Songs for Swinging Lovers Delivers
by Kristin Battestella
Frank
Sinatra's quintessential
1956
album Songs for Swinging Lovers gets
the toe
tapping sentiments off
to a quick, familiar start with You Make Me Feel So Young,
and the spring in one's step
continues in It Happened in Monterey.
Though this lyrical story is bittersweet, the memory being retold
makes us want to raise our glasses and spend the day upon the coast.
It can be frustrating when the charm is over so fast thanks to the
mid century shorter track times on Songs
for Swinging Lovers. However,
the one swanky after
another tone makes it easier to listen to the entire forty forty
minute album on repeat. You're Getting to Be a Habit with
Me provides that wistful cheek to cheek – putting us in Ol'
Blue Eyes' clutches indeed – and the mellow brass interludes
of You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me make
more excuses for a breeze across the rug.
It's
interesting for contemporary audiences like us to realize how the
tunes comprising Songs
for Swinging Lovers were
already well known
standards from films and the decades prior before Frank's swanky and
the arrangements by Nelson Riddle revitalized their charm. The catchy
crescendos and complimentary word play layers Too Marvelous
for Words, and although it's
the first slightly slower and longer ballad on Songs
for Swinging Lovers, Old Devil Moon doesn't
brood and maintains the danceable mood as the orchestra smoothly ups
the pace. Of course, it's easy to sing along to the more famous
Pennies from Heaven or
sway with the Gershwins and Love is Here to Stay.
Songs for Swinging Lovers
feels
like each melody pours another
cocktail, letting the dinner candles burn down to the wick while
you're getting lipstick on your collar.
Honestly,
who doesn't like I've Got You Under My Skin?
No one can ever be tired of Cole Porter, much less Frank Sinatra
singing Cole Porter. It's an intimate, whisper in your ear to start
before blossoming into a full blown itch that needs to be scratched.
I Thought About You likewise
carries a jovial mix of sweet crooning and peppy notes. Some
listeners may dislike that many of these songs are somewhat the same
– I feel as though I reuse the same superlatives sometimes, too.
However, that privy concert mood is the point of the album. Songs
for Swinging Lovers becomes
like one whole song that ebbs and flows over the evening's
flirtations. The dalliance, a withdrawal, the sweeping moments
through the final hold her tight. Whew! At four and a half minutes,
We'll Be Together Again is
the longest track on Songs For Swinging Lovers. This
mellow ode may seem out of place amid the otherwise up tempo sway,
but a brooding breather is needed before another bottle is finished
and a new waltz takes things to the next level.
We may
laugh at the dorky politeness of the phrase, but Makin' Whoopee
has some delightful lyrical wit
and a bemusing wink at the consequences of the night. Swingin'
Down the Lane continues the
will they or won't they dance with persuading talk of the moon, and
Anything Goes reinforces
the humble romantic Porter pleas. There's a hint of scandal and it's
all so subtle yet remains no less rhythmic and catchy. At first, the
wartime balladry of We'll Be Together Again seems like it should be
the send off to Songs for Swinging Lovers. However,
How About You? wonderfully
concludes the session with a suave, shrewd encapsulation of the
evening. Though recorded at the heights of a past we perceive as a
“Honey, I'm home!” Cleaver chastity with pearls, Songs
for Swinging Lovers is
a giggly and giddy listen thanks to its nudge nudge naughty
intentions and behind close doors baby boom results.
Songs
for Swinging Lovers followed the
melancholy spectacular of In the Wee Small Hours of the
Morning yet nonetheless ingrains
our collective consciousness with the quintessential Frank Sinatra
hip. Sure, it doesn't have some of the bigger staples yet to come,
but Songs for Swinging Lovers
does what it says in delivering smooth, sexy charm. When you hear
complete albums such as this, it makes one wonder why jazz standards
and American songbook recordings ever fell out of mainstream favor –
especially compared to today's inferior machine generated pop and
controversial for the sake of it contemporary artists. With Songs
for Swinging Lovers, modern fans
can cleanse their palette, drink champagne, and repeat for all the
sweet lyrics, big notes, and swift orchestrations. For longtime
listeners upgrading their vinyl collection (like me!) or for those
looking for a place to begin a Sinatra hobby beyond the frequent
compilation sets, Songs for Swinging Lovers is
the place to start. Simply
put, this definitive
1956
Frank Sinatra album
still
makes for the perfect
sophisticated party soundtrack or a classy, intimate denouement at
home.
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