Romance with Sinatra

Here is another album to add to your Christmas shopping cart. Once again, it is a special compilation album by an exceptionally popular artist and it is one no lover or lover of music should be without. Entitled Romance, it is made up of two discs containing 50 of the most beautiful love songs ever recorded by the great Frank Sinatra.

I know there are already plenty of Sinatra compilation albums out in the market so what is there to be excited about the release of another one? Well, they keep compiling Elvis Presley and although buyers keep getting the same songs they still keep on buying anyway. Sinatra has a bigger catalogue of recordings and a big number is still untapped. Romance barely scratches the tip of the iceberg. Truth to tell, this must be the first Sinatra collection packaged and released after his death in 1998 at 83.

It is also so right that the collection is made up of romantic ballads. Sinatra music is best associated with being in love and hurting. These songs swing, The Best is Yet to Come. They soar, Strangers in the Night. They wallow in heartbreak, What is this Thing Called Love? They are brassy, I Love You; dreamy, Like Someone in Love; quiet, Wave or as they once said of the man who became a legend, filled with so much heart, Love’s Been Good to Me.

Romance is not the essential Sinatra. For that you have to go to The Voice, a four-CD set of his early hits like All or Nothing at All, Songs for Swinging Lovers with My Funny Valentine, or Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely with In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning and from the later years Everything Happens to Me.

What makes Romance so impressive is its wide range of materials and discovering how Sinatra approached each of these. Who would have thought of George Harrison’s Something as torchy and sweet? Only Sinatra. It also provides a look at how he worked with various arrangers from Nelson Riddle, who swings, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, to Billy May, made for slow dancing It Had to be You, to Quincy Jones, all brass, all bravado, More (Theme from Mondo Cane) and others.

Aside from the songs, there is another thing in the album you should not miss taking a good look at once you get a copy. There are quotes about Sinatra and by Sinatra and I believe that more than the many books written about him, these give an excellent idea of the sort of man and artist he was.

He says to his fans: "I consider myself among the luckiest people in the world to have been able to make a career out of what I love to do – interpret wonderful music. There’s nothing like loving what you do. For 60 years I’ve done what I loved most – sing. Fortunately for me, you were out there listening. Together we got through the good times and the bad. Pretty good arrangement (you should pardon the pun). I drink to you. May you live to be a hundred and may the last voice you hear be mine."

Priceless. You will love this one.

Readers’ feedback

From the mail: Pat M. Bael, Jr., wrote in from Butuan City. "I am saddened by Ray Conniff’s demise. It was last Sunday when I was listening to his My Cup Runneth Over over and over again. The sound of the Ray Conniff Singers thrills me. Conniff’s Christmas album that includes Silent Night and Away in a Manger is one of my best. Conniff is gone but his songs will remain. I am wondering what will happen to his singers.

"If you have updates, please tell us about singers Patti Page, Joni James and Connie Francis. Are they still performing or (are they) already retired? I’m looking for their Christmas albums in Butuan but none is available. I was an elementary school pupil in Dipolog when I first heard Patti page’s Tennessee Waltz and Mocking Bird Hill."

Thanks for writing, Pat. I am sure Conniff’s singers will not lack for opportunities to keep on singing. When last heard of during the late ’90s, Patti Page and Joni James, who must already be in their ’70s continue to be active in the performance circuit. Connie Francis gave up singing after an unfortunate incident when she was raped inside a motel while on tour. As for their records, greatest hits collections of popular singers remain available in most stores or you can try ordering from internet shops like Amazon.