Album artwork courtesy of the label
On the turntable
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In the Wee Small Hours
Frank Sinatra · 1955
The first great album about being awake at three in the morning, and still the best.
Why it matters
Sinatra made records for every hour of the day, but only this one properly understands the small ones. Nelson Riddle's strings sit low and unhurried; Sinatra does not perform heartbreak so much as report it, accurately, like a man giving evidence. Play it too early in the evening and it will simply refuse to work.
The Continental setting
After the guests have gone, one lamp, one whisky, the city doing whatever cities do at that hour.
Start here
- 01In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
- 02Mood Indigo
- 03Glad to Be Unhappy
The definitive late-night vocal record; everything after it is commentary.
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