1/1001

Hello,
For Christmas I received the book '1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die' Edited by Robert Dimery.
For a music lover, this is a true delight. And I know I will spend a lot of time appreciating its content!
I am determined to make my way through this book, album by album and have decided to (hopefully) do a running commentary on this blog, looking at the albums starting from 1955 to present day, seeing which ones I like and which ones I'm not so keen on. I feel like its so easy to get stuck in a 'music rut', and I find a great deal of recent mainstream music to be very 'samey'. I've always had an appreciation for earlier era's such as the 70's (motown) and the 50's (Sinatra) so I'm hoping this book will help me discover other artists that I love along the way :)

So the first album to grace my ears is none other than..

Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours. (1955)

The album is full of expected Sinatra charm and has such a magical feel to it. For sure, its melancholy, and I can see it not being to everybody's taste. When I read that this was composed not long after his relationship with Ava Gardner had ended, I wasn't surprised.  I was very aware throughout listening to the album that there is a great deal of emotion portrayed. The songs evolve around the subject of love often with unrequited, heart-ache themes.
The main songs that most people (including myself to some extent) associate with Sinatra are more upbeat songs, Come Fly With Me to name but one. This album however, has shown a more deeper side to his music that I wasn't initially aware of. I enjoyed this album a great deal.

The two tracks I would certainly listen to again are 'Glad To Be Unhappy' and 'Dancing On The Ceiling' Both are truly magical to me, his voice and the music, its such a treat to listen to.


Next up - Elvis Presley