RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT FRANK SINATRA: Cycles. Frank Sinatra(vocals) ;
orchestra, Don Costa arr. andcond. Rain in My Heart; From Both Sides,Now; Moody
River; My Way of Life; Gentleon My Mind; Wandering; and four others. REPRISE ®
FS 1027 $4.79. Performance: In the style Recording: Excellent Stereo Quality:
Excellent Here is an offhand but thoroughly enjoyablerecital by one of the
great masters. Sinatrais again in variable voice but, in the main,manages to
bring off everything he sings with just that extra bit of suave musicalitythat
has always distinguished his work. Hisability to take lyrics that are made of
brickand turn them into marble remains unimpaired. The only two things here
that come close to fumbles are By the Time I Get toPhoenix and Gentle on My
Mind. Both are securely the performing property of GlenCampbell, and Sinatra is
able only to dentthem interpretively. He is in fine form insuch things as
Little Green Apples and theprismatic Moody River. Don Costa contributes a solid
job as arranger and conductor, and the whole album has the customaryhigh
professional sheen of any Sinatra enterprise. At times the sheen turns into
glossiness and sets me to thinking that Sinatramight consider getting together
with some of the newer and younger composing and arranging talents.It might be
fun both for him and for his listeners.For once the liner notes on a Sinatra
album are pitched somewhat below the level ofhysterical adulation, and Hal
Halverstadt,who wrote them, is to be congratulated ontheir amused equanimity
about, and lucidobservations on, a Sinatra recording session. Peter
ReillyStereo ReviewApril 1969
