Читать книгу The Mojo Collection - Various Mojo Magazine - Страница 23

Record label: Capitol

Produced: Dave Cavanaugh

Recorded: Capitol Studios, Hollywood; May–June 1958

Released: December 1958

Chart peaks: 5 (UK) 1 (US)

Personnel: Frank Sinatra (v); Nelson Riddle (ar); Felix Slatkin (c); orchestra included Al Viola (g); Pete Condoli (t); Bill Miller (p); Gus Bivona (as); Ray Sims (tb)

Track Listing: Only The Lonely; Angel Eyes; What’s New; It’s A Lonesome Old Town; Willow Weep For Me; Goodbye; Blues In The Night; Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry; Ebb Tide; Spring Is Here; Gone With The Wind; One For My Baby

Running time: 54.35

Current CD: Capitol CAP947562 adds: Sleep Warm; Where Or When

Further listening: In The Wee Small Hours (1955); Close To You (1956)

Further reading: Sinatra! The Song Is You: A Singer’s Art by Will Friedwald (1995); www.franksinatra.com

Download: iTunes

As well as the classic mid-tempo good-time swingers Songs For Swingin’ Lovers (1955) and A Swingin’ Affair (1956), in the renaissance Capitol years Frank Sinatra had already produced a classic torch album with arranger Nelson Riddle, In The Wee Small Hours (1955), and had even dallied with arranger Gordon Jenkins on the cloying deep gloom of Where Are You? (1957). But neither quite prepared the listener for the devastating tragic-romantic impact of Only The Lonely.

Set in sweepingly dramatic late-romantic/early-impressionist orchestral textures, Sinatra the actor-singer is at his absolute peak, in control of every technical and emotional nuance, entirely involving, completely believable. Riddle, regarding it as ‘the best vocal album I’ve ever done; because I had time to work on the arrangements – a week!’ excelled himself with the beautiful intros alone. The Chopin-esque piano of the title track, the whispering dissonances in the violins on It’s A Lonesome Old Town, the descending oboe line of Goodbye; Riddle attributed the tone of his work to the recent death of his daughter and imminent death of his mother – ‘if one can attach events like that to music, perhaps Only The Lonely was the result.’ Interestingly, though an astonishing arranger, Riddle was known as a vague conductor and Frank apparently contrived to have regular Sinatra concertmaster Felix Slatkin conduct the tricky, tempoless numbers while Riddle was out of town.

The album featured two of Sinatra’s favourite boozy loser pieces, Angel Eyes and One For My Baby, one of which he would always perform in concert as the saloon song segment with just Bill Miller on piano accompaniment. He recorded Baby like that (available on The Capitol Years 4-CD set) but returned the following day to cut it again with Riddle’s discreet strings and Gus Bivona’s delicious alto obligato to create a masterpiece, the pinnacle – along with I’ve Got You Under My Skin from Songs For Swingin’ Lovers – of the Sinatra/Riddle partnership.

Sinatra recalled the session: ‘Word had somehow got around, there were 60 or 70 people there, Capitol employees and their friends, people off the street, anyone. We had kept this song to the last track of the session. Dave Cavanaugh knew how I sang it in the clubs and he switched out all the lights bar the spot on me. The atmosphere in that studio was exactly like a club. Dave said “Roll ’em”, there was one take and that was that. The only time I’ve known it happen like that.’