Franks Sinatra Photos      

Look past the tacky, sad-clown velvet painting on the cover (a Grammy-winner for album design in 1959!), there's nothing cheap or sentimental about this record--the bleakest and blackest album of popular songs ever recorded, so quietly powerful it can leave you slumped in your chair with the ice cubes still rattling in your glass. Every single "suicide song" (as Sinatra liked to call 'em) on Only the Lonely is a stunner that will take your breath away.

Pop this on, close your eyes, and you'll be instantly transported back to the Vegas of 1966. The Sands Hotel was still the "class joint" where Sinatra and his Rat Pack buddies partied, held court, and occasionally even performed. This priceless document (Sinatra's first official live album) captures the Chairman of the Board in performance mode, ably supported by conductor-arranger Quincy Jones and Count Basie and his Orchestra.

A great, comprehensive collection of Sinatra's most popular Reprise tracks, and worth having for any number of reasons, Very Best Of features tons of familiar hits--but requires a caveat for casual Sinatra fans. When Sinatra formed Reprise, he began to re-record many of the sides he'd released on Capitol, in an attempt to transfer his catalog to the new label. It was a smooth move, but his re-recorded versions seldom replaced the originals in the way he'd hoped. And many of the familiar songs here are Capitol remakes.

Franks Sinatra Photos      

Released to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s passing (May 14, 1998), Nothing But The Best salutes "The Voice" with an essential single-disc compilation of hits.