Excellent overview of "The Columbia Years."

Sony has released all kinds of combinations of Sinatra's recordings at Columbia Records (made from 1943 to 1952) and all of these sets overlap with the definitive twelve disc "Complete Recordings" box from 1993. But that's a lot of money and music, so the more casual fan will probably want to snatch up one of these compilations. This four disc set is maybe the best. It comes in a book-size format with fine essays by Will Friedwald, Nancy Sinatra and others. There are about 100 songs and most of these selections are excellent. We kick things off with two of the a capella recordings Sinatra made when the studio musicians were on strike-- "Close To You" was his first solo record, and it's a winner (in spite of the weird choir). "If You Are But A Dream" is a real tear-jerker, with Sinatra's melifluous voice soaring over a gorgeous Axel Stordahl arrangement. Stordahl is the other hero of this set, and his achievements, which are celebrated in Friedwald's essay, are also well represented in the selections. "Saturday Night" was a rare swinging "flag waver" for the young Sinatra, and one of his best Columbia recordings. But my favorite "Frankie" recordings are the sweet ballads, classics like "Embraceable You," "My Melancholy Baby," "Dream," and "You Go To My Head." You'll love song after song, until you bump into Track 12 on Disc 2-- why did they include "Home On The Range"? It's beautifully sung, but just isn't Sinatra material, as far as I'm concerned. Happily, they did include the hidden gems "Among My Souvenirs" and "Stella By Starlight." After about 1947, things started to go downhill for Sinatra, due to many factors (the biggest being a decline in the public's musical tastes). But this set avoids most of the misses. It's good to hear Frank chirping away with Doris Day on "Let's Take An Old-Fashioned Walk"-- schmaltz, but successful schmaltz! "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy" is not half as bad as it looks, although Bing was much better at stuff like this (and "Home On The Range"). At least we get great songs from the underrated album "Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra," such as "Should I" and Cole Porter's "You Do Something To Me"-- all arranged by another unsung hero, George Siravo. "Meet Me At The Copa" should have been left off-- in fact, Columbia should have crammed more of the great early stuff onto these discs, instead of trying to represent the less consistent later years. Even so, we hear the amazing "Nevertheless" (one of the saddest songs Frank ever recorded), and "I'm A Fool To Want You" (his very saddest song!). Then there's that haunting last song, "Why Try To Change Me Now," where Sinatra's voice already has that smoke-tinged richness that he would develop at Capitol Records. This is a great summary of Sinatra's immortal legacy at Columbia-- after hearing all his records there I want more, but this should "hold" most folks for a while.

Historic and disarmingly great music

Recordings from the 1940s have a lot going against them as we begin the next century. From antiquated recording technology to the changes in our musical tastes from then to now, the listener must be ready to take a journey when slipping WWII era tunes into the CD player (or whatever comes next). The Sinatra 'Best of the Columbia Years' set makes that journey absolutely worth the ride.

Some of the finest popular recordings are found in this collection -- along with more than a couple that are less timeless and could have been left in the '40s. Forget the hard swinging Sinatra of the late '50s and early '60s. Listen to 'Stella by Starlight', 'The Song is You' and 'What'll I Do.' The long vocal passages, sung by a guy who really wants to know what he will do when his girl is gone -- and really hurts -- are still spellbinding. 'Night and Day' was an incredible song even in this early recording, and the quality of the recording is plenty good enough to recognize how impressive many of these songs really were -- and are.

With 94 tracks, it is pointless to list all the highlights here. It is riveting, however, to hear the origins of Sinatra classics such as 'Where or When', 'That Old Black Magic' and 'Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry.' What is remarkable is not that many of these songs sound dated ('Old Fashioned Walk' would be laughed off the shelves today, as would 'The Hucklebuck') but that many more make the listener forget the age of the music and feel the message.

The Sinatra of 1943-1952 is not for everybody, and there are some numbers here that have not aged well. But if you want to know Sinatra before the cigarettes and booze started to take his voice (after the '60s the effects are pronounced), this is a superb set. The quality of the music, the reasonable quality of the recordings and the first-rate booklet that accompanies the four CDs all make this a must have for Sinatra fans. No matter how much we enjoy the Sinatra of the Capitol years and the Las Vegas era, there is something compelling about these early tracks. Try this. Pick a forgotten song like 'Deep Night', turn down the lights, turn up the volume a bit and thank the engineers at Columbia for making this obscure bit of magic available to us half a century later.

The Greatest Singer of All Time

The greatest singer of all time, Frank Sinatra, will always live on, thanks to the countless recordings he did over his 60-year career. He is the voice of our love, happiness, sorrow, guilt, regret, and holidays. He was also the voice that provided comfort for women on the homefront during World War II while the husbands were overseas serving our country. They flocked to the Paramount Theatre or the 500 Club to see him, they screamed, yelled, caused riots, fainted, etc. Before Elvis, before the Beatles, Frankie made them swoon.

Sinatra began recording for Columbia in 1943 after a few years singing and making records with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and as a loyal Sinatra fan, the necessity of owning this 4-CD set did not go over me. These are my absolute favorite Sinatra recordings... they are tender, sentimental, heartfelt... true crooning in all aspects of the term. He was the first singer to put all of himself into the words he sang, to truly pour his soul into the songs. And the world hasn't seen another one like him since.