Sinatra: Vegas... almost.
By Yahoo! Shopping User Nov 10, 2006
Pros: Fantastic unreleased live performances
Cons: Monologues on the DVD have been edited!
As far as I'm concerned, the DVD should be the Holy Grail of Sinatra: Vegas. It claims to be the fabled "complete unreleased" May 5, 1978 Caesar's Palace concert performed in front of an audience of liquor salesmen, celebrities, and... a Catholic priest, as recorded by CBS but never broadcast in its entirety. Sinatra predicts that "this will be shown in 1982" during his introductory remarks... and he was only off by about 25 years. The video and sound quality are remarkable, especially considering the date and the source, and of course it's a revelation compared to the bootleg copies. The set list is a fascinating combination of tried and true Sinatra standards ("All of Me", "The Lady is a Tramp"), interesting new arrangements ("Baubles, Bangles, and Beads"), attempts to stay hip in the 1970s ("Didn't We", "Something"), the rather surreal (an audience singalong of "America the Beautiful"), and, perhaps best of all, a riveting piano/vocal performance of "Send in the Clowns." Then there's the monologue leading up to that Sondheim weeper-turned-saloon song, as Sinatra holds court, describing how the song is a request from an unnamed man in the audience "holding up one of them torches." Suddenly, though, I sensed that something was missing here -- so I pulled out my old bootleg CD copy of this performance and sure enough -- the monologue has been edited! Sinatra's raunchy riff on Elizabeth Taylor ("Mrs. Warner") is now missing... "Madronn' did she get fat! I mean she was so beautiful -- she was so beautiful. Somebody blew her up with a tire pump or somethin'. She's a great dame. She's marvelous. I once offered her $10,000 just to let me look at it. I wouldn't touch it, just let me look at it, that's all. She doesn't know -- excuse me, Father -- she doesn't know what I was talking about, and neither does he. Cause he ain't never seen it either. You better not have seen it! Otherwise I won't show up at Mass!" The audience howls with laughter, as you can probably imagine, but it's MIA on this "complete" official edition DVD. [Note how a cocktail magically appears in Frank's hand after the edit at 00:49:27. Not even Mr. S can make a drink materialize that fast!] Why is it okay for Sinatra to take potshots at Claudine Longet ("one of the great marksmen of all times"), but not Liz Taylor? And then, during the "introductions" monologue later on, there's yet another edit. While acknowledging the presence of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley in the audience, this ill-advised off the cuff remark has been removed... "Even if he is colored, he's a Hell of a man. He knows that, we tease him all the time. I'm glad to see ya, Thomas. He's my fella." Too politically incorrect, perhaps? Well, that's Sinatra: Vegas, folks. Deal with it. Of course, when he calls Paul Anka "that little Arab," it doesn't get edited out. What happened here? Why not include the complete monologues -- unedited and uncensored? There's plenty of swearing, drug references, and other off-color humor elsewhere in the Sinatra: Vegas recordings. What was it about these particular comments that was deemed "over the line" and by whom? Did the Sinatra Family insist on the edits before approving this release in order to "protect" their father's image and "legacy?" I think we can all handle the unsanitized Sinatra: Vegas experience, warts and all. Read more Less
