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Nice 'n' Easy
Frank Sinatra
Nice 'n' Easy
Genres: Jazz, Pop, Broadway & Vocalists
 
  •  Track Listings (16) - Disc #1

Although it wasn't designed with the cohesive vision of Frank Sinatra's conceptual masterpieces (like In the Wee Small Hours and Only the Lonely), track for track, this "contractual obligation album"--a lig...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Frank Sinatra
Title: Nice 'n' Easy
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Capitol
Release Date: 1/8/2002
Album Type: Original recording remastered
Genres: Jazz, Pop, Broadway & Vocalists
Styles: Traditional Jazz & Ragtime, Vocal Jazz, Oldies, Vocal Pop, Classic Vocalists, Traditional Vocal Pop
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 724353374525

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Although it wasn't designed with the cohesive vision of Frank Sinatra's conceptual masterpieces (like In the Wee Small Hours and Only the Lonely), track for track, this "contractual obligation album"--a lightly swingin' single followed by a bunch of ballads, recorded near the end of his tenure at Capitol--is as strong as anything the singer's ever done. The lightweight title song sets a relaxed tone that's a little misleading--just when you think you can kick back in the recliner and take it "nice 'n' easy" (a swell tune, by the way), Sinatra plunges off the emotional deep end with "That Old Feeling." It's like waking up from an afternoon nap to find yourself afflicted with insomnia in the wee small hours. OK, so he contradicts himself. The first song is about taking your time along the smoothly paved road to romance; the second is about driving straight into the ditch of romantic obsession--the difference, say, between Mia Farrow and Ava Gardner. From this point on, the album's tone is definitely Gardner. And Sinatra's singing has never been more spine-tingling than on the next three songs: sounding unfathomable depths in "How Deep Is the Ocean," seductively cooing "I've Got a Crush on You" in his lover's ear, and unabashedly succumbing to the delirious intoxication of "You Go to My Head," his voice "spinning 'round in my brain like the bubbles in a glass of champagne." You can get drunk on this record. --Jim Emerson

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CD Reviews

Sinatra At His Smooth, Sophisticated Best.
Anthony Nasti | Staten Island, New York United States | 09/10/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Though on the surface not in the same mold as his revolutionary concept albums of the 1950s', Frank Sinatra's 1960 release "Nice 'N' Easy" is one of Ol' Blue Eyes's strongest and most consistent albums of his career.

Made up of reduxes of his Columbia recordings (save one recording), Frank as well as frequent collaborator Nelson Riddle are at the top of their game here.



The album begins with its title track, the only original recording on here and one of Frank's most enduring recordings thanks to its light as the breeze Riddle arrangement, playful lyrics and Frank's smooth as silk vocal performance.



The rest of the album isn't quite as easy going or as fun as the opening song, but nonetheless remains solid throughout. Frank's plumbs the depths of romantic obsession on "How Deep Is The Ocean" to great effect. "You Go To My Head" is hypnotic and bubbly, while "Try A Little Tenderness" is lovely and evocative.



The two highlights for me is the utterly fantastic, definitive renditions of the Gershwin classics "I've Got A Crush On You" and "Embraceable You". These two songs are among the most recorded numbers in The Great American Songbook, but neither have ever been done better than on here. "I've Got A Crush On You" is sung in a tender, coo, while "Embraceable You" is moody and seductive, with Frank's lower register adding to the already risque nature of the song.



The rest of the album is equally entertaining, especially the beautiful closing track, the Johnny Mercer classic "Dream", which features one of Nelson Riddle's most ingenius arrangements.



A total of four bonus tracks have been added to the original 12 tracks, all of which make welcome additions to this already excellent album. The highlight would be Frank's definitve rendering of another Gershwin classic, "Someone To Watch Over Me". With its pensive trumpet, distant strings and Frank's longing, tender vocal performance, this standard has never been given a better treatment.



"Nice 'N' Easy" is a tremendously successful recording from The Master. I highly recommend it, and I agree with other reviewers that it makes for an excellent background recording to a romantic evening."