Ol' Blue Eyes was back: Frank Sinatra emerged from retirement, 1973. Thoughts on the album?*

AARP Blog: http://blog.aarp.org/2013/06/20/the-day-frank-sinatra-reimagined-his-life-and-ours

 

I've always liked the 1973 album, but it does seem to evoke a similar reaction from many people, Matt. (Same thing with all the Gordon Jenkins albums, I've noticed. I guess I'm just a sucker for Gordy's charts.)

The photo caption in that blog piece ("Frank’s comeback album was one of his biggest hit records") is highly inaccurate. OBEIB stayed 22 weeks on the Billboard LP chart and peaked at #13. Not a terrible showing, but many of his Reprise albums did much better, and that pales in comparison to nearly all of his Capitol LPs.

 

One of my least favorite albums of Frank.

 

The best recording from the post-retirement years is She Shot Me Down. Amazing concept album and right up there with the ones from Capitol.

Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back is also one I really like. I've always been a big fan of the arrangements by Gordon Jenkins.

 

Thanks for posting this, Bob.

I've always felt the first few years of Sinatra post-retirement were vocally rough and visually gaudy. One word: Australia. Two words: leisure suits. Three words: Main Event toupee. Four words: Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.

But somewhere in the late 70's he hit a stride in the studio and on the stage that was nicely complimented by his mellowing with age. His voice wasn't always there but the intentions were. And his hairpieces were more convincing.

 

Anyone care to list some great songs from this period of Mr Sinatras career that may slip under the radar?

 

THERE USED TO BE A BALLPARK that's referenced in the article Bob posted is very nice. I'd add EMPTY TABLES and the slightly-tacky but fun I'M GONNA MAKE IT ALL THE WAY.

 

I agree with Empty Tables. A classic saloon song.

You And Me (We Wanted It All) from Trilogy.

Some others that aren't mentioned very often: Searching, All The Way Home, It's Sunday, Like A Sad Song and of course, the 1981 recording of Everything Happens To Me that should have been included on the She Shot Me Down album.

 

You mean you like Duets better

OBEIB is great but not excellent.
There is some nice material on that record, I have my Q8 of it somewhere, and a white label promo LP to boot

The two FS albums I can't stomach are Duets 1 & 2, I'll play Cycles before I play those two CDs which my wife has. I have the "Solos" bootleg which takes the place of those two albums and that's a beast to get though.

 

I found a WLP of this a short time ago,complete with an 8X10 B & W glossy of Frank wearing an "ol' Blue eye is back" sweatshirt that looks like it was made at the local mall,circa 1973.Set me back fifty cents.Inside was also a copy of Warner's Circular weekly newsletter with some info about bootleg Sinatra.Kinda strange reading about bootleg material from a label's house organ.

 

OBEIS was a pleasant comeback LP, It had a great vibe to it.
That promo photo was the cheese, my copy has that blurry looking brown bonus picture. I'm trying to remember if Watertown had a bonus photo as well.

The only flyer like thing I saw of any intereset in a LP was a WB memo for "Here's To The Ladies" which is FS's unreleased (why?) 1977 album, and last to be conducted and arranged by Nelson Riddle. Which bootleg was mentioned?

I do have a soft spot for the "Solos" boot but it's a hard listen.
This is the raw, undoctored, unprocessed session tape for the "Duets" album without the hacks and guest vocalists, just Frank alone. And his voice is shot. At times, he sounds like a old man at a karoke bar, out of tune and off key. I can understand why FS jr. did what he did but it's a sacrilege putting Gloria Estefan, Bono, Lorrie Morgan, Luis Miguel, Jon Secada, Jimmy Buffett, [and the worst offender of all] Kenny G in a duet setting with the great one. FS jr. should have released one volume with FS's peers and shelved the rest.

Some of "Here's To The Ladies" is on the 20-CD "suitcase" collection, it's a nice listen.

Thurber rocks! cool avatar.

 

I still enjoy parts of Blue Eyes. Ballpark and Send in the Clowns are in my bloodstream. I also occasionally enjoy You Will be My Music and Dream Away. Thankfully, I don't remember what Noah sounds like. (I hate the 'saloon' version of Clowns).

 

Haven’t heard this one yet (in its entirety)

 

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/sinatra-watertown.3171/page-19#post-8880517

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...ngle-cds-vs-the-suitcase.319162/#post-8967063

 

When I first heard it, I thought it had its moments, but was just good overall. I think I had a similar reaction as you, Matt. I remember meeting someone years ago once who liked Frank and told me it was one of his most favorite albums of Frank's. I was very surprised. Over time, while I still don't place it towards the top, my opinion of it has risen a lot. I don't reach for it often, but I enjoy it a lot when I do. I think "Dream Away" runs a little long, but other than that I really can't fault it. Very nice sound too.

 

Mention and artwork is included for a 1962 Frank,Dean & Sammy 4AM show at the Club 500 in Atlantic City.Strange that even with Philly ties,I had never seen this LP until the same day and store where I picked up the WLP.I think the cover was pasted over a blank and some of the glue had dried up. Very possible that the same person brought in both and the WLP was sent to the fifty cent section while the bootleg was put in the new stuff section.The promo cover did have some wear,but between the inserts and the great conditon of the Warner vinyl,it was a no-brainer purchase.It wasn't till I got the WLP home and read the Circular that I spotted photo of the boot I just held in my hands a couple of hours ago(no regrets for passing on it as bootleg material is usually a no-no in my collection).
And thanks for the mention of Thurber.He was indeed a wonderful voice.I have a couple of shelves devoted to nothing but Thurber and E.B. White,including a few LPs.You probably know that the avatar is taken from the Bill Hurtz UPA animated film from 1953.It has nothing to do with music but says lots about me and how I look at the world and the world possibly looks at me .

 

I belive this is the LP in question, the "Latimer Cafe" album.
This came with three different covers, the one pictured is the rarest, the common one has FS handing a gift to a child in the studio. I always wondered if they were manufacured by Strand, since the white "Sinatrama" pasteover is always glued over a Strand cover, and Strand was based in Philly, and the pressing quality is just as bad as something pressed by Strand. I have 3 different covers except for the R&TSH "Santa" cover pictured.



I found another mint mono promo of Francis A. & Edward K.,
my white label Sinatra collection is now complete .
Now I'm working on a white label Columbia collection, I'm 6 LP's away from completion.

As for Thurber...
You would wish UPA chose another story from Fables For Our Times as a followup to "Unicorn In The Garden." This LP is a must own.

 

You finally got a SINATRA AT THE SANDS WLP?

 

Ages ago, I finally won one after years of bidding and losing,
ditto for the Frank & Sammy "Tribute To Nat" promo album.

Like the promo AMAHM1, all four sides are banded.
The Columbia LP's I need are the ones from 1958-1962.

 

This very much captures my feelings about the album. I think that its quite beautiful throughout. A very nice attempt to mix Vegas and AOR elements in a very serious subtle package.

In fact, an argument could be made that Blue Eyes is Sinatra's most consistently good album of the post-retirement era along with Disc 1 of Trilogy and She Shot Me Down. There's not a clunker or an embarrassing moment on any of the three, in my opinion.

And even though there are notable dog-tracks on every one of his other albums after 1973, I don't think its fair to disparage his post-retirement career as a whole: every album has at least one track, often multiple tracks, that rank with the best of his Reprise output.

For example:

"Send in the Clowns"
"Dream Away"
"Let Me Try Again"
"There Used to Be a Ballpark"
"The Summer Knows"
"If"
"What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?"
"Let Me Try Again" (Live)
"Theme from New York, New York"
"Summer Me, Winter Me"
"Teach Me Tonight"
"It's All Right With Me"
"Until the Real Thing Comes Along"
"If I Should Lose You"
"After You've Gone"

Plus, "All the Way Home," "It's Sunday" and "Just As Though You Were Here" from the suitcase.

 

For Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back he trained with Robert Merrill, and it shows. He sounds great on that album.

By the time of Some Nice Things... he's back to sounding like an old wheezy pack of cigarettes. And so it goes, for the rest of his recording career before Duets. High and low moments.

 

Tomorrow (September 20th) is the 40th anniversary of the taping of the NBC TV Special "Ol' Blue Eyes is Back!"