Track Listing

1. When No One Cares
2. Cottage For Sale
3. Stormy Weather
4. Where Do You Go
5. I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You
6. Here's That Rainy Day
7. I Can't Get Started
8. Why Try To Change Me Now
9. Just Friends
10. One I Love (Belongs To Somebody Else)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44282 in Music
• Released on: 1991-08-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording remastered, Extra tracks

CD Description
This 1959 recording stands with ONLY THE LONELY and IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS as one of Sinatra's premier albums of "saloon songs"--those songs in which he takes the role of the jilted lover drowning his sorrows in drink and telling his sad story to anyone who'll listen (most likely the bartender, as in ONLY THE LONELY's "One For My Baby"). When it comes to elegant displays of heartsick despair, latter-day crooners like Chris Isaak can't hold a candle to the old master. Sinatrainhabits these songs so convincingly it's hard to believe his real life was the lurid, Hefneresque tale that it actually was.
On chestnuts like "Stormy Weather" and "I'll NeverSmile Again", his is the voice of a man bereft of love and unable to vanquish his obsessions. On the gorgeous ballad "IDon't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You", he doesn't even get that far; his character can't even escape the wall of self-doubt that renders his romantic aspirations futile. Gordon Jenkins's orchestrations complement Sinatra's brokenhearted plaints perfectly throughout the proceedings.

Customer Reviews

Dark Torch Songs
This is the fourth albums of songs about love lost that Frank Sinatra recorded at Capitol (the first two, "Wee Small Hours" from 1955 and "Only the Lonely" from 1958 arranged by Nelson Riddle, and 1957's "Where Are You" with Gordon Jenkins).

This is a dark and very moody album that offers a fantastic sound quality, crisp stereo. The lush strings of the usual Gordon Jenkins arrangements have been replaced by a much darker sound, which makes this masterpiece even more credible.

Highly recommended; one of the best non-swing albums by Frank Sinatra.

A wonderful album
If you are feeling low, alone and day-dreaming or at the end of a relationship then this album will ease your mood - Frank Sinatra cares even though no-one seems to. All of these songs will touch you and comfort you and carry you to an easier frame of mind. Sinatra was familiar with all of these songs way back in his early career with Tommy Dorsey, but here with Gordon Genkins new life is breathed into each of them. My favourite is "I'll never Smile Again (Until I Smile At You)" - a beautiful rendition. There isn't a dark brooding song amoung them, they are sad romantic songs.

Sinatra with a difference
I rarely listen to swing or jazz and have therefore never appreciated mainstream Sinatra. Typically of this musical genre, orchestrations rely heavily on improvisatory jazz harmonics, and the singing often resorts to mauling around the timing and intonation of melodic lines to achieve the signature vocal style. Of course these are the very qualities that many will find so appealing in Sinatra's better known music. This style remains evident in his early melancholy themed compilations with Nelson Riddle such as "In The Wee Small Hours" and "Only The Lonely", and these albums may be preferred by those who enjoy conventional Sinatra.
So why is this album different?
Gone is the 'Come Fly With Me' style. Instead there are lush, soaring string orchestrations (perhaps too schmaltzy for some Sinatra afficionados), which are well suited to this particular programme. Gordon Jenkins seems to have inspired Sinatra to reign back on his excesses of vocal manipulation and improvisation to deliver the tunes in a 'straighter', more melodious style. The gentle frailty and pathos in his vocal timbre, as in the opening lines of 'This Was My Love' (ironically one of Riddle's arrangements!), can't fail to move the listener.
It is one of those rare albums that is consistent throughout, with no need for the'skip' or 'fast-forward' buttons. It is wonderful music for the aching soul - an unashamedly nostalgic wallow that makes for perfect late-night fireside listening.
If I could have just one Sinatra album, then this would be the choice.
For those who enjoy "No One Cares", you will surely also enjoy Sinatra's first collaboration with Gordon Jenkins, "Where Are You", which is in identical style. Also sample the haunting desolation of Sinatra's "A Man Alone" album from 1969 - but lock away the 'sharps' if you are prone to depression!