I've never listened to much of his stuff, but hearing a few songs on the Soprano's and constantly seeing stories about his greatness made me think I wouldn't mind having one comp of his stuff.

Any fans of his or is he too square?

Just buy 2:
The Best of the Capitol Years: Selections From "The Capitol Years" Box Set &
Sinatra Reprise: The Very Good Years

Got the Very Good Years in my car right now...

Thanks. I'll get lookin'!

I'll second the Sinatra Reprise: The Very Good Years. I've played that cd to death since I received it as a birthday present over 7 years ago. A good live cd is Sinatra at the Sands. I'm just glad I was able to see him live before he died.

Too square!? Good God man, Frank set the bar high for coolness. Out of the many artists in my varied CD collection Frank occupies the most space with 35 studio albums.

I'll "third" the Reprise:The Very Good Years disc. Absolutely awesome.

Everyone should own at least one copy of Reprise: The Very Good Years. It's amazing to listen to, and if playing some Frank won't work on a girl, nothing will.

There are a couple of good songs which aren't on the CD, but it's got most of what you'd want.

The Very Good Years was the first CD I ever bought from Columbia House back in '91.

While I LOVE 'The Very Good Years', let me throw another option your way: 'Classic Sinatra: His Great Performances 1953-1960'. The former will give you more popular "hits"; the latter is a better mix IMO: plenty of major hits and some other lesser known hits (like anything Sinatra sings isn't a hit ). I really love slower songs like "All the Way", "Oh, Look at Me Now", "My Funny Valentine", and "One for My Baby" that are mixed in nicely with some bigger hits.

In truth, you really have no business owning a CD player if you don't have both of these CDs (or source material that covers the same tracks).

As for square? Frank's got chunks of guys like us in his stool. 6 feet under ground, he's still cooler than any man to walk the face of the Earth.

das

Just do yourself a favor and get Ring A Ding! Ding!. It's not a compilation album but it is one incredible piece of music and belongs in everyones collection.

• Quoth palebluedot •<HR SIZE=1>Just do yourself a favor and get Ring A Ding! Ding!. It's not a compilation album but it is one incredible piece of music and belongs in everyones collection. <HR SIZE=1>

I'll second that.

das

I was talking with the owner of a great pizza place today. He has the whole place filled w/Sinatra stuff. I told him I was looking for some tunes and he mentioned a few but memory is failing me if these are the correct titles. "Live at the Sands" and a collaboration with another artist that was bossa nova?

He had a few album covers on the wall including "Ring A Ding! Ding!".

The bossa nova album you're mentioning is with Antonio Carlos Jobim (see more at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=music ) and it's brilliant !

I still have my vinyl double album of Sinatra & Basie's Live at the Sands. Very hip indeed, baby !

He had that Jobim album on his wall.

Is the Sands album on cd?

Let me throw another album out there for consideration:

The Very Best of Frank Sinatra



This is a double album with 40 tracks (Sinatra Reprise only has 20), and it picks up a few classics that the Reprise album is missing (Stardust, Nice Work if You Can Get It, They Can't Take That Away From Me)

• Quoth Buford T Pusser •<HR SIZE=1>He had that Jobim album on his wall.

Is the Sands album on cd? <HR SIZE=1>

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg.../-/B000006OBQ/

or

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg.../-/B000009D1P/

das

Yeah, that Sinatra at the Sands disc is a must have, if only for all the un-PC stuff that Sinatra says between songs. Priceless!

I gotta buck the trend here and say that Sinatra's Reprise years pale in comparison to his Capitol years...

The Reprise compilations are decent, but alot of the material is just him re-recording his original Capitol hits for his new label... Too many people own them simply because they came out later and the song titles are familiar.

For Reprise: Sinatra Reprise: Very Good Years is the 1-disc version, Best of Sinatra is the 2-disc version ...

They're fine, but for compilations, I'd really recommend instead:

For Capitol: Best of the Capitol Yesrs is the 1-disc version, Capitol Years is the 3-disc version...

You could get each single-disc version, as someone suggests above... But if I was getting the Capitol single-disc, I'd probably look for an alternate Reprise disc with fewer of the same songs...

adamblast, that's why I recommended Classic Sinatra: 1953 - 1960 (which is from Capitol).

I think the only overlap is 'Night and Day', 'I Get a Kick Out of You', 'I've Got You Under My Skin', and 'The Lady is a Tramp' out of 40 tracks. Even with the overlap, the recordings are pretty different, particularly 'Night and Day', which is drastically different (very slow on Reprise; upbeat and powerful on Classic).

Anyway, I would agree ... given the choice, I'd choose Capitol over the two, but I'd choose Classic Sinatra over Best of the Capitol Years. It's the one I'd "keep in my car."

das

Yikes. I'm starting to suffer from paralysis from analysis. It seems there are about six or so cds that would be good. I'm checking to see what BMG has first since I have some free selections, then I'll go from there.

• Quoth Buford T Pusser •<HR SIZE=1>Yikes. I'm starting to suffer from paralysis from analysis. It seems there are about six or so cds that would be good. I'm checking to see what BMG has first since I have some free selections, then I'll go from there. <HR SIZE=1>

You really can't go wrong with any of the suggestions in this thread. I wouldn't get some crappy "Best of" disc that hasn't been discussed here, though. It's Frank, so it will still kick your ass, but you'd be better off with these suggestions. Regardless of what you buy, though, it's only an introduction. I have at least 40 Sinatra CDs in my collection, and each one tells a different story and is good for different moods. There is a lot of overlap on the song titles, but there are enough variations of each title that it doesn't matter. I mentioned 'Night and Day' before. On one disc, it's a slow pining ballad that makes you want to cry. On another, it's a powerful celebration that makes you want to sing to the stars. Same song.

Anyway, you'll likely be OK no matter which one you go with to start. The Very Good Years is probably the most popular intro collection, so I imagine you'll have no trouble tracking it down through BMG. If not, The Best of the Capitol Years or Classic Sinatra or any of the box sets that these discs were culled from will be great too.

Best of luck to you and check back in with your opinions. Once Frank is in your bones, I'm sure you'll be looking to branch out even more.

das

So, what's the verdict?

das

Thanks for linking me to this thread, das-monkey. Classic Sinatra shall be mine come Thursday. As I said in the other thread, I bought the Reprise disc yesterday and I'm really digging it.

By the way, in the other thread you said this: Is that a typo? The only Classic Sinatra: 1953-1960 I see has 20 tracks. This album, right?

Also, does Sinatra really work on the ladies? I wouldn't have thought so for a guy my age (21), but who knows.

Either him or Marvin Gaye's lets get it on would work fine. Just play it in the backround and maybe you might get lucky. (no experience yet.)