Track Listing

1. I've Got the World on a String
2. South of the Border
3. I Get a Kick Out of You
4. Young at Heart
5. Three Coins in the Fountain
6. What Is This Thing Called Love?
7. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
8. Learnin' the Blues
9. Love and Marriage
10. (Love Is) The Tender Trap
11. You Make Me Feel So Young
12. I've Got You Under My Skin
13. (How Little It Matters) How Little We Know
14. Lady Is a Tramp
15. Night and Day
16. Witchcraft
17. All the Way
18. Come Fly With Me
19. High Hopes
20. Nice 'N' Easy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80683 in Music
• Brand: SINATRA,FRANK
• Released on: 1992-11-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com

Franks Sinatra Photos

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Amazon.com essential recording
This is a flawless single-disc condensation of the three-CD Capitol Years box featuring many of Sinatra's most famous songs of the '50s and early-'60s period he spent making masterpieces for the label. Sinatra displays at least as many emotional shadings here as there are songs on the disc; not only is there the unfettered ebullience of "I've Got the World on a String" or the desolation of "What Is This Thing Called Love?" but a riotously insouciant reading of the ostensibly heartbroken "South of the Border" and a wise interpretation by the middle-aged Sinatra of "You Make Me Feel So Young." --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Truly the Chairman of the Board
When I bought this collection in 1991, I was not a Frank Sinatra fan. I much preferred Bing Crosby in style and substance and just tossed off Sinatra contemptuously. Boy, was I wrong and this collection single-handedly turned me into a Sinatraphile. Now I have over 100 of his CD's. If you don't know him or haven't listened to him seriously, you must buy this record, it will change your life.

Prior to buying this CD, my only listening experience with Frank were a half dozen 45's of "New York, New York," "Strangers in the Night" and a few of his other hits from later years. This CD introduced me into the real Sinatra, not the Top 40 Frank.

No one has ever phrased a lyric like his man. No one. You feel his pain, his pathos, his happiness, his despair and his loneliness. It is a completely joyous experience to listen to this man sing.

Others had greater range or greater voices. None had the inimitable gift that Frank Sinatra possessed and that was allowing you to understand a lyric and feel it deep down in your soul. There is only one Sinatra and this collection epitomizes his glory years. I also highly recommend the more complete three-disc "Capitol Years" collection, for even more great music.

You can't go wrong!
If you're not sure which Sinatra CD to buy first, this is a great place to start. He really did get his style buffed to a high polish in the 50s, with a perfect balance of swing and romance. This collection highlights the best. I love the craft in the lyrics of songs like "Witchcraft," "How Little We Know" and "The Tender Trap"; the sheer enjoyment of "Learning the Blues"; the great build-up in the arrangement and performance of "I've Got You Under My Skin." I can't find a way to say it that isn't cliched: Frank Sinatra was a master. Just listen and see if you're not knocked off your feet. If you get as hooked as I am, you may eventually end up with all these tracks on other albums and collections, but you'll never regret this introduction.

Whatever "Pluperfect" Means, This Sinatra CD Is IT
In his liner notes for Frank Sinatra's box set "The Reprise Collection," author William Kennedy mentioned his "pluperfect" Sinatra tapes, where each song "made you climb the wall every time out." He even mentioned the tapes when he visited the singer after a Carnegie Hall concert, aware that Sinatra's labels had done the same compiling throughout his career.

It's hard to imagine a collection more "pluperfect" than "The Best of the Capitol Years." Distilled from the label's 1992 3CD set, it covers a career chapter as musically and culturally important as the artistic periods of any artist or author. Speaking of which...far better writers than I have addressed the musical quality here (among them Will Friedwald, whose essay in the set is essential Sinatra reading). But the sonic clarity, how you hear those precious Billy May, Gordon Jenkins, and Nelson Riddle arrangements, fulfills at least part of the promise the CD revolution was meant to keep. Next to meeting your spouse or best friend, "The Best of the Capitol Years" is one of the finest introductions anyone could make to anyone else. It will begin a deep, rich relationship not only with Sinatra but with, as Friedwald put it, "the three-layer cakes" of classic songcraft from popular music's finest years. HIGHEST recommendation.