reDiscover Frank Sinatra’s ‘A Man Alone’
If you are a man of a certain age you will fall in love with this album from the opening bars of Don Costa’s beautiful arrangements of Rod McKuen’s deeply moving songs.
Frank Sinatra invented the concept album during his Capitol years.
A Man Alone was recorded over three days in March 1969 at Western Recorders in Los Angeles, Sinatra was fifty-three years old when he recorded this album.
McKuen met Frank at a party, which is how the album came to be made. In the early 1960s, McKuen had moved to France for a while and discovered the brilliant Belgian singer-songwriter, Jacques Brel and began to translate his work into English. In particular McKuen’s translation of ‘If You Go Away’, a song Sinatra had covered on his previous album release, My Way.
As Sinatra once said, “real singing is acting.” On songs like ‘Loves Been Good To Me’, ‘Travelling Music’, which Sinatra recites rather than sings, and ‘Beautiful Strangers’, there is Sinatra, acting brilliantly.
Chart wise A Man Alone was helped by ‘Love’s Been Good To Me’, especially in Britain where it made No.8. A Man Alone spent 16 weeks on the US charts peaking at No.30 and made No.18 in the UK.
UK English
John
September 6, 2014 at 8:05 pm
I bought this album while serving overseas in the U.S. Army. Some wonderful tunes that don’t get much play time.
antonio
September 6, 2014 at 11:43 pm
los trabajos de Frank Sinatra en las décadas del ’60 y ’70 lo encuentran en su máxima madurez vocal, con interpretaciones brillantísimas imposibles de igualar, con matices exquisitas en la coloratura de su voz, Frank Sinatra no solamente canta sino que expone en éste y en los otros álbumes conceptuales cómo deben interpretarse aquellas canciones que no necesitan de un gran caudal vocal, cuando si la forma de ser transmitidas, brillante cada uno de los temas que componen este álbum como sólo Sinatra y su talento pueden interpretar…
Robyn Zadrozny
September 7, 2014 at 12:15 pm
Any ideas about where one can purchase a copy of this music? I have the original issue book and would like the actual music to play at will. Hopefully, it is in CD for mat.
Billy
September 8, 2014 at 1:16 am
Amozon uk has it. Pick up Watertown and cycles too while you are there!
Billy
September 8, 2014 at 1:13 am
Amozon Uk. Is where I got my remastered copy! Get Cycles and Watertown too why you are at!
leslie
October 27, 2016 at 7:51 am
I’ve never really been a Sinatra fan, but I stumbled upon this album in the early 70’s and think it’s the best that I’ve ever heard him. I understand that the album was deleted for some strange reason. Never heard of a Sinatra album being deleted. Although McKuen can be a bit gloomy at times, this album has always been full of “yeahs” to me.
McWarrior
December 29, 2018 at 12:28 am
I have this album on both CD and cassette. I bought the cassette in London in 1971 and the CD a few years ago from Amazon. If I had to save just one album from a fire it would be this one. I have never understood why this album was withdrawn from circulation as, in my humble opinion, it is by a long stretch his best ever music with McCuen’s voice and Costa’s arrangement, a perfect match.