Concert Sinatra
This misleadingly titled 1963 collaboration with Nelson Riddle is not a live album, but rather a collection of eight numbers (half of them Rodgers and Hammerstein compositions) from popular stage musicals. It's not exactly the swinging Sinatra of myth and legend, but it does make for a stunning musical experience; the Chairman is in great voice, and he scales the explosive orchestral peaks of Riddle's arrangements with the confidence of a mountain climber on methedrine. His versions of "Ol' Man River" and "Soliloquy" are big improvements over his Columbia-era attempts, and "You'll Never Walk Alone," "My Heart Stood Still," and "Lost in the Stars" are positively breathtaking.--Dan Epstein