[dglanterman]

Ms. Nancy, I thank you for your comment.

[musiclover]

It's been quite awhile since I've listened to the entire album. I own the MFSL mono cd now as well as the British MFP 70's LP, and I'm going to give the Larry Walsh 80's cd a try soon. I just can't get into the mono version. I feel it covers up the beautiful orchestrations and makes it harder to hear certain instruments. The stereo version just captures the whole mood of the album for me. It's spacious, solemn, and I love that old Capitol reverb in the original stereo mix. It's a real shame that no one has seen fit to release the original 1958 stereo mix on a cd yet! Why mess with perfection?!

[Nancy]

It's spacious, solemn, and I love that old Capitol reverb in the original stereo mix.

Very astute comment, Sean.

[sschweiger]

I have various 'games' I play with my groups when I do my Sinatra Presentations. One is to describe an album using only one word. It's fascinating to read & hear the audiences' reactions.

Recently, I 'presented' to the Italian-American Women's Club (Eunice is an honorary member). It was great because the ages varied from late teens to 92 (truly an original bobby-soxer from Springfield)! There were 24 women, and when I looked over their 3x5 cards, four had used "exquisite" to describe "Only The Lonely." Their response might be the result of osmosis, since many of the lovely ladies have seen my 'act' over the years, and when I discuss "Only The Lonely," I find myself using that word again & again!

Frank's 'mini three-act dramas' are exquisite; Nelson's charts are exquisite; and the orchestra is exquisite! Since so many of these recordings have become everlastingly etched in our (Me & the world's music lovers) heart, mind & soul -- a lot of people agree with me & the Italian-American Women's Club!

Happy Father's Day!

[MMM]

From my collection:

8" 45 rpm, single sided acetates

[SinatraFan]

Anniversary bump: November 17, 1958

[mlutthans]

I recently acquired an original Capitol acetate of "It's a Lonesome Old Town," an 8" record labeled as being take 7. This is the same vocal take as the released version, but the trombone solo is different, so the version that we've all been hearing must have an intercut from another take for the trombone solo.

Matt

[jtsjc1]

Matt thats a great find! I had no idea there was an intercut in the song. How much different is the trombone from the released take?

[mlutthans]

Originally Posted by jtsjc1

Matt thats a great find! I had no idea there was an intercut in the song. How much different is the trombone from the released take?

The tempo of that middle section slows just a tad, as it lasts a couple of seconds longer on take 7 than on the released version. The only "sticks out like a sore thumb" difference is that at the tale end of the first trombone phrase, the trombonist gives a little "kiss" effect, meaning there's a slight, jazzy emphasis on the end of the last note of the first phrase, playing (no words, of course,) "It's a lonesome old toooooooooooow-NUH!" It was clearly just a stylistic choice, but I think I prefer the released, more even-keeled version.

Matt

[jtsjc1]

Thanks Matt the acetate is a nice addition to your collection.

[Rich_Silverman]

Played "Only the Lonely" last night for the first time in years and really sat and listened to it closely. I have to say it's the most perfect album ever recorded. Sure, this is out on a limb, but it's beyond flawless, from the song choices, to the arragenemts, the musicians' performances, and of course Sinatra.

It never bogs down under its own weight. Each song is treated as a whole and and part of the larger package. Some people might consider the sentiments over the top or overly dramatic - and this is certainly arguable - but Sinatra's performaces never melo-dramatic or forced. They are sublime, each and every one. For my money, there is no better depiction of romantic pain and longing than on this album.

And yes, it is a "depressing" album, but the caliber of the work is so high that you can listen to it from a higher level or art appreciation without having to go throuth the emotional wringer. What an amazing work this one is. Frank's best. Hands down.

[Rich_Silverman]

Anyone know off hand who the trombone player featured on "Only the Lonely is? What a great tone and style. Is it Tommy Pederson? The woodwinds are great, too. I play clarinet myself and can tell you that whoever is playing it on the album is outstanding.

[Bob in Boston]

Originally Posted by Rich_Silverman

Anyone know off hand who the trombone player featured on "Only the Lonely is? What a great tone and style. Is it Tommy Pederson? The woodwinds are great, too. I play clarinet myself and can tell you that whoever is playing it on the album is outstanding.

Trombones: Tommy Pederson & Milt Bernhart; Bass trombone: Ken Shroyer
Clarinets: Mitchell Lurie & Mahlon Clark; Bass clarinets: Charles Butler & Chuck Gentry

For the complete list of musician credits, see this post: Thursday, May 29, 1958 (2nd session)

P.S. I assumed you were asking about the title song. For the album as a whole, the personnel depends on the recording session. All of the sessions are linked from this post: Album Release: FRANK SINATRA SINGS FOR ONLY THE LONELY

[mlutthans]

By the way, Mitchell Lurie is a legend in the clarinet world. To this day, you can walk into your neighborhood music store and purchase Mitchell Lurie clarinet reeds.

http://www.amazon.com/Mitchell-Lurie-Premium-Clarinet-2-5/dp/B0002FOPL8

Matt

[Nancy]

That's so great, Matt. Thank you!

[Jake]

A masterful album, the clarinet very much a principal instrument in this album, as many of the intros to the songs are done by the clarinet. My favorite, but whose intro is not done by clarinet, is "Ebb Tide", which is my favorite Frank Sinatra song.

[David A]

This is an album that I don't like to talk about, let alone think of. It's like this giant monolith in the Sinatra cannon. You try to avoid it because of its emotional weight but it's always just around you, haunting you years after you've heard it. Every listen is immensely exhausting but you're transfixed at the beauty and heartache.

I love this album tremendously, but it's one I don't enjoy going back to, unless I'm armed with a glass of Jack at my side and with a gaping hole in my heart.

What else can be said about this album? The impressionistic touches of Nelson Riddle are important. I think this is the album where he really discovered how to score woodwinds, which would play more prominent in his later arrangements.

The honeyed, slightly breaking voice from "In The Wee Small Hours," is considerably drier now, more smoked. If the former album is about restless nights and that initial blow after a breakup, this one is about the tough path to acceptance.

What we're presented with for the 1954 album is a notion that there is still some hope. "This Love Of Mine," closes the album with a foolish but somewhat hopeful sensation that, "maybe, just maybe," she'll come back.

But in this album, there was never a chance. This is an album about seeking an even keel. That's what makes "One for My Baby," such a great album closer. Does he reach it or is this a slow drive into a potentially self-destructive habit? In other words, its an album about closure that doesn't leave any definitive fate for our protagonist.

Enter the listener who invests his heart into the album and makes his own decision.

[SinatraFan]

Played the MFSL mono CD earlier today and decided to give this thread a bump. We all know that Frank's singing and the arrangements are perfect. Also, the Capitol engineers really knew how to make the best possible recordings and MFSL reproduced that sound wonderfully. I wish the entire Capitol catalog could get this kind of treatment on CD.

My top favorites are Angel Eyes, Ebb Tide and One For My Baby.

[sschweiger]

The very first album I heard in Stereophonic Sound (good grief!). And the "other-worldly" FrankNelson vocals/arrangements/orchestral accompaniment sound as if they are ONE ORGANIC SOUND! To say they're on the same wave length is to sound superfluous!

Listen to "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry," and try to separate the singing from the orchestration! Listen to an R&H golden nugget, "Spring Is Here," a song that's been recorded by a few hundred artists, and you'd swear that it was the FIRST time you heard the song (at least I did)! Listen to "Blues In The Night," and you just KNOW that this was what the Messrs. Arlen & Mercer had in mind when they composed this magnificent song (which should have won the Oscar that year, instead of the beautiful, BUT interpolated Kern-Hammerstein gem, "The Last Time I Saw Paris").

"ONLY THE LONELY" is high art, comparable to the work of Puccini, Mozart & Bach, to name a trio of pretty good tunesmiths! In other words, I like it!

[Dina]

What are your thoughts about "Ebb Tide"?
No one could ever disagree that it's an exquisite peformance, and I always love listening to it for the perfection of the singing and the orchestration. But, I somehow feel it doesn't quite fit in with the melancholy brokenheartedness of the other songs on the album. To me, it's a song of fulfillment and love found, not regret and love lost.
Maybe I'm just overanalyzing things too much and should just accept it as one gorgeous piece of the concept album at its absolute best...