Close to You (Frank Sinatra album)

Close to You is the eleventh studio album by American musician Frank Sinatra, accompanied by the Hollywood String Quartet.

Close to You
Studio album by Frank Sinatra
Released	February 1957^[1]
Recorded	March 8, April 4 – 5, November 1, 1956
Studio	Capitol Studio A (Hollywood)
Genre	Vocal jazz traditional pop
Length	43:31
Label	Capitol
Producer	Voyle Gilmore
Frank Sinatra chronology
This Is Sinatra! (1956) Close to You (1957) A Swingin' Affair! (1957)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[3]

The album was recorded over a period of eight months and five different sessions, and was arranged by Nelson Riddle.

Nelson Riddle commented that the structure of popular songs does not lend itself to arranging in the true string quartet style of the classics and felt that he hadn't really achieved as much as he had hoped. However, when the album was released it received critical praise and as Riddle remarked, "Sinatra liked it!".^[4]

For its CD release, the album was retitled Close to You and More, referencing the bonus tracks.

Track listing

1. "Close to You" (Al Hoffman, Carl G. Lampl, Jerry Livingston) – 3:37
2. "P.S. I Love You" (Gordon Jenkins, Johnny Mercer) – 4:21
3. "Love Locked Out" (Max Kester, Ray Noble) – 2:41
4. "Everything Happens to Me" (Tom Adair, Matt Dennis) – 3:20
5. "It's Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 3:34
6. "Don't Like Goodbyes" (Harold Arlen, Truman Capote) – 4:51
7. "With Every Breath I Take" (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin) – 3:38
8. "Blame It on My Youth" (Edward Heyman, Oscar Levant) – 2:58
9. "It Could Happen to You" (Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen) – 3:13
10. "I've Had My Moments" (Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn) – 3:47
11. "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night" (Harold Adamson, Jimmy McHugh) – 3:25
12. "The End of a Love Affair" (Edward Redding) – 4:11

    CD reissue bonus tracks not included on the original 1957 release:

13. "If It's the Last Thing I Do" (Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin) – 4:00
14. "There's a Flaw in My Flue" (Burke, Van Heusen) – 2:41
15. "Wait till You See Her" (Rodgers, Hart) – 3:08

Selected personnel

• Frank Sinatra – vocals
• Nelson Riddle – arranger, conductor
• The Hollywood String Quartet:
  • Felix Slatkin – violin, leader
  • Paul Shure – violin
  • Eleanor Aller – cello
  • Alvin Dinkin – viola
• Harry Edison - trumpet
• Vincent DeRosa - horn
• Mahlon Clark - clarinet
• Harry Klee or James Williamson - flute
• Kathryn Julye - harp
• Bill Miler - piano/celeste

References

1. Billboard February 23, 1957
2. https://www.allmusic.com/album/r24155
3. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
4. Alan Dell, 1984 Close To You sleeve notes in Sinatra, The Capitol Years box set.