Live & Swingin': The Ultimate Rat Pack Collection
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Music CD Cover
Edition: Music CDAudio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: CD+DVD, Live
CD Release Date: 2003-10-14
Music Label: Reprise Records
Soundtracks:
- Medley: Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes/When You're Smiling/The Lady I
- I Left My Heart in San Francisco
- I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter
- Medley: Volare/On an Evening in Roma
- Goody Goody
- Chicago
- When Your Lover Has Gone
- Monologue
- Please Be Kind
- You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You
- What Kind of Fool Am I
- Out of This World
- She's Funny That Way
- Hey There
- Comedy
- Medley: Brazil/You Are Too Beautiful...
- Medley: I Can't Give You Anything But Love...
- Impressions
- Birth of the Blues
- Danny Thomas Introduction
- Nancy (With the Laughing Face)
- Me and My Shadow
- Sam's Song
- Birth of the Blues (Reprise)
Free Music Notes for Live & Swingin': The Ultimate Rat Pack Collection
Free Music Review: This set is live and swingin' all right! Make it The Rat Pack tonight !!!
Hit: 5 Stars
This CD/DVD "Ultimate Rat Pack Collection" by Bristol Productions and Reprise Records is truly for the Rat Pack aficionado! It features a wonderful, albeit somewhat edited concert Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin gave in late November/early December of 1962 on CD; and a wonderful TV special without interruptions televised live on June 20, 1965. The CD and DVD provide more than ample proof that there has never been a greater team of professionals than The Rat Pack.
The CD opens with a brief introduction to the audience and then Dean Martin starts his part of the act. His medley of "Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes/When You're Smiling/The Lady Is A Tramp" is beautifully rendered and the comic antics throughout are already beginning to show. SMILE I especially liked the romantic and semi-sweet "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter."
Sinatra comes on next; he works the crowd wonderfully and I love his rendition of "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You." Sammy Davis, Jr. then wows them with classics including "What Kind Of Fool Am I" and "Hey There." Frank and Dean then do an extensive comedy skit and then all three members of the Rat Pack are on stage at once for some magical moments of singing and clowning around. They can do no wrong with incredible numbers as "Birth Of The Blues" and "Nancy (With The Smiling Face)." The concert ends with a reprise of "Birth Of The Blues;" and you really wish that this were a birth of the next CD with the next concert recorded on it included right in this package!
You get something a little different next but equally wonderful in its own way. The three members of The Rat Pack actually managed to get their schedules all in synch to perform together for a televised special program filmed at The Kiel Opera House in Saint Louis in 1965. This footage has been lovingly restored to the point where there is no static and no interference; it is presented here in its original glorious black and white. Johnny Carson starts off the show with a very funny monologue (he was filling in for a sick Joey Bishop) and Carson even sings at one point during the show! Great songs and comedy abound: Dean does a great job with "King Of The Road;" Sammy Davis, Jr. sings with The Count Basie Orchestra and performs a magnificent rendition of "I've Got You Under My Skin" and several other songs with just a drum beat in the background. Sinatra's eventually takes the stage and performs beautifully; he makes it look all so easy! His beautiful "Fly Me To The Moon" and "You Make Me Feel So Young" are so joyous that I found myself swinging and swaying as I sat in my chair just watching the DVD!
An extra special tidbit for fans is the appearance onstage of Tina Sinatra as this was filmed on her 17th birthday; The Rat Pack sings "Happy Birthday" and the crowd applauds--very sweet! The threesome end strong with "Birth Of The Blues" which leaves us both thrilled and desperate for more!
The liner notes include great photos of the Sammy, Frank and Dean as well as a very extensive and well written essay about the threesome and these performances by Bill Zehme. The song credits are there, too.
If you have loved the Rat Pack up until now, you should get this CD/DVD combo because you will be nothing less than thrilled with every minute of it! If you've never even heard of The Rat Pack, you will be amazed at the magic, energy and strength of their performances and you will be a new fan before long!
I highly recommend this CD/DVD set for fans of The Rat Pack, fans of the individual members of The Rat Pack, and fans of classic pop vocals. All the stars were in all the right places for these magical, powerful concerts to occur. The Rat Pack possessed an amazing aura of elegance, perfectionism and deep, deep respect for one another that all comes through so clearly in these recordings. Make it The Rat Pack tonight!
Live & Swingin': The Ultimate Rat Pack Collection Poster
Live and Swingin? is undoubtedly for those who already own some of the guys? worthier recordings. Oh, but the guys? Frank, Dean, and Sammy (or, as Jackie Mason had it on The Simpsons, "the Candy Man!") For most anyone who cares, though, this is a must-buy item: a slightly edited version of the 1962 Villa Venice tapes along with a DVD that preserves a rarely seen, full-length serious/funny/anarchic Rat Pack performance from ?65. (For sentimentalists? sake, it was taped on Tina Sinatra?s 17th birthday; she makes a brief appearance onstage with the fellas.) All kidding aside, the trio makes with the serious singing ? though perhaps those who came to hear Sammy get through an entire mini-set without interruption will want to go elsewhere, as his partners? shtick barely allows him to finish a line, much less a song. Sinatra aficionados will find the DVD indispensable, as he paws his way through a mellow version of "My Kind of Town" (benefit location "St. Louis"!) and "Fly Me to the Moon." --Rickey WrightBroadway & Vocalists Music CDs
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