Boys Night Out

After Frank Sinatra's death, his record labels began to use "the Rat Pack," the term casually applied to a loose conglomeration of some of his show business friends, as a marketing concept for reissuing material by him, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr. There actually were some recordings and films of the three performing together, but soon enough collections were being assembled with their individual performances interspersed and credited to the Rat Pack. Capitol Records and Reprise Records, each of which had repositories of recordings by the three, combined for a couple of collections tied into the 2001 release of the remake of the film Ocean's Eleven: Eee-O-11: The Best of the Rat Pack and The Rat Pack Live at the Sands. In 2002 came Christmas With the Rat Pack, and in 2003, the CD/DVD package Live and Swingin': The Ultimate Rat Pack Collection. Worldwide, these four releases were approaching total sales of a million copies by the fall of 2004, when Boys Night Out was released to tie into the opening of the movie sequel Ocean's Twelve. Having exhausted "the best" and "the ultimate," the compilers, searching through the Capitol and Reprise vaults, have opted for what might be called "the obscure" here. The average fan of Sinatra, Martin, and Davis may well never have heard songs like the title track and the leadoff one, "Here Goes," both of which first saw release only on 1990s Sinatra compilations. Not all the selections are unfamiliar, but very few feature any interaction between the performers. "We Open in Venice," from the Reprise Repertory Theatre's studio cast recording of Kiss Me Kate, does feature all three, and a similarly assembled version of Guys and Dolls finds Sinatra and Martin in a duet on the title song (heard in its initial and shorter "reprise" version, the latter billed as a "bonus track" although it appears on all copies of this album); otherwise, the guys are heard separately. The compilers seem to have decided that the essence of whether a Sinatra, Martin, or Davis track qualifies for "rat pack" status is its swagger. There are a lot of Billy May charts here, post-swing-era rhythm arrangements with plenty of splashy brass, and the singers approach their interpretations with bravura. The lyrics are full of the argot of small-time criminals and nightclub owners. Terms for women include "baby," "gal," "filly," "quail," "doll," "chick," "dame" -- you get the idea. But then, that's the way these boys talk when they're on a night out. ~ William Ruhlmann