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Frank Sinatra, A Man & His Dog: Rest in peace Bosley (2005-2020) (1 Viewer)

Ring-A-Ding-Ding  (1961)

I knew Ring-a-ding-ding was a slang expression associated with Sinatra but I didn't realize it was also an album title.  This was Frank's first release after forming Reprise Records.  This was a much bigger industry power move at the time--artists' vanity labels don't mean as much today.  Sinatra already had more control at Capitol than almost any of his peers but he got to dow whatever he wanted at Reprise.

Apparently what he wanted to do was swing.  This is Sinatra at his coolest; you can almost feel the chill from a pitcher of martinis.  The bright and brassy arrangements this time were from Johnny Mandel, the only time he worked with Sinatra on record.  Sinatra sounds unrelentingly positive and almost glib at times.  It's a complete role reversal from the tortured torch singer on some of his other albums.  Ring-A-Ding-Ding is undeniably a fun listen but kind of a superficial one.  Everything swings here; even "In the Still of the Night" is taken up tempo.  The result is a sameness that's calling out for a change of pace once in a while.  My favorite is a Harold Arlen number Let's Fall in Love.  Sinatra's phrasing is always impeccable but his syncopation here is more impeccable than usual.

One nice thing about walking a dog with sunglasses is you end up chatting with lots of people.  Today I met a cool old guy named Muldoon Elder, who used to be a major figure in the SF art scene.  He founded Vorpal Gallery in the 60s and was an early champion of the work of M.C. Escher.  Muldoon is quite a painter in his own right.  We talked for about ten minutes as the traffic whizzed by on Fell Street.  Boz paced in circles around us for most of the conversation. 

 
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Forgot the album cover again :bag:

It's a painting of Frank against a dark background.  He's wearing a bow tie and hat with a wide blue band.  He may or may not be making a white power gesture.  Sinatra was such a big star his name doesn't need to appear on the front cover.  It's become commonplace since but I doubt many albums in the 1950s omitted the artist's name.

 
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Sinatra Sings Days of Wine and Roses, Moon River, and Other Academy Award Winners (1964)

This one has the longest title of his 59 studio albums but the superlatives stop there.  The concept is a flimsy one--Sinatra sings eleven songs that won the Oscar for best song.  They span four decades and have nothing in common but the statuette. 

It seems like product now and it probably was at the time.  Sinatra was doing records, movies, television and nightclubs.  To his credit, he never sounds like he's just phoning it in, even if his limo was idling in the studio parking lot.  He always does his best with the song, no matter if the lyrics are sappy ("Love Is a Many Splendored Thing") or dopey ("In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening").  Nelson Riddle does the arrangements again in his usual professional style.  The swingers swing and the ballads sway.  There's nothing there not to like but it's a lesser effort than many of his other albums.

His version of "Moon River" is nice, although I would have liked it more if the acoustic guitar that opened and closed the number was his only accompaniment.   The highlight for me was the Jerome Kern number The Way You Look Tonight.  It has a cool, relaxed vibe that tops Fred Astaire's original version.  Sinatra sings each chorus a little differently, keeping things interesting as the song builds before he and the band bring it in for a gentle landing.  He's sensational on this track.  The album cover is hampered by the ridiculously long title but I like the portrait of Frank in a tuxedo.  He's not wearing a hat this time.  His hairline has definitely receded but his hair looks fine.  The fonts were selected by someone with a very short attention span.

It didn't happen while listening to this one but some ####head in a Prius gave us the finger.  He was making a right turn onto Page St. and the old dog hadn't cleared the crosswalk by the time the light changed.  #### that guy.  Even if he didn't have to wait those five additional seconds, he still would have gotten stuck at another red light a block later.

 
Eephus said:
Forgot the album cover again :bag:

It's a painting of Frank against a dark background.  He's wearing a bow tie and hat with a wide blue band.  He may or may not be making a white power gesture.  Sinatra was such a big star his name doesn't need to appear on the front cover.  It's become commonplace since but I doubt many albums in the 1950s omitted the artist's name.
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Looks like he just fell in the mud.

 
Frank's Capitol years are fantastic (1954-62), all his work is great, but that's my favorite period, after that he formed his own Label, Reprise.

I got back into Vinyl 3 years ago and have been collecting a ton of Frank, I stumbled into a Mobile Fidelity Collection of all his Capitol albums and they are stellar.

Even before that great find, I have been a fan, Songs for Swingin Lovers from 1956 is my fave arranged by Nelson Riddle, they made a great team.

Enjoy the Journey.

 
Leroy Hoard said:
Looks like he just fell in the mud.
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As a whole, Sinatra's album covers aren't particularly noteworthy.  The late Capitol early Reprise ones from 58-63 are better in my opinion.  As the 60s wore on, Sinatra's covers got more jumbled, just like the music inside.

Sinatra's personal style has left its mark on modern perceptions of the Eisenhower/Kennedy era but his album covers haven't become iconic images.  I think Blue Note jazz covers from the same period have had a more enduring impact on the prevailing design aesthetic.

 
Eephus said:
I think Blue Note jazz covers from the same period have had a more enduring impact on the prevailing design aesthetic.
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Absolutely. My friend used to have an Art Blakey Blue Note cover on his wall. I never asked, but I don't think he had any idea, the dang poseur. 

Anyway, people love that aesthetic. 

 
rockaction said:
Absolutely. My friend used to have an Art Blakey Blue Note cover on his wall. I never asked, but I don't think he had any idea, the dang poseur. 

Anyway, people love that aesthetic. 
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Jazz is much more underground today than it was in the 60s but I've been unable to find any historical info to compare sales to Pop music of the day.  If Billboard has this on their site, it's behind the paywall.  Their 2019 jazz album best sellers list is depressing.

There were some jazz singles that crossed over to the Pop charts but they were more Herb Alpert than John Coltrane.

 
Eephus said:
Jazz is much more underground today than it was in the 60s but I've been unable to find any historical info to compare sales to Pop music of the day.  If Billboard has this on their site, it's behind the paywall.  Their 2019 jazz album best sellers list is depressing.

There were some jazz singles that crossed over to the Pop charts but they were more Herb Alpert than John Coltrane.
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Yeah, it is underground. I don't know how you'd begin to find the data you're looking for, but growing up, I never heard jazz have a hit on the radio, much less be anywhere but at the very bottom of the dial.

I'm certainly no aficionado: The closest I've been to a live jazz show was a great club in New Haven, CT, for modern jazz called Firehouse 12 that always sold out briskly but was bi-weekly and a small venue. I think if they'd booked more shows at a larger club they still would have sold out. It was the thing to do there on Saturday night, actually. You and ilov would have dug it.

 
rockaction said:
Yeah, it is underground. I don't know how you'd begin to find the data you're looking for, but growing up, I never heard jazz have a hit on the radio, much less be anywhere but at the very bottom of the dial.
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Historical Jazz chart data is really tough to unearth.  The most interesting tidbit I've found is Miles' Kind of Blue peaked at #10 on the Billboard Jazz Charts in 59-60 (Sketches of Spain only reached #13).  Kind of Blue has gone on to become one of the biggest selling Jazz albums of all time but that's been as reissues over the decades.

This only makes me more curious about what nine albums sold more units the Kind of Blue during the reporting period.  Presumably older artists like Ella, Duke and and Louis were in the category along with more mainstream Caucasian artists like Dave Brubeck

 
Eephus said:
Historical Jazz chart data is really tough to unearth.  The most interesting tidbit I've found is Miles' Kind of Blue peaked at #10 on the Billboard Jazz Charts in 59-60 (Sketches of Spain only reached #13).  Kind of Blue has gone on to become one of the biggest selling Jazz albums of all time but that's been as reissues over the decades.

This only makes me more curious about what nine albums sold more units the Kind of Blue during the reporting period.  Presumably older artists like Ella, Duke and and Louis were in the category along with more mainstream Caucasian artists like Dave Brubeck
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Interesting. I don't know. I'm guessing Brubeck, Coltrane, Parker, Thelonius Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. Probably some Swing Era holdouts. 

It's amazing how jazz was very, very popular during that era. I remember in the book by Ken Kesey called Sometimes A Great Notion that the lead protagonist and his brother sit down and have a twenty page argument about be bop and hard bop and Coltrane. It was so foreign to me. There were these two sort of average guys discussing jazz of all things. And Kesey loved jazz, so that came through. But he hated hard bop and inaccessible jazz, as it were. And certainly there was no rock n' roll to speak of. Hated it. Thought it fascist.

But that's a digression. Funny how Kind of Blue only hit #10. Mobile Fidelity just gave it the full treatment, too. 2LPs, Mono, Half master, the whole works.

 
rockaction said:
Interesting. I don't know. I'm guessing Brubeck, Coltrane, Parker, Thelonius Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. Probably some Swing Era holdouts. 
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Older cats like Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden and Lionel Hampton were more popular than the young lions but I think we'd both be surprised by some of the best selling Jazz artists of the 50s.  Traditional Jazz like Dixieland was quite popular and probably outsold Bebop at the time. 

Many of the guys you named were on independent Jazz labels back then.  Labels like Prestige, Riverside, Blue Note and Dial are famous today but they were tiny compared to the five majors (RCA, Columbia, Capitol, Decca & Mercury).  The indies lacked a distribution network to get their discs in the racks or the oompf to influence DJs to give them airplay.  The operators of the Jazz labels played the long game and got rich through decades later via reissues; the artists, not so much.

 
Eephus said:
I've always been fascinated by the music biz.  It's remarkable how such a sleazy industry helped to produce great art.  It's attracted or produced some very interesting characters over the years

I'm almost done with my current novel and I always alternate between fiction and non-fiction and am considering these two as my next book

Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business

Cowboys and Indies: The Epic History of the Record Industry
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Thanks for posting these. Both are added to my Kindle list.

 
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim (1967)

I told @Chaos Commish that I was saving this one for a sunny day.  Today was a beautiful as I could possibly expect for a January in Northern California.   This one is Sinatra's bossa nova album; recorded with the Brazilian singer/songwriter and an orchestra arranged and conducted by frequent Jobim collaborator Claus Ogerman. Jobim wrote most of the songs although there are songs by Irving Berlin and Cole Porter done in bossa nova style.

It's Frank at his most laid back.  He sings in a softer voice with more delicate enunciation than usual.  He sounds more like fifties Sinatra than the other mid-sixites records I've heard.  He blends nicely with Jobim's reedy tenor on the duets they perform.  Overall it's a solid album that sounds like a cool breeze on a hot day.  My only criticism is I don't think Sinatra seems totally at ease with the rhythms or the translated lyrics.  He's terrific as usual but he plays things straighter with his phrasing.

My favorite track was How Insensitive (Insensatez).  It's a gorgeous number with Jobim's acoustic guitar as its pulse.  The unrhymed lyric is a painfully honest version of one of his saloon songs about lost love.  The album cover is very dark for an album that evokes sun and sand.  Sinatra and Jobim are pictured in the studio.  Frank's smoking again but he's not wearing a hat.  Lens flare probably wasn't overused yet in 1967 so I'll give that a pass.  The typography seems oddly formal for the bossa nova but it's a good fit with the rest of the cover.  I guess they were going for a classy look.

Bosley hasn't been doing well. He's sleeping more than ever and gets very confused when he transitions from sleep to awake.  On the plus site, his appetite is still good and he's OK on walks.  Even with the shades, he struggles a bit more on sunny days so maybe that's a factor as well.

 
Eephus said:
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim (1967)

I told @Chaos Commish that I was saving this one for a sunny day.  Today was a beautiful as I could possibly expect for a January in Northern California.   

It's Frank at his most laid back.  He sings in a softer voice with more delicate enunciation than usual. 
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Somewhere he said it was the softest he sang since having laryngitis. Given my current preference for chill material, it's obvious why it came to mind

eta misread about Bosley, sorry. Hang int there

 
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Swing Easy!  (1954)

This one's an oldie but a goodie from his early Capitol days.  The album is aptly titled--Sinatra swings with a casual ease that's more graceful than his harder style as the Chairman of the Board in the 60s.  Swing Easy! is an up tempo session of standards with a small band arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle.  Fewer horns and no strings help create a feeling of space that gives Sinatra room to move. It's probably the jazziest Sinatra album I've heard with more of an improvisational feel than even his live album from the Sands.

The album only runs for 19 minutes long so it's worth spinning the whole thing.  But the standout track for me was Taking a Chance on Love.  The vocal is a master class in phrasing, he plays with the rhythm of the words and spars with the band.  It's just a delightful two minutes and eleven seconds.  The whole album is like that; it was one of the most pleasant surprises of this listening project.  The album cover shows Frank in a hat and loosened tie.  He's swinging so much he's diagonal, as is the text.  His eyes are pretty dark for a guy named "Ol' Blue Eyes" but that may be because of the purple lighting.  It's a nice image that really fits well with the whole album. 

Bosley still seems confused and gets lost a lot but he's stabilized physically.  We had a small Super Bowl party yesterday with six guests.  Boz didn't engage much with them; he either wandered around or sat with me.  The sound was up much louder than usual and he may have been bothered by the subwoofer.  He's sleeping again now.

 
Sinatra and Swingin' Brass (1962)

The title is another example of truth in advertising during the Mad Men era.  The swingin' brass is provided by Neal Hefti, probably best known today for "Batman" and "The Odd Couple" but a longtime arranger for the Basie band in the 50s and 60s.  It's another of Sinatra's many records dominated by up tempo numbers; the only ballads are buried at the end of side two.  Among that subset of swinging Sinatra albums, this one is distinguished by its emphasis on heavy rhythms.  The drums and bass is more forward in the mix than on the other early 60s albums.  It anticipates the sound he would be doing five years later.  Even the horns work as rhythmic drivers--Hefti likes to have the brass blurt in on the downbeat.  It's a fine album but lacks the greatness of some others.

The spotlight song is Don'cha Go 'Way Mad a swingin' lil' ditty with two apostrophes and Sinatra singing the word "baby" ten times in a roll towards the end.  The horn break in the middle is really characteristic of Hefti's charts.  The album cover goes with a painting this time--a head shot sans hat and cigarette.  I'm getting sort of a LeRoy Nieman vibe from the artwork.  It's not as abstract but the palette and heavy brushstrokes are similar.  It's a very sixties look down to the vertically floating typeface.  Ol' Blue Eyes have never been bluer than on this album cover.

Bosley is OK but frail.  I'm sorry so many stories about him involve bodily functions but that's the life of an old dog.  He's always liked to poop in the middle of the road as we're crossing the street.  But everything he does now is so slow, I had to lift him up and carry him afterwards to clear the intersection by the time the light changed.

 
Eephus said:
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim (1967)

I told @Chaos Commish that I was saving this one for a sunny day.  Today was a beautiful as I could possibly expect for a January in Northern California.   This one is Sinatra's bossa nova album; recorded with the Brazilian singer/songwriter and an orchestra arranged and conducted by frequent Jobim collaborator Claus Ogerman. Jobim wrote most of the songs although there are songs by Irving Berlin and Cole Porter done in bossa nova style.

It's Frank at his most laid back.  He sings in a softer voice with more delicate enunciation than usual.  He sounds more like fifties Sinatra than the other mid-sixites records I've heard.  He blends nicely with Jobim's reedy tenor on the duets they perform.  Overall it's a solid album that sounds like a cool breeze on a hot day.  My only criticism is I don't think Sinatra seems totally at ease with the rhythms or the translated lyrics.  He's terrific as usual but he plays things straighter with his phrasing.

My favorite track was How Insensitive (Insensatez).  It's a gorgeous number with Jobim's acoustic guitar as its pulse.  The unrhymed lyric is a painfully honest version of one of his saloon songs about lost love.  The album cover is very dark for an album that evokes sun and sand.  Sinatra and Jobim are pictured in the studio.  Frank's smoking again but he's not wearing a hat.  Lens flare probably wasn't overused yet in 1967 so I'll give that a pass.  The typography seems oddly formal for the bossa nova but it's a good fit with the rest of the cover.  I guess they were going for a classy look.

Bosley hasn't been doing well. He's sleeping more than ever and gets very confused when he transitions from sleep to awake.  On the plus site, his appetite is still good and he's OK on walks.  Even with the shades, he struggles a bit more on sunny days so maybe that's a factor as well.
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I absolutely love this album - and Sinatra & Company which contains some of his work with Jobim.

 
No new Sinatra but a Bosley update.  This morning we noticed he couldn't retract his penis (aka his ####, his lipstick, his little rocket).  It was sticking out from when he woke up until around 11AM.  We've all heard the one about calling a physician if erections last longer than four hours so Mrs. Eephus called the vet and they told her to bring him in.  Of course by the time he was able to be seen, it had retracted by itself. 

The vet theorized it had been caused by Bosley's spinal arthritis acting up since his back was arched more than usual.  She prescribed him some Gabapentin which "may cause drowsiness or loss of coordination" as a side effect.  They weren't kidding about that, ol' Boz was knocked out.  He woke up about a half hour ago and wasn't able to stand upright--I had to prop him against the stairs so he could pee.  We're hoping he's better when it wears off but we'll try reducing his dosage tomorrow.

There's probably a joke in here somewhere but it's been a stressful day and I can't think of one.

 
Eephus said:
No new Sinatra but a Bosley update.  This morning we noticed he couldn't retract his penis (aka his ####, his lipstick, his little rocket).  It was sticking out from when he woke up until around 11AM.  We've all heard the one about calling a physician if erections last longer than four hours so Mrs. Eephus called the vet and they told her to bring him in.  Of course by the time he was able to be seen, it had retracted by itself. 

The vet theorized it had been caused by Bosley's spinal arthritis acting up since his back was arched more than usual.  She prescribed him some Gabapentin which "may cause drowsiness or loss of coordination" as a side effect.  They weren't kidding about that, ol' Boz was knocked out.  He woke up about a half hour ago and wasn't able to stand upright--I had to prop him against the stairs so he could pee.  We're hoping he's better when it wears off but we'll try reducing his dosage tomorrow.

There's probably a joke in here somewhere but it's been a stressful day and I can't think of one.
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Hang tough, Bosley.

 
Come Fly With Me (1958)

Another concept album organized this time around the loose theme of travel.  I didn't bond with it.  The songs are superficial 50s travelogue renditions of their international subjects.  There are some clever novelty numbers but nothing for Frank to really sink his chops into.  Billy May is on board for arranging duties.  The brass and rhythm pops as usual but the strings were heavy handed compared to Jenkins' and Riddles' work.

The most interesting song on the record is a musical adaptation of a Kipling poem On the Road to Mandalay.  Sinatra and especially May play things for laughs with a broad brassy arrangements with gongs and stereotypical Asian motifs.  Kipling's daughter disliked it so much she had it taken off the album on the UK version.  It's corny as hell but it typifies the album.  The album cover looks like a mid-20th century magazine advertisement for TWA.  Frank is traveling stylishly in a suit and hat.  He's got a dame in his right hand and gesturing something with his left.  The oddest thing is how his hat is parallel to the frame but his head is tilted about 15 degrees to his left. The album title is in a nice hand drawn script.

It's taken a while to get Bosley adjusted to his meds so most of our walks this week were short.  We've finally settled on a half dose in the early evening after dinner.  He's able to get some pain relief and a good night's sleep.  He's still kind of woozy in the AM but can function.  Last night PG&E had a transformer blow in the neighborhood so we were without power for about four hours.  Boz was medicated but still wanted to wander around our dark flat.  Searching for a black, blind, deaf, senile dog in the darkness was more comical in retrospect than it was at the time.

 
A Man Alone: The Words & Music of McKuen  (1969)

Many of Sinatra's great albums from his prime have an effortless quality about them.   This one is the opposite; everyone seems like they're trying really hard at it.  It's a recording of songs and verse written by the prolific poet Rod McKuen.  He was hugely popular at the time and not just by poetry standards but is mostly forgotten today.   I believe McKuen wrote A Man Alone especially for Sinatra.  If so, it fits in comfortably with one of Frank's familiar personas--the man who's exchanged love for memories and some regrets but will not be defeated.  The songs exist on the same plane as Sinatra's saloon songs but with more distance and less alcohol.  Sinatra's in fine voice as usual.  He's not given any room to swing but he's still able to get inside his character and the songs.  The spoken word pieces are a nice change of pace and are a reminder of what a fine actor Frank was.

McKuen is a solid songwriter but the songs lack the magic of Sinatra's best recordings.  The melodies are pleasant enough but they usually go where you expect them to and there's seldom much happening rhythmically.  The lyrics are kind of simple but they have a nice flow to them.  McKuen's style is dated but it probably wasn't at the time. The spotlight goes to the minor hit Love's Been Good to Me.  It's a good example of how the Chairman changed his game during the late 60s in response to Rock.  Don Costa's tasteful arrangement with a harpsichord complements Frank's voice and what he's trying to do with his new image.  If you like that one, do me a favor and listen to The Beautiful Strangers and tell me if it sounds like something else.  To me, it sounds like McKuen went "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to write the song.  Frank is alone on the album cover with the right half of his head shrouded in darkness.  It's cropped too close to tell if he's wearing a hat but I'll go with no on that one.  There appear to be a couple of different versions of the cover--one with a tiny text box in the upper right corner and the other more balanced with the title floating over his hidden half face.

Bosley is doing OK I guess.  He's gotten used to his medication so he's not falling everywhere.  He still occasionally gets stuck in corners and under things but that's a feature of the dementia.  The other day I found him eating his dog food with his tail submerged in his water dish. 

 
@Eephus, you mind if I ask what your professional calling is/was?

I enjoy all of your entries here. I wish I had more to add to the discussion, but (even though I love a lot of the music you write about in this thread) I'm out of my depth in talking about it. Now, if you're gonna do Helen Reddy albums next, I'm all in.

 
Uruk-Hai said:
@Eephus, you mind if I ask what your professional calling is/was?

I enjoy all of your entries here. I wish I had more to add to the discussion, but (even though I love a lot of the music you write about in this thread) I'm out of my depth in talking about it. Now, if you're gonna do Helen Reddy albums next, I'm all in.
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I worked in the IT racket for 37 years.

Here's the strangest Helen Reddy song Baby I'm a Star produced by Kim Fowley.

 
I listened to a little Rod McKuen earlier today to see if I could get an idea why he was such a phenomenon in the 60s.  I still don't get it.

 
Eephus said:
I listened to a little Rod McKuen earlier today to see if I could get an idea why he was such a phenomenon in the 60s.  I still don't get it.
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The Drake of the 60s. Pretended he was important til everyone went "....yeah...OK..." His publicist was the poet...

 
I'm working my way through Where Are You? (1957), yet another collection of sad ballads.  Boz is down to one short walk after dark now which cuts down my listening time.  He's still able to get around but he drags his right hind leg a bit.  I put a sock on that paw which helps.  I've also taken to carrying him to the top of the hill when we leave the house to maximize his potential energy before putting him down to walk. 

 
wikkidpissah said:
The Drake of the 60s. Pretended he was important til everyone went "....yeah...OK..." His publicist was the poet...
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Not sure if this made the rounds here, but my kid and I haven't missed Tyler the Creator's Camp Flog Gnaw. He goes with a secret headliner to end the festivities. We saw Kanye finish up a year ago. This year the surprise leaked heavily on social media. It was to be Frank Ocean. Nope. We got Drake and hilarity followed.

 
Where Are You?  (1957)

This is another of Sinatra's dark lonely albums of ballads.  It might be because of the circumstances of this project but I find these records extremely moving.   Sinatra can sing anything but he has a special way with a sad song.  He sings them with a rare combination of power and sensitivity and his fluid conversational tone allows him to make the words his own.

This one was arranged by Gordon Jenkins and feature his typical gorgeous strings.  I'm an old french horn player so I appreciate Jenkins' use of the instrument.  I'm glad I don't do rankings because it would be very difficult to separate this one from his other early albums of saloon songs: "No One Cares" (arranged by Jenkins), "In the Wee Small Hours" and "Only the Lonely" (both arranged by Nelson Riddle).  This one's great as are the others. 

I'm a Fool To Want You is the pick to click.  It's one of the rare songs where Sinatra gets a writing credit.  The legend is Sinatra personalized the lyrics after his breakup with Ava Gardner but that's not the case.  He recorded an earlier version of the song the same year he married Gardner and he had the co-writing credit then.  The 1957 version on this album is superior; Sinatra's reading is both haunting and haunted and Jenkins' orchestration never intrudes.  The album cover is a painting of Frank in a reflective mood and a green pullover sweater.  He may be thinking about where he left his hat because it's nowhere to be seen.   He's smoking again but the way his left arm covers his face seems unnatural.  Other than that, it's a tasteful cover with the title in script and Frank's name in italics.  The banner on the top proclaims "Capitol Stereo the full spectrum of sound" because this was Sinatra's first stereo recording.  The remastered version on Spotify sounds good with nice subtle stereo effects.  I have no idea whether the original issue sounded the same.

It took us three days to get through this album and I finished it with Boz sleeping on my lap.  He's been struggling this week.  He had very little energy but doesn't seem to be in pain.  I'm afraid there won't be a lot more albums in this thread so let me know if I've missed any favorites.

 
Go to the 10:20 minute mark that concludes this interview of Stephen Fry who was staying at the World's famous Savoy Hotel when  one of the staff mentioned Frank Sinatra was staying at the hotel.  Stephen  arraigned a meeting at the American bar located in the hotel and tells a story about Frank tipping the waiter the 'second most' money he ever got.  You won't believe who tipped him the most. 

LINK:  🎧  >>  Stephen Fry On Jonathan Ross Full Interview (6-10-12)

Interesting  tidbit about Fry and Sinatra, they both have/had bipolar disorder. 

LINK:  >> 20 Famous People With Bipolar Disorder (Frank Sinatra?)

#14 Stephen Fry

He is a British actor, radio personality, comedian, journalist, and radio personality who first gained recognition for collaborating with Hugh Laurie in the comedy duo ”Fry and Laurie.”

Stephen Fry said during an interview:

“But for the first time, I had a diagnosis that explains the massive highs and miserable lows I’ve lived with all my life.” 

#20 Frank Sinatra

He was an American actor, singer, and producer who won a supporting actor Oscar for ”From Here to Eternity.”

Having sold over 152 million records worldwide, Sinatra is one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

J Randy Taraborrelli wrote in his biography on ”Ol’ Blue Eyes”:

“Frank described himself as ‘an 18-carat manic depressive.’”

Taraborrelli also wrote:

”He was a moody, bipolar, difficult man who drank heavily, with a sense of entitlement twisted by celebrity.”

On May 14, 1998, Frank died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 82.
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Go to  the above link to see  the other famous  people, a few surprises on that list at least to me.

My favorite  Sinatra tune. 🎧 LINK:  >> Frank Sinatra - Witchcraft

 
Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music (1965 television special)  Amazon Prime Video  Free stream on Tubi

It looks like I'll finish this project with the show that gave this thread its name.  It's an Emmy and Peabody award winning program of Sinatra singing some of his greatest hits in a Hollywood soundstage.  There's canned crowd noise added to give a reaction to Frank's banter but otherwise it's just Sinatra, an orchestra and some strangely futuristic sets. 

The show is very classy except for the bizarre addition of a minute of old flying machine footage to introduce "Come Fly With Me".  The production features elegant camera work and editing.  Sinatra is in fine voice even though he was battling a cold that Gay Talese made famous.  He does an excellent job of playing to the cameras and the imaginary audience.  The three acts of the program are structured around commercial breaks.  The first segment has Frank singing a selection of greatest hits in a tweed jacket and sweater vest.  He switches to a gray three-piece suit and changes conductors from Nelson Riddle to Gordon Jenkins for a beautiful medley of ballads.  The final 15 minutes brings Riddle back to accompany a tuxedoed  Sinatra in a swinging set that approximates his nightclub act.

A Man and His Music is wonderful entertainment, so simple yet sophisticated.  I'd seen clips from it before but never watched in its entirety.  I can't recommend it more highly to anybody who's stuck through this thread to the end.

We weren't able to make it to the park tonight; Bosley has been noticeably fading this week but his condition has really deteriorated since Thursday.  He's unable to walk more than a couple of steps now without me supporting his hind quarters.  He slept through the Sinatra special but he was there beside me for all of it.  Please spare Boz a thought for when he crosses over.  I'll come back and wrap things up when I'm able.

 
Bosley died on Sunday at 11:20 AM.  He was a good boy up to the end.  He'd had mostly had a peaceful Saturday but was under increasing distress during the night and following morning..  Thanks to the fine people at the SF SPCA for their compassion during a very emotional time.

If you've followed the Dylan and Sinatra threads you have some idea how much that little schmoe meant to me.  But I don't think I've ever written about how much he helped our family.  We got Bosley in 2007 when our kids were 11 and 15.  Raising teenagers in the 21st century is tough but being a teenager is even tougher.  I know we probably invest too much emotional depth to our pets but Bosley was always present to return affection.  He brought a lot of joy to all of us and served as a conversation starter to help keep open our family's lines of communication.

People with pets understand how much they insinuate themselves into our lives.  Boz required an increasing amount of care over the past year or so.  Last week we had to check on his whereabouts almost constantly whenever he was awake.  But now all that air has suddenly been let out of the balloon and the house is quiet.   I will miss our nightly walks as much as anything.  It gave me time to reflect and stay connected to the neighborhood.  I'll be able to pick the pace up considerably without him but it won't be the same.

In a cruel irony, Bosley died on my 60th birthday.  Nothing like getting a mortality check for a gift.  I moped around all day Sunday but needed to get out of the house yesterday to do something to mark the milestone and escape the emptiness .  My daughter took off work and she, Mrs Eephus and I went to a museum.  We ended up at a bar as you do which eventually became Bosley's informal wake. Somewhere during the story and picture sharing I brought out some of the posts from the Dylan thread.  I'm thankful I tacked on those paragraphs about Boz because they mean so much more than my struggles to describe the greatness of the artists.

 
So sad for your loss, Eephus. I fell for Bosley the instant i saw his picture with your family, and can only guess the part of your soul & life he was. I will think of you & he each time i hear one of my favorite Sinatra tunes, Someone to Watch Over Me, a phrase that describes the person/pet relationship (who's watching who?) so well, as my part in keeping his memory alive. :heart: Condolences -

 
So sorry for your loss, Eephus. I know that my late nights through the Dylan thread and this one were made better -- a little easier, frankly -- being able to tune in to almost nightly excellence in writing, through which Bosley's personality shone. I was glad he was your muse and catalyst. May he rest in peace and may your soul do the same. 

 
:cry:   I'm sorry for the loss of your faithful friend, Eephus.  I've read the Bosley Chronicles since you started them.  The stories reminded me of my sister's last year with her old beloved dog Dino, who crossed over two days before Thanksgiving 2018.  I could tell through your writings that you and Boz had a very tight bond. It is always too short a time we have with our furry family, but it is worth it. That unconditional love is truly special, and I have no doubt that Bosley felt that love back. I am sure that he was proud to have been the leader of your pack.   :banned:  to Bosley. He will see you on the other side of the rainbow 🌈, and he has already marked his territory. 😎 ❤️

 
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