Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours

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Mission Control - Entry Number 007

Artist: Frank Sinatra
Title: In The Wee Small Hours

Release Date:  1955
Length: 49 min
Relevance: 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die;  RS #100 (2003) / #101 (2005)

My Favorites: "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning"

TLDR: Music From and Inspired By The Film "Frank Sinatra's Heart Being Destroyed and Killed"

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Finally, an album.  Not a collection, not a compilation, but a real, discrete album, a specific unit of music released as a whole.  What significance does this have for my mission?  Not sure yet.  It indicates that long-playing LPs (redundant) have started being manufactured and consumers started paying for an hour's worth of music at a time.  Beyond that, I'll have to wait and see.

This is not just the first album on the list, but the first concept album ever.  ...Pseudo.  The concept here seems to be "Frank Sinatra is sad," which makes sense because it came out during a separation from his wife, Ava Gardner.  Kind of surprising that Sinatra would record such a revealing set of songs and release it at such a time.  Seems kind of tabloidy.

But what about the actual music?  Well, it's okay.  It definitely feels like any of these could be a musical number two-thirds of the way through a movie, right when Mr. and Mrs. Protagonist are splitting up.  It has a very cinematic feel, and it's not hard to imagine scenes to go with the lyrical imagery and swelling orchestra.

A few of the songs aren't too slow to be catchy... and a few have memorable choruses... and a few you might be able to whistle... but lots of the record kind of drags on... and it's not at all what I'd call uplifting... and it's all sort of a downer... and some of it sort of meanders... and it's sort of... slow.  I'm sure it's a great breakup record, but I haven't ever had a breakup I've been too sad about, so I'll just have to assume it's relatable.  I don't think I'll listening to this record very much in the future.  At least I hope I won't.

Finally: where does this music fit in with the music I've heard so far in the mission?  Well, it doesn't fit in very much at all.  It seems to be the earliest example of a genre I've seen called "vocals".  Maybe it sounds a bit like jazz, but slowed down, and without the interesting, improvisational, fun parts.  Some of these may be songs from musical theater, or severely reimagined jazz songs.  Interestingly, it doesn't sound at all like the blues. 

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Up Next: The rough draft of the blueprint for rock n roll.

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1001 Albums revision

It looks like I need to plan on staying alive another month longer than I thought... yes, the "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" book/list has been revised again.   I went to Powell's and made a list of the albums at the end of the book that weren't already on my list.  Here are the additions I've found so far:

   Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
   Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
* Portishead - Third
   Slipknot - All Hope is Gone
* TV On The Radio - Dear Science
* Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
   Q-Tip - The Renaissance
* MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
   Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
* Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
* Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
* Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

* indicates that I've heard good things about the album, that I wasn't surprised to see it on the list, and that I'm looking forward to hearing it in about 13 years.

These will be have been added into the Master Lists pretty soon. I haven't done a completely anal-retentive search through the revised book/list, so if there were any albums that have been added other than at the end, I'll find them later. 

I wonder if the book/list is going to be updated every year... and if that means I'll live forever...