News

Shout! Factory and Frank Sinatra Enterprises delivered a remarkable treat last November with the release of the 7-DVD Frank Sinatra: Concert Collection.  This expansive box set restored to catalogue the splendid series of television specials starring the one and only Chairman of the Board, in which he celebrated his musical legacy.  Sinatra welcomed a diverse roster of guests including Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Tony Bennett, Loretta Lynn, The 5th Dimension and his daughter Nancy, just to name a few.  This package is a must-own for any devotees of Sinatra and the Great American Songbook, and contains a box set-exclusive disc of rare performances as well as a 44-page booklet written by noted Sinatra scholar Bill Zehme. But for those who were unable to obtain the box set (which is still available), Shout! has good news for you. 

Following stand-alone editions of the box set’s Concert for the Americas and A Man and His Music: The Collection, the label will release Around the World, a 2-DVD set containing four of the specials previously included on the box, on June 7.  Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back (1973) was filmed in front of live audience in Hollywood and features a reunion of Sinatra and Gene Kelly.  The following year’s The Main Event, from New York’s Madison Square Garden, presents Sinatra at his electrifying best, joined by Woody Herman and The Young Thundering Herd.  1970’s Sinatra in Concert at Royal Festival Hall was introduced by Princess Grace (Kelly) of Monaco on the eve of the artist’s impending (and thankfully temporary) retirement, and the new collection concludes with the much-in-demand 1985 concert Sinatra in Japan: Live at the Budokan Hall, Tokyo.

Each of the four concerts presents a wide repertoire of the singer’s finest moments.  The centerpiece of Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back is a medley with his 1940s MGM co-star Gene Kelly, but Sinatra also touches on more recent additions to his songbook including Paul Anka and Sammy Cahn’s adaptation of a French chanson, “Let Me Try Again,” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns.” Sinatra was among the very first to identify the song from A Little Night Music as a future standard.  The Main Event likewise includes both classics (hard-swinging treatments of “I Get a Kick Out of You” and “The Lady is a Tramp”) and new material (Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”).  The Royal Festival Hall concert is highlighted by emotional renditions of George Harrison’s “Something” and Jimmy Webb’s “Didn’t We,” while the Budokan Hall performance summarizes an overwhelming career, from 1939’s “All or Nothing at All” right up through 1984’s “L.A. Is My Lady.”

Around the World is due in stores on June 7.  Hit the jump for the complete track listing and pre-order link!

Frank Sinatra, Around the World (Shout! Factory DVD, 2011)

Disc 1

Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back (1973)

1. You Will Be My Music
2.  I Get A Kick Out Of You
3. Street of Dreams
4. I’ve Got You Under My Skin
5. I’ve Got the World on a String
6. Medley: Last Night When We Were Young/Violets for Your Furs/Here’s That Rainy Day
7. Medley With Gene Kelly: We Can’t Do That Anymore/Take Me Out To The Ball Game/For Me And My Gal/Private Skinny
8. Nice ’N’ Easy – duet with Gene Kelly
9. Let Me Try Again
10. Send In The Clowns
11. You Will Be My Music

Sinatra: The Main Event (1974)

1. Introduction by Howard Cosell
2. Instrumental Medley: It Was A Very Good Year/All The Way/My Kind Of Town
3. The Lady Is A Tramp
4. I Get A Kick Out Of You
5. Let Me Try Again
6. Autumn In New York
7. I’ve Got You Under My Skin
8. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
9. Angel Eyes
10. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
11. The House I Live In
12. My Kind Of Town
13. My Way

Disc 2

Sinatra in Concert at Royal Festival Hall (1970)

1. Introduction by Princess Grace Of Monaco
2. You Make Me Feel So Young
3. Pennies From Heaven
4. I’ve Got You Under My Skin
5. Something
6. The Lady Is A Tramp
7. I Get Along Without You Very Well
8. Didn’t We
9. One For My Baby
10. I Will Drink The Wine
11. I Have Dreamed (From The King And I)
12. My Kind Of Town
13. My Way

Sinatra in Japan: Live at the Budokan Hall, Tokyo (1985)

1. The Lady Is A Tramp
2. Fly Me To The Moon
3. My Way
4. I’ve Got You Under My Skin
5.  Something
6. I Get A Kick Out Of You
7. My Kind Of Town
8. Someone To Watch Over Me
9. All Or Nothing At All
10. Mack The Knife
11. Luck Be A Lady
12. L.A. Is My Lady
13. Strangers In The Night
14. Come Rain Or Come Shine
15. Pennies From Heaven
16. One For My Baby
17. Theme From “New York, New York”