First of all, I have to say I'm relatively new to the world of Sinatra. I have the Capitol years box set and a couple of the individual Capitol albums. I love pretty much everything about the Capitol Frank, and have to say that this album is not quite up to that level in terms of the orchestrations and in terms of the level of expressive interpretation in Frank's singing. And of course the very quality of Frank's voice is quite different from the smoky sultriness of his later years; it is youthful and gentle and clear but still a wonderful and lovely thing.

And that sums up the album as a whole. The music is oh so gently mellow. The drowsiness in Tommy's trombone is enough to melt you into a blissfully sweet stupor, and Frank's soft singing is the perfect accompaniment. It really captures a time and a romantic mood. For example, this might sound silly, but listening to "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" makes me close my eyes and imagine myself at a USO dance, swinging and swaying gently with a sailor. I like the whole album, but other highlights include "Say It," "Imagination," "I'll Never Smile Again," "Fools Rush In," "Call of the Canyon" (a real favorite with me), "We Three," and "Dolores." "Stardust," of course, is the classic of all classics, and while this version of it is still lovely, I've heard it done much better than it is here. I actually consider it one of the low spots on the album, as well as the other songs that include too much backup singing. Frank did just fine on his own; he didn't need other people to help him out.

The sound quality is really pretty remarkable considering the age of the recordings. I've heard "Dolores" on other albums, and the sound here is a vast improvement over the muffled muddiness I was familiar with.

I have the third one in this series of three. I like it a little better because it has more American Songbook songs.

This one though has the same orchestras more or less and was recorded possibly just before the songs on that one, which was recorded in 1940.

I like the song that the Inkspots later made famous, Do I Worry.

These songs, after a half a century of mind numbing rock and roll, have a wistful, innocent, romantic flavor that is now much more appealing to me, tho a little hokey sometimes.

But not as syrupy as the worst of this genre, and the jazz is smooth as always with Frank.