Frank Sinatra: The Chairman of the Board
Francis Albert Sinatra doesn’t sound very cool, does it? Who would have guessed the man with such a girly name would go on to be one of the most famous singers of any generation and respectfully earn the titles 'Ol’ Blue Eyes' and 'The Chairman of the Board'?
Way back before plastic pop and talentless synchronised dancing clones took over the popular music world, entertainers had a heart, a soul and a style like no other. At the front of the pack in the coolest era of music was Frank Sinatra. Having a way with words that would make the women swoon and the men want to be like him, Sinatra started his career in the thirties and didn’t let up until the nineties.
He played with the likes of Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Nelson Riddle and even Bono from U2, while his career even branched into films with performances alongside Burt Lancaster (From Here to Eternity, winning an Oscar), Angela Lansbury (The Manchurian Candidate) and Gene Kelly (On the Town).
But although his acting brought him some welcome diversion during a bad period, it was always the singing that would make his name and his fame live on. His respect for the songwriter's lyric made the music his, and in Sinatra’s own words: “One thing I’ve always tried to reach for in my approach to a ballad is a respect for the lyric. I try to do it the way I think the writer would like to have had it done.”
So if work has got you down, if the bills won’t stop coming and the kids won’t stop screaming, then do yourself a favour and switch off your mobile phone, put away your laptop computer and mix yourself a martini or three. There’s simply no better legal way to bliss out than with Frank Sinatra on DVD.
On this dvd
A different swing to this set, with Ella Fitzgerald and Antonio Carlos Jobim assisting Frank. Nelson Riddle is still there in the background conducting, but this is Frank who tries a different beat with many of his songs, adding a slightly different flavour that shows his versatility. Unlike A Man and His Music Part 2 which I felt was weakened by the inclusion of Nancy Sinatra, this set gets a great boost with the help of Ella and Jobim.
Track List
Day In, Day Out
Get Me To The Church On Time
What Now My Love
Ol’ Man River
Body And Soul
It’s All Right With Me
How High The Moon*
Up, Up And Away*
Jimmy Valentine*
Theme To Tony Rome*
Goody Goody*
Don’t Cry Joe*
Ode To Billy Joe*
Goin’ Out Of My Head*
Quiet Night Of Quiet Stars/Change Partners**
I Concentrate On You**
The Girl From Ipanema**
The Song Is You*
They Can’t Take That Away From Me*
Stompin’ At The Savoy*
At Long Last Love*
Don’t Be That Way
The Lady Is A Tramp
Put Your Dreams Away
(* medley with Ella. ** medley with Jobim)
Don’t go expecting a picture and sound worthy of the latest and greatest blockbusters, because it just won’t be found on this set of DVDs. But it’s also not the fault of the transfer process either. As the cover slicks helpfully warn us: “Due to the nature of the original source material some slight audio/visual imperfections may appear in this programme.” Primarily shot for television broadcasts between ’65 and ’85, the images are all fullscreen and while far from perfect in condition are easily forgivable for the content they deliver. Colour quality on the source can vary a little, with sometimes natural looking colours to occasional oversaturation and a bit of bleeding, while whites vary from washed out to reasonably detailed under the glare of the lights. Shadow detail is fine, with the live concerts a bit flat in the crowd shots but passable because they’re brief. The audio is stereo Linear PCM, but is derived from original mono sources. Occasionally the limitation of this is fairly evident in the quality of many pieces, but from time to time Frank’s performance in some songs and DVDs are allowed to soar in a way that captures the mood and enthusiasm he has for the music and allows you to get carried away with the whole affair.
I’m not going to complain about the extras, or lack of extras, on this series. Frankly, the main features are good enough, even with their brief running times, that to ask for substantial extras on top of 10 great discs just seems bloody outright greedy. What we get is a catalogue of the Frank Sinatra DVDs available in this set with a track listing for each disc and a trailer for the series.