What’s the best Frank Sinatra album?

Sinatra albums are like Elvis albums, you almost have to go by his different eras and phases of his career to make such calls, especially since his sound and style changed depending on the decade.

A lot of fans would say "Songs For Swingin Lovers", with Nelson Riddle arranging on Capitol, is their favorite or even the best. I tend to agree.

Anything Sinatra did on Capitol in the 50's, the concept albums and whatnot, are solid choices if not essential. Whether with Nelson Riddle or Billy May (or other arrangers), these 50's Capitol albums have "that sound" which i think many associate with Sinatra when they think of him. "...Sings For Only The Lonely" from this era is a GREAT late-night, turntable album.

The Reprise years, in the 60's..."Live At The Sands" with Count Basie is essential listening, Quincy Jones doing the arrangements for the Basie band.

"Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim", some call it "Sinatra-Jobim", their first collaboration whatever it gets labeled - A simply beautiful album, Sinatra sings as pretty and as quiet as he ever sung, yet there are some really cool big band arrangements the likes of which artists like Beck and others would copy and pay tribute to years later.

I *love* the album where Riddle brought in a Hammond organ along with the big band, as rab2591 mentioned, "Strangers In The Night". The remake of "All Or Nothing At All" complete with a Riddle arrangers' chorus that simply explodes, complete with Hammond glisses and big band sonic blasts, is alone worth the price of admission. Then two Sinatra classics, Summer Wind and Strangers In The Night (which Frank didn't dig but which put him at the top of the charts, go figure...) are there too. Some fans don't care for the remakes on the rest of it, or the takes on modern hits, but anywhere a Hammond organ and Sinatra are on the same grooves of a record, I'm all in.

Some will cite "Watertown" as the great unheralded and underappreciated Sinatra album...It's OK, but not my cup o' tea. But according to some, it's essential. Worth checking out at least, I just never connected with it as I did the Capitol material from the 50's or the better Reprise releases from the mid-60's.

I'd say if you're starting out, buy the best of the Reprise years best of comp, a similar Capitol comp, Songs For Swingin Lovers, then the first Sinatra-Jobim disc. That's as decent an overview as I could offer as a suggestion.

The Smiley Smile Message Board