If compiling a list of what I consider the ten greatest albums ever made, there are perennials – ‘Who’s Next‘, ‘The Clash‘, ‘Rubber Soul‘, ‘Blood on the Tracks‘, ‘What’s Goin’ On‘ – that would be every time inclusions, with the other five permed from a stock of around fifty (this is not an exact science) depending on mood and current listening tastes.
Occasionally there comes along a latter day entry that shakes up the established order – ‘Hello Cruel World‘, the 2012 album by Gretchen Peters floored me in a way I had not experienced since hearing ‘Blue‘ (Joni Mitchell) for the first time.
But almost every album I have ever heard is usurped by ‘SONGS FOR SWINGIN’ LOVERS‘ by Frank Sinatra – one of the very best, if not greatest LP ever recorded.
That it stands as the finest vocal performance of all time is beyond dispute, Sinatra, the most original singer in the history of popular music, makes that a given – and neither is this shameless pandering to my parents who introduced me to the record some forty years ago.
Quite simply it is the most perfect recording of the past sixty-odd years, the sleeve notes of the CD revealing fourteen of the fifteen songs were recorded in the space of a six days in January 1956, disproving once and for all the notion that greatness takes time.
We can only hope Sinatra, like the Almighty, rested on the seventh – for a work of such enduring beauty he certainly deserved to.
In many ways ‘Songs For Swingin’ Lovers’ is a duet album between Sinatra and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. Not that it ever becomes a contest, far from it, Sinatra’s voice so calm and vivacious it becomes an additional instrument, taking the form of sharply defined rhythm guitar or deftly fluid piano.
Yet there is not a second on the record when Sinatra sounds strained or hurried – indeed, if his great pal Dean Martin was the ‘King of Cool‘ then Frank is without doubt the ‘Sultan of Swing‘.
No other singer has been able to deliver a lyric with such precision or verve, creating the impression he is having a conversation with the listener – the wonderful arrangements of the aforementioned Riddle colouring the canvas on which Sinatra sprinkles his vocal gold dust.
It may sound a touch far-fetched to describe ‘Songs For Swingin’ Lovers’ as a concept album, particularly by comparison to what followed in the next two decades, but like his previous LP ‘In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning,’ Sinatra creates a mood and delivers a song-cycle based on a theme.
On the album before (a masterpiece of almost equal measure) each track alludes to heartbreak and a romance in ruins, being recorded in the wake of his painful break-up with second wife, actress Ava Gardner. On ‘Songs For Swingin’ Lovers’ however, Sinatra shakes off his despair and cuts a disc which stands as testimony to love found, love which endures, love that is remarkable but simple.
This beautifully sequenced record begins with the casual sassiness of ‘You Make Me Feel So Young’ with many of the song titles ‘You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me,’ ‘You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me,’ ‘Too Marvellous For Words,’ ‘Love Is Here To Stay,’ ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin,’ indicative of his re-discovered ebullience.
At first listen track eleven ‘We’ll Be Together Again,’ sounds a cut that would have been better placed on ‘Small Hours,’ but serves the purpose of slowing things down just for a moment, the lovers parting here out of circumstance rather than emotional conflict.
But when they re-unite boy are things going to swing again – as do the songs that follow, ‘Makin’ Whoopee,’ ‘Swingin’ Down The Lane,’ ‘Anything Goes,’ and the closer ‘How About You?’.
In my early days as a ‘Swingin’ Lovers’ devotee, I often wondered why ‘Anything Goes’ was not chosen to finish the album, particularly as it contains the line ‘May I say before this record spins to a close,’ but older and more aware of the Sinatra/Riddle method of conjuring nuance, ‘Anything Goes,’ can be seen as the show-stopping closing number – with ‘How About You?’ the song which plays as credits roll at the end of the movie, ‘Songs For Swingin’ Lovers’ the ultimate feel good feature.
The line, ‘holding hands in the movie show, when all the lights are low,’ in ‘How About You?’ at first glance might not appear overly significant, but there is no escaping the irony of this album being released in March 1956, just as ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ by Elvis Presley was continuing its run at number one on the US singles chart.
Virtually twice the age of Presley when these records were first in circulation, there is apparent innocence and almost old-ways sentiment in the words Sinatra sings, but not so Presley – whose eclectic mix of blues and country serves to inject sex and rebellion into what was becoming known as rock n’ roll, two recurring themes of popular music ever since.
But there is innovation on ‘Songs For Swingin’ Lovers‘ as well – particularly at moments when Sinatra sings lines such as ‘just ain’t swell enough,’ in ‘Too Marvellous For Words’ or ‘that cat’s so willing,’ in ‘Makin Whoopee,’ serving to reinforce the theory that before ‘Songs For Swingin’ Lovers‘ Americans spoke English – but after it they spoke American.
It was incidentally the first album ever to top the newly established UK album chart.
Like Presley and Dylan, with whom he towers over popular music in the second half of the 20th Century, when discussing the music it is hard to separate the art from the artist. Numerous biographies have been at pains to stress his links with organised crime, his womanising, drinking and violent temper which arose from a temperament that could swing in an instant from bullying to self-pity.
But throughout a life that was a mass of contradictions, he was an early advocate of racial tolerance and gave crucial support to John F Kennedy when he won the Presidency in 1960.
Ultimately, it probably needs the sharp eye of an American critic to best appraise Sinatra, the renowned music writer Robert Christgau describing him thus:
‘Although his conquests included Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Lauren Becall, Mia Farrow and the love of his life Ava Gardner, he also went to bed with a dumbfounding profusion of starlets and prostitutes, not to mention the Mafia. And one more thing – he was the greatest singer of the 20th Century.’
Even with next week marking the twentieth anniversary of his death, Sinatra still remains the vocalist by which all others are judged and will continue to be so until the end of time.
In a career where numerous magnificent performances abound, ‘Songs For Swingin’ Lovers,’ stands as the pinnacle not just for him, but arguably for that moving, joyous, engaging, emotional device we know as the long-playing record.
This article was first published on 8/5/2018.
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of MONTY’S DOUBLE – an acclaimed thriller available as an Amazon Kindle Book.