Watertown - FRANK SINATRA****

Watertown/Goodbye (She Quietly Says)/For A While/Michael & Peter/I Would Be In Love/Elizabeth/What A Funny Girl (You Used To Be)/What's Now Is Now/She Says/The Train

Watertown was a concept album from Frank Sinatra expressing the anguish of a small town man after his wife had left him and their two sons. The songs were written by Bob Gaudio of The Four Seasons. (US:101 UK:14)

"A baroque pop concept album concerning a lonely small town guy whose wife has walked out on him and the kids. It fits Ol' Blue Eyes hand in glove and he doesn't disappoint, providing probably the last truly great vocal performances of his career. The slightly strained quality in his voice actually benefits the material here."

"Frank Sinatra's first swan song, Watertown, is the most unusual album in his entire discography. It is the only one that openly flirts with, though does not fully embrace, rock 'n' roll sounds. It is a concept album with a full story rather than one that is manufactured around a specific theme."

"Parts of this feel rather cheesy, but I think they help with building up the overall effect that Frank would've wanted you to take away from this album - living in a small town, rumination on old love, growing old. This is basically It Was A Very Good Year stretched across an entire record, but it works incredibly well."

"In the mid-to-late 60's Frank Sinatra was struggling to compete with rock and roll and contemporary styles of the day. Like most vocal or jazz musicians he started covering current pop tunes with sometimes awkward results. Watertown, a concept album about the breakdown of a marriage written by Bob Gaudio, broke that cycle. As concept albums go, this one is brilliant with a coherent story line from beginning to end. Stylistically this is the closest Sinatra ever came to producing a rock album."

"Watertown is the forgotten masterpiece of Sinatra's Reprise years. It's comparatively poor sales performance and the flop of the single release, I Would Be In Love, allegedly contributed to his decision to retire (temporarily as it happened) from the business one year later."

"This is one of the most beautifully melancholy albums I have ever heard. I was feeling relatively content, yet a bit bored, when I started playing this. By half way through my heart was filled with sad nostalgia and, just for having such an effect on me, this deserves a good rating. This is truly a magnificent album and doesn't warrant the dismissive attitude it gets among many fans."