Search - Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jr. Sammy Davis :: Frank Sinatra's Robin & The Seven Hoods

This is my kind of cd

John W. Cotner | Belmont, MI USA | 02/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this is the only cd available of this movie soundtrack of what has become sort of a cult-following flick (up there with ocean's eleven among sinatra's best films), so if you want it, you will have to shell out twice the going rate, to get the overpriced, hokey gold cd, but it is worth it to get this music (and the gold cd sure is shiny...)the sound quality on this digitally remastered cd is really as good as advertised, but perhaps, to rationalize for overpaying for this cd, i imagined hearing nuances and tones that were no different than on a normal cd. nelson riddle's orchestrations are the usual great, swinging 60's sound, and everyone's voices are in top form.the cd liner notes interestingly point out that sinatra was distracted twice during the final wrap up of the movie, in fall of 1963, once when president kennedy was assassinated and then when sinatra's son was kidnapped, and shooting was held up for several days in each instance, but while frank may have worn a graver expression during the last bit of filming, his singing voice was fine to the last. there are four really good songs in this movie -- "my kind of town", "don't be a do badder", "style" and "mister booze." "style" has the most pizzazz, what with its vaudeville straw hat and cane schtick, key changes and build up to a finale, and has frank, dean, sammy and bing each taking a turn out front and is as much a visual treat on dvd as an audio one here. "mr. booze" is a "sit down you're rockin' the boat" kind of "testifyin'" song, and "do badder" is a "high hopes" kind of semi-cutsey kids' song, complete with a little hispanic boy shooting a rubber tipped arrow at bing, singing to all the mini-archers in an orphanage. "my kind of town" is of course now a sinatra trademark, a la "my way" and has become the windy city's unofficial anthem and a comiskey/wrigley pipe organ song, but is nevertheless a great cahn/van heusen song, and again, if you have the dvd, is a visual treat to watch frank interact with the cast as he works the crowd and builds the song to its finale. the other songs are not bad, being by cahn and van heusen, but are basically fluff, inserted in the score to give rat pack a stage to perform, but it is a treat to hear them sing (as it would be to listen to them read the phone book...) if you are a frankophile, a ratpacker or collector of 60's movie soundtracks or just want a movie cd with a few good songs, get this one. even at its high price, it is well worth the money."

Little disappointment

M. A. Doyon | Jewett City, Connecticut United States | 11/15/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"it says it's the original soundtrack but it's not. if you're a big fan of this movie you notice the cuts on this album are rerecorded in a studio. they're not the song cuts that are from the soundtrack. had i known this i might not have bought this album. the sampler from amazon doesn't give enough from the songs so that you realize this."

Eh, It's alright.

Paula A. Stockslager | 09/13/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"On the audio commentary on the DVD of this motion picture, Frank Sinatra Jr. (Does anyone know why he doesn't call Sinatra Sr. "Dad" instead of "Sinatra?") said that his dad wanted to re-record the entire score in stereophonic sound. So, hence, two different versions of every musical number. I already have this version of "My Kind of Town" on the "Reprise Collection" cd. So why should I even buy the cd when they're not the songs I've seen on the movie? The film (monophonic) version of "My Kind of Town" is completely different than the studio version, such as beginning and ending in a higher key, Mr. Sinatra sounds more relaxed and in better voice than in the studio version, and lastly the orchestra on the film version sounds more "live" and spontaneous. I can't find the other version of the soundtrack anywhere. Perhaps Warner Reprise Records will release a special edition with both versions in a few years. Personally, I would, and will, wait for that. One last thing-- did anyone notice that on the cd as well as the film versions of almost all of the songs Dean Martin recorded solo or with Sinatra and Crosby that he sounds really off-key and gravelly (especially towarads the end of the film "Style"). That's not the right spelling, but you know what I mean. It shows how much of a perfectionist Sinatra was, Crosby to a lesser extent. I remember reading somewhere that Mr. Sinatra would spend countless hours just trying to get the right sound in the recording studio, where as Mr. Martin just seemed to throw something together, and then go golfing. But then, that's just probably a personality thing."