In the Wee Small Hours
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- For the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode, see "In the Wee Small Hours (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode)"
| In the Wee Small Hours | ||
| Studio album by Frank Sinatra | ||
| Released | 1955 | |
| Recorded | March 1, 1954–March 4, 1955, KHJ Studios, Hollywood | |
| Genre | Classic pop | |
| Length | 48:41 | |
| Label | Capitol Records | |
| Producer(s) | Voyle Gilmore | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Frank Sinatra chronology | ||
| Swing Easy! (1954) |
In the Wee Small Hours (1955) |
Songs For Swingin' Lovers (1956) |
In the Wee Small Hours is an album by Frank Sinatra, released in 1955. It is with this album that Sinatra perfected the concept album, fully realizing the ideas he had been grappling with in record presentation going all the way back to The Voice from 1946. It remains one of the most celebrated and enduring of the concept albums that Sinatra put out during the 1950s.
It was his first full 12-inch LP, and more importantly it contained a set of songs specifically recorded for the album, which had not always been true of his previous 10-inch records. In the Wee Small Hours used only ballads, organized around a central mood of late-night isolation and aching lost love (supposedly due to his separation from Ava Gardner). The sequence is triggered by the morose opening title track, which had just been written, and then is followed up by a selection of pop standards. The album cover, now considered a classic, directly reinforced the overall theme.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 100 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album is also included in 1001 albums you must hear before you die, edited by Robert Dimery.
| Track | Song Title | Written By | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" | Bob Hilliard and David Mann | 3:00 |
| 2. | "Mood Indigo" | Barney Bigard, Duke Ellington and Irving Mills | 3:30 |
| 3. | "Glad to Be Unhappy" | Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart | 2:35 |
| 4. | "I Get Along Without You Very Well" | Hoagy Carmichael | 3:42 |
| 5. | "Deep in a Dream" | Eddie DeLange and Jimmy Van Heusen | 2:49 |
| 6. | "I See Your Face Before Me" | Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz | 3:24 |
| 7. | "Can't We Be Friends?" | Paul James, Kay Swift | 2:48 |
| 8. | "When Your Lover Has Gone" | Einar A. Swan | 3:10 |
| 9. | "What Is This Thing Called Love" | Cole Porter | 2:35 |
| 10. | "Last Night When We Were Young" | Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg | 3:17 |
| 11. | "I'll Be Around" | Alec Wilder | 2:59 |
| 12. | "Ill Wind" | Arlen and Ted Koehler | 3:46 |
| 13. | "It Never Entered My Mind" | Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart | 2:42 |
| 14. | "Dancing on the Ceiling" | Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart | 2:57 |
| 15. | "I'll Never Be the Same" | Gus Kahn, Matty Malneck and Frank Signorelli | 3:05 |
| 16. | "This Love of Mine" | Sol Parker, Henry W. Sanicola, Jr., Frank Sinatra | 3:33 |