Another true curiosity is "(Li'l Abner) Don't Marry That Gal," co-written by the comic strip's controversial creator, Al Capp, and tying into the strip's then-current continuity. 9 entry on the Hit Parade - the sweetly reassuring "I Heard You Cried Last Night." There's also a sampling of less likely material like "Along the Navajo Trail" (part of a sequence of popular western songs also including "I'm an Old Cowhand" and "Home on the Range"). Many slices of pop heard on this set never made it to the exalted realm of the standard, such as fall 1943's No. He's equally rapturous surveying the famous likes of "My Ideal" and "Long Ago and Far Away." Sinatra is effervescent on "Frenesi" (from January 1941, just weeks after Artie Shaw took the Mexican tune to the top of the chart) and bright on "For Me and My Gal." Though Sinatra sang the operetta favorite "Lover Come Back to Me" on the concert stage well into the late years of his career, he never released a studio version his strong rendition here from 1943 is prefaced by his appreciation of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. Naturally, the songs which Sinatra didn't otherwise record - from familiar standards to fleetingly popular tunes - will prove the highlights for most listeners. Tracks have been culled from radio programs such as Fame and Fortune, Your Hit Parade, Broadway Band Box, Songs by Sinatra, Light-Up Time, and The Frank Sinatra Show. This box is the ground floor of that revolution.Ī Voice on Air celebrates the young Sinatra's skill as a ballad singer nonpareil as well as his affinity for an uptempo big band chart. Inspired by the intimacy of Bing Crosby, Sinatra and his gift of interpretation would take popular singing to the next level. During the period covered in A Voice on Air, "boy singer" Sinatra moved from the orchestra of Harry James to that of Tommy Dorsey, and then to solo stardom and a Columbia Records contract. Are you related, by any chance, to Ray Sinatra?" asks comedian Fred Allen on the box's second track in which Sinatra is leading an instrumental jazz combo, The Four Sharps, on Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh's "Exactly Like You." Though Ray, cousin of Frank's dad, achieved considerable acclaim as a conductor, it wouldn't be long before people would be asking Ray, "Are you related, by any chance, to Frank Sinatra?" By Track 3 - "Moon Love," an Andre Kostelanetz/Mack David adaptation of a Tchaikovsky melody - the singer sounds like the young Frank Sinatra: pure of tone, confident of voice, utterly romantic and prone to induce shrieking in bobbysoxers everywhere. With its diverse array of meticulously-restored broadcast performances comprising otherwise unrecorded songs, unrecorded arrangements, and "new" takes on Sinatra classics, A Voice on Air beautifully illuminates a period of Frank Sinatra's career that was incredibly popular yet remains less-chronicled simply due to the magnitude of his future accomplishments. This lost treasure (previously available on the companion CD to Nancy Sinatra's book Frank Sinatra: An American Legend and newly edited here) sets the tone for this collection. It's Sinatra's oldest surviving performance, and sounds remarkably fine considering its vintage. Here, then, is the future Chairman of the Board - before he sang for swingin' lovers, before he did it his way - as a young singer, eager to impress host Edward "Major" Bowes. The shrill noise quickly segues to the first of nearly 100 performances on four CDs - 19-year old Frank Sinatra, one-fourth of The Hoboken Four, singing the perky "S-H-I-N-E" on WHN Radio's The Major Bowes Amateur Hour. Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings' new box set Frank Sinatra: A Voice on Air (88875 09971 2) begins, appropriately enough, with the jarring sound of an old-time radio tuning in.
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