"reload" Frank Sinatra The Platinum Collection [3 CD Boxset] (2004)

Growing up in the 70s, unless you were a musical aristocrat, Frank Sinatra was simply old. He was a white-haired man, who seemed to spend his days endlessly retiring and singing ''My Way''. There was a vague notion that he had once been young and cool, but that was several lifetimes away. Then, suddenly, in the mid 80s, Sinatra's Capitol recordings were reissued and it slowly dawned on NME readers that he was indeed the man who all the Costellos, McCullochs and Bonos had spent their formative years listening to…

It appears as though many metalheads lost track of the Scorpions after their whistle-heavy ballad, "Wind of Change," hit in 1991. But as fans who have faithfully stuck by the group's side will tell you, they have continued to issue new albums and tour on a regular basis since then. And while there have been quite a few Scorpions compilations issued over the years, none traced their career over a 30-year span from 1974's In Trance through 2004's Unbreakable. But all that changed with the arrival of 2006's three-disc overview, Platinum Collection. What you get is quite a lot of the expected fare – some of arena rock's most foundation-shaking anthems ("Rock You Like a Hurricane," "Big City Nights"), as well as Bic-hoisting power ballads ("Still Loving You," the aforementioned "Wind of Change").

Released as part of Union Square's The Soho Collection, The Golden Years of Frank Sinatra is a triple-disc set of highlights from Sinatra's recordings for Columbia from the '30s and '40s. The set is assembled into three thematic CDs: the first is "Romantic," the second "Swing," the third "The Crooner." It's a good way to organize the material, which does contain a lot of familiar but classic versions of standards, and helps make this a worthwhile budget-priced collection of Sinatra's early years.

Cole Porter was one of a handful of American musical colossi. He had the genius to conjure up improbable rhyming lyrics to catchy melodies delivering not only a single song but as often or not a whole conundrum of numbers collected within the sphere of a show. This collection of 40 songs exemplifies the talent of Cole Porter and is a testament (tribute) to his longevity in musical history. Wit, humour, sophistication, rhythmic and key changes are small change to his ability.Who else could win a challenge to produce 'Miss Otis Regrets' after questioned whether he could write lyrics from the next words he heard? The cast of star celebrities in this collection say it all. Sinatra, Bennett, Crosby, Ella, Billie, Nat, Marlene, Judy to name a few. Also, the bigger bands of not so long ago, Nat Gonella, Jack Hylton, Geraldo. These need preservation orders and what better than endorse the master composer Mr Cole Porter? Add this to your collection.

The Very Best of Frank Sinatra is a simple double-disc collection of 40 Sinatra classics from his Reprise Recordings. For casual fans wanting something more than the single-disc The Very Good Years but don't want the four-disc The Reprise Collection, The Very Best of Frank Sinatra is ideal, since it contains all of the true essentials he recorded during the '60s and '70s, including "Summer Wind," "Strangers in the Night," "My Way," "It Was a Very Good Year," and "Theme From New York, New York."

The defining voice of the 20th century, Frank Sinatra enjoyed a legendary recording career that spanned six decades, beginning with his earliest session in 1939 and culminating with his last in 1993, for his world-renowned, multi-platinum Duets and Duets II albums. Ultimate Sinatra opens with 'All Or Nothing At All,' recorded with Harry James and his Orchestra on August 31, 1939 during Sinatra's first studio session. Ultimate Sinatra's 4CD edition boasts 100 tracks celebrating 100 years (plus a never before released bonus track), including many more luminous recordings that reinforce Sinatra's well-deserved moniker: The Voice.

More of a singles collection than a proper album, The World We Knew illustrates how heavily Frank Sinatra courted the pop charts in the late '60s. Much of this has a rock-oriented pop production, complete with fuzz guitars, reverb, folky acoustic guitars, wailing harmonicas, drum kits, organs, and brass and string charts that punctuate the songs rather than provide the driving force. Many of the songs recall the music Nancy Sinatra was making at the time, a comparison brought into sharp relief by the father-daughter duet "Somethin' Stupid," yet the songs Sinatra tackles with a variety of arrangers - including Nancy's hitmaker Lee Hazlewood, Billy Strange, Ernie Freeman, Don Costa, and Gordon Jenkins - are more ambitious than most middle-of-the-road, adult-oriented soft rock of the late '60s…