Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'll always be partial to this Capitol Years 3-CD box set which introduced me to Sinatra's greatness ten years ago. It was my first CD purchase---actually I bought the three cassettes first, and when the tapes were stolen from my car, my wife bought me the CD version for Christmas '92. Which prompted me to sit right down and write The Man a letter, telling him how I'd discovered his greatness "a little late in life." He replied immediately. (More about that in a moment.) In reference to the "Songs for Swingin' Lovers" tracks (four) included here, I had closed my letter to him with these words: "On a personal note: my absolute favorite song of yours, for reasons I can't really explain, is 'I Thought About You.' Maybe it's the deceptively simple, elegant tune by that genius who began life as Chester Babcock (Van Heusen). Or the brilliant lyric by the century's greatest lyricist (Mercer). Or the gem of an arrangement by my favorite American arranger (Riddle) with all those train sounds, that have you swinging down the track. Oh hell, let's face it---it's the singer! The song wouldn't be what it is without you. Merry Christmas 1992!" Within two weeks I received a reply, on gold-embossed 'FS' stationery, with a beautiful, bright blue, fountain pen signature: January 1993 Dear Mark, Thank you very much for your letter of December 17. I am flattered by your kind words and greatly appreciate your interest in my music . . . It was so nice of you to take the time to write! Here's wishing you and your family a very healthy and happy New Year! Keep listening! All the best, (signed) Frank Sinatra Understandably, I treated the advice to "Keep listening!" as a personal injunction, acquiring 36 of his best CDs, including---most recently, thanks to an Amazon.com seller---the obscure "Great Songs from Great Britain" (the only studio-recorded album Sinatra ever produced outside Hollywood/L.A). Contrary to an opinion I once shared with many reviewers here, I'm convinced the 2-CD Reprise collection titled "The Very Best of Frank Sinatra" is superior, for many reasons. (Please see my review for that one.) I was convinced that "The Capitol Years" was the best place to start a Sinatra collection. But ten years, and 36 CDs later, I admit to a change of heart. Still, this 3-CD collection has some unique virtues that have not been commented on: 'Only available here' for example, is the previously commercially unreleased Cahn/Van Heusen masterpiece "I Couldn't Care Less" featuring what this reviewer considers Nelson Riddle's single most beautiful ballad arrangement. Sinatra works his subtle magic with one of Sammy Cahn's very best lyrics ("Balmy breezes are blowing, the stars in the night are glowing, but I couldn't care less") while orchestra conjures up sounds of a summer night, with Riddle's strings ratcheting up through almost two octaves of semi-tones in the first eight bars of the instrumental bridge (release). Simply heavenly! And to think Sinatra and the musicians did this in one take. By comparison the highly-touted version of "I've Got You Under My Skin" included here (I know it's sacrilege to say this, but it's not as good as the one on the 2-CD Reprise collection!) this version took 22 takes before the singer was pleased! The generally-factual liner notes still include a fair number of errors---including a really glaring one I pointed out to Sinatra in my letter: The very first cut on Disc One by one of his favorite song-writers ("I've Got the World on a String") fails to correctly identify the composer, Harold Arlen. I single out "I Couldn't Care Less" because no other reviewer at Amazon.com (or even those who wrote the liner notes) commented on its special virtues. This 'one-take wonder' was briefly available, 30 years ago on a premium, mail-order-only album (Longines, 1973) but again, this is the only place you'll ever hear it. . Two cuts earlier is the "unreleased alternate take" of the Arlen/Mercer classic "One for My Baby" with Sinatra alone in the studio, doing a rehearsal with pianist Bill Miller. Other reviewers here (and those who wrote the liner notes) were delighted apparently with this version, despite the singer's flubbing of the lyrics at the end of the bridge/release. I recommend you get the full, "Only the Lonely" CD and you'll know at once why Sinatra approved the take that he did---with Nelson Riddle's sublime strings rising like smoke behind singer and pianist for the final stanza of the chorus. Utter 'Perfection.' So . . .if a new generation of fans treat his advice to "Keep Listening!" as seriously as I did, they'll agree that his best was 'yet to come' ---in the early Reprise years----and is preserved (at a more reasonable cost), in the double-CD "The Very Best of Frank Sinatra."