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Reprise Records' extraordinary new "Frank Sinatra: The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings" is certainly not your usual holiday stocking stuffer.
The 20-disc box set, which will be released Tuesday, is a major commitment of time and money. It takes 24 hours nonstop to listen to the entire collection, and the suggested retail price is a whopping $499.
Overflowing with more than 450 songs, the set is the most lavish--and revealing--of a series of albums being released in connection with Sinatra's 80th birthday Dec. 12.
The Reprise set chronicles the years from 1960 to 1988, including the three "golden" musical periods of the most acclaimed singer ever in pop music--a consummate balladeer, saloon singer and big-band vocalist who dazzled us with the sophistication of his phrasing without sacrificing the intimacy and warmth that gave his music an Everyman quality. It's the cream of the current crop of Frank-mania.
Already in the stores from Capitol Records: "Sinatra 80th: All the Best," a two-disc set of his celebrated '50s recordings, and "Sinatra 80th: Live in Concert," a single disc of live recordings from the late '80s that includes an over-the-top duet with Luciano Pavarotti on "My Way." Also available: "Frank Sinatra: The Best of the Columbia Years 1943-1952," a four-disc package drawn from his first golden period.
The birthday celebration continues Sunday night at the Shrine Auditorium when a host of performers, from Ray Charles and Bob Dylan to Tony Bennett and Bruce Springsteen, toast him in a benefit concert that will be broadcast Dec. 14 on ABC-TV.
Because the Reprise package delivers all the studio recordings of his most interesting period (if not always the most satisfying, in terms of voice and material), it is the most fascinating of the works.
We get to look...