Search - Frank Sinatra :: Duets & Duets 2

Please stay away from the Duets releases - they're awful

Jon Warshawsky | San Diego, CA USA | 10/03/1999

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Sinatra is the single best voice of American song, and the Duets albums are the absolute worst Sinatra albums available. I own more than 50 Sinatra albums, and I can unequivocally say that the Duets I & II albums are the only ones I NEVER LISTEN TO. The version of "I've Got You Under My Skin" may be the single worst piece of noise that has ever emerged with Frank's voice on it. You absolutely MUST listen to the REAL albums, such as Songs for Swingin' Lovers, Only the Lonely, Come Fly with Me and others. SAVE YOUR MONEY!! There are so many perfect Sinatra albums that I would feel terrible if you bought this mass-market rubbish instead of the others."

Change Partners...

svf | 03/03/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"For rabid completists only...which would include myself. However, of all the Sinatra CDs in the universe to add to your collection, these should be the last. For the same money you can buy 3 or 4 classic Capitol or Reprise albums that are among the finest records ever made. If you already have Duets I or II and are considering buying this for the extra interview tracks, stay away... it's not interesting stuff at all and not worth the extra money. Many of these Sinatra performances would actually be worth hearing without the overdubbed "duets" by this strange cast of characters that only a marketing & PR committee could have ever dreamed up (Jimmy Buffet? Gloria Estefan? Luther Vandross? Bono????). In fact, "One For My Baby" is a beautiful, twilight reading tainted only by the thakfully minimal overdubbed soprano sax noodlings of the nauseating Kenny G. There are a few other near misses here: duets with Lorrie Morgan, Natalie Cole, Lena Horne, and Linda Ronstadt are okay... Still, this set will leave you cold and wanting to hear more of The Man and less of his phoned-in guests. (rumor has it that you can find a "black-market" CD of Sinatra's vocals from these sessions without the overdubbed duets [it's titled "Solos"]. Too bad Capitol Records hasn't released those tracks as a "Limited Edition" instead of this set.)"

An excellent example of the Chairman's versatility

David Reynolds | San Francisco, CA | 12/18/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Man..No, the ChairMAN of the Board, has no equal. These albums, both 1 & 2, at his age when they were done, are demonstrations of style, technique, versatility, phrasing and admittedly some technology. No Sinatra fan should be without them."