The Voice Of Frank Sinatra Is Magic To One's Ears

There's something special about Mr. Sinatra's voice. Every song he sings becomes magic to one's ears. Is it the song or the singer? Is it a song that makes the singer special, or is it a singer that makes the song special? Whatever it is, I know for sure that "if it's terrific, it's FRANK SINATRA!"



I truly believe that Columbia Records produced some of Sinatra's best from his earliest recordings. The original album (#1 on the Billboard charts) that was recorded in the forties has only eight selections, all impeccably arranged and conducted by Alex Stordahl, one of Sinatra's favorite arrangers along with Nelson Riddle. According to the liner notes (which is very informative & with a few nice photos of FS) written by Charles Granata, Stordahl's work was greatly influenced by classical masters such as Debussy, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff (three of my topmost favorite classical composers). There's no wonder why Stordahl's arrangements and orchestrations are so impeccable and enchanting! His inspirations came from these great composers of the Romantic Era.



In this CD, there are ten more tracks that were added and that's a wonderful delight to all FS fans! In my opinion, the very highlights of this precious CD are his performances on "Mam'selle" (previously unreleased and a bonus track) - makes you think of the most romantic city in the whole world... Paris, with its small cafés...the warm & sweet violins, Shapiro/Campbell/Connelly's "If I Had You" (previously unreleased and a bonus track), Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You," Gershwins' "Someone To Watch Over Me," Gillespie's "You Go To My Head," Marvell's "These Foolish Things," Brown/Clifford's "Paradise," Turk/Ahlert's "I Don't Know Why," and Irving Berlin's "Always."



On the liner notes, George T. Simon once said: "The way ballads should be done: simply, sincerely, musically."



And that's the way Sinatra rendered these beautiful ballads. He gave more than justice to these timeless and romantic ballads for our listening enjoyment of a lifetime.

PURE BEAUTY FROM YOUNG SINATRA

With the possible exception of "Frank Sinatra Sings His Greatest Hits", this is the GREATEST single disc collection of young Sinatra's Columbia recordings. Each song is gorgeous, and Frank's singing shows why he went on to last decades. The bonus tracks are splendid - "It Never Entered My Mind", "Always"...
If you want one disc of early Sinatra, make it this one or the aforementioned "Sings His Greatest Hits".

I have to add that you wouldn't go wrong with Columbia's "Love Songs" either. But "The Voice" was meant to be an album back in 1945 (spread out over four 78's), so it doesn't have the advantage of being a career-wide chosen collection, which makes it all the more brilliant, so extra points for "The Voice"! "You won't regret it/women don't forget it" (from The Voice)

My alltime favorite male vocalist (and album)

I'm an old f...,fogie. I've had the L.P. (pre-vinyl record, for you young lot) for almost 50 years. It is still my favorite; song selections, intros, orchestrations, renditions, vocals, everything! You can understand the lyrics, they tell a story, they evoke strong emotions, they set a mood, ah heck, you get it now. Or, you never will. Try it, you'll like it.