A collection of Frank Sinatra music cds and videos as well as compilation of his greatest hits.
Even by the standards of Sinatra’s other Capitol ballad albums, Only the Lonely is a beautifully broken statement of hopelessness. Guided by Nelson Riddle’s arrangements, Frank stumbles through a nameless town, buying rounds for an entire bar, having an emotionally apocalyptic run-in with an old flame, bemusedly eyeing the onset of spring. Here the spare “One for My Baby” and a rueful “Blues in the Night” pass for upbeat; more typical of its lucidly wounded tone is an epic missive of loss, “Good-bye.” The CD edition carries two bonus tracks (“Sleep Warm” and “Where or When”), cut a season after the LP’s dozen songs, that provide a happier ending. But you can program your player to skip them. –Rickey Wright
Another review notes that this is Frank's son's favorite album (he is not really "Frank, Jr.," by the way)-- I would have to agree. According to John Rockwell's book, Sinatra: An American Classic, when asked at a party in the mid-1970s if he had a favorite album among his recordings, Sinatra unhesitatingly chose this one. The album would be worth the price just for "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)."
I began to appreciate Frank as I started to college-- and then it quickly evolved into absolute awe. We got to see him live in Atlanta in 1973 as he returned from "retirement," and he still had it, but surely not still as here in 1958. Much has been written about his singing genius, his inimitable, unique phrasing...Ava said "I love you when you sing, Frank, because when you sing you're honest." He was truly the singer's singer. Nelson Riddle, who arranged this album, aptly noted that Ava made Frank a great torch/saloon singer through the angst she caused him. His "pipes" as he called them had been even better in the 1940's (he had had fewer smokes back then), which is daughter Nancy's favorite period for him, but his interpretations were better in the 1950's, tempered and forged by those pains that Ava had caused him and by having had to rise up like the Phoenix from his career nadir around 1951. Most among us have known the dreadful pain of unrequited or lost love--Frank captures it here as nobody else EVER has.
Frank said that he picked songs first for the words, not the music-- a song is poetry put to music, and a ballad tells a story. I note that the playing time of the songs here is long as songs go--10 of the 12 original tracks are over 4 minutes. This was Frank at his interpretive ballad/saloon song best in the LP format where his artistry belonged...only Nat King Cole came close to the god-given, breathtaking innate talent. This album peaked at #1 on Billboard's pop album chart during a 120 week chart-run, and was certified Gold on June 21, 1962, nearly four years after its release. Oddly, Frank rarely had a #1 single...but then neither did Johnny Mathis, though Mathis had an album of greatest hits on the charts for about nine years...some song stylists are meant for the mood-setting LP album. I also noted that Frank came to resent some modern songs that the public identified with him and requested that he felt were just OK songs-- e.g., "New York, New York" and "My Way."
Oh, if you are a novice Sinatra ballad aficionado, also check out the 1957 album "Where Are You" (with the long version of "I'm A Fool To Want You") and Nelson Riddle's 1955 "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning."
I have more albums of Frank's than I can count-- the incomparable magic has made my life richer and better to be sure. Like all great art, repeated exposure never lessens the power to move you. They voted him top male vocalist of the 20th century, and when he died, David Brinkley said it so well to open the nightly news-- "Frank Sinatra died today, thus ending the career of one of the two GREAT American entertainers of the 20th Century-- the other being Elvis Presley." And Bing had much earlier said with a wry smile-- "Frank is the kind of singer who comes along only once in a lifetime-- why did it have to be in mine?!"
I love and miss you, Frank-- thank god the music is immortal...and in its sweet and proud embrace, so are you. Let's make one more Jack Daniels for my baby, and one more for the road...the long, the long, road...
-- the greatest popular singer ever at his saloon song zenith
A true masterpiece, "The Suicide Album". Sinatra and Riddle...great singing, great arrangements, and SAD songs. Unfortunately, the idiots at Capitol decided to mess with perfection. The original LP ended perfectly, with the classic One For My Baby, but the morons at Capitol needlessly added two songs, Sleep Warm and Where or When, and it makes absolutely no sense. Nothing wrong with either of these songs, except they have no business being added to this already perfect album. And these fools get paid to make these decisions? -- Sinatra Greatness, although Capitol tries to ruin it
This was one of his best-selling albums. He won an award for designing the cover art. Did you know that? GREAT album too - many songs on here I don't have anywhere else. Classic Sinatra at his very best!!! -- Another great one from Frank!
It's all there in Sinatra's voice: The isolation. The loneliness. The desperation. The ultimate futility. The human predicament in a minor key. -- Innermost Sinatra
Prior to listening to this album I had heard a few of the other songs on compilations and youtube and because I adored them I decided I needed to own Only the Lonely.
I listened to it early evening yesterday for the first time, sitting alone on my couch. My drapes were pulled open but I had the lights off so that there was a gloomy and pale winter light in my livingroom which darkened more with each song.
One by one, listened to together uninterrupted in sequence, Frank takes you down with him. But there is so much depth and feeling that even at such a low point there is beauty and hope because he doesn't deaden his pain. THAT is bravado and the ultimate victory, isn't it? Why do we all love this album so much? I think because he gives us permission to celebrate those melancholy remembrances while appreciating the universal dark beauty of a broken heart. -- Melancholy remembrances you'll love to never forget
Last Update: 2 hours ago
