Frank Sinatra

Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain is one of the oddest albums in Sinatra's catalog. Recorded in the summer of 1962 and available only in the U.K. for a number of years, the album consists of songs by British composers, performed with British musicians, and recorded in Britain, while Sinatra was on tour. As it happened, Sinatra was tired and worn out during the sessions, and arranger/conductor Robert Farnon had written a set of charts that were ambitious, lush, ornate, and sweeping. Although the arrangements are provocative – occasionally they are more interesting than the actual songs – Sinatra was simply not in good shape for the sessions, which is clear from his thin, straining singing. As such, Great Songs from Great Britain isn't much more than a curiosity.

A new disc featuring classic live sets by Frank Sinatra performed in London will be released next month. Universal Muisc Enterprises have worked with Frank Sinatra Enterprises to create the appropriately titled London which focuses on projects from between 1953 and 1984, bringing to light more than 50 previously unreleased tracks.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Frank Sinatra's groundbreaking and highly successful album, Duets, Capitol/UMe will release a newly-remastered Sinatra Duets - Twentieth Anniversary 2CD Deluxe Edition bringing together the original Duets, and the follow-up Duets II, together in one deluxe package. Included on the 2CD deluxe edition are two never-before-released recordings: 'One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)' featuring Tom Scott and 'Embraceable You' with Tanya Tucker plus the rare bonus tracks 'Fly Me to the Moon' with George Strait and two versions of 'My Way' one recorded with Luciano Pavarotti and the other with Willie Nelson.

After his death, Frank Sinatra's children decided they wanted to stem the tide of bootlegged live material that was flooding the market by putting out legitimate versions of the same material. The bad news is how expensive these legitimate releases are. The good news is that they are easy to find, are beautifully remastered, and feature extensive liner notes that give you inside information on the shows themselves. This disc offers up an entire show from 1957, and along with a yet to be legitimately released live date with Quincy Jones' big band, it stands up as the best Sinatra date of the 1950s. Sinatra is in excellent (if uneven) voice and obviously having as good of a time as the audience and the musicians. Highlights include amazing versions of "The Lady Is a Tramp," "I Get a Kick Out of You," and "I Won't Dance," which are even more jazz-fueled than the studio recordings, and a sumptuous reading of "My Funny Valentine"…

Arranged by Billy May, Come Swing with Me! was Frank Sinatra's final swing session for Capitol Records. The album falls somewhere between the carefree Come Fly with Me and the hard-swinging Come Dance with Me!, borrowing elements of the humor of Fly and the intense, driving rhythms of Dance. Recorded without strings or saxes, the brass-heavy sound of the album was noticeable, but it wasn't nearly as distinctive as the ping-ponging stereo effects of the album…

Most of the Sinatra recordings available during the 1950s consisted of his contemporary work for Capitol Records. But every so often his former label, Columbia Records, would get something together on LP from among his '40s and early-'50s sides. The Voice was one of a handful of '50s long-players showcasing the first phase of Sinatra's solo career, and at the time it wowed listeners – the focus is on the ballads, and the dozen represented here constitute a bumper crop of classics, all resplendent in the singer's richest, most overpowering intonation and most delicately nuanced work…