Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours

Released - April 1955

Genre - Jazz Vocal

Producer - Voyle Gilmore

Selected Personnel - Frank Sinatra (Vocals); Nelson Riddle (Arranger & Conductor)
Standout Track - In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning

I'll start off at the same point that the overly ambitious "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" book kicks off. There's a kind of logic in starting a catalogue of albums through history with this offering from Sinatra, given that its reissue as a 12-inch LP shortly after its initial release as two 10-inch discs contributed in part to the creation of "the album." It wasn't until the 1970s that album sales actually started to overtake singles, but it all began here.

I'll confess to knowing very little (beyond a general understanding of the history and the period and a familiarity with some of the best-known songs) about music from pre-1960. You'll notice as this blog expands that there are very few albums included from the 1950s. I'm a big fan of the jazz music of the early 20th century, and I love the music of some of the greatest singers of the era, from Nat King Cole (who I will still hold up as one of the very finest voices in the history of music) to Billie Holliday and so on, while the Ink Spots have been one of my favourite vocal groups since I was aged seven. But for some reason or other I've never felt compelled to really dive into the discographies of such artists as I have with other music, rather contenting myself with greatest hits compilations and the like. And, seeing as this blog is intended as a tribute to the album as a piece of work in its own right, this era doesn't feature perhaps as heavily as you might expect.

Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours" is a notable exception. In general, Sinatra is a sensation that I've never really connected with in a particularly notable way. Some of his songs have become undeniable classics, but in general I find his voice a little too clean, a little too perfect, to really carry much emotional resonance. But in 1955 he released In the Wee Small Hours in the midst of a popular resurgence after a career slump in the early 50s which almost drove him to suicide. Following shortly after the breakdown of his second marriage to Ava Gardner, it marks the earliest real example of what would later be known as the concept album, given that the songs collected together here are all unified by the themes of loneliness, despair and late-night melancholy - it was rare up until this point that an artist had released a collection of songs specifically to explore a certain theme or idea. The lonely, downcast Sinatra on that iconic cover is a very different figure from the happy-go-lucky figure that his audience had come to revere, and for the first time Sinatra's voice carries a real weight of emotional resonance, sounding by turns tired, plaintive, and sometimes simply resigned to his situation. It's a truly touching collection, never downbeat to the point of being desolate, but always poignant enough to leave a lump in the throat. Nelson Riddle's orchestral arrangements are gorgeous but never intrusive or overbearing, largely providing a tasteful backing so that Sinatra and his voice can take centre-stage. The real standout song is the beautiful title track, which to this day is still the ultimate musical expression of late-night blues and melancholy, while the plaintive sorrow of "Can't We Be Friends?" and "I'll Be Around" (which became a kind of manifesto and a song I went back to after more or less every failed attempt at a relationship during my first year at uni) are other highlights.

Other than this gem, Sinatra has never really become a particular obsession or fascination of mine, although he would still go on to record "My Way," perhaps still his greatest song despite its overbearing popularity. But it's here that Sinatra really contributed a carefully crafted and constructed masterpiece to the legacy of music, even if he never really caught my interest again.

Track Listing:

1. In the Wee Small Hours Of The Morning (Bob Hilliard & David Mann)
2. Mood Indigo (Barney Bigard, Duke Ellington & Irving Mills)
3. Glad To Be Unhappy (Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart)
4. I Get Along Without You Very Well (Hoagy Carmichael)
5. Deep In A Dream (Eddie DeLange & Jimmy Van Heusen)
6. I See Your Face Before Me (Howard Dietz & Arthur Schwartz)
7. Can't We Be Friends? (Paul James & Kay Swift)
8. When Your Lover Has Gone (Einar Aaron Swan)
9. What Is This Thing Called Love? (Cole Porter)
10. Last Night When We Were Young (Harold Arlen & Yip Harburg)
11. I'll Be Around (Alec Wilder)
12. Ill Wind (Harold Arlen & Ted Koehler)
13. It Never Entered My Mind (Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart)
14. Dancing On The Ceiling (Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart)
15. I'll Never Be The Same (Gus Kahn; Matty Malneck & Frank Signorelli)
16. This Love Of Mine (Sol Parker; Henry W. Sanicola Jr. & Frank Sinatra)