Frank Sinatra The Reprise Years 35cd

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…

Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (1968). Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits! concentrates on the Chairman of the Board's pop hits from the mid- and late '60s, several of which were single-only releases or only available on movie soundtracks. Appropriately, it begins with his biggest solo hit of the '60s, "Strangers in the Night," and then vacillates between adult contemporary pop songs and ballads. Much of the production sounds dated, with its guitars, reverb, and arrangements bearing all the hallmarks of '60s pop. While some of the songs rank among Sinatra's finest moments, particularly "Summer Wind" and "It Was a Very Good Year," most of these songs are guilty pleasures. They might not have the emotional resonance of his finest ballad and swing albums, but fluff like the Nancy Sinatra duet "Somethin' Stupid," the fuzz guitar-tinged "The World We Knew (Over and Over)" and the bluesy "This Town" are enjoyable as pop singles…