The new Sinatra: Vegas box set is the most essential Frank Sinatra release to emerge since the outstanding Sinatra in Hollywood collection of rare and unreleased soundtrack material that came out over four years ago... almost. More on that caveat later.
After enduring scores of unnecessary and pointless posthumous Frank Sinatra "best of" compilations, reissues, repackagings and "limited editions," Sinatra: Vegas finally gives both the casual fan and the die-hard collector something we actually want: four CDs and even a DVD of previously unreleased (officially, anyway) live material spanning the years 1961 to 1987, all recorded in—you guessed it—Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada.
Marketing concerns were surely behind this concept as much as artistic ones—an equally compelling collection of unreleased live Sinatra recordings from international venues could easily be assembled also—but Sinatra: Vegas sounds way cooler than Sinatra: Argentina.
For starters, the thing looks and feels great, packaged in a sturdy black longbox with shiny silver lettering. The discs are housed in classy yet functional digipacks, and the booklet is chock full o' photos and remembrances, if a little skimpy on details (yes, some of us want to know the exact dates of the recordings, not just the month and year). You even get a couple reproductions of vintage promotional posters to hang in your locker... or something.
The first CD is comprised of material recorded at the dearly departed Sands Hotel and Casino in November 1961. Performances from this same engagement appeared on the Saloon Singer bootleg years ago, but in vastly inferior sound quality. The fidelity here is pristine, capturing Sinatra in the loose, swinging, confident prime of his early Reprise years, with plenty of Rat Pack-y goofing around as well. While there aren't a lot of surprises among the tune selections, the lovely ballad rendition of "Just One of Those Things" is a welcome rarity.
Disc Two is something that Sinatra-holics have been dying to hear for a long, long time: some of those 1966 recordings with the Count Basie Orchestra that WERE NOT used on the classic Reprise live album—essentially giving us a new "all alternate takes" version of Sinatra at the Sands!
The goosebumps begin from the get-go with a brief warmup and vamp by the Basie band accompanied by the (undubbed) off-mic announcer, and then Frank appears, proclaiming: "The cowboy is here!" Overall, these performances are looser and more dangerous than the familiar at the Sands versions and a fascinating counterpart to the more polished master takes.
CD Three fast-forwards us to Caesar's Palace in 1982, capturing Old Blue Eyes in fine voice during his underappreciated post-"retirement" early-80s phase, accompanied by Vinnie Falcone and a stellar band. Jazz combo versions of "Night and Day," "I Can't Get Started," and "I Get a Kick Out Of You" are especially enjoyable, making you wish he'd explored this format more often.
Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! This article has been forwarded to the Advance.net websites.
2 - Stephen V Funk
A little more background on the DVD edits and Nancy's response... on the SinatraFamily.com online forum, a link to Will Friedwald's New York Sun review of Sinatra: Vegas is posted, which includes the following comments about the DVD:
"Sinatra [...] refers to [Mayor] Bradley as being "colored" - an aside that is mysteriously deleted from the DVD. I can't imagine why it's okay for Sinatra to poke fun at Jews and his fellow Italians, but not at blacks, especially since he literally kvells with delight that both Bradley and his wife are in the audience, and is obviously jazzed that Los Angeles now has a black mayor. He literally seems to be taking this fact as a personal point of pride. The producers also snipped out Sinatra's attacks on William Randolph Hearst and Louis B. Mayer, as well as a scathing Andrew Dice Clay-like appraisal of Elizabeth Taylor's reproductive organs. On the unedited tape, Sinatra declaims, it turns out correctly: "I'm layin' 11 to one that you don't use this on television!""
Later in the same thread, a SinatraFamily forum reader posts this comment: "I find it interesting that Will points out the "sanitizing" of the DVD with Frank's less than PC comments eliminated. No one else has mentioned that."
To which Nancy replies: "Because it isn't true. WF didn't look or listen. But that's not unusual for him." Quite a slam on Will Friedwald... Nancy then apparently read the review more closely and posted:
"<< The producers also snipped out Sinatra's attacks on William Randolph Hearst and Louis B. Mayer, >> That is absolutely not true."
Interestingly she does not deny that Sinatra's remarks about Liz Taylor and Mayor Bradley were edited out (and they definitely were!) As far as I can tell, though, she is correct in saying that the rest of the monologue has been left intact. I'm not sure why Will Friedwald thinks the W.R. Hearst and L.B. Mayer comments were edited -- they are clearly included on the DVD. Maybe he has a different bootleg copy than the rest of us...