Frank Sinatra: Nothing But The Best

You couldn't ask for a better representation of Frank the pop icon than this one -- twenty-two smashes from his own Reprise label, a wealth of Sixties smashes, almost all of which could serve as Sinatra signatures. Yet this is not the best period with which to introduce the uninitiated, so fair warning.

Get used to more of this. When an American icon reaches a certain post-death status, it becomes a corporation -- in this case, the newly-formed Frank Sinatra Enterprises, which, like Elvis Presley Enterprises and Apple before it, will no doubt attempt to cross-market and rebrand the hell out of its charge across all media. For example, this single-disc CD is set to be released on the tenth anniversary of the Chairman of the Board's death, and comes complete with a (limited edition) commemorative stamp worked out with the USPS and (in digipak editions) an accompanying DVD of Sinatra in concert at London's Royal Festival Hall in 1971, licensed through Warner Home Video. Oh, and there's of course an additional Easter Egg for completists, in this case a previously unissued and mostly uneventful alternate version of "Body and Soul," fresh from the vaults. Look for a lot more Frank merch in the mall.

Okay, so what does this mean for neophytes? If all you know of Sinatra is the guy who starred in the original Ocean's 11 or that last Rat Pack party you attended, you'll be satisfied with Nothing But The Best, which gathers together the Sixties and Seventies smashes that re-established Frank as the mature voice of love and loss for an older generation. "My Way," "The Best Is Yet To Come" (with Count Basie), "Strangers In The Night," "Fly Me To The Moon," "New York, New York" -- for anyone else, one of these would be a signature song, but Sinatra, like Elvis and the Beatles, just kept making history over and over again. His best recorded work, though, remains his mid-Fifties output on Capitol, for which you'll want to pick up 2000's Classic Sinatra: His Greatest Performances 1953-1960, still in print and a better introduction to why this crooner was much more than the teenage idol he started out as... or even the cultural icon enshrined in bronze here.