The Sinatra reissue business has thrived in recent years, with two themed box sets compiling often-excellent live sets from Las Vegas and New York. This London edition varies the formula, making its centrepiece the patchy 1962 studio album Great Songs from Great Britain, supplemented by some spoken intros recorded for radio, outtakes from the sessions and three live performances on the BBC. The album tracks are Sinatra at his lushest: all strings and low, muted horns; but the songs just aren’t consistent enough to sustain the album. Much better is a 1984 Royal Albert Hall show, on which Sinatra’s voice is stony and weathered, bringing heartbreak to a wonderful run of These Foolish Things, Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry and Don’t Worry ’Bout Me. Also included are DVDs of Royal Festival Hall shows from 1962 and 1970. The former, especially, is a delight – but wouldn’t CDs have been better than DVDs? The pleasure, after all is in the listening rather than the viewing.
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