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Track Listings
| 1. Watertown |
| 2. Goodbye (She Quietly Says) |
| 3. For a While |
| 4. Michael & Peter |
| 5. I Would Be in Love (Anyway) |
| 6. Elizabeth |
| 7. What a Funny Girl (You Used to Be) |
| 8. What's Now Is Now |
| 9. She Says |
| 10. The Train |
Product Description
Unique in Frank's canon, a full-fledged, pop-oriented concept album from 1969 mostly composed by Four Seasons songwriter, Bob Gaudio.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
52 of 53 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Watertown was a diversion into relatively contemporary music for Frank Sinatra at a time when the general public saw him as a greatest hits vehicle. Live he had become Mr Showbiz for those left behind by popular music in the post-The Beatles era but with the first of his retirements he seemed to understand that his wider relevance had ended.
In many ways Watertown is a work providing the flip side to the boozy, sleazy city Rat Pack life, it is a loose concept work about the painful breakup of a relationship in a rural small town. It uses the structure of modern popular music in the late 60s without being twee and is a very sombre, downbeat but ultimately uplifting experience. The songs use such pop instruments and acoustic guitars,harpsicords, brass to provide a gentle backing with occasional bass and drums for emphasis. There is no sign of his swing sound, it is more like the mid 50s Capital 'Lonely Town' recordings that get forgetten except by fans.
The songs are genuinely emotional from the powerful roar of the first track to quiet ballads. Songs often link with train sounds or other effects to give the impression of the town and life. His ageing original fans in the 70s didn't want serious, adult albums from Sinatra they wanted knock around japes or his hits. He was their escape from the gritty 70s and so this album bombed, is rarely talked about but genuinely deserves reappraisal. It was an embarassment for Sinatra to enter 'pop' music for them and he fell between two stools. However history has been very kind to the album.
Fans of sympathetic relatively contemporary bands like Blue Nile, No Man, Danny Wilson and others will find this a wonderful and moving experience.
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
So look, you take a singer on the downside of his career arc( Sinatra); a songwriter (Jake Holmes) whose most well known contribution to popular culture was the "Be all That You Can Be" jingle for the US Army and the "Be A Pepper" ad campaign for a soft drink; an ex-member of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (Bob Gaudio) known for writing "Sherry", you throw them together in a studio in 1970 and they produce a modern gem of a concept album. Unlikely? You bet. But it happened.
Sinatra on the cusp of his first "retirement" (he would only make one album after this one before retiring for 3 years) clearly faced irrelevance. His own generation wanted to freeze him in amber as some kind of glorious oldies act; the younger generations raised on rock and roll, soul, etc. mostly considered him a misogynistic joke. A ring a ding
ding throwback to the days when men were men and women were "broads".
What neither group understood was that Sinatra has always been both, of his time,and ahead of it. In this concept album Sinatra, Gaudio and Holmes show us a common man coming to terms with his life after his wife, "Elizabeth", has left him and their two children, Michael and Peter. We never are told the precise reasons she has done so though it's implied that some sort of forgiveness on his part would be required before they can reconcile.
The album approaches this in a series of vignette-like songs that chronicle the stages of grief, anger, hope, the realisation that it's irreconcilably over and his acceptance of the fact that what they once had is all he ever will have and the recognition of the good in their past.
Interestingly; we're told the names of his wife and children and even some neighbors but our narrator never tells us his own, remaining an annonymous everyman.
Arranged by Bob Gaudio and conducted by Charles Callelo the beautiful orchestrations hew intimately to Sinatras vocals, supporting and filling out a voice that was starting to see better days. Every track here is essential to the story with the exception of the bonus track "Lady Day" which, while contemporaneous with the album, was actually written about Billy Holiday and really has no place here. So, in order to hear this album as originally envisioned and released on vinyl, skip "Lady Day".
Some standouts for me are: "What A Funny Girl (you used to be)";
"Goodbye (She Quietly Says)"; and the truly remarkable, quietly anthemic, "I Would Be In Love Anyway".
I'm of the school that thinks Sinatra did the vast majority of his best work for Capitol in the 50's. Of course exceptions prove the rule and this Reprise album along with "Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim" are, for me, incredible exceptions.
I've owned this album since I bought my first vinyl copy in 1970 and was delighted to obtain a back up copy on CD. Buy this for yourself and watch a master balladeer hit it out of the park, one last time.
Sinatra on the cusp of his first "retirement" (he would only make one album after this one before retiring for 3 years) clearly faced irrelevance. His own generation wanted to freeze him in amber as some kind of glorious oldies act; the younger generations raised on rock and roll, soul, etc. mostly considered him a misogynistic joke. A ring a ding
ding throwback to the days when men were men and women were "broads".
What neither group understood was that Sinatra has always been both, of his time,and ahead of it. In this concept album Sinatra, Gaudio and Holmes show us a common man coming to terms with his life after his wife, "Elizabeth", has left him and their two children, Michael and Peter. We never are told the precise reasons she has done so though it's implied that some sort of forgiveness on his part would be required before they can reconcile.
The album approaches this in a series of vignette-like songs that chronicle the stages of grief, anger, hope, the realisation that it's irreconcilably over and his acceptance of the fact that what they once had is all he ever will have and the recognition of the good in their past.
Interestingly; we're told the names of his wife and children and even some neighbors but our narrator never tells us his own, remaining an annonymous everyman.
Arranged by Bob Gaudio and conducted by Charles Callelo the beautiful orchestrations hew intimately to Sinatras vocals, supporting and filling out a voice that was starting to see better days. Every track here is essential to the story with the exception of the bonus track "Lady Day" which, while contemporaneous with the album, was actually written about Billy Holiday and really has no place here. So, in order to hear this album as originally envisioned and released on vinyl, skip "Lady Day".
Some standouts for me are: "What A Funny Girl (you used to be)";
"Goodbye (She Quietly Says)"; and the truly remarkable, quietly anthemic, "I Would Be In Love Anyway".
I'm of the school that thinks Sinatra did the vast majority of his best work for Capitol in the 50's. Of course exceptions prove the rule and this Reprise album along with "Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim" are, for me, incredible exceptions.
I've owned this album since I bought my first vinyl copy in 1970 and was delighted to obtain a back up copy on CD. Buy this for yourself and watch a master balladeer hit it out of the park, one last time.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
What an ugly bit of engineering! Sounds like the engineer switched on the "maximum compression" button and went for lunch. I am refering to the 2010 re-issue of "Watertown" which claims to be "Remastered" - you can spot the difference between editions because here the previous bonus track "Lady Day" has disappeared.
This collapse in quality control somewhere along the production line is very puzzling. I have also bought the 2010 editions of "A Man Alone", "She Shot Me Down", and "Ol' Blues Eyes Is Back", and they all sound fine. Then this monstrosity of a remastering job shows up. Go figure. The only credit on the cover is the original credit (I guess) of "digital mastering by Lee Herschberg". No mention of remastering, except on the back cover where it reads "Digital Remastering @ 1998 and @ 2010". Lee Herschberg is a name that traditionally commands my respect so I hope he is free of involvement in this new issue.
Great album though! Didn't know it before....takes a few plays but gets underneath your skin fairly quickly, and now it's stuck on rotation with "A Man Alone". (To place both of those albums on one CDR I had to reduce the volume of Watertown by minus 2 dB's on my Yamaha HD1300E to reach a bearable match between the two discs).
"A Man Alone" is new to me so I cannot compare with previous editions, but it sounds just marvellous. The improvement in "She Shot Me Down" was significant, while on the other hand it seems very marginal with "Ol' Blues Eyes Is Back".
Sorry that most people will find this "Not Helpful" but somewhere out there someone (like me!) might be grateful for this warning. This is likely to be one of those cases where your older edition has a better sound.
This collapse in quality control somewhere along the production line is very puzzling. I have also bought the 2010 editions of "A Man Alone", "She Shot Me Down", and "Ol' Blues Eyes Is Back", and they all sound fine. Then this monstrosity of a remastering job shows up. Go figure. The only credit on the cover is the original credit (I guess) of "digital mastering by Lee Herschberg". No mention of remastering, except on the back cover where it reads "Digital Remastering @ 1998 and @ 2010". Lee Herschberg is a name that traditionally commands my respect so I hope he is free of involvement in this new issue.
Great album though! Didn't know it before....takes a few plays but gets underneath your skin fairly quickly, and now it's stuck on rotation with "A Man Alone". (To place both of those albums on one CDR I had to reduce the volume of Watertown by minus 2 dB's on my Yamaha HD1300E to reach a bearable match between the two discs).
"A Man Alone" is new to me so I cannot compare with previous editions, but it sounds just marvellous. The improvement in "She Shot Me Down" was significant, while on the other hand it seems very marginal with "Ol' Blues Eyes Is Back".
Sorry that most people will find this "Not Helpful" but somewhere out there someone (like me!) might be grateful for this warning. This is likely to be one of those cases where your older edition has a better sound.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Watertown
If you are a Sinatra fan this cd should be in your collection. It contains songs quite differant from the usual material and is very listenable.
Published 14 months ago by D. Young
Watertown CD
In My opinion as an Ardent Frank Sinatra Life long fan WATERTOWN IS ONE OF HIS BEST ALBUMS EVER.
Highly underated, soft gentle human songs with incredible phrasing as... Read more
Highly underated, soft gentle human songs with incredible phrasing as... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Peter
CD
I thought I had already completed this, but anyway the CD Watertown arrived in great condition and very promptly. Thanks very much.
Christine
Christine
Published on 31 July 2009 by C. Kirby
A truly great album
I won't describe this album in detail - if you google it you'll find all you need to know, so this is purely a personal take...
I love this album. Read more
I love this album. Read more
Published on 29 April 2008 by dead joe
not a fan - but
First of all I must say that I am not a fan of Sinatra, but came to this album in 1970 via the Four Seasons "Genuine Imitation Life Gazette" and I will say I fell in love with this... Read more
Published on 15 July 2007 by keith warden
Check out this rarely heard classic
The more I listen to this album I think it is not only Frank's best work of the 1960s, but one of the great ignored classic albums of that wondrous decade. Read more
Published on 21 May 2007 by Terry Starr
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