I was going to save this next
entry for tomorrow, but I need to fill some time before I head downtown for
some shopping and appointments. If I go too soon I could be trapped in some
waiting room without a book! This will not do.
Disc 922 is….A Swingin’ Affair!
Artist: Frank
Sinatra
Year of Release: 1957
What’s up with the Cover? It’s a collage! Frank’s giant
head is superimposed on top of a bunch of swingin’ dancers! Ring-a-ding ding!
How I Came To Know It: I’d like to pretend I was on a
mission to buy more of Sinatra’s studio albums but the truth is “The Lady is a Tramp” wasn’t on either of
my greatest hits records, but it was on this album. O, the embarrassment…
How It Stacks Up: While I have a live album and two greatest
hits records, this is my only studio album by Sinatra. However, I’m about to
embark on a bit of a research project and I expect that will change.
Ratings: 5 stars
It’s
been over six years since I reviewed a Frank Sinatra album, and in the
intervening time I’ve come across a lot of classic vocalists. Dean Martin,
Bobby Darin and Louis Prima to name just a few. Listening to “A Swingin’ Affair”
was a timely reminder that when it comes to this style of music, there is Frank
Sinatra and then there’s everyone else. Old Blue Eyes, The Chairman of the
Board - call him what you will - he’s the best.
“A
Swingin’ Affair” was one of four Frank Sinatra albums released in 1957, a rate
so prolific that today it seems unthinkable. Of course, today we expect our
singers to also be our songwriters whereas in Frank’s days you had songwriting
specialists sitting in a room cranking out classics. When Frank went to record
the tracks I expect he was greeted by a bunch of studio musicians that were
masters of their respective instruments.
Frank
Sinatra was a big deal in 1957 and I expect he had his pick of the best songs
and the best players. That freedom is evident on “A Swingin’ Affair.” The
musicianship on this record is exceptional, with every note perfectly timed,
and delivered with grace and elan. The band pretty much plays it straight and
lets Sinatra be the star, but there is just enough jazzy nuance amid the easy
listening to give the songs edge.
Similarly,
the songwriting on this record is exceptional. Frank covers a few Cole Porter
tracks, a Gershwin
tune (“Nice Work If You Can Get It”)
and a bunch of other guys that I expect are famous in the easy listening jazz
scene if I knew that scene well enough to recognize them.
The
songwriting excellence isn’t just the tunes (although those are amazing) but
also some of the cleverest lyrics I’ve ever heard. The album is generally
themed around playful topics that are up-tempo and fun. Even when they delve
into unpleasant topics like relationship breakdowns (“I Wish I Were in Love Again”) they do it in a lighthearted way.
Whether it is the turn of the joke on the third rhyme like here:
“The broken dates - the endless
waits
The lovely loving - and the
hateful hates
The conversation - with the
flying plates
I wish I were in love again”
Or the
complex metaphor and double-meaning here:
“When love congeals - it soon
reveals
The faint aroma - of performing
seals
The double-crossing - of a pair
of heels
I wish I were in love again”
This line
plays off of the idea of being ‘hot-blooded’ in love and what happens when that
love cools off. Later the double meaning of ‘a pair of heels’ evokes both two
contemptible people out to hurt each other, but also the sexy image of a woman’s
heels, delicately crossed at the ankle. That is some clever shit.
Another
favourite is “I Won’t Dance” which
features fun rhymes like “for heaven rest
us/I am not asbestos” to signify that a woman that is so hot the man can’t
trust himself to dance with her unless he’s made of asbestos.
Making
all these great lines and great music work is Frank himself. Sinatra has an
effortless ability at phrasing a lyric, landing every punch line and swaying on
and off the beat without ever losing the melody. He can tell you the same two
and half minute story a hundred times and make it interesting every time.
On top
of this, the man is pitch-perfect, with an easy, even power in his voice
regardless of what note he’s landing. On many songs he shifts key and never
loses a beat (except those beats he’s deliberately letting hang for a fraction
of a second). Like Amy Winehouse or Patsy Cline he routinely hits notes that
seem impossibly placed in the progression of the music and makes it sound
sublime. I don’t know enough about music to know what’s going on, but I can
tell it ain’t easy to do (just try to sing along on some of these songs and see
how far you get).
Although
I must’ve listened to this record four times in a row while preparing to review
it I never got tired of hearing a single one of the songs. It’s a happy
accident that I bought “A Swingin’ Affair” for a single song and ended up
liking all 16. If that’s not perfection, I don’t know what is.
Best
tracks: all the
tracks, but I particularly like I Wish I Were In Love Again, I Won’t Dance, I
Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good and The Lady is a Tramp
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