“Frankly Sentimental” – Frank Sinatra

Album: Frankly Sentimental

Artist: Frank Sinatra

Year: 1949

Genre: Traditional Pop

Grade: B

Frank Sinatra’s fourth LP, Frankly Sentimental, recorded in 1946-47 and released in 1949, finds the Chairman of the Board at his absolute schmaltziest. It’s one of the rare records in the singer’s illustrious career that was panned: Down Beat essentially called it lifeless. The album’s perceived blandness caused a steep decline in Sinatra’s career (not to mention the negative press that came with his alleged Mafia connections and the hokeyness of his 1948 drama film, The Miracle of the Bells; which one being more damning to his reputation remains up for debate).

After listening to Frankly Sentimental, it’s clear that his signature sound was beginning to grow stale. Sinatra had essentially been singing the same love songs and lovelorn ballads since the early 1940s. And although the album opens with a few fine tracks — “Body and Soul,” “Laura” and “Fools Rush In” feature graceful crooning and stately, saccharine orchestrations from conductor Axel Stordahl — the rest of the album quickly, or slowly in this case, grows tiresome. ‘Lifeless’ is indeed an apt description: despite Sinatra’s ever-impressive vocal abilities, the drawn-out delivery and mawkish music puts me to sleep.

Besides, we’ll hear far better renditions of most of these songs throughout Sinatra’s career. For instance, why listen to the Frankly Sentimental versions of “One for My Baby,” “Spring Is Here” and “Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry” when you can hear far superior adaptations of all three on Only the Lonely?

Nevertheless, Frankly Sentimental isn’t without value. The concept of building the entire album around downtempo torch ballads is one that Sinatra would return to time and time again with his classic Capitol albums, and the fact that he was already constructing his releases around such conceptual ambitions hints at future greatness. And, of course, the ballads themselves are only considered average by Sinatra’s impossibly high standards.

Like most of his Columbia-era releases, Frankly Sentimental is an easy-listening album that is far from essential — in fact, the only ones recommended to listen are Sinatra superfans and completists — but it’s still an intriguing document nonetheless; a forgotten LP from the low point of the singer’s career, one whose negative reception was necessary to propel him to future greatness.

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