Well look who it is, old blue eyes strikes again making him the first artist to be featured twice if taken chronologically with a third appearance in the mid-sixties. The first thing that strikes me about Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! is what a difference a year really makes. I mean it was only a year ago, or in this case about a week ago, where Sinatra brought out In The Wee Small Hours a collection of maudlin ballads that greatly reflected his split with actress Ava Gardner.
So here he is with the album that truly established him as the king of swing and boy does he come out swinging *cringe* with the seminal version of You Make Me Feel So Young. This is followed by a steady stream of brilliantly arranged tunes that just warrant multiple listens. Which makes it a little wonder why so many of the tracks off this album have been ingrained into the public consciousness. None more worthy of this accolade is I’ve Got You Under My Skin which is one of those songs that everyone has heard in random films but probably most have probably never actually listened to it.
The fact is that most would be forgiven thinking most of these songs as being written specifically for Sinatra with the way that these are widely regarded as the seminal versions whereas in fact many of these songs were actually over 10 years old. Does this matter? Not one iota. Just thought it’s an interesting thing.
Upon hearing this for the third time I really wonder why acts like Westlife and Robbie Williams even try. Frank Sinatra is the truly undisputed king of swing and the quicker we can accept it the quicker we can move on to doing something original. Why have second-rate imitations when we have the master.
8.5/10
Fab Four:
You Make Me Feel So Young
Too Marvellous For Words
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
Anything Goes (I’ve always had a soft spot for this song)
Right, this is the first album where there was some degree of trouble acquiring. So instead of the original 1956 version what I have here was a recreation released in the late nineties. The main issue being that now this lasts for about an hour and a half instead of forty. Oh well.
There is no doubting the historical significance of this night with it being called one of THE nights in show business, the only other coming to mind being the legendary evening at Carnegie Hall administered by Ms. Judy Garland in 1961.
The main issue here is the sheer length of the album and (being a live album) the constant punctuations that arise through the introduction of the next piece. The real annoyance being the interjections by Father Norman O’ Connor… I mean seriously whoever was in charge of the album couldn’t have just edited this guy out? Either that or at least he could’ve been witty which would have warranted some inclusion, 40 years later who the fuck cares that a certain journalist is sitting in the audience!
While there is no doubt in my mind that this was a huge event there is something that really doesn’t gel with me. Don’t get me wrong about this as the performances are masterful but it’s hard to sit through an hour and a half of this, with the exception of Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo In Blue which is actually amazing.
It would definitely be something that would be better in real life rather than just listened to on some cloudy summer afternoon while eating lunch. However, this was never an album I could really get into or enjoy. WAY too long and gave me the urge to get a pillow and sleep on the floor under a table. That’s not a good sign right?
4.0/10
Fab Four:
Part III: Newport Up (from Disc One)
Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo In Blue
Tulip or Turnip (because for some reason it appeared to instigate a riot)
Mood Indigo
Finally, we hit an album where the singer actually has song-writing credits on the vast majority of the material. The last few albums really got me thinking on how much we expect from artists nowadays. Not only do they now have to have the voice but also the image, the ability to write their own songs and then of course some form of charisma. Being able to play an instrument is an optional extra that gains you extra kudos. So, Fats, mate, you have my immediate respect for actually embodying the majority of this way back when. In the fifties it was truly the age of the songwriter who, if they were able to write a few standards such as Blueberry Hill, would be truly rolling in money as artist after artist in a multitude of genres covered their work.
Anyways, I digress from the matter at hand. What did I think of This Is Fats?
In short: I love it. In long: I luuuuuuuuuuuurve it.
And in the end what isn’t there to love on this album? Catchy feel-good tracks, ace piano-playing by the man himself and enjoyable vocals. Unlike The Wildest!, which I reviewed yesterday, this album lost none of it’s glimmer upon the second listen, let alone the third that followed soon after. Granted that I am only a sixth of the way into the selection from the fifties but so far I feel that it is safe to say that there won’t be an album to beat this in sheer pleasure factor. When it comes to an album’s ability to evoke emotionally I am going to reserve all judgement until after I have been subjected to Billie Holiday’s Lady In Satin where the reputation is far preceding it.
Either way, this is a great and enjoyable album that can either be enjoyed as backing music whilst doing other things or as a direct listen. A rare combo.
8.0/10
Fab Four:
Blueberry Hill
Blue Monday
La-La
You Done Me Wrong
Side Note: My Last.fm account is really beginning to look odd
I am not so proud to admit that upon first sight of the cover art to Louis Prima’s The Wildest! I didn’t know what to expect. I mean it matches the title of the album to a tee with his mouth wide open in some cavernous grin but as to the sort of music I was lost. It was only when I found out that he was the voice of King Louie from The Jungle Book that the penny dropped. Swing-Music.
Bearing that in mind I tried to keep an open mind and as such first found this a very enjoyable listen. As all good albums endeavour to do it opens with a foot-tapping flourish with the medley of Just A Gigolo and I Ain’t Got Nobody. The album flows well with many tracks begging to be danced along to, a flow interrupted by Spotify’s insistence of three adverts in a row.
For the most part this is a good album, but there is a certain song that just grated on me completely where upon I began to recoil as I knew what was coming. The song in question being The Lip whereby the repeated high-pitch wailing of some brass instrument caused such discomfort which can only be compared to the ‘ka-ching’ at the end of Grace Kelly by Mika.
The clear highlight of this album is Jump, Jive an’ Wail which should be instantly recognisable to any swing-music novice through it’s sheer usage in film and television as a way to portray the era. However, this album is very hard to rate.
Upon the first listen I thought that it was a fantastic toe-tapping romp, however upon the second listen found that a lot of the tracks had already lost their sparkle. When the thoughts of ‘when will this end’ begin to creep in with respect to an album with a running time of 32 minutes you realise that maybe this isn’t the album for you. As such the best bet, in my opinion is to split the difference between the two ratings from the first and second listens.
6.5/10
Fab Four:
Medley: Just A Gigolo / I Ain’t Got Nobody
(Nothing’s Too Good) For My Baby
Jump, Jive an’ Wail
(I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead) You Rascal You
Well it didn’t take me long at all until the first artist that I had never heard of. Of no real surprise really considering that country/bluegrass has never had that much of a foothold in Britain. For the most part that is a shame as brilliant albums such as Van Lear Rose and Gunpowder & Lead just don’t register on the British radar. Anyway, this is beside the point and in fact a bit redundant with respects to this album in general.
I have always thought that in music there is nothing more unsettling than a cheerful sounding track with a darker message that underpins it. When done well, such as or Madonna’s offering on domestic violence (Till Death Do Us Part), these songs can be a real boon whose rewards are reaped on that ever fateful second listen where you start to listen to the songs ever more closely.
This is what gives Tragic Songs of Life so much strength as on the first listen these are all pleasant country/bluegrass songs that warrant either some form of hoedown or the purchase of hammock, seriously I had a fantasy while listening to Katie Dear that I was in a rocking chair. Then suddenly a word catches your ear and what is revealed is a tragic song about a lover’s committing suicide. For me Katie Dear was actually the song that made me double take and take notice of the lyrics.
This album is in fact littered with songs about everyday tragedies such as heartache (Let Her Go, God Bless Her) to far more macabre turns about someone murdering their lover and depositing their body (Knoxville Girl) and how the death of a mother caused the rest of her family to die of grief (Mary Of The Wild Moor).
Ok, I may have some form of morbid curiosity when it comes to the macabre. That’s kind of a mute point. However, this album not only satisfies this curiosity but also have some element of a shock factor that is still preserved some 50-odd years later. The fact that some of these songs were standards and/or traditional songs just makes it all the more compelling. This is the first album where I expect to listen to it all again in the interim periods between the next 998, depending how far I get.
8.0/10
Fab Four:
Kentucky
Katie Dear
Knoxville Girl
Mary Of The Wild Moor
Elvis Presley’s eponymous debut truly hit’s the ground running with the catchy and upbeat Blue Suede Shoes loses a bit of momentum on the next track (don’t get me wrong it’s still good) but just fails to keep up the pace and falls completely flat at the next track along. This pattern does repeat itself very often as the album goes along with the latter half of the album really being more miss than hit. This is a real pity as when it is good it is VERY good with foot-tapping music that you just can not help but bop along to. But this is very quickly extinguished by some of the schmaltz that makes you want to reach for the next track.
While there are exceptions to the rule (such as Suspicious Minds, In The Ghetto and, from this album I'm Counting On You) Elvis truly does sound at his best when the songs are more upbeat and are better to swing-dance to. Songs like Tutti Frutti just conjure up the images of teens in diner’s sharing vanilla malts listening to the new music. Okay maybe I’ve watched Pleasantville one too many times but that’s just an opinion I am venturing
Historically speaking there is no question that this album does belong on a list of albums that you need to listen to, just because of what this album did. Firstly, it launched the career of arguably the most famous singer of all time (I would happily argue more than John Lennon or Michael Jackson) and for that this album is truly impressive. Secondly this has the great distinction of being the first truly successful rock ‘n roll album. So again this album has some historical value.
However, being a purely preferential escapade of mine I am probably unlikely to listen to the whole album again, with the exception of the highlights. Other than that it is a tad disappointing.
5.0/10
Fab Four:
Blue Suede Shoes
I’m Counting On You
One Sided-Love Affair
Tutti Frutti
Well look who it is, old blue eyes strikes again making him the first artist to be featured twice if taken chronologically with a third appearance in the mid-sixties. The first thing that strikes me about Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! is what a difference a year really makes. I mean it was only a year ago, or in this case about a week ago, where Sinatra brought out In The Wee Small Hours a collection of maudlin ballads that greatly reflected his split with actress Ava Gardner.
