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Consider this: Three entertainers who didn\u2019t write their own material, who were in possession of a sense of entitlement that meant they paraded about town as if they owned the place, and who delivered their performances in a cocky and cavalier manner. Does that sound like a recipe for success? Or for a fun evening\u2019s entertainment?<\/p>\n
If the three entertainers in question are (or were) Frank Sinatra, Sammy Savis Jr.<\/strong> and Dean Martin<\/strong>, the answer is an emphatic yes. And as a matter of fact \u2013 for a number of years, the Rat Pack<\/strong>, as they were known, more or less did<\/em> own Vegas. Or at least their particular corner of it. (The three were the singing members of the 1960s version of that social group o\u2019guys; the other members were actor Peter Lawford<\/strong> and comic Joey Bishop<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n Think about it for a moment: what other city in America \u2013 save perhaps New Orleans \u2013 can have its name used as shorthand for a particular style of music? Sure, there\u2019s Chicago-style blues, but if you just say that music is Vegas-y, there\u2019s near universal agreement as to what you\u2019re getting at. In 2011 Rhino compiled The Very Best of the Rat Pack<\/em>, eighteen tracks of swingin\u2019 good-time Vegasy nightclub music. All the tracks are studio cuts, but the boozy, upbeat vibe that followed the guys wherever they went is captured on every single number.<\/p>\n One need not be an aficionado of this kind of music to recognize most of the tunes compiled here. Even for many who came of age in the rock era, the songs on The Very Best of the Rat Pack<\/em> will have a strong air of familiarity; many of the tunes are a part of the popular musical lexicon. And they certainly represent the particular style most often associated with 1960s Las Vegas.<\/p>\n Sinatra\u2019s \u201cCome Fly With Me\u201d kicks things off in style. His inimitable vocal phrasing and the band\u2019s impeccable arrangement effortlessly set the stage for the collection to follow. The brassy \u201cAin\u2019t that a Kick in the Head\u201d from Dean Martin swings, baby. The fluffy, playful and just a bit saucy lyrics are delivered in Martin\u2019s creamy, romantic manner. And the band kicks into high gear during the instrumental breaks. Sammy Davis\u2019 reading of \u201cToo Close for Comfort\u201d adds Latin percussion into the mix, and his trademark clearly enunciated vocal approach is showcased.<\/p>\n The disc continues winding its way through a collection of standards, affording almost equal time to each of the three vocalists. Unsurprisingly, Sinatra comes off the best here \u2013 he\u2019s the Chairman<\/strong>, after all \u2013 but the numbers chosen to represent Martin and Davis show them to excellent effect as well.\u00a0 The building excitement of Sinatra\u2019s \u201cI\u2019ve Got You Under My Skin\u201d is one of the most pleasing three minutes on the record. Its arrangement is emblematic of the Vegas big-band style.<\/p>\n Those sensitive to borderline misogyny should best avoid Dean Martin\u2019s \u201cWho\u2019s Got the Action,\u201d wherein the singer compares women to race horses. He and the band swing while they\u2019re delivering that timeless message, though. Punchy horns and a propulsive bass line add drama.<\/p>\n Dean Martin\u2019s \u201cVolare\u201d is here, as is Sinatra\u2019s \u201cI Get a Kick Out of You.\u201d (Again with the kicking!) But alongside those predictable (if highly enjoyable and essential) choices are slightly lesser-known numbers like Sammy Davis\u2019 \u201cBirth of the Blues\u201d (which isn\u2019t, strictly speaking, very bluesy) and the Sammy\/Dino comedy duet \u201cSam\u2019s Song.\u201d While most of the material is bombastic and flashy, Davis\u2019 showy \u201cEee-o Eleven\u201d nails the smoky bar ambience. And sweeping strings adorn Sinatra\u2019s \u201cLuck Be a Lady\u201d (though for the final four of its five minutes, the song still swings aplenty).<\/p>\n Serious fans of the Vegas style (and\/or of these artists) will have most of this music in their collections already. What they won\u2019t<\/em> have, however, is a previously-unreleased alternate take of Frank Sinatra\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Gonna Live Until I Die.\u201d It\u2019s a fully-formed arrangement and a typical note-perfect Sinatra vocal, but the production is dry and boxy compared to the wide-open ambience of the other tracks on the set.<\/p>\n The disc wraps up with a Sinatra\/Davis duet reading of \u201cMe and My Shadow.\u201d For listeners of a certain age, the vocal arrangement is closest to the sort of numbers Stewie <\/strong>and Brian Griffin<\/strong> deliver on any number of \u201cRoad\u201d episodes of The Family Guy<\/em>. And that 21st<\/sup> century touchstone makes the point as well as anything: if you dig those winkingly clever showstoppers on the cartoon program, you\u2019ll find plenty to love in the concise collection that is indeed The Very Best of the Rat Pack<\/em>.<\/p>\n (Note: This collection has no connection to \u2013 nor in fact any overlap in material with \u2013 a 2008 import CD sharing the same title. That said, a look at the latter\u2019s tracklist suggests that one is pretty good as well.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Consider this: Three entertainers who didn\u2019t write their own material, who were in possession of a sense of entitlement that meant they paraded about town as if they owned the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30662,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions\/30662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}