Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours - Tone Poet LP

Frank Sinatra’s seminal 1955 Capitol Records album In The Wee Small Hours is a melancholy masterpiece of lost love and heartbreak that was a pivotal album in the legendary vocalist’s career. Produced by Voyle Gilmore, the album embodied Sinatra’s artistic growth into a more mature singing style with stunning renditions of Great American Songbook standards given sublime arrangements by Nelson Riddle. Sinatra conceived of In The Wee Small Hours as a full-length album, rather than a collection of singles, creating one of the first-ever concept albums and becoming one of the first pop albums to be released as a 12-inch LP. The album was met with immediate critical and commercial success, reaching #2 on the Billboard charts and bolstering Sinatra’s career resurgence following his signing to Capitol Records in 1953 and his Academy Award win for his role in the film From Here to Eternity.

Blue Note Tone Poet Series

The Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was’ admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. Was brought Joe Harley, a.k.a. the “Tone Poet,” on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels.

Extreme attention to detail has been paid to getting these right in every conceivable way, from the jacket graphics and printing quality to superior LP mastering (direct from the master tapes) by Kevin Gray to superb 180g audiophile LP pressings by Record Technology Inc. Every aspect of these Tone Poet releases is done to the highest possible standard. It means that you will never find a superior version. This is IT.

This mono Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket featuring session photos by William Claxton & Ken Veeder.

Tracklist:

Side 1

1. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning (Dave Mann-Bob Hilliard)
2. Mood Indigo (Duke Ellington-Irving Mills-Barney Bigard)
3. Glad to Be Unhappy (Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart)
4. I Get Along Without You Very Well (Hoagy Carmichael)
5. Deep in a Dream (Jimmy Van Heusen-Eddie DeLange)
6. I See Your Face Before Me (Arthur Schwartz-Howard Dietz)
7. Can’t We Be Friends? (Kay Swift-Paul James)
8. When Your Lover Has Gone (E.A. Swan)

Side 2

1. What Is This Thing Called Love? (Cole Porter )
2. Last Night When We Were Young (Harold Arlen-E.Y. Harburg)
3. I’ll Be Around (Alec Wilder)
4. Ill Wind (Harold Arlen-Ted Koehler)
5. It Never Entered My Mind (Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart)
6. Dancing on the Ceiling (Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart)
7. I’ll Never Be the Same (Matty Malneck-Frank Signorelli- Gus Kahn)
8. This Love of Mine (Sol Parker-Henry Sanicola-Frank Sinatra)