Frank Sinatra - Strangers in the Night (10 tracks) +Album Reviews

Underrated, but still great: Sinatra in the late 60s

Tim Withee | Los Angeles, CA | 10/11/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Maybe The Chairman was beyond his classic period, but he still had the chops that made him "the greatest saloon singer" of all time. I bought this album in the early 70s, and still have the side, in perfect condition. A friend of mine with a top-end stereo turned me on to the album. As we listened, the tune that grabbed me right off the bat was "All or Nothing at All," a 40s classic, updated and rearranged by Nelson Riddle. With the stereo cranked, the power of Sinatra's voice, backed by the amazing Riddle Orchestra, was unbelievable. You got the effect of the music just bursting out of the speakers! At last, I fully understood the meaning of "swing!" The album is a fine testament to the staying power of a great singer, artist and musician. Songs as his pop hit, "Strangers in the Night," the gorgeous "Summer Wind," "On a Clear Day," and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," to me are the highlights, and get superb treatment from the mature artist that Sinatra was at the time. His rich, mellow voice and his phrasing are perfect -- and has there ever been a singer more credible with a song than Sinatra? He paints pictures in your mind. "Summer Wind," still does it to me after all these years. Finally, the Nelson Riddle Orchestra is the perfect complement to the Man and his Music. Sure, this album might not be recognized as one of the alltime classic works of Sinatra, but that's okay. It's still a gem of an album, and worth 5 stars."

Groovy, baby

Tim Withee | 01/04/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is an oddly satisfying album, and arose from odd circumstances. Sinatra had a hit on his hands (the title track), and was due to go into the studio with Riddle. As the hit was uptempo, Nelson went that way and came up with a fresh wrinkle -- the electric jazz organ. This may sound cheesy, as in "Sinatra sings the Beach Boys," but they pulled it off, the singer playing real loose with some of the lyrics (even forgetting the words on "You're Driving Me Crazy," a way of showing he found the material very light). The best track is "All or Nothing At All," with the organ whipping up a frenzy not even matched on the lilting version of Johnny Mercer's "Summer Wind" we all know so well.As always, Riddle had the creative juices to take an idea just one step further. Great fun. It has the feel of the Austin Powers soundtrack about it, and I'm sure the Man of Mystery would agree with my review title.Side note: As "Sinatra '67", this was Number One in Europe for weeks and weeks, and it knocked The Beatles "Rubber Soul" off the top of the charts, just as the single knocked them down a peg here in the States. The old singer must have gotten a kick out of that."

Classic Sinatra

Tim Withee | 04/15/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"By 1966, when he recorded this album, Sinatra's voice had roughened, but he was singing with a lot more kick than he had ten years earlier, and he was still the best singer in the world. Other than the title track this is all uptempo stuff, and with Nelson Riddle's arrangements featuring a swinging electronic organ, this is one of his most exciting albums. He transformed contemporary songs like "Call Me" into the Sinatra ouevre, while at the same time updating older ballads like "All or Nothing At All" into a swinging blues piece. My favorite track is the "Summer Wind" in which Sinatra uses his roughened voice to great effect. He's the only singer who could ever swing and sound like he was about to cry at the same time "The autumn wind and the winter wind/They have come and gone." He sings it as if he's trying to hold despair off by punching out the lyrics. If there's such thing as genius in pop music, this is it. And if you're just starting to get into Sinatra and want to move beyond the compilation albums, this is the way to go."

A Great Appetizer For Beginning Sinatra Fans

Anthony Nasty | 06/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a huge Frank Sinatra fan, I must say that this album ranks maong the best he's ever done. I can't seem to find my original copy of the cd, so I'm going to buy a new one next time I go to Barnes and Noble. I remeber the recording vividly, and I remeber the very first time I listened to all it all the way through - on a long car ride in Long Island about 7 years ago.This 1966 album marked a comeback of sorts for Frank Sinatra. He hadn't had a number 1 album since 1960's "Nice And Easy", and hadn't had a big hit single for quite some time. The "Strangers In The Night" album all changed that. The album went to number one and spawned a pair of hit singles: the title track, which knocked "Paperback Writer" by The Beatles off the top of the charts, and "That's Life", which became a number 4 hit in Decmeber, 1967. And though it wasn't a hit, "The Summer Wind" became one of his most popular songs. There are more great songs here, too. He does an expertice cover of Petula Clark's "Downtown", and his reworking of his first hit, "All Or Nothing At All" (recorded when he worked with Harry James),as it is much more uptempo and his older - sounding voice gives the song more of an edge. His version of "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" ranks as one of his best vocal performances ever. The other songs are good but not worth mentioning.This cd is a great cd for both noivice and expert Sinatra fans. I still think it's his best 1960s' album. I know it's one of my favorite albums of all time. Buy it today."

Frank Sinatra works with Nelson Riddle for the last time

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 05/05/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Obviously this 1966 album is remembered for its title song, which signaled Frank Sinatra's return to the top of the charts as both the single and the album hit #1 on not just the Adult Contemporary Charts but also the Pop Charts. However, from a historical perspective "Strangers in the Night" is also significant because it was the last time Sinatra worked with arranger/composer Nelson Riddle. The two began working together in 1953 and the collaborations result in Riddle becoming the top arrange in Hollywood for over a decade. For Sinatra Riddle developed not only orchestrations but the carefully planned use of some first-rate jazz musicians, whose playing complimented Sinatra's voice rather than obscured it (cf. Sinatra's early recordings with Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra). From "In the Wee Small Hours" (1954) and "Songs for Young Lovers/Swing Easy!" (1955) to "Ring a Ding Ding" (1960) and "Nice 'N' Easy" (1960), this was arguably the most important collaboration of Sinatra's long and storied musical career. As such, its end needs to be appreciated as such.Actually the title song is nothing special to me, mainly because when it was on the radio all the time it was the first song for which I made up my own lyrics ("Strangers in the shower, exchanging glances...). So that pretty much destroyed any of the song's charm for me. Even so, I would argue that it is not the best song on the album; that honor would go to the second track, "Summer Wind," which is also the track I would cite as having a quintessential Riddle arrangement (the song hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart but only #25 on Pop Singles). This is the sort of song, with its bold assurance from start to finish, that proves Sinatra was "the Chairman of the Board" before the label became popular. The album combines hits off of the pop charts (e.g., "Downtown," "Call Me"), with show tunes and jazz standards (e.g., "All or Nothing At All," "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World"). The result is not as thematically consistent as Sinatra's best albums from the 1950s, and there are only ten tracks, but still an above average Sinatra effort all things considered. The effort here was clearly to extend Sinatra's appeal to the wider mainstream audience of pop radio while remaining true to his roots as a singer. Sinatra is still the king of swing, but Riddle has used strings, horns, and an organ to make him sound contemporary and hip. Listen to the final track, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," and how it proves Sinatra to be the master of his domain."

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