Sunday, March 11, 2012

Frank Sinatra's "Swing Easy" on Vinyl

For the obvious reason I am always interested in works that came out in 1954, the year of my birth.  Elvis' Sun recordings as well that year.  Its interesting to compare both Frank Sinatra's "Swing Easy" with Elvis and what they were doing at the time.  One was a weird hybrid of popular music filtered through the genius of Sam Phillips via the voice of Elvis and his remarkable band.   Sinatra on the other hand was making one-theme  albums - in a way his recordings for Capital were like narratives that was separated by side one and side two. "Swing Easy" is basically all up-beat pieces arrangement wise as well as for its lyrics.  There is always a dark cloud roaming somewhere around Sinatra's neighborhood, but overall he's fighting that down feeling with being forcefully upbeat.  So there is tension in the recordings.  
Also I am curious to know if he was listening to Sun Recordings.  "Lean Baby" reminds me of Elvis. Now having Sam Phillips behind the recording board for Sinatra....that would have been interesting.  


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