I know, I write an awful lot about Frank Sinatra, especially considering that the guy croaked his last "Dooby-dooby-doo" almost 14 years ago, and has been swingin' in that great nightclub in the sky for over a decade. But as a hardcore fan, I feel duty-bound to report any Sinatra goings-on in the space Arianna allots me. And as long as the Sinatra estate keeps botching the great man's legacy, I'll keep shining a light on every miscue and fumble. With that in mind....
If you've browsed your favorite digital music retailer recently, you may have noticed that Frank Sinatra's Reprise albums - almost three dozen of them, recorded between 1960-84 - are now available for purchase as downloads. If you've gone to your local record store, however - assuming you still have a local record store, or even know what a record store is - you'll find that none of them have been reissued as CDs, nor will they be at any point soon. This despite the fact that the original, out-of-print discs can fetch up to a couple hundred bucks apiece online.
The idea of download-only releases is a reasonable one, assuming you're talking about the Jonas Brothers or Lil Wayne or some other artist beloved by the under-25 set, which grew up downloading music and thinks of compact discs the way my generation thought of blank tapes. But Sinatra?
Rhino Records, which is handling Sinatra's Reprise catalog, and his estate, run in part by Frank's daughter Nancy, made a huge miscalculation with this one. They're neglecting Sinatra's older fans, who aren't iTunes-savvy or who prefer getting a physical object for their money. They're neglecting all the fans who already own this stuff on CD and would buy it again to get improved sound, but won't settle for crummy compressed MP3 files. And they're neglecting the hardcore collectors who would snap up the CDs but can live without files on their hard drives.
Nancy Sinatra has defended her actions by pointing out that releasing all these albums on CD would "flood the marketplace." Which is exactly what she's done, cyber-style, by releasing them all on the same day for download (only on iTunes; other digi-retailers will get the entire catalog later). She's also stated that most record stores wouldn't bother stocking the more obscure titles. Which is likely true. But that doesn't mean online retailers wouldn't stock them. Heck, Rhino Records has its own boutique mail order-only label, Rhino Handmade, which presses limited edition CDs of titles they think have a finite audience. Why not market them there?
I wish that Nancy would come out and tell it like it is: "To all you fans who followed my father for decades, who went to the concerts and bought all the records and loved him even at the end, when he could barely get through a song without forgetting the words -- screw you. You're a big pain in the ass, constantly bitching at me for new CDs and unreleased material. I'm going for the young fans, the ones who haven't hit their peak earning power yet, the ones who don't already own "Strangers In The Night" on a dozen different compilations. They're happy listening to crappy sounding downloads on their little iPod earbuds, and I'm happy to take their money. And if you don't like it, who cares? You'll all be dead soon anyway."
At least it would show a little integrity on her part, however twisted.
If you like CDs, you like Sinatra and you don't like the Sinatra estate, run down to your local music emporium (or click your mouse to their website, if you're so inclined) and pick up a copy of Sinatra On The Radio: The Lucky Strike 'Lite-Up Time' Shows. Is it an official Sinatra CD? I highly doubt it. Is it legal? I have no idea, although I know the copyright on this stuff has expired in Europe. Is it swingin'? You betcha. And does it include "My Way," "Strangers In The Night," or "New York, New York"? Thank heavens, no.
What it does include is Ol' Blue Eyes back when he was Young Blue Eyes, on his own daily, 15-minute radio program, Light Up Time, which ran from 1949 to 1950. In front of a squealing, predominantly female audience, Sinatra banters, jokes, and sings the living daylights out of classics like "Body And Soul," "I've Got A Crush On You," and "All Of Me," as well as more obscure gems like "A Man Wrote A Song" and "Maybe It's Because."
Die-hard Frankie fanatics may have much of this material, which circulated on bootlegs back in the '90s, but to most fans it'll be a welcome discovery. The sound has been cleaned up beautifully, and the compilers really know their Frank, as the scholarly liner notes prove. I just hope this bit of free publicity doesn't inspire Miz Sinatra to sic her legal team on the label that released it. My advice is to pick up this CD fast, while you still can. You won't regret it.