FRANK SINATRA: The World We Knew

Original released on LP Reprise FS 1022

(US, September 1967)

Between 1954 and his first retirement in 1971, Sinatra released 40 albums of original material on Capitol and Reprise. The large majority of them were "themed" albums either in terms of mood, song choice or orchestral arrangement, and these offerings generally speaking have been best received by critics and fans. This album release falls in the minority category and is therefore either a jumbled ragbag or an entertaining mixture depending on your point of view. Other than "Something Stupid", none of the songs are associated with Sinatra and few of them were ever performed live, but in many ways the album reflects a typical Sinatra concert, mixing up-tempo swingers like "This Town" and "Don't Sleep in the Subway", romantic torchers like "This is My Love" and "This is My Song", and the obligatory saloon song in "Drinking Again". But while Sinatra concerts were seamless affairs the album has a disjointed feel arising no doubt from the fact that it was recorded over many sessions, weeks or months apart, with a number of different arranger conductors.

Two of the most interesting tracks are "Born Free" and "Some Enchanted Evening". They have divided reviewers over the years, some regarded them as classics within the Sinatra oeuvre, others dismissing them as sub standard throwaways. The reviewer inclines to the former view. "Born Free", the film tune, had been performed to low key orchestral arrangement in its previous versions by other artists. Gordon Jenkins (Sinatra's stringmeister) had other ideas and came up with a heightened and dramatic treatment concluding with what my musically trained friends tell me is a broken seventh and a terminal cadence. If Sinatra is not at his absolute best vocally, this is one of Jenkin's finest hours. "Some Enchanted Evening", the love ballad from South Pacific, had been twice previously recorded by Sinatra and been given the high drama treatment traditionally associated with the song. In this version Sinatra delivers a parody of his previous efforts, beginning and ending with declamatory phrases in semi operatic fashion and then in mid tune switching into a jazzy, almost jokey, delivery. H.B. Barnum's arrangement complements the mood perfectly moving from  dramatic introductory staccato phrases into a swinging brass and string arrangement reminiscient of Quincy Jones at his best. (in RateYourMusic)