SINATRA AT THE SANDS  -  FRANK SINATRA

YEAR:  1966
LABEL:  Reprise
TRACK LISTING:  Come Fly With Me,  I've Got a Crush On You,  I've Got You Under My Skin,  The Shadow of Your Smile,  Street of Dreams,  One For My Baby (and One More For the Road),  Fly Me To the Moon,  One O'clock Jump,  The Tea Break,  You Make Me Feel So Young,  All of Me,  The September of My Years,  Luck Be A Lady,  Get Me To the Church On Time,  It Was A Very Good Year,  Don't Worry 'Bout Me,  Makin' Whoopee,  Where or When,  Angel Eyes,  My Kind of Town,  A Few Last Words,  My Kind of Town (Reprise)
IMPRESSIONS:  I can't hear a live Sinatra album without thinking of my friend Paul.  Paul's family was a Sinatra household and on more than one occasion, I can remember a road trip during which a Sinatra concert was played on the car stereo -- particularly this one New Year's Eve in the late 1980s.  However, I don't think it was this one.  So this album doesn't really have anything to do with this story, does it?  Other than I always think of my friend Paul whenever I hear a live Sinatra album and this one is Ol' Blue Eyes' first live album.  It's usually considered to be a quintessential snapshot of this era of Frankie and who am I to argue?  Produced by the very young Quincy Jones and backed by the sublime Count Basie and his orchestra, Sinatra here is celebrating (?!) his recent 50th birthday and is full of mischief; particularly in his decision to do what amounts to almost 12 minutes of standup comedy in the middle of his concert!  While some of the jokes are a little wheezy, Frankie is rather funny with his delivery and brio.  But then it's the music which is the most important part of a live concert album and here we have some of the pinnacle of 60's era ring-a-ding-ding Sinatra on display.  Of particular note is the inclusion of more than a few of the slow, melancholy Sinatra songs I love so much and I appreciate their inclusion in his set quite a lot, actually.  Without them, the whole thing would seem rather flippant but the sad ballads really anchor the performance and give it a surprising depth amongst the clinks of cocktail glasses in the Sands casino.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Come Fly With Me,  I've Got a Crush On You,  I've Got You Under My Skin,  One For My Baby (and One More For the Road),  Fly Me To the Moon,  The Tea Break,  You Make Me Feel So Young,  The September of My Years,  It Was A Very Good Year,  Don't Worry 'Bout Me,  Where or When,  Angel Eyes
GUEST ARTISTS:  Count Basie (piano),  Quincy Jones (producer/arranger)
FACT SHEET:  SINATRA AT THE SANDS is Frank Sinatra's first live album.  It was recorded live in the Copa Room of the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The album was certified gold.  "Luck Be A Lady" did not appear on the original LP but was only included as a bonus track on the 1998 cd reissue; subsequent cd releases do not feature the track either.         

BASEBALL'S GREATEST HITS  -  VARIOUS ARTISTS

YEAR:  1989
LABEL:  Rhino
TRACK LISTING:  Take Me Out To the Ballgame (excerpt) - Doc & Merle Watson,  Who's On First?  -  Abbott & Costello,  Joltin' Joe DiMaggio  -  Les Brown & His Orchestra,  Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)  -  The Treniers,  I Love Mickey  -  Mickey Mantle & Teresa Brewer,  Van Lingle Mungo  -  Dave Frishberg,  D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song (Oh, Really? No, O'Malley)  -  Danny Kaye,  Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?  -  Count Basie & His Orchestra,  Lou Gehrig's Farewell Speech July 4, 1939  -  Lou Gehrig,  Move Over Babe (Here Comes Henry)  -  Bill Slayback,  Take Me Out to the Ball Game  -  Bruce Springstone,  (Love Is Like A) Baseball Game  -  The Intruders,  Willie, Mickey & the Duke (Talkin' Baseball)  -  Terry Cashman,  The Land of Wrigley  -  Stormy Weather,  A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request  -  Steve Goodman,  The Ball Game  -  Sister Wynona Carr,  Baseball Dreams  -  The Naturals with Mel Allen,  Baseball Card Lover  -  Rockin' Ritchie Ray,  Tommy Lasorda Talkin' About Dave Kingman  -  Tommy Lasorda,  We Are the Champions  -  Big Blue Wrecking Crew,  Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard 'Round the World October 3, 1951,  Casey at the Bat  -  DeWolf Hopper
IMPRESSIONS:  I hate baseball.  As someone once said, it's like watching farming.  Only less exciting.  So why on earth would I have not one but TWO volumes of BASEBALL'S GREATEST HITS.  Well, because I like music.  And BASEBALL'S GREATEST HITS contains music.  And some really fun songs too.  One day I may get around to posting about Volume Two but Volume One here has some major musical stars (and some really minor ones, too) as well as some historic radio broadcasts.  I don't care if you are apathetic about baseball (as am I); no one can listen to Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" broadcast without getting a thrill!  Some great novelty songs by major acts are here like Les Brown's catchy "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" or Teresa Brewer's duet (?!) with Mickey Mantle himself.  Or how about Danny Kaye doing what he does best twisting his tongue into pretzels; my late friend Peg liked that song.  And this cd contains one of the greatest songs ever in Dave Frishberg's "Van Lingle Mungo" which has one of the best stories behind it:  jazz pianist Frishberg was going to make his first ever vocal album in 1970 and he wrote two different lyrics to some music which both were rejected by the record label.  At a loss, Frishberg spied a copy of "THE BASEBALL ENCYCLOPEDIA" lying nearby and he decided to use as lyrics some of the goofiest names of real ball players; only two words in the song are not baseball players' names!  Magic!  Steve Goodman was actually dying of cancer when he made his both funny and poignant "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request" for his perpetually losing team.  So there's no need to have even the slightest interest in baseball to enjoy this terrifically entertaining album. 
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Who's On First?  -  Abbott & Costello,  Joltin' Joe DiMaggio  -  Les Brown & His Orchestra,  Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)  -  The Treniers,  I Love Mickey  -  Mickey Mantle & Teresa Brewer,  Van Lingle Mungo  -  Dave Frishberg,  D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song (Oh, Really? No, O'Malley) - Danny Kaye,  Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?  -  Count Basie & His Orchestra,  Lou Gehrig's Farewell Speech,  A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request  -  Steve Goodman,  Tommy Lasorda Talkin' About Dave Kingman,  Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard 'Round the World
FACT SHEET:  BASEBALL'S GREATEST HITS is the first of two cd collections put out by Rhino Records featuring songs and audio clips about baseball.