My Way: The Best Of Frank Sinatra (2CD) [Limited Edition, Original recording remastered, Import, Best of]

This two-CD Reprise "Import" collection includes among its 46 selections many of the very best recordings Frank Sinatra ever made. Count this reviewer among those who believe FS produced his very best performances during the first years of his own record label in the early Sixties---and not during "The Capitol Years" in the Fifties (please see my review for "The Very Best of Frank Sinatra"). The simple fact is Sinatra didn't reach the peak of his vocal powers until 1963---three years after the first Reprise recordings represented here.

It's now fully 40 years since two of these selections, "Bewitched" and "America the Beautiful," were recorded for what the singer himself considered his crowning achievement (in the bel canto, operatic style) --- "The Concert Sinatra" album. Almost 30 years elapsed before "America the Beautiful" finally was released on the 4-CD Reprise box set. For "The Concert Sinatra" arranger/conductor Nelson Riddle assembled, on the singer's orders, his largest-ever symphony orchestra, recorded on a huge sound stage at the MGM film studios. Riddle claimed near the end of his life, that he never saw the singer better prepared or more focussed for a recording session.

Among other highlights of this splendid 2-CD collection are:

- The opening track from the June 1962 "Great Songs from Great Britain" album---the Ray Noble classic "The Very Thought of You" arranged/conducted by Robert Farnon.
- Three from the 1961, Don Costa arranged "Sinatra and Strings" album, which many consider the singer's best 'ballads' from the Reprise years: "Come Rain or Come Shine," "Night and Day" and "All or Nothing at All."
- Sinatra's best version (with Nelson Riddle) of the Glen Miller/Mitch Parish classic "Moonlight Serenade" from the "Moonlight Sinatra" album; also, what many fans consider the singer's very best 'swinger'---arranged by Riddle in the early 60s---the Kern & Fields Oscar winner "Just the Way You Look Tonight."
- Great tunes from his earliest Reprise (1960) recordings for the classic "Ring-a-Ding Ding!" album---the only one arranged by composer ("Shadow of Your Smile") Johnny Mandel. Among those: Berlin's "Let's Face the Music and Dance."
- Definitive re-recordings of Capitol-era classics such as "I Get a Kick Out of You" (arranged by Neil Hefti) and "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" which finds the singer in perfect voice, and with a revised (even better?) Riddle arrangement. Also worth noting: markedly improved sound quality achieved at Reprise (compared to the Capitol Years) by the best engineers in the best Hollywood recording studios.

This collection provides (arguably) the best overall mixture of 'old and new' Sinatra, ever assembled on two CDs. The 46 tracks here include all-time best sellers---disdained perhaps by some as 'weak tea' compared to the strong meat of the Great American Songbook, otherwise well represented in this collection. Yet those same commercial hits struck a chord with 'baby boomers' that was key to re-establishing Sinatra's career in the Beatles' era----and beyond to a fifth, then a sixth decade of public performances. To borrow a phrase from song titles here, it's from these songs that the "best" (really was) "yet to come" at Reprise Records---as well the (very) "bad, bad." Whatever your tastes, be certain at least 40 of these tunes you'll love and never tire of playing. Could we name other great singers whose "best of" compilations could meet those criteria?

My way actually began as a French song - it was titled Comme d'habitude and recorded by Claude Francois in 1967. Paul Anka later translated it into English and the rest is history.

This collection contains many other Sinatra classics - New York New York, Strangers in the night, Somethin' stupid, Come fly with me and so much more. Most of his songs were culled from the Great American Songbook, but he showed that he could do contemporary songs well - among those to be found here are Mrs Robinson (Simon and Garfunkel), Yesterday, Something (both Beatles) and You are the sunshine of my life (Stevie Wonder).

This set works well as an introduction to Frank's music, but for those who only want one collection, this is the best of many compilations available. A single-CD version is also available for those who want it - it has a different color cover and merely contains the first of the two CD's here - but you can't buy the second CD separately.

As well as classics such as New York New York, Strangers in the Night, Mack The Knife, Something Stupid, My Way, Fly Me To The Moon and a personal favourite of mine The Way You Look Tonight, Sinatra has a stab at some classics of his day by other artists, such as The Beatles' Yesterday and Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson, largely with success, transforming them from guitar-pop songs into his classic swing band sound.

As the amazon.com reviwer says, not a hit is missed. Sinatra was, is, and always will be cool, and that is more than evident on this suave collection of songs with his deep, rich, varied voice. 5 stars.