If you love his singing, you will already have this book. And if you don't have it, you should get it.
I had read the previous edition, and, by doing so, I appreciated his singing even more.
There is a difference in the two editions in added information and a revision of some of Friedwald's previous opinions. This new edition also gives me a reason to read the book again and remind myself of what I had appreciated previously and wished I had remembered.
Frank Sinatra not only had a beautiful voice, but he never stopped trying to get better at least up until the late 1980's when the infirmities of old age got to him. I saw him at the Sun Dome in Tampa in 1984, where he astonished me with his art.
He was almost always an autobiographical singer, and when he could find a way to connect the song to his own life, he was at his best. He didn't just parrot the words on the right pitch. He lived them.
In the early and middle 1950's he went through a tidal wave of emotional pain due to his loss in popularity, the heightening of his manic-depression, and his disastrous (for him) relationship with Ava Gardner (which culminated in a suicide attempt). This is when he experienced what the poet Federico Garcia-Lorca called duende;, where his voice could not help but reflect his own intense emotional state. It is the same driving force that made the singing of Billie Holiday exceptional. They are accessing parts of their psyche that are dangerous to confront.
If you want to understand Frank Sinatra beyond just the ordinary, read this book. This book will tell you how he came to his musical decisions and will show you what he had to deal with to get the results he wanted.
This is a book required for any aspiring vocalist in the art of song.
Enjoy!
p.s.
I would suggest people get both editions of the book. The earlier edition is more a younger man's opinions, and the present book is more an older man's reconsiderations. I like his delving deeper into "Watertown" and "A Man Alone". I enjoy listening to "A Man Alone" the older I get. His explication of "Watertown" made me listen to it again. And I enjoyed it much more though i still think the songs for the most part are second-rate.
As for "Trilogy's 'The Future'", Friedwald still cannot forgive, though I am beginning to understand it more. Sections of it seem like stolen sections of Samuel Barber's "Knoxville, Summer of 1915". But unfortunately, Gordon Jenkins is no James Agee as a prose stylist and musically he had bitten off more than he could chew. I don't think he had the intellectual stamina to compose a musical piece of this length that would hold together. Also, there is contained within the piece the faint stink that comes from an attempt at deifying Sinatra.
And Sinatra's voice at this time in his life was beginning to petrify.
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Top reviews from other countries
Cliente Amazon
il miglior libro che abbia mai letto su frank sinatra
Reviewed in Italy on October 4, 2016
Cloclo
Le livre à avoir et à lire pour tous les "Sinatraphiles" !
Reviewed in France on October 31, 2012