| | Frank Sinatra In The Wee Small Hours CD Frank Sinatra Discography of CDs
 (3 Customer Reviews)
Originally issued on CD without the song "Last Night When We Were Young."
Digitally remastered by Larry Walsh (Capitol Recording Studios).
Recorded in 1955, this superbly arranged and sung set of slow ballads can lay claim to being the world's first "concept album." Of course, in classical music, song cycles had been around since Schubert, but a whole set of pop tunes arranged around a central theme or mood was something new in popular music. With the advent of the LP in 1953, commercial pop music was beginning to take itself seriously. As to be expected, Frank Sinatra did it first and best.
Sinatra is in utter command of this material--vocally relaxed yet focused on conveying what these hand-picked "torch" songs still have to say to the modern listener. Throughout he projects his signature manly vulnerability without seeming maudlin or even sentimental. The singer is helped immeasurably in this task by Nelson Riddle's deftly scored chamber arrangements which include brilliant use of celeste and guitar on several tracks (cf. Alec Wilder's "I'll Be Around", Kay Swift's "Can't We Be Friends".) A must for any listener even remotely interested in the Great American Songbook.
Includes liner notes by Pete Welding.
Live Recording
Personnel includes: Frank Sinatra (vocals); Nelson Riddle (arranger).
Personnel: Frank Sinatra (vocals).
Audio Remasterers: Larry Walsh; Bob Norberg.
Liner Note Author: Pete Welding.
Recording information: 03/01/1954-03/04/1955.
Photographer: William Claxton.
Arranger: Nelson Riddle.Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.120) - Ranked #100 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "[The album] sustains a midnight mood of loneliness and lost love - it's a prototypical concept album."
Mojo (Publisher) (2/01, p.104) - "The most indispensable Sinatra item. A collection of songs about unrequited love, not merely sung but lived out by a performer seemingly intent on sharing his own heartbreak with the world..."
NME (Magazine) (8/12/00, p.28) - Ranked #7 in The NME "Top 30 Heartbreak Albums" - "...Smokey, bleak and at times desolate, it is easy to trace the line back to Billie Holiday....His voice has rarely had such devastating effect." In The Wee Small Hours Music Frank Sinatra In The Wee Small Hours Songs In The Wee Small Hours Music In The Wee Small Hours Music Review Average Rating: (4.7 out of 5 stars)   Frank at his best
The voice quality is great. As expected Frank's phrasing is great. It is a pleasure to listen to the way he hits the notes. I read in the NY Times that this is considered the greatest vocal recording ever made. I can see where that is true. My only recommendation is that if you listen to this with other CDs, you put it on shuffle. The song collection is all the same, slow break-up melodies.
Submitted by wolfg (San Diego) 
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 A masterpiece.
The first 3 discs that Sinatra made with Capitol, maybe are the best in his career.
Submitted by gaperis (Athens, GREECE)
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The cover art tells the story
It would be risky for a singer to take on a project like Wee Small Hours Today. It can't just be sung, it must be felt. You would have to have lived a little, and you couldn't pull it off at age 25 or perhaps even 35. Here Sinatra, at age 40, is essentially in perfect voice, and he is supported by arrangements by Nelson Riddle that unto themselves are masterpieces. Putting it all together, this is probably the standard by which singers would hope to ascend to. The songs are beautifully and emotively sung, and each one tells a continuing story of longing and lonliness, as felt in the wee small hours of the morning. Sinatra did many great albums and individual works prior to this and after, but nothing was ever done better. Every song is superb. The sound fidelity is excellent, thanks to fine engineering by Capitol of the 1950's. In Glorious mono, it will fill both channels and then some. If you ever wondred what it was all about with Sinatra, you'll know after you play this one.
Submitted by buicksu51 (Rhode Island)
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