Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely
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| Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely | |||||
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| Studio album by Frank Sinatra | |||||
| Released | September 1958 | ||||
| Recorded | May 29, June 24, 26, September 11, 1958 at Capitol Studio A, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California | ||||
| Genre | Vocal Jazz, Classic pop | ||||
| Length | 59:45 | ||||
| Label | Capitol Records | ||||
| Producer | Voyle Gilmore | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Frank Sinatra chronology | |||||
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Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (also known as Sings for Only the Lonely and simply Only the Lonely) is an album by the American singer Frank Sinatra, released in the United States by Capitol Records, in September 1958. [1]
The album consists of a haunting collection of melancholic ballads about sadness and loss [2]. At the time of the recording, Sinatra's divorce from Ava Gardner had been finalised, and the arranger of the album, Nelson Riddle, had recently suffered the deaths of his mother and daughter. [3] Of these events Riddle remarked "If I can attach events like that to music...perhaps Only the Lonely was the result." [4]
Sinatra had planned to record Only the Lonely with arranger Gordon Jenkins, with whom he had worked on Where Are You? (1957), a previous album of ballads. However, since he was unavailable at the time of the sessions, Sinatra chose to work with his frequent collaborator, Nelson Riddle. The three tracks conducted by Riddle at the first session were not used, and the subsequent sessions were conducted by Felix Slatkin, after Riddle went on tour with Nat King Cole.[4]
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. [5] Rockwell writes at length about Sinatra's performance on Only the Lonely's final track, Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)", which also provided the musical accompaniment for Twyla Tharp's Sinatra ballets.[6]
The album cover is adorned with a portrait of Sinatra's face as a clown, painted by Nicholas Volpe; on the back of the album is another of Sinatra's recurrent visual motifs, a lamppost. Q Magazine placed Only the Lonely at #1 on the '15 Greatest Stoner Albums of All Time'.[7]
Only the Lonely 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.[8]
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[edit] Grammy Awards
Sinatra was nominated for five Grammys at the inaugural Grammy Awards in 1959. Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely and Sinatra's other album released in 1958, Come Fly with Me, were nominated for the Album of the Year, and Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely won the Grammy Award for Best Album Cover.
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Side one
- "Only the Lonely" (Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen) – 4:10
- "Angel Eyes" (Matt Dennis, Earl Brent) – 3:46
- "What's New?" (Bob Haggart, Johnny Burke) – 5:13
- "It's a Lonesome Old Town" (Harry Tobias, Charles Kisco) – 4:18
- "Willow Weep for Me" (Ann Ronell) – 4:49
- "Good-Bye" (Gordon Jenkins) – 5:45
[edit] Side two
- "Blues in the Night" (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) – 4:44
- "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" (Cahn, Jule Styne) – 4:00
- "Ebb Tide" (Robert Maxwell, Carl Sigman) – 3:18
- "Spring is Here" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 4:47
- "Gone with the Wind" (Allie Wrubel, Herb Magidson) – 5:15
- "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" (Arlen, Mercer) – 4:23
- Bonus tracks included on the 1987 CD release:
- "Sleep Warm" (Lew Spence, Marilyn Keith, Alan Bergman) – 2:45
- "Where or When" (Rodgers, Hart) – 2:25
[edit] Selected personnel
- Frank Sinatra – vocals
- Nelson Riddle – arranger
- Felix Slatkin – conductor
- Bill Miller – piano
- Gus Bivona – alto saxophone
[edit] Notes
- ^ Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely at Allmusic
- ^ Summers, Antony and Swan, Robbyn. Sinatra: The Life. Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 0552153311. p. 271.
- ^ Ingham, Chris. The Rough Guide to Frank Sinatra. Rough Guides Ltd. June 30, 2005. ISBN 1843534142. p. 174.
- ^ a b Ingham, p. 174
- ^ Petkov, Steven and Mustazza, Leonard. The Frank Sinatra Reader. Oxford, 1995. ISBN 9780195113891. p. 70.
- ^ Petkov and Mustazza, p. 71
- ^ http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/q150lists.htm
- ^ "Gold & Platinum Database –Frank Sinatra". RIAA. 2008-05-01. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=&artist=frank%20sinatra&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2009&sort=Artist&perPage=25. Retrieved on 2008-05-01..
[edit] References
- Ingham, Chris. The Rough Guide to Frank Sinatra. Rough Guides Ltd. June 30, 2005. ISBN 1843534142
- Summers, Antony and Swan, Robbyn. Sinatra: The Life. Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 0552153311
