Global InformationIn the Wee Small Hours information
| In the Wee Small Hours | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Frank Sinatra | ||||
| Released | April 25, 1955 | |||
| Recorded | February 8 – March 4, 1955 (except "Last Night When We Were Young", March 1, 1954) | |||
| Studio | KHJ, Hollywood | |||
| Genre | Vocal jazz, traditional pop | |||
| Length | 49:52 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Voyle Gilmore | |||
| Frank Sinatra chronology | ||||
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In the Wee Small Hours is the ninth studio album by American vocalist Frank Sinatra. It was released in April 1955 by Capitol and produced by Voyle Gilmore with arrangements by Nelson Riddle. The album's songs deal with themes such as introspection, melancholy, lost love, failed relationships, depression and night life. The cover artwork reflects these themes, portraying Sinatra alone at night on an eerie and deserted city street awash in blue-tinged street lights.
In the Wee Small Hours has been called one of the first concept albums.[1][2]
Sinatra had been developing the idea of an album with a consistent theme since 1946 with his first album, The Voice. He would successfully continue releasing "concept" albums with later releases such as Songs for Swingin' Lovers!, Where Are You?, Only the Lonely and No One Cares.[3]
In the Wee Small Hours was issued as two 10-inch LP discs, and also as one 12-inch record LP, making it one of the first of its kind in the pop field. It was also issued as four four–song 45-rpm EP discs sold in cardboard sleeves with the same cover as the LPs, not in paper covers like 45-rpm singles.
The album was a commercial success, peaking at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, where it stayed for 18 weeks, becoming Sinatra's highest-charting album since Songs by Sinatra in 1947. The success of the album helped popularize the viability of the 12-inch LP in popular music, and the 10-inch format fell into obsolescence by the end of the 1950s. In 1970 it was re-issued as a ten track album under the name What Is This Thing Called Love?
In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it number 100 on their list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, dropping it to number 101 in the 2012 revision and to number 282 in the 2020 update.[4][5][6]
- ^ Annotated liner notes, Pete Welding. In the Wee Small Hours. Capitol Records, 1998 CD release.
- ^ Cullen, Jim (2001). Restless in the Promised Land: Catholics and the American Dream : Portraits of a Spiritual Quest from the Time of the Puritans to the Present. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 98–. ISBN 978-1-58051-093-6. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
- ^ Rojek, Chris (2004). Frank Sinatra. Polity. pp. 43–. ISBN 978-0-7456-3090-8. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
- ^ "Rolling Stone – the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003)".
- ^ "500 Greatest Albums: In the Wee Small Hours". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 27, 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
- ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2020-09-22. Archived from the original on 2023-07-22.