Trunk # 03286. Received Christmas 1995. A story goes with that-maybe another time. First song played-"Forget to Remember"-WOW!By Dec. 26th I had made a tape of all of the Jobim songs and a few days later just the "rarities". Mac

[Nancy]

Bumping for Kelsey

[Watertown]

CONFESSION - I have locked my bedroom door and have danced in front of the mirror to the disco version of All or Nothing at All.

I do the same to Gunga Din!

Sean, you ain't confusing it with "The Last Dance", no? That one would be less fatal than Da Legend of Gunga Din

Bernhard.

Bernhard, you think Gunga Din should have been on Duets? Maybe with James Taylor...

I looked elsewhere in "Frank's Recordings" for mention of this interesting 2 LP set, but couldn't find anything, so forgive me if this subject has been brought up before....

"Portrait Of Sinatra" is a 40 track compilation of his Reprise work which was released, I believe, to coincide with his Royal Albert Hall (or is it Royal Festival Hall?) concerts in the UK in 1977. Surprisingly, it topped the charts in England at a time when Sinatra records were not selling well. It's interesting to think that in the year of the punk rock revolution, more Brits were buying Sinatra than the Sex Pistols or the Clash!

I do not have a copy handy right now, so if anyone has one and wants to post a track listing, go right ahead! It's an interesting melange of classics like "It Was A Very Good Year," "That's Life," and "My Kind Of Town," along with rarities like the Jobim collaborations "Song Of The Sabia" and "Bonita," as well as many '70s singles that weren't on albums before ("Stargazer," "Empty Tables," "I Believe I'm Gonna Love You"). The programming seems random at times, with abrupt shifts in time period and mood, but it's a gorgeous looking album (great cover art!) and contains many tunes that were hard to find at the time. For a chart-topping compilation, it seems all but forgotten now.

PJ

[MMM]

Portrait of Sinatra

tracklisting:

Side 1

1. "Let's Face the Music and Dance"
2. "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)"
3. "I've Got You Under My Skin"
4. "Let Me Try Again (Laisse Moi Le Temps)"
5. "Fly Me to the Moon"
6. "All or Nothing At All"
7. "For Once In My Life"
8. "Bonita"
9. "My Kind of Town"
10. "Call Me Irresponsible"

Side 2

1. "All the Way"
2. "Strangers In the Night"
3. "Didn't We"
4. "Come Fly With Me"
5. "The Second Time Around"
6. "In the Wee Small Hours"
7. "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown"
8. "Softly, As I Leave You"
9. "Cycles"
10. "Send In the Clowns"

Side 3

1. "That's Life"
2. "Little Green Apples"
3. "Song of the Sabia"
4. "Goody Goody"
5. "Empty Tables"
6. "I Believe I'm Gonna Love You"
7. "Stargazer"
8. "I Sing the Songs (I Write the Songs)"
9. "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"
10. "It Was a Very Good Year"

Side 4

1. "Something Stupid (with Nancy Sinatra )"
2. "Young At Heart"
3. "You Make Me Feel So Young"
4. "Yesterday"
5. "Pennies From Heaven"
6. "If"
7. "Something"
8. "Star"
9. "Love's Been Good to Me"
10. "My Way"

Thanks Martin!

Gotta love "In The Wee Small Hours" followed by "Bad Bad Leroy Brown." Weird sequencing but a fine album all the same.

Anyone have a scan of the cover?

PJ

During the long drought from "The Main Event" in 1974 to "Trilogy" in 1980, the only way to hear new Sinatra music was to buy a bunch of hard-to-find singles or to purchase two even harder-to-find albums. One was "I Sing The Songs," released in Italy and Brazil in 1976 (is that the correct date?). The other album, and to my ears the superior one, is "The Singles." The track listing is as follows:

SIDE ONE:
1. Night And Day
2. Everybody Ought To Be In Love
3. Dry Your Eyes
4. The Best I Ever Had
5. Like A Sad Song

SIDE TWO:
1. Stargazer
2. I Love My Wife
3. Empty Tables (piano & voice)
4. Send In The Clowns (piano & voice)
5. Bonita

With the exception of "Bonita," which was recorded in 1969 for the second, never-released Sinatra/Jobim album, all the tracks were recorded in 1976-77, and I find they cohere surprisingly well. It's certainly not one of his greatest albums, but it's definitely better than "Some Nice Things I've Missed," for instance.

I found an interesting short review of the album printed in an Atlantic City newspaper in April, 1979 -- here it is:

"This foreign issue is a prime example of Sinatra today. It contains many 45s never before released in LP form and recorded over the past few years. Bill Miller's solo piano on 'Empty Tables' and 'Send In The Clowns' is phenomenal. Sinatra has fun with Neil Diamond's 'Stargazer' and delivers a haunting version of John Denver's 'Like A Sad Song.'
"It has been almost five years since his last LP release -- and that in itself is a sad song."

Thankfully, within a few months Sinatra would begin recording "Trilogy" and commence an incredible creative resurgence!

PJ

[Rich K]

I was always hoping the Italian lp would also become a U.S. release....the title could have been "Sinatra Singles from the Seventies".
As far as "Portrait of Sinatra", the packaging is outstanding and I found the programming of songs to be interesting, but, with ten songs per side, the result is less groove space and a drop in both sonic quality and stereo separation...problems we don't have with cd's.

[MMM]

Here's a link to a sealed "suitcase" on eBay now. I am not the seller, nor do I know the seller. I wanted to let the Forum know in case someone here is interested in getting a sealed original version of this set. It's a "live auction" - I've never participated in an eBay live auction, so I'm not sure how it works.


Here's the link to the auction:

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/...category=73467

[MMM]

For Chris "sinatrafanatic":

"Everybody Ought To Be In Love"was recorded on February 16, 1977 according to the book in the Reprise 20 CD set. I believe it was recorded at (the now defunct) Media Sound Studios IIRC. I seem to remember reading it was done at Media Sound somewhere (maybe Nancy's book?).

Like Ron said elsewhere, it is available in The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings. It's also on the B-side of the "Night and Day" 7" single from 1977 (the disco version of "Night and Day"), as well as the rare 12" single of this.

Had a great cover. It was well done. I bought it back when in Los Angeles. I have never seen it in a used record store here in the Boston area.

[sinatrafanatic]

I finally broke down and bought The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings from Amazon.com. I have all of FAS's CD albums from 1966 to 1984, but I figured that this set was worth the price because of all of the unreleased and out-of-print material. I am so excited for it to arrive! Once I get it, I will be totally indisposed in my room for a long time! Some of my relatives (who live in Italy) talked me into buying it and I am really glad that they did, I just wish that I didn't have to wait for it.
Also, I was curious, did FAS ever record any songs in Italian? Just curious as Italian music is my favorite music. Viva Italia!

Chris

Did Frank sing Come Back To Sorrento? Other than that, I'm not sure. Maybe some of the other members would know??

[Ronald Sarbo]

Sinatra recorded Come Back To Sorrento in Italian on Columbia.

Also I Have But One Heart with one chorus in Italian.

On the radio he sang O Sole Mio.

Ron, was Sinatra of Italian descent?

[Ronald Sarbo]

Sean: Read Nancy's book.

Frank Sinatra is Italian-American-- both his parents were Italian, their parent's were Italian and so on.

Emily