Frank Sinatra - Live From Las Vegas
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Free Music Notes for Live From Las Vegas
Free Music Review: It's the Chairman of the Board in Vegas
Hit: 5 Stars
Terrific, start here and then get the Vegas box set. It's Frank, he's the tops.Free Music Review: The Lion in Winter - still roaring!
Hit: 4 Stars
This Las Vegas appearance from December 1986 may not present the elder Frank Sinatra at his absolute vocal best for the period, but there are enough high spots to make this a very worthwhile purchase. Indeed, Sinatra actually sounds better on many tracks of this 1986 concert than he does on the post-retirement "Main Event" from 1974. Fans and musicians have said for many years that as Sinatra's voice weakened, his interpretive skills actually increased - and there are many such moments in this CD. For swing aficionados, one of the highlights is a pounding "Mack the Knife," vastly improving on Sinatra's studio readings of the song due to the brighter tempo heard here (probably courtesy of Sinatra's impossible but invaluable drummer, Irv Cottler). In spite of the occasional vocal rasp or lapse of intonation, Sinatra really delivers the goods on "Live From Las Vegas."
Refreshingly, Sinatra loses much of his Vegas "jokiness" and attitude here, turning this CD into a fairly accurate document of how genuinely respectful this icon was of both his art and audience in countless cities and concerts across the world.
A word or two about the audio: Only Charles Pignone and a handful of others would know for sure, but this sounds like a off-the-board recording that was fed to an early digital recorder with relatively low track count. If that's the case, it would certainly limit the amount of post-production repair that could be done to the original tapes. Sinatra's announcements have been kept dry and relatively echo-free in center channel mono, while the songs themselves suddenly bloom into stereo, adding some reverb to the voice in order to achieve a "warmth" that couldn't be achieved in the Golden Nugget showroom itself (which was no prize, sonically speaking). Thanks to the overall power of Sinatra's performance, these little audio oddities are easily and quickly forgotten.
With the recent release of a 1987 Golden Nugget live CD in the new 5-disc "Sinatra: Vegas" set, fans now have two fine representations of latter-day, in-person Sinatra for their collections. As a live CD, I found this vastly preferable to "Sinatra: 80th" on Capitol.
Free Music Review: Flawed yet still exciting
Hit: 4 Stars
Almost every song on this CD has been previously recorded and from a technical standpoint those on this release would suffer by comparison. But to use only the standards of technical ability would be to ignore the essence of Frank Sinatra's later career.
In my opinion Mr. Sinatra hit his peak as a recording artist in the 1950s (although there were still gems that surfaced into the eighties). But as a performer he was still learning and growing into his seventies. Despite his advancing vocal limitations (and perhaps partly because of them) his ability to project the emotions of a song, and his enjoyment of performing, seemed to increase from the 1980s until he stopped performing.
Towards the end of the run of "Peanuts" we could all see the tremors evident in the work of Charles Schulz, but it didn't distract us from the eloquence of his message. The same applies here. Just listen to "I Have Dreamed." Perhaps the almost operatic delivery from 1963 was no longer physically possible, but the understated reading here is as emotional as ever (as is the interplay with the audience).
As Duke Ellington said of Sinatra, "Every song he sings is understandable and, most of all, believable, which is the ultimate in theatre." Although he lost some of his gifts, he never lost that essential one.
My only gripes have to do with the opening and closing music ("You Are There?" Who picked that?!) and with the sound quality. It's pitched in the treble range, and while one can hear the orchestra with exceptional clarity it puts a sharp edge on Mr. Sinatra's voice that takes a while to get used to. Perhaps it might have been inherent in the venue (although I had the good fortune to see Frank Sinatra perform live seven times from 1975 to 1994 I never experienced a concert in that room).
The bottom line is that even at the age of seventy, Frank was still the foremost performer of his time, and this recording is better than just about anything else out there in the genre.
Free Music Review: A nice disc for Sinatra fans
Hit: 4 Stars
It is easy for some to take an axe to basically anything Sinatra recorded after his first retirement. In my opinion, he was very hit or miss, but had some great moments (the out of print "She Shot Me Down" being the prime example). The "Live From Las Vegas" CD is part of a collection of recordings from some of the best entertainers to play Sin City. One would expect a CD from the Rat Pack years, but what is presented is a concert from '86. In all honesty, I was very impressed with it for the most part. I am not a huge fan at all of the late Sinatra live recordings (Main Event, and the 80th Birthday album, which was actually from '88 I believe). This one however is very good. Obviously the voice is not in the best shape but that Sinatra style is very much alive. The band is in good performance as well. I would have very much appreciated this show if I attended it and I appreciate the recording (despite the mediocre sound quality). I give the album 4 out of 5 for style and substance. Would I advise buying this over "Sinatra at the Sands"? No. But for those who crave new Sinatra disc, it is a good purchase.Free Music Review: Good (and) Old Sinatra
Hit: 4 Stars
Sinatra was 70 when this recording was made. He is still great--indeed, the greatest popular singer of all time--but great in new ways. His voice is more frail, and he uses the cracks and crevices to good artistic effect. He also sells songs more ardently than when he was younger, trying hard to persuade the audience that the words he's singing are true. He sings two new songs, but he also offers his jazziest reading ever of a song he performed and recorded thousands of times, "I Get a Kick Out of You." Hearing this Las Vegas recording side by side with "Sinatra at the Sands," which he recorded at the peak of his vocal powers in 1966, reveals a lot about his artistry at different stages of life.