Both Sinatra and McCartney are singing without a safety net, unless you count the airtight backing ensembles they have setting the mood. Neither man was ever more vulnerable in the recording studio. This is the real Let It Be Naked.
The albums are impeccably performed and recorded, with Jobim and, in McCartney's case, Diana Krall as co-conspirators throughout. The singers are nuanced and right on the note. Even the packaging works.
Highlights? Sinatra's bossa take on Cole Porter's "I Concentrate On You" is inspired, and he's positively poetic on Jobim's "Quiet Night of Quiet Stars." McCartney delivers a heartbreaking take on Irving Berlin's "Always," then turns around to lightly groove on Fats Waller's "My Very Good Friend The Milkman." But both albums are seamless.
Let the Soft Championships begin.
2 comments:
I need to check out that Sinatra album - thanks for the heads up :)
"Kisses" is a beautiful record, and you've ID'd a big chunk of why. I saw a TV ad for it the other day that was suitably classy (and mostly b&W). Still, glad to read in RS that Macca is at work on a new rock album.
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