An uneven collection of Broadway tunes from Sinatra

One of the things that made Frank Sinatra legendary was the way he would put out thematic albums, often of saloon songs or swing numbers, that had a sense of unity that raised the bar for our expectations in that regard. But "My Kind of Broadway," despite having nothing but Broadway songs, does not possess that same sort of thematic unity. Once you understand that the album was put together from a variety of recording sessions and soundtrack albums, this surprising development makes sense. Capitol artists during the 1940s and 1950s recorded a lot of songs by Broadway composers, from Gershwin and Porter to Rodgers & Hammerstein. However, this 1965 release leans towards more contemporary works overall. That makes the Gershwin songs "They Can't Take That Away From Me" and "Nice Work if You Can Get It" the exceptions rather than the rule. The most recognizable song is going to "Luck Be a Lady" from "Guys and Dolls," which is a perfect song for the swinging Sinatra style and nothing else on the album is as good. The best of the rest would be "Hello, Dolly!", "I'll Miss Her When I Think of Her," and "Yesterdays." The rest are all going to be hits and misses depending as much on your tastes for musicals as for how Sinatra sings the songs. There was a collection of Sinatra singing Rodgers & Hammerstein songs put out after his death that is superior to this collection if you like the idea of hearing Sinatra sing Broadway tunes. Too bad Sinatra never went into the studio with the specific aim of making a Broadway album, but in the 1960s he was mostly covering contemporary pop and rock songs.

Definitive Sinatra

"Without a Song" brought me to this album. Mr. Sinatra's rendition of the Vincent Youmans classic defines the singer's style in performance. The words tell about the power of a song as it lightens the load of everyday cares.
"Ev'rybody Has the Right to Be Wrong" is another highlight of the album. Everyone should listen to this one ("at least once"!), preferably, over and over again, as I have.

A SURPRISINGLY GOOD ALBUM WITH SOME HIGHLIGHTS

I enjoy this album because it represents a garden variety of Frank's early 60s work on REPRISE. In addition you get arrangments by Riddle, Costa, Zito, May, Hefti, Oliver and Jones ALL on one CD!
There are some classics (LUCK BE A LADY and W/O A SONG) and some beautiful rarities (GOLDEN MOMENT, EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO BE WRONG).

In fact GOLDEN MOMENT (arranged by Nelson Riddle) stands out on this album as the best ballad while LUCK BE A LADY is the best ballad (arranged by Billy May).

None of these songs were either released or hits as singles and this album only hit No.34 on the charts - not bad considering it was overshadowed by the FAB FOUR and of course Frank's own releases at the time (SEPTEMBER OF MY YEARS and A MAN AND HIS MUSIC).