Frank Sinatra’s 1958 ballad album “Sings For Only The Lonely” is arguably the best of his desultory ballad albums, which he alternated with swinging big brass sessions. Friendly Rich does a tribute to the classic album, reproducing almost every song on the album (What? No “Sleep Warm” or “Where Or When”?). but instead of Nelson Riddle’s moody strings teamed with Harry Edison’s trumpet, Rich is backed by the jazz-indie combo of Julia Hambleton/cl, Dave Clark/dr, Dave French/sax, Nichol Robertson/g, Jon Meyer/b and Tania Gill/p. This, combined with Rich’s voice that is a meeting of Tom Waits with Wolfman Jack, creates an anti-matter to Sinatra’s matter, with dark swirling keyboards and a chicka boom beat to an ominous “Angel Eyes” or an Orson Wellesian dark “Goodbye.”
The almost subtoned nature of Rich’s voice evokes a late night monologue with Hambleton’s clarinet on “What’s New,” digging into magma on with piano and bass on the subtoned “Willow Weep For Me.” A country and western feel swaggers into the saloon on “Blues In the Night” while Rich sounds like he’s singing from the bartender’s perspective on “One For My Baby” and is up for a late night cocktail on “Spring Is Here.” Songs and moods like a 1940s film noir He Walked By Night with Richard Basehart stalking through the subterranean LA pipes.