-star jazz group (Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges et al) it strikes a rather strange note, welcome though it is or would be in other contexts.

Talking of jazz however we get brass obbligatos from Bobby Hackett and Billy Butterfield and these take the mind off the very few duds along the way – Why try To Change Me Now for instance or the sudsy choir backing on I Could Write A Book. As if to reinforce the point the last ten tracks on the second disc consist of classic after classic after classic.

The notes are concise, the transfers sympathetic and the package, even allowing for the classic status of so many of these tracks, recommended.

Jonathan Woolf

Transfers sympathetic and even allowing for the classic status of so many of these tracks, recommended. ... see Full Review