The Best of the Columbia Years: 1943–1952

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The Best of the Columbia Years: 1943-1952
Sinatrabestofcolumbia.jpg
Box set by
Frank Sinatra
ReleasedOctober 31, 1995
Recorded1943-1952
GenreTraditional pop
Length297:29
LabelLegacy
Frank Sinatra chronology
The Very Best of Frank Sinatra
(1997)
The Best of the Columbia Years: 1943-1952
(1995)
Frank Sinatra & the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
(1998)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic5/5 stars[1]
Q4/5 stars[2]

The Best of the Columbia Years: 1943–1952 is a four-disc box set by the American singer Frank Sinatra, released on Legacy Records in 1995, catalogue C4K-64681. Initial release was in a book-style edition; a later edition was reissued in 1998 with a standard jewel case package and given a different catalogue number, C4K-65620. All but twelve tracks were originally released on 78 rpm records, and as an overview of Sinatra's recordings on Columbia this set replaces the previous catalogue item The Voice: The Columbia Years (1943-1952), released in 1986 on vinyl and later also on compact disc. The box set contains highlights of his career with Columbia Records; the complete recordings from these years were released in 1993 on The Columbia Years 1943-1952: The Complete Recordings.

Content[]

These recordings comprise the first phase of Sinatra's solo career, after his apprenticeship in the swing bands of Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra having signed with Columbia on June 1, 1943. At that time, the Petrillo recording ban was on, and the first two tracks of the box reflect this situation, a cappella recordings of Frank with a backing vocal group. A second recording ban took place in 1948, and Sinatra again recorded with vocals only on the track "Nature Boy." The rest of the recordings featured instrumental backing with few exceptions arranged by Axel Stordahl, Sinatra's mainstay during the Columbia period. The bulk of the selections on this package date from the 1940s, with only the disc four covering the declining years of his career while on the label in the 1950s.

Beginning with disc four track five, Columbia simultaneously released these records as 45 rpm singles, the new format having been introduced by its rival RCA Records in 1949. Disc one tracks 19 through 21, and disc two tracks four through six, were issued as part of Sinatra's very first album, a package of four records entitled The Voice of Frank Sinatra, which peaked at #1 on the fledgling album chart. Disc four tracks six through nine were also included on the Columbia ten-inch album Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra, catalogue CL-6143.

Disc two track 22, "Sweet Lorraine," features Sinatra with the 1946 Metronome All-Stars: Charlie Shavers, Lawrence Brown, Johnny Hodges, Coleman Hawkins, Harry Carney, Nat King Cole, Bob Ahern, Eddie Safranski, and Buddy Rich. Disc three track 2, "My Romance," is a duet with Dinah Shore, and disc three track 23, "Let's Take An Old-Fashioned Walk," is a duet with Doris Day.

Select personnel[]

Track listing[]

Columbia 78 catalogue numbers and chart positions taken from Sinatra Family website singles discography

Disc one[]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Close to You" (Columbia 36678 Billboard #10)Al Hoffman, Carl G. Lampl, Jerry Livingston3:18
2."People Will Say We're in Love" (Columbia 36682 Billboard #3)Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers3:20
3."If You Are But a Dream" (Columbia 36756 Billboard #19)Moe Jaffe, Jack Fulton, Nat Bonx3:04
4."Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)" (Columbia 36762 Billboard #2)Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn2:43
5."White Christmas" (Columbia 36756 Billboard #7)Irving Berlin3:22
6."I Fall in Love Too Easily" (Columbia 36380)Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn2:36
7."Ol' Man River" (Columbia 55037)Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern4:00
8."Stormy Weather" (Columbia 55037)Ted Koehler, Harold Arlen4:13
9."Embraceable You" (Songs by Sinatra Columbia C 124)Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin3:16
10."She's Funny That Way" (Songs by Sinatra Columbia C 124)Richard Whiting, Neil Moret3:20
11."My Melancholy Baby" (Columbia 38287)Ernie Burnett, Maybelle Watson, George A. Norton3:08
12."Where or When" (Dedicated to You Columbia C 124)Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers3:13
13."All the Things You Are" (Songs by Sinatra Columbia C 124)Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern3:00
14."I Should Care" (Columbia 36791 Billboard #8)Sammy Cahn, Paul Weston, Axel Stordahl3:00
15."Dream" (Columbia 36797 Billboard #5)Johnny Mercer3:02
16."Put Your Dreams Away (For Another Day)" (Columbia 36814)Ruth Lowe, Paul Mann, Stephen Weiss3:06
17."Over the Rainbow" (Songs by Sinatra Columbia C 124)Yip Harburg, Harold Arlen3:16
18."If I Loved You" (Columbia 36825 Billboard #7)Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers3:04
19."Someone to Watch Over Me" (The Voice of Frank Sinatra Columbia C 112 Billboard #1)Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin3:19
20."You Go to My Head" (The Voice of Frank Sinatra Columbia C 112 Billboard #1)J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie2:59
21."These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)" (The Voice of Frank Sinatra Columbia C 112 Billboard #1)Holt Marvell, Jack Strachey3:07
22."The House I Live In" (Columbia 36886 Billboard #22)Lewis Allan, Earl Robinson3:18
23."Day By Day" (Columbia 36905 Billboard #5)Sammy Cahn, Paul Weston, Axel Stordahl3:08

Disc two[]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Nancy (With the Laughing Face)" (Columbia 36868 Billboard #10)Phil Silvers, Jimmy Van Heusen3:19
2."Full Moon and Empty Arms" (Columbia 36947 Billboard #17)Buddy Kaye, Ted Mossman, Sergei Rachmaninoff3:12
3."Oh, What It Seemed to Be" (Columbia 36905 Billboard #1)Bennie Benjamin, George Weiss, Frankie Carle2:59
4."I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You" (The Voice of Frank Sinatra Columbia C 112 Billboard #1)Bing Crosby, Ned Washington, Victor Young3:11
5."Why Shouldn't I?" (The Voice of Frank Sinatra Columbia C 112 Billboard #1)Cole Porter2:52
6."Try a Little Tenderness" (The Voice of Frank Sinatra Columbia C 112 Billboard #1)James Campbell, Reginald Connelly, Harry M. Woods3:08
7."Begin the Beguine" (Columbia 37064 Billboard #23)Cole Porter2:55
8."They Say It's Wonderful" (Columbia 36975 Billboard #2)Irving Berlin3:04
9."That Old Black Magic" (Songs by Sinatra Columbia C 179)Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen2:32
10."How Deep Is the Ocean?" (Columbia DC 385 ‡)Irving Berlin2:56
11."Home on the Range" (The Complete Recordings Columbia CXK 48673)Brewster M. Higley, Daniel E. Kelley3:11
12."Five Minutes More" (Columbia 37048 Billboard #1)Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn2:35
13."The Things We Did Last Summer" (Columbia 37089 Billboard #8)Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn3:15
14."Among My Souvenirs" (The Complete Recordings Columbia CXK 48673)Edgar Leslie, Horatio Nicholls3:15
15."September Song" (Columbia 37161 Billboard #8)Maxwell Anderson, Kurt Weill3:05
16."Blue Skies" (Frank Sinatra Sings Irving Berlin Columbia B 1524)Irving Berlin2:28
17."Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" (Frankly Sentimental Columbia C 185)Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn3:23
18."Lost in the Stars" (Columbia 38650)Maxwell Anderson, Kurt Weill3:15
19."There's No Business Like Show Business" (Columbia DB 2321 ‡)Irving Berlin3:18
20."Time After Time" (Columbia 37300 Billboard #16)Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn3:09
21."The Brooklyn Bridge" (Columbia 37288)Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn2:35
22."Sweet Lorraine" (Columbia 37293)Mitchell Parish, Cliff Burwell3:08
23."Always" (The Complete Recordings Columbia CXK 48673)Irving Berlin2:55
24."Mam'selle" (Columbia 37343 Billboard #1)Mack Gordon, Edmund Goulding3:19

Disc three[]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Stella by Starlight" (Columbia 37343 Billboard #21)Ned Washington, Victor Young3:19
2."My Romance" (Columbia 37528)Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers3:15
3."If I Had You" (Romantic Songs from the Early Years Columbia HL 7405)Ted Shapiro, Jimmy Campbell, Reginald Connelly3:06
4."One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)" (Frankly Sentimental Columbia C 185)Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen3:04
5."But Beautiful" (Columbia 38053 Billboard #14)Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen3:12
6."You're My Girl" (Columbia 37978 Billboard #23)Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn3:09
7."All of Me" (Columbia 38163 Billboard #21)Gerald Marks, Seymour Simons2:44
8."Night and Day" (The Complete Recordings Columbia CXK 48673)Cole Porter3:38
9."S'Posin" (Columbia 38210)Andy Razaf, Paul Denniker2:45
10."The Night We Called It a Day" (The Complete Recordings Columbia CXK 48673)Tom Adair, Matt Dennis3:21
11."The Song Is You" (Frank Sinatra Sings Jerome Kern Columbia B 1702)Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern3:15
12."What'll I Do?" (Columbia 38045 Billboard #23)Irving Berlin3:05
13."The Music Stopped" (Dedicated to You Columbia C 124)Jimmy McHugh, Harold Adamson2:57
14."Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)" (The Complete Recordings Columbia CXK 48673)Johnny Mercer, Rube Bloom2:59
15."I've Got a Crush on You" (Columbia 38151 Billboard #21)Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin3:15
16."Body and Soul" (Frankly Sentimental Columbia C 185)Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton3:18
17."I'm Glad There Is You" (The Frank Sinatra Story Columbia C2L 6)Paul Madeira, Jimmy Dorsey3:06
18."Autumn in New York" (Columbia 38316 Billboard #27)Vernon Duke3:15
19."Nature Boy" (Columbia 38210 Billboard #7)Eden Ahbez3:18
20."Once In Love with Amy" (Columbia 38391)Frank Loesser2:59
21."Some Enchanted Evening" (Columbia 38446 Billboard #6)Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers3:07
22."The Hucklebuck" (Columbia 38486 Billboard #10)Charlie Parker, Roy Alfred, Andy Gibson3:00
23."Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk" (Columbia 38513 Billboard #17)Irving Berlin2:59
24."It All Depends on You" (Columbia 38550)Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson2:43

Disc four[]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Bye Bye Baby" (Columbia 38556)Jule Styne, Leo Robin2:38
2."Don't Cry, Joe (Let Her Go, Let Her Go, Let Her Go)" (Columbia 38555 Billboard #9)Joe Marsala3:18
3."That Lucky Old Sun" (Columbia 38608 Billboard #16)Haven Gillespie, Beasley Smith3:16
4."Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy" (Columbia 1-496 Billboard #10)Harry Stone, Jack Stapp2:37
5."American Beauty Rose" (Columbia 38809 Billboard #26)Hal David, Arthur Altman, Redd Evans2:34
6."Should I?" (Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra Columbia C 218)Arthur Freed, Nacio Herb Brown2:24
7."You Do Something to Me" (Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra Columbia C 218)Cole Porter2:33
8."Lover" (Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra Columbia C 218)Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers2:39
9."When You're Smiling" (Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra Columbia C 218)Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin, Larry Shay2:28
10."London By Night" (Columbia 39592)Carroll Coates3:09
11."Meet Me at the Copa" (The Complete Recordings Columbia CXK 48673)Sammy Cahn, Axel Stordahl3:11
12."April in Paris" (Columbia 39592)Yip Harburg, Vernon Duke2:43
13."I Guess I'll Have to Dream the Rest" (Columbia 39044)Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern2:42
14."Nevertheless (I'm in Love with You)" (Columbia 39044 Billboard #14)Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby3:08
15."I Am Loved" (Columbia 39079)Cole Porter2:25
16."Hello, Young Lovers" (Columbia 39294)Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers3:32
17."We Kiss in a Shadow" ('Columbia 39294 Billboard #22)Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers3:35
18."I'm a Fool to Want You" (Columbia 39425 Billboard #14)Joel Herron, Frank Sinatra, Jack Wolf2:55
19."Love Me" (Columbia 39346)Ned Washington, Victor Young3:09
20."Deep Night" (Columbia 39527)Rudy Vallee, Charlie Henderson3:16
21."I Could Write a Book" (Columbia 39652)Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers2:42
22."I Hear a Rhapsody" (Columbia 39652 Billboard #24)George Fragos, Jack Baker, Dick Gasparre, Richard Bard3:04
23."My Girl" (Columbia 39726)Charles Freed2:24
24."The Birth of the Blues" (Columbia 39882 Billboard #19)Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson3:28
25."Azure-Te (Paris Blues)" (Columbia 39819 Billboard #30)William Davis, Donald Wolf2:33
26."Why Try to Change Me Now" (Columbia 39882)Cy Coleman, Joseph A. McCarthy2:47

‡denotes United Kingdom release

References[]

  1. ^ The Best of the Columbia Years: 1943–1952 at AllMusic
  2. ^ Harris, John (March 1996). "Frank Sinatra: The Best of the Columbia Years: 1943–1952". Q: 122.
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