[firefly]

(sigh) now I have this song stuck in my head. This is only a bad thing because I'm at work and no way to dig out the music/LP and listen. That makes me sad.

[George Lyons]

Great link, Bernhard!

[Tricia]

I was just listening to Frank sing WEE SMALL HOURS. I had to come here and see what you all had felt or said about this beautiful recording.

The thread has been a really enjoyable read, sitting here with goosebumps on my goosebumps.

Frank sounds so sleepy and sexy, at the same time so terribly lonely and aching that my eyes well with tears and I want to put my arms around him.....again.

[Nick in Toronto]

This thread brings back some odd memories of the album's history in my home. I originally had the gray label vinyl and nearly wore it out with repeated playings. In a household shift back in '73 my entire collection disappeared but the insurance company authorized me to replace ot with the Duophonic 12 song chop that Capitol had in circulation at that time. I bemouned the fact to a friend who was the manager of the local LARGE record retailer and found that he too could not listen to this butchering.
Some 4 years passed before I found an English version of the album which showed the duophonic version on the cover, sitting on top of an old fashioned console record player/radio. By chance, I looked on the other side and found all 16 songs listed, and in Mono! Not convinced, I purchased one and found it to be a lovely quiet pressing of the original tracks with a purple label. I rushed back to the shop and got four more copies(their entire Stock) and gave one to my friend at THE BIG STORE, and two others to selected other friends. When The Digitally remastered Sinatra never sounded Better version came out, I got one and later the 1st cd version. But to this day, the English ones still have a distinct edge over all the others.
A great Album; probably the best ever of its kind!

I (didn't) get along without you very well

[Nick in Toronto]

I was once agaiin reviewing the earliest posts in this thread and wondered just what was meant in reference to this tune.

My discography, no Bible by any means, lists this tune as being recorded on March 1st,1954 a full year before the other songs were done. It was done on along with 3 coins in the Fountain, and the Nelson Riddle revision of the Stordahl arrangement of Day In, Day Out, and it separated the recordings for Songs For Young Lovers, and Swing Easy.

The other 15 tunes were recorded on five separate song dates beginning with Dancing on the Ceiling on Feb 8th 1955, and ending up the 16th; I'll never Be the Same on March 4th 1955.

The fourth song cut after never be the same was Not as a Stranger.

The 15 main tunes for the album were interrupted for the single tune Soliloquy, cut on Feb 23rd , but never released. I believe the version on FS in Hollywood is a Fox recording.

At any rate, it just goes to show the brilliance of Nelson Riddle, who it would appear, came up with the concept a year earlier than anyone ever knew. Someone to Watch over me could have gone into this effort musically, but the lyric is a little off of the concept of lost love.

[MMM]

"Soliloquy" on the Hollywood box is the Capitol recording. The February date seems to be the date that the orchestra was recorded, with Frank's vocal being done at a later date.

Acctually, Nick. I do belive that "Last Night When We Were Young" was recorded along side it's other counterparts for the "In the Wee Small Hours" lp. My CD copy lists 3/1/54 but it must be a typo.

David: Nick is correct. March 1, 1954 IS the date he gave for "Last Night When We Were Young," but the other 15 tracks of the album were recorded in 1955. For whatever reason the song was recorded when it was, it was held back, but it fit in well with the other Wee Small material a year later.

Niote that the first compact disk issue of In The Wee Small Hours in January 1987 was an abridged version which did not include this song. It may be that was related to the recording date. (E.g., different tape source location? I don't know.) It was not until August 1991 that a full-length 16-track CD was released for this album.

[Added:] See post #152 below for the reason the first CD was abridged.

[Edwin]

Frank recorded "Last Night When We Were Young" with Nelson on March 1, 1954 along with "Day In, Day Out" and "Three Coins in the Fountain." Three Coins was a hit single at the time and Day In was released on a 45 RPM EP with three other songs.

"Last Night When We Were Young" hung around until the other 15 songs were recorded for "Wee Small Hours" nearly a year later.

Ed Spiegel

[Nick in Toronto]

My "Hollywood version of this tune is onthe promotional pre-release version of this album and is in many ways incomplete. I mentioned this album on the promo thread, and if it was indeed replaced by the Capital complete version later so much the better. Still, it would be good to know which is which.

Bob in Boston: Thanks for backing me up on a controvercial and some would believe sacrosanct issue. Now I won' t be so reticent to relay the news that Love is Here to Stay was recorded in 1955, prior to the other recordings for the 1956 Songs For Swingin Lovers by 4 months and at an October 17th date that also produced You Forgot All The Words, and the lovely Tony Bennett favourite; Weep They Will.

Personally, I find these anomolies in the Capital catalogue fascinating, as they may serve to indicate just how much or how little they knew about handling the carreer of FS. Could it be that In the Wee Small Hours, and Songs for Swingin' Lovers were just accidents created by a recording engineer now long forgotten who heard these tunes, unrelated to their contemporary recordings, and said "wouldn't it be a great idea if Sinatra did a whole AlLBUM like that?

[Nancy]

< Could it be that In the Wee Small Hours, and Songs for Swingin' Lovers were just accidents >

Not a chance, Nick. FS knew what he was doing.

Jesus. I didn't even have a clue about that. Silly me. I figured it for a typo.

[MMM]

Originally posted by Nick in Toronto My "Hollywood version of this tune is on the promotional pre-release version of this album and is in many ways incomplete. I mentioned this album on the promo thread, and if it was indeed replaced by the Capital complete version later so much the better. Still, it would be good to know which is which.

The Capitol version has a complete orchestral recording, with an incomplete vocal by Frank - parts 1, 2, 5, & 6, with 3 & 4 not completed.

Personally, I find these anomolies in the Capitol catalogue fascinating, as they may serve to indicate just how much or how little they knew about handling the carreer of FS. Could it be that In the Wee Small Hours, and Songs for Swingin' Lovers were just accidents created by a recording engineer now long forgotten who heard these tunes, unrelated to their contemporary recordings, and said "wouldn't it be a great idea if Sinatra did a whole AlLBUM like that?

Like Nancy said, no way! Also, the engineer on those two albums, John Palladino, is alive and well...

[Nancy]

The reason I said that is because I know Dad planned the concept albums carefully. I can't explain why the songs may have been recorded at odd times.

[Nick in Toronto]

Sometimes I have a bit of a wicked sense of humour, and the accident post was an example. In Fact, Frank Sinatra was actually contractually committed to pay the recording fees and the overtime out of his own pocket during his first years with Capital Records, so I have no doubt that he knew exactly what he was doing, and exactly what he wanted to do.

My opinion, for what its worth, is that 1953 and 1954 were arguably Sinatra's best singing years. Just listen to his voice soar on the sub-standard tune The Sea Song. My One and Only Love probably rates as his best vocal performance ever but so many more from those two years find him in equal voice. It is a great loss that he only did 1 album on each of those years. But we have to remember that FS was in the process of putting back together his singing carreer, having not yet won the Oscar and in general not having the listening ear of the general public, no matter how well he sang. A very few people have reached the absolute pinnacle in show business. But only one person in the history of the planet has ever done it twice - both times entirely on raw talent and an unbelieveable amount of work.

My favourite SAD album is Wee Small Hours, despite Mr S's preference for Only the Lonely. Swingin' Lovers and Affair rate at the top of my list of up tempo collections but few people today realise that all three were revelations when released. A completely new way of interpreting all those wonderful old songs, soon to be copied by every other conteporary singer in show business, and accounting for the tremendous volume of Nelson Riddle albums with not only other vocalists, but on other labels as well.
However.

these days, as the tummult is largely over in my life, I find myself more and more returning to the wonderful early years at Columbia, when Frank seemed to sing so effortlessly, and the great volume of ballads were more hopeful.

I feel truly blessed to have lived at a time when I had access to the music of Frank Sinatra for nearly sixty years now, and counting. And here we are on this site, asking for MORE. And, for many years finding just that as Charles Granata has sifted the Columbia vaults for treasure - and found it. Wish he could get into EMI and Reprise. Another 2 vinyl albums surfaced today, from Italian Capitol, and Music for Pleasure titled The Rarest Sinatra, and the Rare Sinatra . ( and containing The Sea Song.) Another track is an alternate take of The Song is You from Come dance. Different speed, different arrangement and well worth a listen. How many more?

[Nancy]

The Best Album Sinatra Made
'In the Wee Small Hours,' 'a vast cathedral of a work,' tells of loss and loneliness
By JOE GOLDBERG
April 29, 2006

Frank Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours" (1955) is the finest vocal album of American popular songs ever recorded. This thought is not original
with me.

Some people prefer his "Only the Lonely" (1958), but what do they know? "In the Wee Small Hours" came first and set the standard. With it, Sinatra invented the concept album...

_________

I concur. Always have. always will.

[Gregory]

So true!!!

[MMM]

Originally posted by Nancy
The Best Album Sinatra Made
'In the Wee Small Hours,' 'a vast cathedral of a work,' tells of loss and loneliness
By JOE GOLDBERG
April 29, 2006

Frank Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours" (1955) is the finest vocal album of American popular songs ever recorded. This thought is not original
with me.

Some people prefer his "Only the Lonely" (1958), but what do they know? "In the Wee Small Hours" came first and set the standard. With it, Sinatra invented the concept album...

_________

I concur. Always have. always will.

Was that the whole article, Nancy?

[Ronald Sarbo]

There's more Martin but when I tried to access it on www.wsj.com you have to be a paid subscriber.

<< Was that the whole article, Nancy? >>

No. The article was considerably longer and well worth reading. I have a copy, but I hesitate to post it since it's restricted to subscribers on the WSJ website. Google News offers a free preview link, but it's not much more than what Nancy posted:

The Wall Street Journal Online: The Best Album Sinatra Made

[Simul-posted with Ron]