Frank Sinatra - Christmas with Frank Sinatra [Opaque White]

Before the Capitol years and the swaggering Rat Pack image, Frank Sinatra was the most popular singer in America, a young crooner at Columbia Records whose tender ballads made him a sensation. Christmas with Frank Sinatra gathers holiday recordings from that era, and it captures his voice at its most youthful and romantic.

These are intimate, gently orchestrated performances, built around strings and soft choral backing rather than brassy big band. "White Christmas," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "Silent Night, Holy Night" are delivered with real tenderness, while "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," "Jingle Bells," "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" and "Winter Wonderland" bring a lighter, swinging touch. "Christmas Dreaming (A Little Early This Year)" is a lovely, lesser-known gem, and the carols "Adeste Fideles" and "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" show off the impeccable phrasing that would define his career.

It is a reminder of why Sinatra became the standard by which all pop singers are measured, and a perfect companion to his later holiday records.

This Columbia/Legacy LP presents ten tracks on 150-gram opaque white vinyl.