Very seldom is there a release that is able to capture the true essence of a performer’s very being. It doesn’t get closer than Sinatra: New York (Reprise). Frank Sinatra is an artist who is respected within every musical genre. The reputation, the voice, the career, his personal life is legendary. This four-CD, one-DVD set for the first time gets close to what the fuss is all about.
A series of concerts recorded exclusively in New York sets the tone. Disc 1 features unreleased radio broadcasts, the first in 1955 reuniting Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey. Accompanied only by piano, Sinatra fills the room on this rare recording.
Also included is a 1963 performance to celebrate staff day at the United Nations with “I Get a Kick Out of You” being the highlight.
Disc 2 is an April 8, 1974, show recorded at Carnegie Hall and this is where things get weird. While he’s in great voice and commands full attention, Sinatra gets clearly lost at the end of the show’s opening song “Come Fly With Me” and even admits to “where the hell am I” during “I Get a Kick Out of You.”
This is important because he regroups and completely nails such classics as “There Used To Be a Ballpark” and his trademark “My Way.”
Disc three was also recorded in 1974, a mere six months later at Madison Square Garden. While not as intimate as the previous show, it boasts the addition of Woody Herman and the Thundering Herd, and Sinatra still has the punch to overshadow the musicians when need be.
Disc 4 is from two shows, 1984 again at Carnegie Hall and a 1990 Radio City Music Hall show. Still spry and energetic there is no drop off vocally in Sinatra between these 1974 and 1990 concerts.
The fifth disc is a DVD of a full multi-camera shoot of a 1980 show at Carnegie Hall. What a showman! Of the 16 selections Sinatra performed that night, “Send in the Clowns” and “I’ve Got the World on a String” stand out.
Produced by Charles Pignone, the sound, throughout the 71 unreleased tracks is stunning, though the recorded radio broadcasts on the first disc is dicey at best. The DVD is good even without digital or hi-def cameras. It’s amazing to watch a master at his craft.
This is a must. Consider it the foundation of our musical heritage, if not for you, then for the music fan who believes that music is more than something that plays in elevators.
Nora Jones: The Fall (Blue Note) – Everyone’s little sister grows up sooner or later, and on this stunningly different album it’s Jones turn. Placing her jazzy piano sound on the back burner, producer Jacquire King (Modest Mouse) gives Jones the boost she needed to show her growth as an artist.
Sounding dark, artsy, rhythmic and stark, the 13 songs here put Jones in a much different light. Standouts include “Chasing Pirates,” “I Wouldn’t Need You,” “Tell Your Mama” and “You’ve Ruined Me.”
John Mayer: Battle Studies (Columbia) – The guy drives me nuts and here’s why. He’s made records that cater to the adult contemporary market (“Say”), teenage girls (“Your Body’s a Wonderland”) and blues purists (“Gravity”), and he has worked with and along side the likes of Eric Clapton, Kanye West, Herbie Hancock and Alicia Keys. Yet he still succumbs to the easy money commercial appeal on his records.
Battle Studies is just about as inept as an album can be. For a guy with so much talent, to take the easy way out is such a shame. He hits the mark on “Perfectly Lonely” and maybe “Edge of Desire,” otherwise the record is a big disappointment.
Paul McCartney: Good Evening New York City (Hear Music) – McCartney’s historic return to a New York ballpark (Citi not Shea) is documented on two CDs and a DVD. Do we really need another live version of “Live and Let Die”? No, but under the circumstances, why not?
The 33 songs cover his Beatles (“Helter Skelter”), Wings (“Let Me Roll It”), solo years (“Dance Tonight”), as well as smart choices like the overlooked (“Flaming Pie”) and unique (covering John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance”). Again with his crack band (Abe Laboriel on drums and guitarist Brian Ray), they can either punch it up (“I Saw Her Standing There”) or bring it down a notch (“Here Today”) when needed.
Foo Fighters: Greatest Hits (RCA) – Band leader Dave Grohl, in the wake of its release, is calling this “.the end of something. It’s time to move on into this next chapter or another phase.” So if this is the end of the Fighters, what a run by a band that has had its fair share of drama.
There are two new songs here, “Wheels” and “Word Forward,” both Butch Vig produced. They fit in comfortably with the likes of “Best of You,” “Monkey Wrench,” “All My Life” “My Hero” and “Times Like You.
(Bob Hanson)
