LimeWire Music Blog

This set focuses on Frank Sinatra’s recordings for Capitol, the label The Chairman of the Board called home from 1954 until 1961, when he departed to start his own venture, the soon-to-be-legendary Reprise Records. Though Sinatra’s ’40s and early ’50s work on Columbia cemented his superstar status, more of his finest moments were captured during his Capitol tenure than any other era. There’s such a wealth of rich Capitol material to delve into that it’s virtually impossible to come up with a dud, but this collection does a nice job of maintaining a balance between well-known classics and less obvious selections. On one hand, you get definitive swingin’ statements like “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “All Of Me,” and “Witchcraft,” but the less celebrated tunes here are equally jaw-dropping. The rhapsodic romance that drips from Sinatra’s every note on “I Am Loved,” for instance, or the forlorn tones of his lonely-guy lament “The Girl Next Door,” showcase his interpretive gifts just as effectively as this package’s more ubiquitous tracks.