The Voice - Frank Sinatra

 

Laura

The Voice

Frank Sinatra

Columbia Records CL 743

1955

From the back cover: Next times anyone starts asking questions about what has happened to the shows of yesteryear, the easiest answer will be found in the playing of this collection of songs. For here they are, just as soft as caressing and artful as they ever were, perhaps, with the passage of time, a little more so. The girls who used to slump into swoons or stiffen with hysteria at the New York Paramount have exchanged they bobby socks for apron strings, and the Paramount no longer even has regular stage presentations, but Frank Sinatra remains one of the most sensitive singers popular music has ever produced. The program offered here is vintage Sinatra, from the period of his greatest initial fame; here The Voice has its incomparable texture, with that peculiar effect of singing almost into one's ear, and here too is the uncommon communication of ideas that is usually confined to recitalists on the concert stage.

No such lofty sentiments need bother the listener here, however; The Voice is dealing with love, requited and otherwise, in terms of civilized lyrics set to sensitive music. Love, after all, is what makes the world or popular music go 'round, and the extra shove that Sinatra gives it has been the comfort of many composers.  But the Sinatra touch has been welcome to many more persons than could be included in the ranks of composer and lyricists. Many a man has found in a Sinatra recording the articulation of a sentiment he himself was unable to utter, and many a girl has listened to those same sentiments with notably warm response.

The emphasis in this program is primarily on ballads, some of the most velvety melodies that Sinatra ever recorded. It is in these numbers particularly that his unique intimacy is so evident, and where his uncanny shaping of a line creates an almost tangible atmosphere. On the other hand, many of his mosts successful single records were devoted to rhythm tunes, and as further proof of his versatility, he has recorded duets with such widely assorted stars as Doris Day, Xavier Cugat, Jane Russell, Pearl Bailey, Dinah Shore and Dagmar, not to mention the Metronome All-Stars. It might also be noted that in one of his movies he sang, La ci darem la mano from Mozart's "Don Giovanni". While the latter is conceded to be a bit out of his field, there is no caviling at his mastery of anything that falls within the realm of popular music, nor at his apparently endless appeal as box-office draw. The customers may not squeal any more, but they flock in to hear him, just the same.

And where could they hear a more finely spun interpretation than he accords Laura? Or a more affecting picture of disenchantment than in Spring Is Here? Along with discernment in the performance and a mastery of the craft of singing, there is also a splendid taste in the songs selected; Sinatra has always been famous for the musical literacy of the songs he sings and this factor too is demonstrated in this collection. Indeed, whatever one looks for in the singing of popular songs, one will find it in the collected works of The Voice. These songs are some of his finest, the singing from his very top drawer, and the presentation one to savour again and again.

From Billboard - November 12, 1955: Frank Sinatra is one of the hottest attractions right now both on singles and in the album field and Columbia should chalk up plenty of sales on this collection of reissues which the crooner recorded a few years ago. The LP includes 12 standards, with Sinatra contribution his usual warm, expressive vocal treatments on "Try A Little Tenderness," "Laura," "I Don't Know Why," "She's Funny That Way," "That Old Black Magic," etc. Deejays have been spinning the original wax for years, and the current reissues should get heavy jockey play. The color cover photo of Sinatra is one of the best portraits ever taken of the singer, and an eye-catching display item.

I Don't Know Why

Try A Little Tenderness

A Ghost Of A Chance

Paradise

These Foolish Things

Laura

She's Funny That Way

Fools Rush In

Over The Rainbow

That Old Black Magic

Spring Is Here

Lover