Search - Rat Pack :: the rat pack -10 cd-set

A Pack Rat's Rat Pack

J. H. Minde | Boca Raton, Florida and Brooklyn, New York | 10/11/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Yeah, sure pallie, this 10 CD import box set has about 175 songs on it. And, yeah, it's the Rat Pack, or at least it's The Leader, Drunky and Smokey Baby (that's Mr. Frank Sinatra, Mr. Dean Martin and Mr. Sammy Davis Jr. to you) singing.



Sounds great, right? Well, it's not quite jake---



For one thing, The Boys are each singing solo on nine out of the ten CDs. Only one disc has duets and triplets and is actually labelled "The Rat Pack." Even that one has mixed solos on it.



For another thing, these discs are career compilations containing everything and anything from Frank's Bobby Soxer days to Sammy's throwaway studio tracks of vocal impressions, to Dean's rough cuts and first takes of various and sundry. The glory days of The Summit it is not.



Still, it's not so bad, except that the recordings aren't remastered, leaving the volume variable from track to track and the sound often muddy or muffled. Basically, this is a dusty-attic collection of every Frank Sinatra, Dino and Sammy song you never heard in your life. None of the classic classics are here, and there's none of that priceless Rat Pack schmooze that makes LIVE AT THE SANDS or LIVE AND SWINGIN' so irreplaceable. Give them a listen for the "live" experience.



It's low budget (at $17.99 it works out to a buck twelve bits and some per disc), and if you're a Rat Pack fan it's well worth having just for the odds and ends (at that price you can't go wrong if you're adding to your music library), but if you're just getting into the Rat Pack, don't be a Clyde. There are much better Rat Pack albums out there to spend your dough on---Try EEE-OH-ELEVEN or BOYS' NIGHT OUT for the "in-studio experience"."