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Title: Sinatra! the Song Is You: A Singer's Art by Will Friedwald ISBN: 0-306-80742-4 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: April, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.52 (21 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Monumental Study of Frank's Music: As Timeless as Frank
Comment: Anyone with even a mild interest in Frank's legacy should buy this book. It makes well researched and amusing reading,and is to me the finest book on popular music ever written.It helps to read an obviously great book when you agree with about 95% of his own editorializing. Every era of Mr.Sinatra's recording career,even past Duets II,and going into his last ,sometimes awkward,concerts is covered.If you want gossip,go elsewhere.Mr. Friedwald covers the personalities,from Stordahl,Riddle,May,Jenkins, and all the rest,and when you finish this book you'll feel the incredible energy, fun,and friendship that made these recordings. The fact is that Frank's canon is so great that some of my favorite recordings are not even mentioned in the index. Even Mr. Friedwald can't cover everything I guess.It's true that there are some snide comments that Mr Friedwald has for other performers,and his general contempt for rock and roll is obvious.I usually chuckled reading them since it was nice to read that the author and I agreed on the obvious. The fact is that anyone who actually knows Frank's best, and has made such an effort,must in general agree with Mr. Friedwald. For no one from the the rock era has anywhere near the oeuvre that Frank has.And in truth, the general quality of popular culture,especially music,has been in an abysmal decline for about 40 years, hopefully bottoming in the "Rap" era...This work is also a great reference,and will provide cultural enlightenment for many years to come.
Rating: 5
Summary: THE book for Sinatra fans and those who are discovering him
Comment: What better testimonial can you give to a book than saying it makes you so fired about about its subject that you want to discover more of his/her work? Will Friedwald's Sinatra! The Song is You will delight Sinatra fans and "turn on" anyone even REMOTELY interested in finding out why Sinatra was named the 20th century's Best Singer. It is without question the best book EVER written on Sinatra's music due to its style, details and because Friedwald does not pull any punches: he praises Sinatra for good work and criticizes him for work that falls short. All this is done without pretension, cutesy-ness or padding. The usual personal and professional biographical info is there, but mostly for historical context. Friedwald's interest is in Sinatra the singer -- and in Sinatra's VOICE as an instrument that developed, matured and eventually (and sadly) deteriorated. Going through each performing and recording stage of Sinatra's long career, Friedwald analyzes particular songs, explains Sinatra's trailblazing role in creating thematic "concept" albums, and gives fascinating details on how and why certain classic arrangements and songs were cut in the studio. He praises and blasts Sinatra's various arrangers. What's unquestionable is that Sinatra took this kind of music to an entirely new level. This book successfully conveys the ARTISTRY of Sinatra's music so you WANT to hear MORE. Reading this book took me from a mild to fanatical Sinatra fan as I started listening to the albums, remembering what I had read and appreciating what Sinatra was doing with his voice. Sinatra! The Song is You heightens an appreciation of a musical genre that is either on it's way out as we move into the 21st century --or waiting for a new innovative artist to come along to revive its popularity and take it to the next level.
Rating: 5
Summary: Essential reading for Sinatra fans.
Comment: How many wives did Sinatra have? How many people did he punch? Was he a member of the Mafia? These, and the stupid questions about Marilyn, the Kennedys, and Sinatra's toupee, won't be answered in this book. Here we have what really matters: the music. The song was Sinatra, indeed. In these fascinating pages, we learn that Sinatra was a committed, respected artist, a man who would rather hang out with musicians than presidents, sex queens, and mobsters. The best feature of this book? Will Friedwald's writing style, which is often humorous, never heavy, and always informative. Every great artist needs a great critic, and Sinatra has his in Friedwald. For one thing, the author went to stunning lengths to obtain interviews with the people who worked by Sinatra's side. I often feel like I'm in the studio with them. We learn about Sinatra's fabulous arrangers-- the angelic Stordahl, the unassuming Riddle, the clowning May. We learn about Sinatra's formative years with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey (unfortunately, the chapter on the Dorsey years seems to be a reprint of Friedwald's essay in the RCA box set of the same name). Friedwald understands what made Sinatra great, but pulls no punches when it comes to dissing bad songs. We get more insights into Frank's musical career than we ever thought imaginable. And it's all done without a hint of stuffiness or pretension. Why did Sinatra record the goofy "Watertown"? How did the 1956 Riddle/Porter classic "I've Got You Under My Skin" come about? And what the heck was going on in those "Duets" albums? To learn this, and thousands of other things, buy the greatest book about Sinatra ever written.
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Title: Sessions With Sinatra: Frank Sinatra and the Art of Recording by Charles L. Granata, Phil Ramone, Nancy Sinatra ISBN: 1556523564 Publisher: Chicago Review Press Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Sinatra: An Intimate Portrait of a Very Good Year by Richard B. Stolley ISBN: 1584792469 Publisher: Stewart, Tabori & Chang Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Mr. S : My Life with Frank Sinatra by George Jacobs, William Stadiem ISBN: 0060515163 Publisher: HarperEntertainment Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Stardust Melodies by Will Friedwald ISBN: 0375420894 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 23 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin' by Bill Zehme ISBN: 0060931752 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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