Rating: 
Summary: Simply the best analysis of Sinatra the artist.
Review: "The Song is You" is simply the best single volume analysis of Sinatra the artist. If you want another rehash of Rat Pack boozing and whoring this book isn't for you. However, if you want an inside look at Sinatra the musician, I can think of no other book in print that offers more insight that Friedwald's "The Song is You." With many, many quotes from the Sinatra Sidemen, especially Al Viloa and the great Bill Miller, Will Freidwald tells Frank's story with the help of those who knew his music best; the men and women who wrote it, arranged it, and played it. It's not a perfect book, Friedwald has some axes to grind, notably (and inexplicably) against Linda Ronstadt... but with the exception of his occasionaly churlishness, it's a great effort and a must for any real Frank fan and every fan of great music.
Rating: 
Summary: The Chairman deserves better
Review: A century from now, nobody will care about the controversies of Sinatra's life. But the music will live on, as sure as the sun will rise and set. With the possible exception of Louis Armstrong, the twentieth century produced no greater interpreter of song than Frank Sinatra. When I was a teenager, Sinatra was this old guy who sang about New York. I didn't pay attention; I was ignorant of the amazing career. As an adult, I happened upon a copy of "Songs for Swinging Lovers" in a used cd bin -- and that was all it took. I have been a Sinatra fanatic ever since, particularly of the music he produced from the mid-fifties to early sixties. Will Friedwald is quickly emerging as the foremost writer on jazz singing; his book "The Jazz Singers" opened up whole new vistas of music for me. But "Sinatra!" is his masterpiece. He goes through the entire musical career, from start to finish, and quite simply, puts down on paper every single relevant fact, from the composition to the recording to the reception. It's a tour-de-force of writing which I have read cover-to-cover at least four times since I bought it when it came out. My only complaint? Mr. Friedwald, when are you going to do the same for Satchmo himself, Louis Armstrong? Until then, I'll just have to read this book -- again. Buy "Sinatra!" immediately -- you won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: The music comes first
Review: A century from now, nobody will care about the controversies of Sinatra's life. But the music will live on, as sure as the sun will rise and set. With the possible exception of Louis Armstrong, the twentieth century produced no greater interpreter of song than Frank Sinatra. When I was a teenager, Sinatra was this old guy who sang about New York. I didn't pay attention; I was ignorant of the amazing career. As an adult, I happened upon a copy of "Songs for Swinging Lovers" in a used cd bin -- and that was all it took. I have been a Sinatra fanatic ever since, particularly of the music he produced from the mid-fifties to early sixties. Will Friedwald is quickly emerging as the foremost writer on jazz singing; his book "The Jazz Singers" opened up whole new vistas of music for me. But "Sinatra!" is his masterpiece. He goes through the entire musical career, from start to finish, and quite simply, puts down on paper every single relevant fact, from the composition to the recording to the reception. It's a tour-de-force of writing which I have read cover-to-cover at least four times since I bought it when it came out. My only complaint? Mr. Friedwald, when are you going to do the same for Satchmo himself, Louis Armstrong? Until then, I'll just have to read this book -- again. Buy "Sinatra!" immediately -- you won't regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: Over-analisys kills reading pleasure
Review: After Will Friewald's excellent book about jazz singers, I had ordered this book with so much expectations and had to put it down unfinished.Simply, the guy knows and obviously likes Frank Sinatra but the incredible lenght Sinatra is discussed here is just too much.When discussing various jazz singers Mr.Friewald was very appealing and interesting.Here, having just one subject his style is simply boring and I couldn't be bothered to read about different arrangers and orchestrators who ever worked with Sinatra.I love music and love Sinatra but I enjoy music in a very casual way, this book simply kills reading pleasure with all this full-lenght analisys about songs we simply love because they are beautiful.I still have the book and I wouldn't recommend it to any of my friends because its simply boring.
Rating: 
Summary: Sinatra! : The Song Is You : A Singer's Art
Review: An excellent analysis of Sinatra-the-singer, concentrating primarily on his work in the recording studio. For people who are REALLY interested in this stuff, there is a huge wealth of information, anecdotes, and analysis here that you will find absolutely fascinating. It's nice to see a book so totally focused on Sinatra's true art: his music. Readers who are merely casual fans of the singer might find all of the detail to be a bit too much---but this book isn't for them, anyway. I thought it was very well-written and interesting. My only complaint about the book---and this is why I gave it four stars instead of five---is that Friedwald is vehemently closed-minded when it comes to rock music. He blasts it at every opportunity, sometimes when such blasting is not even relevant to the topic being discussed. Sinatra WAS a great singer, no question. And if Friedwald doesn't care for rock music, that's his choice. But the fact remains that rock has been the single most powerful force in the music industry for more than forty years now, and some of it is genuinely acclaimed by even the most "purist" of critics. Friedwald's tendency to dismiss all rock music into one scornful category ("kiddie pop"), which he does repeatedly throughout the book, damages his credibility somewhat. Even worse, rock artists like Bono and Linda Ronstadt---while admittedly not in Sinatra's league as vocalists (though Ronstadt comes close)---do not deserve the thrashing they get at Friedwald's hands.
Rating:
Summary: Sinatra! : The Song Is You : A Singer's Art
Review: An excellent analysis of Sinatra-the-singer, concentrating primarily on his work in the recording studio. For people who are REALLY interested in this stuff, there is a huge wealth of information, anecdotes, and analysis here that you will find absolutely fascinating. It's nice to see a book so totally focused on Sinatra's true art: his music. Readers who are merely casual fans of the singer might find all of the detail to be a bit too much---but this book isn't for them, anyway. I thought it was very well-written and interesting. My only complaint about the book---and this is why I gave it four stars instead of five---is that Friedwald is vehemently closed-minded when it comes to rock music. He blasts it at every opportunity, sometimes when such blasting is not even relevant to the topic being discussed. Sinatra WAS a great singer, no question. And if Friedwald doesn't care for rock music, that's his choice. But the fact remains that rock has been the single most powerful force in the music industry for more than forty years now, and some of it is genuinely acclaimed by even the most "purist" of critics. Friedwald's tendency to dismiss all rock music into one scornful category ("kiddie pop"), which he does repeatedly throughout the book, damages his credibility somewhat. Even worse, rock artists like Bono and Linda Ronstadt---while admittedly not in Sinatra's league as vocalists (though Ronstadt comes close)---do not deserve the thrashing they get at Friedwald's hands.
Rating:
Summary: Monumental Study of Frank's Music: As Timeless as Frank
Review: Anyone with even a mild interest in Frank's legacy should buy this book. It makes well researched and amusing reading,and is to me the finest book on popular music ever written.It helps to read an obviously great book when you agree with about 95% of his own editorializing. Every era of Mr.Sinatra's recording career,even past Duets II,and going into his last ,sometimes awkward,concerts is covered.If you want gossip,go elsewhere.Mr. Friedwald covers the personalities,from Stordahl,Riddle,May,Jenkins, and all the rest,and when you finish this book you'll feel the incredible energy, fun,and friendship that made these recordings. The fact is that Frank's canon is so great that some of my favorite recordings are not even mentioned in the index. Even Mr. Friedwald can't cover everything I guess.It's true that there are some snide comments that Mr Friedwald has for other performers,and his general contempt for rock and roll is obvious.I usually chuckled reading them since it was nice to read that the author and I agreed on the obvious. The fact is that anyone who actually knows Frank's best, and has made such an effort,must in general agree with Mr. Friedwald. For no one from the the rock era has anywhere near the oeuvre that Frank has.And in truth, the general quality of popular culture,especially music,has been in an abysmal decline for about 40 years, hopefully bottoming in the "Rap" era...This work is also a great reference,and will provide cultural enlightenment for many years to come.
Rating:
Summary: Essential tour of Sinatra's music from all eras...
Review: Friedwald does a marvelous, much too marvelous job of putting Sinatra's massive musical career into words. From Harry James to Tommy Dorsey to Columbia, Capitol and Reprise, this is a solid narrative of show business' biggest voice. Because the author is obviously a huge fan, there may be some bias, but it is also apparent that he has studied the music down to the note and that even listeners who own a lot of FS recordings can learn much. What really sets this apart from the other 9000 Sinatra books, and makes it the essential one, is that Friedwald does not waste a lot of time on tabloid trivia that do not contribute to our understanding of Sinatra as an artist. Reading this will give you a greater appreciation of all of the tricks and techniques that FS and his musicians used to record definitive interpretations of so many standards. To his credit, Friedwald tells it like like is with some of the soft-rock 1960s efforts, which waste Sinatra's still potent voice on weak attempts to break the charts in the Beatle years. He also goes a step further and discusses why some numbers succeeded and others failed, leaving the reader more knowledgeable. For a more in depth look at Sinatra's personality, Donald Clarke's All or Nothing At All is also fascinating (although the book has taken a beating on this website!). Forget Kitty Kelley, forget Earl Wilson, buy Friedwald. Also check out John Lahr's beautiful book.
Rating:
Summary: Friedwald needs a good editor
Review: Friedwald has been thorough: he's listened to everything, and he comments on it. At length. Sometimes this is interesting, as when he exhaustively dissects about a dozen Sinatra renditions of "Night and Day", or when he discusses Frank's various drummers. Unfortunately, as with his earlier "Jazz Singing", Friedwald writes a self-indulgent stream-of-consciousness which is badly in need of professional editing. The book is written in a pseudo-hip musical jargon which most readers will find incomprehensible and which lacks both precision and grace. Friedwald completely ignores not only Sinatra's early singing training pre-Dorsey, but also Sinatra's own statements about wanting to bring some long-breathed bel-canto technique to popular music; he ignores Astaire's contribution to rhythmic variation in American song, and he attributes everything Italianate in Sinatra's singing to Bing Crosby, as though the clear line back via Jolson to Puccini and beyond didn't exist. Friedwald even gets Frank's top note wrong, by mis-pitching a mild F head note as being full octave too high.
Rating:
Summary: Friedwald needs a good editor
Review: Friedwald has been thorough: he's listened to everything, and he comments on it. At length. Sometimes this is interesting, as when he exhaustively dissects about a dozen Sinatra renditions of "Night and Day", or when he discusses Frank's various drummers. Unfortunately, as with his earlier "Jazz Singing", Friedwald writes a self-indulgent stream-of-consciousness which is badly in need of professional editing. The book is written in a pseudo-hip musical jargon which most readers will find incomprehensible and which lacks both precision and grace. Friedwald completely ignores not only Sinatra's early singing training pre-Dorsey, but also Sinatra's own statements about wanting to bring some long-breathed bel-canto technique to popular music; he ignores Astaire's contribution to rhythmic variation in American song, and he attributes everything Italianate in Sinatra's singing to Bing Crosby, as though the clear line back via Jolson to Puccini and beyond didn't exist. Friedwald even gets Frank's top note wrong, by mis-pitching a mild F head note as being full octave too high.
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