agreed on the SfSL disc. definitely sinatra's best. other great listings: live in paris, sinatra w/ jobim, only the lonely (sad but wonderful), w/ count basie (very hot!). the reprise 4 disc set is a great intro as well, but the 1st reprise disc you got is where i got started, 60+ sinatra discs ago...
Sinatra - good vs great
I don't have a lot of exposure to Sinatra, but my first CD was "The Reprise Collection: The Very Good Years." It's (well, they are) an awesome performance. Even the tunes I don't particularly care for have me tapping my toes. It seems to be very involving. Based on this - I was surprised that I liked it as well as I do - I bought a copy of the Captiol Singles collection. (This is the 4-CD set, not the mammoth 21-CD version!) The new set is nice, but it's nowhere near as involving, and I can't really put my finger on why. Some of the tunes are the same. It was done earlier in his (later) career, so I doubt that it's just that he had "figured it out" - he had long ago done that. Anyone know why this one CD is so much more enjoyable than the other set?