How Frank Sinatra Invented the Album
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- Опубликовано: 3 авг 2024
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00:00 Intro
00:48 Title Card
00:55 Context
01:51 Something More
02:26 Concept
03:06 Title Track
03:46 Creating the Mood
04:11 I Get Along Without You Very Well
04:43 No Persona
06:27 Album Artwork
07:04 Printing
07:50 Conclusion 
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it's the first album listed in the book 1,000 albums you must hear before you die.
The second album listed is Elvis Presley's debut. Very fitting; it's part of the reason I love that book.
I´ve never could get past the first half of the 60´s, is it that good?
Isn't it listed in chronological order?
@@DanBurnette Sort of. The entries (and this is true of all the books in the "1001" series I've read) are sorted chronologically by year, but how they're sorted within the year is up to the writers' discretion and tends to be chosen for this kind of artistic effect. If they'd been stricter, "In The Wee Small Hours" would still be first, but "Songs for Swingin' Lovers!" also by Sinatra would be second, and that'd be kind of disappointing. That, and it allows them to smooth the history out into something resembling a narrative, and avoid (and, in a few cases, deliberately cause) genre clumping.
bruuh i had that book and never read it!
Frank Sinatra the original sad boy
grxg h This comment makes me inexplicably angry. Probably because it’s true.
also original cute one
I'm dying hahahaha
grxg h this album is art
That is some how epic
In the 1950s, FS made four peerless albums which were known as the Suicide Sets :-
In The Wee Small Hours
Where Are You?
Only The Lonely
No One Cares
Each album was progressively bleaker. I've listened to Swans, Joy Division, Nick Drake,
Neil Young, Iggy, Lou Reed, and Scott Walker, at their most forlorn.
None of them have matched those albums.
It speaks volumes that FS' personal favourite was "Only The Lonely".
He admitted he was a 24-carat manic depressive, and "Songs For Swingin' Lovers"
plus "Only The Lonely" are truly two sides of his real personality.
"I Could've Told You" from late 1953 was a foretaste of things to come.
Three days earlier, he slashed his wrists over the failure of his marriage to Ava Gardner.
He would've bled to death, if his manager hadn't decided to visit his house by chance.
After that terrible incident, he recorded this beautifully desolate song.
It is truly heartbreaking, especially the events leading up to it.
No male singer before or since has captured the essence of loneliness better than
Frank.
Rob Jones frankie was such a sad boi
So true. They really are the saddest albums I know. I attribute it a lot to the intimacy of the vocals. Sinatra’s singing is front and center, with all its emotion. Hits home every time.
I always think there a few Steinbeck characters who probably listened to Sinatra and nothing but Sinatra.
You forgot Leonard Cohen.
@@rrr1063 "The Partisan" is very haunting. Easily his
most sorrowful track. "The frontiers are my prison".
Only Swans' "Failure" has matched it.
polyphonic: “let’s take a closer look”
me: 🔍👀
Spy kids enhancement glasses gif*
The fact that pointless comments like these get hundreds of likes is phenomenal to me
Dude at this point your videos are so good it's insane. Not only is the information interesting, it's also so freaking well presented. I almost watch your videos more for the animations and the theme every video has, than for the content itself. It's like every single one of your videos is an artwork - from the intro (that gets me to insta-like the vid every single time), to the font and colors you use, to the smooth transitions between songs.
Please keep up the really great work!
ABSOLUTELY agree!
Came to the comments to write this and saw it was already written 😂
I might get some hate from this, but.. his information isn't always very accurate. It is VERY well presented, and isn't totally off or anything. But I'm a music history nerd too, and it's pretty well known that Woodie Guthrie was doing this in 1940 with Dust Bowl Ballads. It's usually cited as the first "concept album" as the songs come together to hold a larger collective narrative. Sinatra did popularize it in many ways, though. But he in no way created it himself. Frank Sinatra did not invent the album. It's much like the Dylan - Watchtower video. Talking up a record that wasn't even intentionally supposed to be sparse and minimal. There's the complete album with lots of other instruments that Dylan originally intented, and it's in the Tulsa Oklahoma archive. Also using Watchtower as a candidate to show how good of a songwriter he has been is kind of weird. I think something like It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleed, anyone of the acoustic songs on Bringin It All Back Home really. Or a song from Blood on the Tracks like Idiot Wind or Simple Twist of Fate. Watchtower doesn't really show Dylan in his element. If you ask most big Dylan fans, they would agree I imagine.
I'm just saying, Polyphonic is cool in that it introduces people to music history, but it's kind of like elementary school where you learn really simplified information like "The pilgrims came to America and started it, eating with the Indians on Thanksgiving", etc. Then you get older in HS and college and get told about Dutch colonies, and all the other Europeans. Not to mention the Native Americans.
I don't know if anyone will even see this, but always do your own research.
This! So many this!
Erik, if you haven't already seen his posters, by god you'd think it was Christmas
so wait a minute, does this mean evolution of album went full 180 and backwards because all we have now are bunch of singles compiled into spotify playlists
... and litteratur is replaced with
😘🌮🤑🧐🤔
You're correct
Yes. Good albums are like books, They are put together with great care and artistry and intended to be listened it in order, not on a playlist. It damn sure helps if you listen to the album on a GOOD stereo system and not a phone, or a blue tooth speaker digitally compressed, auto tuned, and so formulaic that the heart and soul is taken out of the music.
not "all we have no" whatsoever,,, artists still put out albums but some mainstream pop musicians only really care for their singles, and that's okay. tere's so much music put there is literally nothing to complain about lol
we'll swing back around the other way in a new form eventually. life is cyclical
If there's ever biopic about Frank Sinatra, "In the Wee Small Hours" would be the perfect title.
Wow Polyphonic, Lie Likes Music, and Middle 8 in one day
It's blowing my goddamn mind.
The holy triumvirate.
I like everyone here except LLM. Sounds like he's reading from a wiki page the whole time.
@@Revealingstorm. This. And he basically is. What he's doing is basically what you do when you have to write an essay about something so you just take the wikipedia page and rearrange the words.
Lie Likes Music is so boring
I think you might want to say that the influence of the album art came from Edward Hopper. You used his art earlier in the video, and lots of his artwork was very parallel to the songs on this album.
I just hit the like button to your comment.I don t do this often.Respect.
Does anybody else think that Frank Sinatra deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?. Pop stars have been in the hall and i think Sinatra is as important as Madonna and Michael Jackson. Sinatra embodies the rock star way before rock and roll was invented.
Dave Teves If a rapper can get into the hall Frank should too
i dont think so because he isnt a rock artist. I know madonna isn't, Jackson is questionable but most likely not, but it doesn't make Sinatra rock
S2000 squad that hasn’t stopped other non rock stars from getting in
@@EpicStuffMan1000 lol so is Madonna or Aretha Franklin. I mean hip-hop artidts have been in the Hall as well so why not Frank? If you ask me Frank Sinatra is more of a rock star than Nina Simone.
You don't have to "rock" to be a "star".
Frank Sinatra was so Iconic, I wish I was alive to see him in concert. He is what has gotten me through all the struggles of high school, This album, In the Wee Small Hours as well as Songs for Swinging Lovers has to be my favorites, both masterpieces depicting such strong emotions through every single song. Rest In Peace. Ol' Blue Eyes
Would love to see you dissect Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On album
Marty Jannetty ikr. That album was like the sgt pepper of soul music.
Or maybe sly and the family stone’s there’s a riot goin’ on
There's a riot going on
and the here my dear album
Well lucky you! He just did
Wow you can hear the tremble in his voice in "When You Lover Has Gone". That's not a subtle vibrato.
At around this time he attempted suicide after his break up with Ava Gardner.
Honestly, I've been kinda avoiding Sinatra because I always saw his music as just happy, run of the mill pop, but this video is making me rethink that.
Jonathan Morales His sad, forlorn records are amazing. While I love his Swing music, albums like In The Wee Small Hours and No One Cares changed my life.
His "Torch" songs are amazing. Check out "One more for the road" and "You and Me" for starters. There are so many great ones.
Check out Nice 'n easy album with Nelson Riddle. It's my favourite, because you get it all - upbeat and happy-go-lucky and very atmospheric blues songs like She's funny that way.
September of My Years, Come Fly With Me, Point of No Return, All Alone, It Might As Well Be Swing are great also just to name a few.
Listen to One for my baby and one more for the road
Much as I adore this record, there's something to be said of Woody Guthrie's "Dust Bowl Ballads" as being the first real album back in 1940, fifteen years before In the Wee Small Hours.
Exactly the comment I wanted to post :)
But he was focusing on the LP format. Dust Bowl Ballads was only released as six 78s in 1940, was never intended to be a 12" record (unlike what Sinatra wanted from the beginning), and wasn't released as an LP until the1964 Folkways re-issue.
@@matthewbolin9646 ah, fair enough. That's very true
True, but they were released as 2 sets of 3discs. I don't know if it was the very first regular album, but al least it's the oldest example of a concept album as for as i know. There were lots of regular albums before Frank's, in the jazz and classical world.
I think this is a really great point. Like with a lot of things, it's difficult to pinpoint the exact place. I definitely agree that Woodie Guthrie was doing something conceptual and laying the groundwork for the album, particularly in the Western Popular tradition. It really opens the discussion into what qualifies as an album vs. a collection of songs, because people have been doing themed song cycles and things like that for a long time.
Damn, I love how you paint with your story with the graphics and animation of cover elements! That’s some heavy photoshopping to create all those parts. Top notch! 😎
Holy cow! Fancy seeing you here, man!
This and Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely are two of my favorite Sinatra records.
Only the Lonely was Nelson Riddle's personal favorite.
Agree!
Such a lovely era in popular music. I’ve not heard good things about Sinatra on a personal level but what a beautiful voice he had. Fascinating subject matter very well done.
Marc Scordato he was a good person, you have to read his biographies to fully understand him. For example, he practically desegregated Las Vegas single handedly, was known for tipping $100 to waiters, waitresses and such and donated SO much money and did so much for/to charity. He was a complex man and he did many bad things, but as a man I’d say he was far more of a good person than bad.
@@mikeycondry1493 agreed
If I’m not mistaken, BB King had said that this was his favorite album, and that he would listen to it, in full, at least once a day.
Sinatra is so iconic, so awesome of you to cover him!
So it's more like he "invented" the concept album, not the concept of an album.
he didn't even do that woody guthrie did in 1940.
Right, except add the word "pop" and you've got it.
In The Wee Small Hours is one of absolute favourite albums ever!
I can't believe you made this, totally unexpected, this is one of my favorite albums of all time, if not THE favorite. I had literally spent dozens of nights just listening to this album again and again and again... I discovered it in a moment of my life where loneliness and sadness were taking over me and helped me a lot to go through all that, it's literally how loneliness in a cold night sounds...
I'm going to give it a listen now! It's been a while since the last time I did...
Thank you!!!
I hope all is going well now but I agree this album is so good
You should do a video about the uniqueness of Willie Nelson’s music. From taking inspiration from Jazz in Django Reindhart to his obsessive relationship with his guitar. He’s a fantastic artist and I think it’d be interesting to see your take on his work
"Frank Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely", one of the best things ever put on vinyl. I listened to this album every day for about a year. Up until I heard this album I never understood the fascination with Sinatra. Once I heard I began to get it. Love "In The Wee Small Hours" but if you want to hear 'lonely guy' listen to "Sings For Only The Lonely".
I agree. And these are my two favorite albums by him. So much emotion and lonesomeness in every song.
I was born in 1950. Sinatra albums were an important part of my mom and dad's record collection, so a lot of my early soundtrack.
I just bought this album on vinyl a month ago and now you made a video about it! This is great!
"I Get Along Without You Very Well" is one of my favorite standards. My favorite is Chet Baker's rendition.
Chet Baker-now there's a guy who had the blues, for good reason.
Frank wouldn't stop here with the idea of the concept album with such classics as Come Fly With Me and my personal favorite September of My Years.
Album is originally a term that is descriptive of the physical item being sold. dates back to the 20's. Literally an album with sleeves for multiple 78 rpm records. The era you are talking about saw the death of the album and the birth of the LP (long playing record).
Found this album in the beginning of 2020 and is one of my favorite albums of all time. Thank you so much for this video! Sometimes I really feel like no ones even heard of this album and it’s being lost to history!
I really really love videos like these ones- analytical video essays or whatever you call them. I had to scroll down just to say this is exactly what I like to see on RUclips , especially as I crawl into bed
i have no clue how you dont have more subs
He's growing pretty quick, expect 1m by the end of the year
He actually has a pretty big following considering he's only been around for like a year.
Frank did many concept albums after this, including "September of my Years", my favorite. It touches on the concept of time running out, growing older, memories etc.
I discovered it at age 37 when I thought I was getting old......HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
NOW i am 58, wishing I was 37
I love this channel. There is no channel like yours on youtube along with how good your editing is, it is just great. I always get excited whenever I see a new video!
Just discovered this album a few months ago. Been playing it nearly every day and it's still my favorite.
the presentation of ALL of your videos is outstanding, especially this year!
I love Sinatra but it'd be great if you ever did a video related to Dean Martin :))
Moy the Boy Dean Martn, Jerry Vale. So many better singers than Sinatra.....
he should just do a video on how iconic the rat pack was or something like that
The Sierra SuTM iconic, yes, 50 years ago, but Sinatra was such a jag off, no one today cares.......
He should also do a video on Bing Crosby and how he became America’s quintessential artist during the 30s and 40s. Also how he has scored the most number one hits ever more than The Beatles or Elvis. Plus he financed and popularised the development of tape which revolutionised the recording industry
Sadly he is only remembered as a white guy that liked to play golf
You absolutely need to do a video on the creator of modern American music: Bing Crosby.
keep up the excellent work buddy, this channel is destined to be big!
Hey man this was a real good video I appreciate it. In the Wee Small Hours is one of the few records I cared to own in a non-reissue and it's one of my favorite albums.
Gotta say I learn a lot everytime I get back in this channel, thanks!
Great video! Good to see how the album format really began :)
So this was basically 1950s 808s and heartbreak? Nice
Damn you're pretty right on that one
Don't put this timeless, incredible piece of art next to that dumpster fire.
@@TheDealer1228 It's okay to have an utterly wrong opinion
Joseph R. You may as well leave these interesting music videos and discussions if you’re going to come out with horseshit like that
@@TheDealer1228 yikes
Top notch editing + informative and entertaining content = great videos every time! Keep it up my man.
Your vids are always so interesting and being knowledgeable makes them stellar.
Kudos 🔥
Fascinating and beautifully put together as always
Another fantastic video! Thanks so much. That was really a pleasure to watch.
Very interesting. And the segue into the ad was seamless.
So it's the first emo album?
AhhahahH
If Emo was actually good then yes :)
Emo is for boys expressing their sadness of their breakup of their high school girlfriend. This however is a man gracefully expressing real sadness
@@theroebuck123456789 No, emo is when the guitarist starts crying when he breaks a string.
@@TurtleGamers1 or chip a nail, they find reasons to be sad on the smallest things
I have this on vinyl. Lovely record. Keep up the good work! I think a video on the history of the song "Singin' in the rain" would be sooo cool
Man, I couldn't have said it any better myself. In The Wee Small Hours has been my favourite album for quite some time now and seeing someone as verbally talented as you expressing how great it is literally brought a tear to my eye. Thank you, Polyphonic!
Another amazing video. No words for the work you do, keep it up!
Thumbs up and subscribed. Professional documentaries. Every enjoyable. Written, and presented so well. A+
I was about to argue that his first album or what could be deemed an album from his later fame was his 1946 release "The Voice Of Frank Sinatra", and the second argument being that the first album to be packaged as one for singularity as a 12 inch vinyl was the Mendelsson Concerto In E Minor for Violin and Orchestra Op 44 from 1945 released by Columbia as well. I decided to hear you out as you are one of my favorite RUclipsrs, and have valid research--but I only agree with you as far as the concept album goes. Also, his first collection of songs reissued into an album of it's own in 1948--great video as always though.
Thanks for being such a quality channel, I love it. Do you reckon you will ever do a video about elo?
Real big fan of your vids, learning something everytime💯
Finally a video-essay on Sinatra. Been looking for something like this for the longest time
Excellent. Thanks for taking the time.
Just found this channel. Watched a couple videos, definitely deserved a sub. Kudos.
Still listen to In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning to thjs day. The entire album is a classic, but that title track is just perfection.
Nicely scored video!
Great video. The 50’s were a great time for Sinatra, along with other artists such as Nat Cole, Dean Martin, Patty Page...
This album was a “first”, in the sense that it had a central theme, a continuity, call it a “vibe”... Nelson Riddle’s arrangements were perfect for Sinatra and the songs chosen.
Also, prior to 1950 or so, Sinatra had been singing into mostly dynamic and ribbon microphones, and with the start of that decade, his “go to” mic at Capitol Studios became a Telefunken/Neumann U47/48 Condenser mic, a tube model, which had a gorgeous sonic signature that was perfect for Sinatra. It had a beautifully warm and rich signature, with a silky top end, that previous studio mics didn’t offer. While Sinatra’s performances were stellar, the U47/48 mic he used captured his voice perfectly, and he knew it, too. It became his favorite mic from that point on.
Well done on the video. Interesting stuff!
🙏
So happy you did a video about my favorite artist
The best version of I get along without you very well is the Chet Baker version.
Nice vids BTW!
You just got a subscrobbler. The Graphics in this vid are phenomenal.
I'm usually not a fan of this kind of music, but you gave me another album to check out, so thank you.
Sinatra brought Nelson Riddle to Capitol Records. Unfortunately, you didn't mention his other album, "Only The Lonely". He also litterally begged EMI, Capitol's parent company for a recording contract. He lobbied for days in the lobby of the newly erected Capitol Building. Sinatra was at creative odds with Alex Stordahl and Columbia Records, his original label. But this is another great addition to your library of music history! I have the albums mentioned, vinyl and CD. Interesting to compare the two. I prefer the vinyl though.
Not true! Nelson Riddle was already under contract to Capitol before they signed Sinatra. He had arranged hits for major singers, including Nat "King" Cole's "Mona Lisa" and "Too Young" and Ella Mae Morse's "Blacksmith Blues." In fact, when Sinatra first started at Capitol he insisted on using Axel Stordahl for his first Capitol session, "I'm Walking Behind You." Capitol executives Dave Dexter and Voyle Gilmore put pressure on Sinatra to use Riddle for his next session for them after "I'm Walking Behind You" flopped, and the effect of Riddle's arrangements on Sinatra singles like "I've Got the World on a String," "South of the Border" and "Don't Worry 'Bout Me" was galvanic. And EMI didn't buy Capitol until 1956, three years after Sinatra signed with them.
This whole record is painfully beautiful. The last track 'This Love of Mine' breaks me down every time I hear it.
Thank you for sharing a great glimpse into the genius behind Sinatra & his collaborators. What you could of also shared was Sinatra helped bring what we know as "the concept album", an album relating to a particular theme and/or set of emotions. You wanted songs for you and your sweetheart? You had albums like "Songs for Young Lovers", ('54) "Songs for Swingin' Lovers" ('56') "Sinatra's Swingin' Affair'', ('57) You wanted songs of unrequited love or heart break? "No One Cares" ('59) "Only The Lonely" ('58) and " In The Wee Small Hours" ('55)- ALL Made in Sinatra' 9 year span with the Capitol label.
This would be one of my very few desert island discs
Man I forgot how interesting these videos are.. great job man really
I hope you will do a video on Sinatra's Watertown album sometime.
Such an overlooked piece.
Please consider the 78rpm albums of the 40s and early 50s. The Crosby albums were released with themes: ballads, country/ western, hits, Spanish music, etc. those were the infancy of what we came to later, in the late 60s, regarded as albums.
But you are right, this album had a theme to it. It was a long playing record! More over, the cover spoke of the mood, the feel of the music inside. It was part of the process.
The Beatles LPs, the English releases, really become cohesive themes. You can’t argue with Rubber Soul, and onward releases as being themed albums. But even Beatles For Sale is an early take on this. Please visit that album. Their songs, their playing their new ones, the oldies tracks they chose and their playing them, the cover, and the photo inside (which relates to the project itself).
Of course, everyone says Sgt Peppers was the first. It was the first major, innovative LP to be so very much a project that was what the album, or the concept album came to be.
Hey, thanks for sharing your expertise.
Sinatra was ahead of his time in more ways than one. He was one of the first to have a tape player installed in his car, and later on he endorsed one of the first video game consoles.
I never heard about the video game console. Tell me more, please.
I heard that the recording engineering of this album was unconventional too
Do you remember any details about it?
@@elsapucai
I found the documentary. It said that Sinatra was the boss of microphone, using it like nobody else, playing with the range between the mic and him. He mastered the way to use technically the microphone to put emotion into words.
But nothing would be done without the technological progress of microphones which allowed to capture different shades of singing.
@@elsapucai Ooh, if you're into engineering, you gotta find Granata's book Sessions With Sinatra. It can be rented on archive for free.
I love your use of Hopper's Nighthawks painting.
Great vid! Great channel!
I could never get into Sinatra but you make me want to check this release out. Who knows, I may end up becoming a fan.
Jeffery Jones This album is unlike anything he’s ever done. In a good way.
I really recommend you listen to only the lonely and where are you albums those are the best ones to listen to if you want something sad but if you want something jazzy then listen to come dance with me and come fly with me albums
Listen to some of his Columbia records, when he had a sweet tenorish sound.
i encourage you to give it a listen
I can't thank you enough fro making this video. It got me into Sinatra.
I love your work!
Sinatra: *falls to the other end of 30 and loses status*
Meanwhile in 2019
Ringo Starr: hey guys I got a new album!
Since seeing this video I had been looking for a vinyl of this album, and finally found one! It will be very nice to listen to it as it was intended by him nearly 70 years later, thanks for the great content
The animations for the covers are insane!
Frank needs more attention nowadays, i hope one of these days old music is as appreciated as much as it deserves
This is a fantastic channel. Knowledgeable, creative beautiful stylish presentation that reinforces the information. Well structured narrative, all elements expertly executed. THIS is what You Tube was created for. Can I suggest a breakdown of the Philly Sound and Motown.
Excellent review!!!
Thank you for doing this break down My grandpa and my pops loves Frankie
i fucking love when he says "lets take a closer look" and the jingle sounds
Another excellent video. I'm tempted to give this a look.😉👍
It was at this Week, when I startet to listen to Frank Sinatra again. Perfect Timing!
I believe the "record album" started out as just that - a collection of records held in a single "book-style" album.
When I was a small kid in the early 50's, my parents had some of these. Each one consisted of an album cover (like a photo album), with record sleeves inside, each holding a 78-rpm disc. There were 6 or 8 or maybe even 12 record sleeves in one of these.
A bit later, there were smaller albums that held a collection of 45's.
I don't recall whether this was something that was sold as a set, or whether you'd just buy the album, empty, and use it to store 78's that you might like to play in a stack on the record changer.
In any case, I don't think that what came to be called an album - a single LP (33⅓) with several tracks - would have been given that name without the sort of precedent I described.
But this was almost 7 decades ago, and my memory may be a little hazy...
Fred
You should consider doing a video on Sinatra’s album ‘Point Of No Return’ it’s one of my all time favorites (: awesome video by the way
Excellent polyphonic! Could you make a video on the diferentes strategies of album sequencing?
@Scott Anderson thank u
I need to hear the album. I love the wee small hours of the morning when I’ve stayed up all night. When it’s as dark as it’s ever going to get and then the light starts appearing.
What a high quality video essay; academically informative and aesthetically beautiful.
Nice use of the painting Nighthawks!
2:50 that picture was in my English textbook from 7th grade
Nerdwriter1 created a video about this art piece, you should check it out. I can't remember what the name of the piece is called tho I'm afraid just scroll his uploads
Thank you for creating this video.
One of the best channels on RUclips!!!