Record Reviews

FRANK SINATRA ~ WATERTOWN (DELUXE EDITION) CAPITOL 602445380206 (Barcode: 602445380206) ~ USA ~ Jazz-Pop Fusion Recorded: 1970 Released: 2022 This is a new edition of the brilliant album by iconic American vocalist Frank SinatraFind albums by this artist, originally released in 1970. The album was a completely unique true “concept album” in Sinatra’s recording career, rather than a collection of unrelated songs. All the songs on this album were co-written by Bob GaudioFind albums by this artist and Jake HolmesFind albums by this artist and tell a life story of a man from a small American town. This new edition has a restored sound quality, eight bonus tracks and an extensive booklet, which background information about the concept, the story and the recording of this unique piece of music. As usual with Sinatra’s albums, he is accompanied by an orchestra, which performs lush and often intricate instrumental parts, arranged by the best professionals on scene. This is the only Sinatra album, on which he added his vocals on top of pre-recorded orchestral parts. His usual modus operandi was recording live with the orchestra, but the complexity of the lyrics and the music in this case persuaded him to change the approach for just this one album. Although at the time of its release the album was a complete commercial failure, being the worst selling Sinatra album in all time, in retrospect it is a true masterpiece, which was simply way ahead of its time. The idea of “concept albums” was just about starting to evolve in Pop and Rock, but again in retrospect, many Sinatra’s earlier albums pioneered this tendency already a decade earlier. As for Sinatra’s performances, he is of course absolutely divine from start to finish. For me he always was the greatest American vocalist across the board, not only because of his technical abilities, but mainly due to his completely unique approach to the interpretation of the lyrics, where every word, or even syllable, has a meaning. The ideal amalgam of brain and heart that Sinatra was able to achieve remains to be unparalleled to this very day and his collected recording legacy is simply a colossal Cultural and Artistic treasure. Overall, this is sadly a little know gem in Sinatra’s long and glorious career, which deserves a special attention and it is great to see it receiving this special treatment and being brought again on the market. It is, after all, a true treasure trove! Side Note Although not a Jazz album per se, everything Sinatra recorded swung, and if it got that swing…

Updated: 19/01/2024Posted: 19/01/2024

CD 1 Remastered Bonus Tracks Recommend To A Friend