"Ring a Ding Ding" was Frank Sinatra's first album for Reprise, his own label. The album, made during the heyday of the Rat Pack (hence the title, one of Sinatra's favorite pet phrases during this period), is different from Sinatra's Columbia records in that there is no attempt at thematic unity. The main arranger is Johnny Mandel, the former trombonist for not only Jimmy Dorsey but also Count Basie, who was a hot young jazz-based arranger and conductor. Mandel does most of the arrangements (Skip Martin, Nelson Riddle, and Dick Reynolds do the rest). What is being sold here are not saloon songs or swing music but rather pure and simply Sinatra at the top of the heap. Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen wrote the title track just for Sinatra and it sets the brassy, swaggering (okay, outright arrogant) tone of the album. For me the quintessential Sinatra song on the album is the Gershwin tune "A Foggy Day." I also like both of the Cole Porter covers, "In the Still of the Night" and "You'd Be So Easy to Love," which display the same cool assurance. This explains why the man would even try singing "When I Take My Sugar To Tea." "Ring a Ding Ding" made it to #4 on the Billboard Pop Charts. All things considered this ends up being an above average Sinatra album from the Reprise years when he was in his prime, although it falls short of being a true classic (i.e., good but not on my list of 10 essential Sinatra albums). Be aware that there is also a reissue version of this album with three bonus tracks.