A grim night at the Palladium yesterday. Watching high-definition video clips of Frank Sinatra was enjoyable enough, especially for those of us who aren't old enough to have seen him in his prime. Sadly, the bland, all-dancing jukebox musical built around the footage is not much more than cruise ship fare. Yet another example of the West End dumbing down. If you're as big a Frankophile as I am, you'd be better off seeking out the CD of his 1962 concert at the Paris Lido or this mid-Sixties TV performance.
Strange, when you think about it, how few really good live recordings he made. The dates at the Sands and Madison Square Garden both drag a bit. Will Friedwald - the best man to consult on the music - argues that it's because his self-discpline tended to desert him on-stage. You can hear that even in the Paris show (all those off-colour jokes and the griping about his indigestion.)
The last time I saw him live, at Foxwoods Casino, just before he retired in 1994, was a bizarre experience. Sometimes the amnesia struck again - even with the autocues running in front of him. After the second or third occasion, he bawled out his son, Frank Jr, who was conducting the orchestra. At other times he was just wonderful.
ENCORE: As you can see, the critical verdict on the show was just about unanimous.
Incidentally, Bint's comment (below) set me thinking about the one film that truly captured the Rat Pack ethos - not Ocean's 11, but Billy Wilder's gloriously tasteless sex comedy, Kiss Me Stupid. I've mentioned it before, but I'm always happy to plug it, since it's one of those Wilder satires that's fallen between the cracks. Sinatra's not actually in it, nor are Sammy D and Peter L, but Dean Martin is fantastic, more or less playing himself.
Thanks for this, guess I won't be seeing that then! Incidentally, did you see The Rat Pack? Was pleasantly surprised despite the fact that the understudies were on that night, Sammy Davis was disastrous though.
Posted by: Bint | Thursday, March 09, 2006 at 12:02 PM
Not my cup of tea (or bourbon), unfortunately!
Posted by: Clive D | Thursday, March 09, 2006 at 08:44 PM
I also saw Sinatra (for the one and only time) in 1994, at Radio City in NYC. No terrible lapses in that gig, but he basically had little left in him save for his timing. And that timing was still there, on the level that made him the greatest vocalist of the twentieth century, and so I treasure the memory.
"Kiss Me Stupid" is absolutely a great film, hilarious - though I haven't seen it in years and should correct that. I like "Robin and the 7 Hoods" for the musical scenes. The soundtrack to that is well worth hearing too - everything was re-recorded for the LP release and the CD has a lot of the Frank, Dean and Bing studio banter left on.
And Friedwald's book on Sinatra, which you mention, is the only one that matters, I'd say. A beautiful work. There are some "unofficial" Sinatra live recordings that rise above what's been officially released, which Friedwald mentions, like London 1962 (Frank is in noticeably better form as compared to the Paris show) and even the 1973 gig at the White House (yes, Richard M. Nixon's White House, which is probably why it's never been officially released!).
I think he was a brilliant live performer, although somewhat uneven, and the keepers of his treasury have not worked hard enough to put the great stuff out there. Beats me what the hell they're waiting for!
Posted by: RWB | Friday, March 10, 2006 at 12:30 AM