'I Hate Rock & Roll', so sang The Jesus And Mary Chain in 1996, but Frank Sinatra had already beaten them to it; "The most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression it has been my misfortune to hear"; that was his take on it. And on that note I wonder if he ever heard 'Paint It, Black' or what he felt when he found out his old school croon had knocked it off number one? Gloating? Vindication? Perhaps, though to be honest I doubt he'd have cared all that much - "a piece of shit" was his own review of 'Strangers In The Night' and it's one that's both harsh and fair in equal measure."Strangers in the night exchanging glances, wond'ring in the night what were the chances we'd be sharing love before the night was through." - 'Strangers In The Night' is another spin on the love born out of chance meeting scenario and Ernie Freeman's arrangement fair drips with the romantic promise of a shared and happy future. So far, so unthreatening, but like a raincloud arriving to spoil a picnic, Sinatra's voice sounds like he's been gargling with starch, bringing a stiffness to the proceedings that smothers the pretty melody like a strangler's hands round a young girl's throat. It doesn't ruin the song, but neither does it do much to save it - Frank simply does not sound in a particularly romantic frame of mind with his top heavy, overstated boom, and even the famed "Do be dooby do" scat on the outro sounds less a vocalist bouncing off the tune as one forcing out the sounds through gritted teeth. It might have won him a Grammy, but it kind of makes me wish the lucky girl had stayed in to wash her hair that night.
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