by johnfoyle on 18 Aug 2007, 00:25
Found it!
The Hot Press ( Dublin)
Vol 5 No 12 June 26th/July 9th 1981
My Favourite Album
In these style-obsessed days I thought that my status
in fashion might be improved by claiming my choice to
be Dirk Bogarde's Lyrics For Lovers, or maybe it
should be the Privilege soundtrack.
But what about The Impressions' Big Sixteen, Loretta
Lynn's I Remember Patsy, The Band, The Greatest
Hits Of Lee Dorsey, Billie Holliday, The Ronettes,
Hank Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Supremes, Charlie
Rich, Dusty Springfield, or The Temptations?
How about one of George Jones' hundred odd albums,
Motown Chartbusters Vol.3, Aretha Franklins I
Never Loved A Man, Ella Fitzgerald Sings Cole
Porter, Walls And Bridges, With The Beatles, Gram
Parsons' G.P. Heroes, Low, Lust For Life, The
Clash, Here Comes Rhymin' Simon, Aftermath, The
Exciting Wilson Pickett, Blood On The Tracks,
Squeezing Out Sparks, Court And Spark, Full
House, Revolver, Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue,
Janis Martin, Otis Redding Live In Europe, Randy
Newman's Good Old Boys, Pet Sounds, The Explosive
Little Richard, Sailing Shoes, All Mod Cons, My
Generation, I Want To See The Bright Lights,
Modern Lovers, Mad About The Wrong Boy, Labour Of
Lust, The Specials, East Side Story, or Get
Happy . Now wait a minute, this is getting out of
hand.
But there is one album which beats the current bright
young things hands down at the style game, and is as
genuinely romantic as certain of today's jokers are
wooden and sexless.
'Frank Sinatra Sings Only For The Lonely' was recorded
in 1958 and remains the man's most consistent album,
aside from the compilations. You get more than a clue
from the cover, a chalk drawing of Sinatra in tearful
clown's make-up. The mood is extremely melancholic.
The tempi are very slow and the singing has a personal
sounding sadness. There is none of the dated brashness
of his swing material, this is moody stuff beyond
categorization.
Of course the compositions and arrangements are
'sophisticated', but they compliment the performances
and therefore have not dated at all, while the singing
is as emotional as any blues and soul, only with
control and restraint, so obviously romantic but never
purely sentimental. Sinatra's massive showbiz status
and his dubious friendships in the crime world of Las
Vegas and Washington might blind you to his finest
moments. Well here they are: Willow Weep For Me,
Angel Eyes, One For My Baby, It's A Lonesome Old
Town, and my personal favourite Goodbye.
What if there are no great lyrical insights into the
human condition? These songs date from an era of more
stylised emotions and image, but the voice says it
all.
Excuse Me While I Disappear
Angel Eyes.
Elvis Costello