Frank Sinatra had a great understanding of how his music should sound. This was apparent in all of his recordings from the brilliant 1955 release In The Wee Small Hours onwards. By this point in his musical career, Sinatra wanted to branch out and try something different musically. It was the dawn of the swinging sixties, after all. Frank Sinatra logically teamed up with Don Costa who did the arrangements on this album. The result? A bit of a left turn musically for him. This is not seen as valuable as the In The Wee Small Hours or Songs For Swingin’ Lovers! albums released in the previous decade, but this should be an interesting listen regardless, just before Beatlemania became a thing. Let’s hear this album.

I Hadn’t Anyone Till You begins with dramatic string sections and sounds moody. Frank Sinatra sings well, and this is an unusual tune for him. He sings very smoothly and nicely here. This is a song that articulates about finding the one true love that a person can cherish. Sinatra sounds awesome here, and the string section arrangements do sound gloriously good. This is proof that, no matter what happens in life, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. An awesome listen, this showcases a multitude of emotions and brilliant singing by Frank Sinatra. There is an orchestral solo section in the second half of the song. Frank Sinatra struck gold here with the arrangements. A cool and sweet listen, this is exactly what young lovers need to hear, even today. The passion and romance are easily heard here. A decent beginning to this album.

Night And Day begins with some mournful sounding strings and Frank Sinatra sounding gloomy. This is the more moody side of his music, but it still works well. Emotionally delivering a decent tune, he sings about a love long gone. Not a happy chappy here, this is exactly the sort of song to hear if you cannot drink (or smoke) someone off your mind, no matter what the circumstances are. A sad-sounding tune, but a good listen from Sinatra himself. Sadly, many of us in our lives suffer relationships and related experiences where things don’t work out and we are destroyed by such a thing. Regardless, a very interesting listen and moving, as well. This is Frankie laying his emotions bare. If you ever need a shot of hard liquor and a Marlboro cigarette, wishing for things to be better, this is your tune. It ends in a crescendo of emotion and loud orchestration. Different.

Misty begins with Frank Sinatra sounding gloomy, once again. The string orchestration quickly follows him. Frank Sinatra sings about longing for a lover who means so much to him. This is a shorter piece that eventually becomes somewhat more upbeat than you’d expect, given the moodiness of the previous track. Sinatra sings powerfully and wonderfully well, and this is another awesome tune to hear. Frank Sinatra sings about a mixture of emotions and feelings that would be difficult to explain in words. Instead, he delivers a great musical statement about romance as a song. Decent. It ends with orchestration galore.

Stardust begins with fluttering strings and orchestration, which sounds very moving. It sounds very much like a clashing of Classical Music sounds throughout the intro here. It does justice to Frank Sinatra’s music and vision. Frank Sinatra eventually sings nicely and delivers another romantic-sounding tune about nightfall and he sings about being broken in love. Again, this is exactly what one needs if they have been seriously destroyed in love. If you are feeling sad or like crying upon listening, that’s okay. This is human music for romantic souls. Very touching.

Come Rain Or Come Shine begins with dramatic strings and launches into a smooth piece with a trumpet within. Frank Sinatra sings emotionally on the most loved song from this album release, and he sounds very happy and in the mood for romance. This is a rich and lush-sounding ballad with a sense of optimism present. This tune is a pleasant and well-done listening experience that looks forward to the future with a sensually romantic flair. Awesome music, one wishes that this music were more prevalent in today’s AI run world. Singing about sticking together with true love, he sounds very upbeat and optimistic. A grand and cheerful musical ballad, the backing of orchestration and drums really make this song come alive. Sinatra sounds great here, and even though this is not the greatest representation of his career, this sounds pleasant. A great tune. Worth hearing. The ending is sudden and different.

It Might As Well Be Spring – Edit begins sweetly and changes very quickly, just as Frank Sinatra gets singing. He sounds happy and gloriously classy in this song. A really fresh, different and dramatic listen, this music is a more positive tune that again, is enrichened by the musical arrangements here. A good, happy and upbeat tune that still sounds great today. Love, when it works, can be a real pleasant experience for all. Nobody articulates this as well in this style of music than Frank Sinatra himself. Accumulating a huge variety of emotional experiences on this tune, he expresses a giddiness and joy of life that few others could come close to. Another excellent piece of music.

Prisoner Of Love begins with brass, dramatic string sections and has Frank Sinatra at his rawest emotionally. This piece sounds completely tragic, as a result. He definitely sounds moody and unhappy on this particular song and delivers a song that is bleaker than anything most musicians would ever deliver as a song. Really sad music and perfect for those who need a tearjerker style tune. Singing about a cheating lover whom one still has to be with, Sinatra articulates perfectly the distraught nature of such a situation. Extremely bleak. If you ever need to hear Frank being frank about true love gone sour in a song, this is your tune. The string sections sound really gorgeous and melancholy as well. A sad listen, and something you should hear if you feel destroyed by love. Not happy, but good listening regardless.

That’s All begins with some brighter-sounding string sections and orchestration. A piano is thrown in for good measure as well on this song. Frank Sinatra sings nakedly and honestly about offering true love to a lady. A really excellent tune from this album, the music here is true to the nature of everlasting romantic love. An awesome and easygoing listen, this tune is exceptionally wonderful to hear. This is musical devotion throughout a song. This works well and is a lighter shade of music on this rather emotionally mixed-up and jumbled album. Frank, being pleasant here is a fine listen. A great musical statement that more out there should hear and listen to. The orchestration towards the end is loud and dramatic at times, and this ends nicely. Another good song.

All Or Nothing At All begins with crashingly loud instrumentation and a string section to boot. Frank Sinatra sings about the more painful side of love and romance. This is very much a take-it-or-leave-it song, and it is excellently delivered throughout. A good listen, once again, with some gentle acoustic guitar in the background. This is one of the more emotionally confrontational pieces of music from this album, but to be fair, this approach is an understandable sort of thing to think about when in love. Regardless, a fine and interesting listen that makes complete sense throughout if you are in love. The backing musically enriches and deepens the emotional appeal of this fantastic tune very nicely. It ends in tragedy, and understandably so. It finishes with a brilliant vocal from Frank and a loud orchestra to match. Emotional.

Yesterdays begins with a moody string section and shifts quickly into a rather melancholy tune. This sounds really tragic as Frank Sinatra sings about the happy days of the past. This tendency of looking back into the past and reflecting on it is a sad one indeed. Regardless, a good finish to a mixed bag of music on an album that shows a rather torn-up Sinatra, rather than being entirely positive or negative about life. This piece is moving, however. The dramaticism and emotional nature of the music still has some great appeal. The orchestration throughout gets increasingly loud towards the end, and Frank himself sings loudly and in despair at the end, with the orchestration gloomily concluding the album. Deep.

This is not the best Frank Sinatra release ever made. This is one of the albums that, although musically good on paper, is rather disappointing in reality. The mixture of emotional extremes of positivity and negativity on this album sounds incredibly awkward. Having said that, the music is okay, just not as good as if the album were more unified thematically. Should you listen to this album? Unless you are a real old-school Crooner fan, probably not. There are better Frank Sinatra albums out there than this one. Don Costa would work with Sinatra in the future as well.

Emotionally confused.

6/10