Best of Duets [20th Anniversay] in Bloomington, MN

Accompanying the 2013 Deluxe Edition reissue of
Frank Sinatra
's
Duets
is
The Best of Duets
, a 14-track compilation that rounds up highlights from that 1993 album and its 1994 sequel, adding his duet with
Luciano Pavarotti
on "My Way," a cut previously unreleased in the U.S. (but available on various international editions of the first
). As these two albums are cut from the same cloth -- they were assembled from the same long-distance sessions helmed by
Phil Ramone
-- they compile nicely, and this collection also benefits by emphasizing vocalists familiar with the Great American Songbook over pop/rock novelties. To be sure, such attention-grabbers as
Bono
and
Chrissie Hynde
are here (the latter providing one of the liveliest cuts), but this focuses on
Barbra Streisand
,
Luther Vandross
Lena Horne
Tony Bennett
Aretha Franklin
, and
Frank Sinatra, Jr
, which does mean this music doesn't seem quite as desperate to please all demographics as it did on the original album. Nothing changes how the
project remains a not-entirely essential coda to
Sinatra
's career, but anybody wanting to sample this swan song would do as well listening to this compilation as they would listening to the actual albums. [A 20th Anniversary Edition was released in 2013.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine