Album #154: In the Wee Small Hours

By Frank Sinatra (1955).

=> In the Wee Small Hours on 1001albumsgenerator

This is the third Frank Sinatra album I've had so far. This felt unreasonable, so I checked Wikipedia - and it'll be the last Frank Sinatra album I get, because he 'only' has 3 albums on the list. 3 is very respectable, but I haven't enjoyed the previous two much, so that also isn't much consolation.

This is the best of the bunch. I still don't much care for it, but I'm glad to have been made to listen to his albums. And this one in particular is definitely an album and not just a collection of songs.

Generally I preferred the tracks with a fuller band- "Can't we be friends?", "I'll be around", but even those are clearly arranged to present his voice front and centre.

What strikes me as odd is the music - both the background and the vocal parts - don't seem as melancholy as the lyrics. Perhaps this only stands out as weird as someone who lived through emo and still listens to La Dispute from time to time, but there's a real mismatch. Maybe that's a good thing given how relentlessly yearning this album is. at 16 tracks it looked daunting, but when it ended I was left feeling like I could go back for more.

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐

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