[Nick_Bradley78]

I’d like to thank Marty for asking me to pick this months. As with everything Frank related it is hard to pick anything to highlight when there is so much to. Despite there being extensive posts on the album thread I’m still glad to bump this as its an album that means a lot to me AND next month is the 40th anniversary of its recording (the orchestral tracks were laid down in July, vocals in August and the released version of Michael and Peter and For a While is from October with the album released in 1970)

[Nick_Bradley78]

I was lucky to pick this up on CD in the 90’s when it was first (and only?) reissued and still easily available in the shops. The extensive interviews with the creators in the liner notes and mostly good mastering is proof of what Reprise could achieve with its reissues when it put its mind to it.

The original LP is a well packaged gatefold affair with the song lyrics making up the inner cover and a poster in the 2nd sleeve and embossed writing on the front. Unlike the back of the CD the LP has “A Love Story” above the song listing and that is what this is.

From the virtual inventor of the concept album, this is Franks most ambitious and experimental project, whjy on earth it didn’t sell remains a mystery to me (I believe there were marketing problems and it was due to be backed by a TV special). I know of a few true Sinatra fans who don’t like this album, and opinions should be respected but Ive never understood how anyone cant like this!

The album is a song cycle in the truest sense; a story told from reflective beginning to hopeful, then hopeless, end. This is Small town-everyman Frank, singing of nothing earth shattering or world changing, just the despair and pangs of hope of a marriage gone wrong. This is the way he sang of man’s troubles as the Saloon Singer of Angel Eyes, updated for the 60’s generation of looser marriages and loneliness in a middle aged way in a changing society where on occasion the Dad got left with the kids.

For A While has a similar “beat” to cycles, other highlights are Michael and Peter where Franks Anguish is heard as his voice breaks on “He’s so old” while speak-writing a seemingly mundane letter to his lost wife, the whole concept I think borders on genius and only Franks voice could have carried this off; Im not sure I’d want to hear Tony Bennett or any of the other greats do this material. This is a reflective Sinatra, in a different manner from September of My Years and his earlier work and expands on A Man Alone (the 2 would have made a great 2 on 1 CD).

As for the bonus track on the CD; Lady Day, Frank was right to exclude it first time round, but for completionist reasons its good to hear it, the virtually operatic incarnation he did later in the year and released on Sinatra And Company is far better as an out and out tribute to Billie Holliday. The fadeout from the Train when it is clear all the hopes on the album are dashed and his wife isn’t returning, ever we assume, is the ultimate, perfect ending. If they had to pick a bonus I would have gone with “The Game is Over” although of course that isn’t from these sessions, but a real Gem on the Reprise suitcase.

I think Franks range is often overlooked; its simply astounding that the man who started off at the Rustic Cabin and then with the Harry James band went on to produce albums like this. I cant think of a comparison in popular music to this range and variation.

Within 2 years Frank had had enough and was gone, to a restless retirement before he scaled the heights again. This album is one of those “What ifs”. Had it sold more, would Frank have gone further with these sort of concepts? We’ll never know, but this is an absolute masterpiece.

[FrancisAForever]

This is one of the first albums that I memorized.. I was a little kid (4-5) and my dad of course picked it up when it first came out. It was getting alot of "play" in my house! Perhaps because there was some trouble in the marriage (my parents) at the same time.. I had a little girlfriend then "Elizabeth" and I used to sing the song for her and she used to get embarassed everytime her name would come up and put her hands over her ears (just for the name). It's crazy the things you remember from when you were little (I'm 32 now)! One thing I wanted to mention though.. At the end I think she WAS on the train.. Listen to it again as he sings the last "And I know for sure I'd recognize your face" how he slowed it down like he see's her and then the music picks up tempo and closes out. I always thought that and I know everybody disagrees (Sid Mark I especially remember saying "It's obvious she wasn't on the train"). Anybody else with me?

[Nick_Bradley78]

AS you know I don't agree Robert, but its questions/discussions like that that keep the thread fresh.

PS I don't see how she could have come back "and I dont see you any place..and I know for sure I'd recognise your face" because she isnt there, she never caught the train and never got off. It is that finish that makes this story so bleak.

Originally Posted by Nick_Bradley78

Despite there being extensive posts on the album thread I’m still glad to bump this...

Excellent choice, Nick.

For the record, the album thread is here: Watertown. It has the most posts of any non-compilation studio album in Frank's Recordings.

[Nick_Bradley78]

I noticed that Bob, perhaps as this album spent 25 plus years getting so little attention when the forum was established it was an ideal place for the afficienado's to share thoughts on it. I'd be interested to know the reissue sales, it was very easily available here for a number of years, and I assume Europe and the US at the same time, and of course now for download. I wonder if it sold more on reissue than on release (only about 35000 copies). I hope so.

[FrancisAForever]

Perhaps it's because i want her to be on the train.. It just seems to me that he sees her in the last seconds on the song. What other singer would we have this discussion on?? He has so much emotion in his voice that I think I can see what he saw! Nobody else!

As much as I love Tony Bennett (and im going to try and see him next month).. he could sing a song that is a heartbreaking, sad song and have a smile on his face.. it doesn't go. Frank showed every emotion on his face and his voice. PASSION!

[rverdi2837]

Great choice. I remember hearing this one around the house when I was a boy too. It's one of those albums that I think FS took an artistic leap and it paid off. It's also one that I hope more folks go back to and re-evaluate if they missed it. It really is a treasure. I turned my aunt onto the record after she saw "Jersey Boys." I told her she needed to hear the album that Gaudio did with FS. She is a huge fan of both, but never knew they had worked together. She's now trying to track down a CD copy! She loves it.

[Jeffrey Simmons]

What more can anyone say. This is a masterpiece album, one of Frank's great, great works.

Even close to the point of his planned retirement, Frank Sinatra was still experimenting and leading the way with an album that was undoubtedly so ahead of its time that it has taken some fans years to catch up and learn to enjoy this magnificent work.

I'm just so glad that I picked it up when it was first released in 1970 and we played it and learned to appreciate it until the grooves of the LP were practically worn out. I kept a few spare copies of the LP in later years and well before CD's were even invented I think.

I listened to this album in the car very recently and I am still awed by it, so this month take the opportunity to play it and play it again and listen to an amazing, raw and powerful dramatic performance .

[ARIES3032]

This was given to me as a gift., and when I listen to it , I always sit down and listen to every word. Thank you, Nick, great choice for the month of July!

[S V PELUZIO JR]

Nice choice.
I´ll listen it tomorrow while driving to work.

[SinatraFan]

Watertown was one of the very last Sinatra albums I bought because I read lots of comments about it and knew it was a little different than the usual Sinatra LP, so I wasn't sure if I would like it. And when I did finally listen to the CD, I wasn't an instant fan... in fact, it was awhile before I played it again. However, with each listen I gradually liked the album more and more. Now, it's one of the Reprise albums that I play the most. Each song is an essential part of the story, which makes it difficult for me to pick a favorite but the title track, Goodbye and especially The Train are the ones that I often replay more than once. And the idea of having this album paired with A Man Alone is a good one... I sometimes listen to both albums back to back.

I wish this album sold more when first released, so maybe a sequel would have been made that could have told more of the story. I always wonder what happened to this man from Watertown.

[George Lyons]

Definitely time to pull this old LP out from the box and give it a listen after so many years.

[Ed Potts]

I will never grow tired of "Watertown!" Couple it with "A Man Alone" and you can count on the suicide rate too climb.

An album I've never purchased or listened to in full - I have all the songs on my "Reprise Trunk" but I really can't get into it...

I gather one would have to be in a melancholy frame of mind to really understand...I don't know.

I just read your post Ed Potts, my thoughts exactly...LOL!

[Nick_Bradley78]

I'm not sure you have to be especially miserable to listen to or appreciate it, though most of us can relate to the story in one way or another even if not as extreme as the full story, though many of us can relate to that as well. I've always loved this album but can probably relate to it more now Im older and have been round the block a few times.

<< but can probably relate to it more now Im older and have been round the block a few times.>>

Or want to put one's head on one afterwards....LOL! I'm joking...

I'll take a listen, I know a few fellas here have remarked how this album can make them cry, lots of Franks' material can do that to me too, as you say there are always songs we can relate to...

Frank can tell a tale that's for sure in song and in the spoken word...a master at both.

It's been said a million times before, but the only way to listen to this album is as a complete, uninterrupted, ordered sequence. The songs tell a story. You can't fully appreciate the concept by hearing them played piecemeal.

We had quite a discussion in the Frank's Recordings thread about where the bonus track "Lady Day" belongs in the sequence. It belongs at the end, as confirmed by Bob Gaudio himself, IIRC. (And no, Robert, she was NOT on the train. )

[Nick_Bradley78]

Yes it definitely belongs on the end; its the reflection after she hasn't come back (on the train) and its confirmed its over, but I dont think it fits well anywhere on it other than for completion reasons. Im guessing Frank thought the same which is why it was cut from release, although I believe there were a number of attempts at this song on different dates so perhaps he thought he just didn't nail it.

Im a huge fan of the Sinatra and Company version though.

To coincide with the post, I bought the single Watertown with I would Be In Love Anyway as the B Side. Frank sang it in concert a couple of times and it stands on its own, as does Whats Now is Now (though I can never work out why it ended up on Greatest Hits Vol 2 as it simply wasnt a hit) aside from that though it doesnt work if you play it in the order it appears on the Reprise Trunk.

Going back to whether she comes back on the train or not (and I've always thought it was obvious she didnt) it would have made for quite a lame concept if she had; the town, the break up, feeling a bit down, then she came back. Not the stuff of great story telling, which this album is

[Jake]

Great choice. "Watertown" deserves a rightful place!