'In The Wee Small Hours' is a classic and probably the best record in the entire works of Frank Sinatra. The arrangements by Nelson Riddle are beautiful, very detailed and sophisticated. Sinatra's phrasing rob your breath away (at best when the pieces 'Glad I'm Unhappy' and 'I Get Along Without You ...' and the title track). The sadness, the melancholy and heartbroken came in Sinatra's voice, I think, never again as good and so convincing to advantage, as here. Anyway, these pieces are miles from any Las Vegas aesthetics. And rarely has a record cover the mood of shots so perfectly illustrates: Sinatra with hat is smoking in a doorway (or similar), in the background the silky glow of a lantern that bathes the whole scene in bluish sheen. Quite certainly the ultimate soundtrack for the period 2-3 clock in the morning when you sit at home in the dark living room and staring out into the night, a long lost love nachtrauernd ....
