Frank Sinatra – In The Wee Small Hours (1955/2014) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

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.

Tracklist:
01. In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
02. Mood Indigo
03. Glad To Be Unhappy
04. I Get Along Without You Very Well
05. Deep In A Dream
06. I See Your Face Before Me
07. Can’t We Be Friends?
08. When Your Lover Has Gone
09. What Is This Thing Called Love
10. Last Night When We Were Young
11. I’ll Be Around
12. Ill Wind
13. It Never Entered My Mind
14. Dancing On The Ceiling
15. I’ll Never Be The Same
16. This Love Of Mine

Download:

mqs.link_FrankSinatraInTheWeeSmallHurs201424192.part1.rar
mqs.link_FrankSinatraInTheWeeSmallHurs201424192.part2.rar

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