Frank Sinatra’s ‘Nice ‘n’ Easy’ Album For 60th Anniversary Editions

The 60th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s unforgettable 1960 album Nice ‘n’ Easy will be celebrated by Capitol/UMe and Frank Sinatra Enterprises on 5 June.

The LP, first released by Capitol Records in July 1960, was the latest in a series of indelible collaborations between Sinatra and arranger/conductor Nelson Riddle. It spent an aggregate of nine weeks atop the US charts, on which it spent 86 weeks In total, winning gold certification. The album was nominated for multiple Grammys, including Album of the Year, Best Male Vocal Performance and a Best Arrangement nod for Nelson Riddle.

Wrote the New Yorker: “By curating his albums with songs that told a story he wanted to tell, and by singing each word as if he wrote it, Sinatra introduced a level of personal expression to the recording process that reached literary heights.”

Songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman, who wrote the LP’s title song with Lew Spence, remembered: “Frank would ad-lib something each time he got to the tag line. Remember, the song was new to him at the time; the last take was terrific. Frank got that tune into the American Songbook for us. Years later we wrote a second chorus that other singers recorded but, to us, Frank’s version is definitive.”

Sinatra recorded Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘The Nearness Of You’ during the Nelson Riddle session at Room A of Capitol Studios. It was initially intended to be the title track of the album, but once ‘Nice ‘n’ Easy’ was completed, the title of the album changed and ‘The Nearness Of You’ didn’t appear on the 1960 release.

Now, the original master of the song will be made available for the first time on the CD and digital versions of the album for which it was intended. The CD and digital formats add the new stereo mix of ‘The Nearness of You’ and two sought-after bonus tracks, previously unreleased session takes of ‘I’ve Got A Crush on You’ and ‘Nice ‘N’ Easy.’ The vinyl LP faithfully reproduces the original Capitol Records ‘Full Dimensional Stereo’ sleeve and features the original 12 songs.

The CD packaging for the Nice ‘n’ Easy reissue features liner notes with quotes from Sinatra himself. “Nelson is the greatest arranger in the world,” he says. “I have the greatest respect for him.’ There are also quotes from Nelson Riddle, Sinatra’s longtime pianist Bill Miller and others.

The 60th anniversary editions of Nice ‘n’ Easy are released on 5 June. Scroll down for the tracklisting, and pre-order them here.

Listen to the best of Frank Sinatra on Apple Music and Spotify.

Frank Sinatra: Nice ‘n’ Easy (60th Anniversary Edition) [CD; Digital]
1.Nice ‘N’ Easy
2. That Old Feeling
3. How Deep Is The Ocean
4. I’ve Got A Crush On You
5. You Go To My Head
6. Fools Rush In
7. Nevertheless (I’m In Love With You)
8. She’s Funny That Way
9. Try A Little Tenderness
10. Embraceable You
11. Mam’selle
12. Dream
Bonus Tracks, CD and digital:
13. The Nearness Of You
14. I’ve Got A Crush On You – Session takes – previously unreleased
15. Nice ‘N’ Easy – Session takes – previously unreleased

Frank Sinatra: Nice ‘n’ Easy (60th Anniversary Edition) [LP; limited edition colour LP]
1.Nice ‘N’ Easy
2. That Old Feeling
3. How Deep Is The Ocean
4. I’ve Got A Crush On You
5. You Go To My Head
6. Fools Rush In
7. Nevertheless (I’m In Love With You)
8. She’s Funny That Way
9. Try A Little Tenderness
10. Embraceable You
11. Mam’selle
12. Dream

Format: UK English