The “Greatest Hits” That Came From The Cold
Frank Sinatra was a devoted Jack Daniel’s fan, but to talk about this album, we need to pour ourselves a vodka and raise a toast to its shameless creators—pirates through and through; Jack Sparrow would be proud. In freezing Russia, a country that has gifted the world an invaluable artistic legacy, the Star Mark label put together a double album in 2007 with the highly “original” title The Greatest Hits, packing in fifty-five songs from Sinatra’s Capitol and Reprise years.
Since the early 2000s, Star Mark had been releasing greatest-hits compilations of international artists without securing proper licenses, taking advantage of the country’s lenient copyright laws. In many places, it’s considered an illegal operation—to the point that www.discogs.com bans the sale of its releases. But Star Mark’s audacity goes beyond just putting out unauthorized music. This very album even uses the Capitol Records name and logo! That takes the nerve of a Ural bear and a bloodstream running high on Smirnoff. If nothing else, they deserve a humble review.
Presentation
The fold-out case has an eye-catching design, featuring portraits of Frank painted by Brazilian artist Bruni Sabian, known for her jazz musician artwork. Back when I first started collecting unofficial releases, I used to “dress up” coverless albums with Bruni’s paintings, so I can’t help but feel a certain connection with these cheeky buccaneers—who, of course, don’t credit the artwork.
However, the typography and color of the title, borrowed from the 2002 Reprise compilation Sinatra Romance, don’t quite fit and end up making an already flashy cover feel overloaded. The back cover isn’t much better, with track titles tilted in a rather unflattering way. Inside, there’s a brief biography in Russian, and the CDs themselves are designed to mimic vinyl records.
Tracklist “The Greatest Hits”
A mess. A beautiful mess.
With Sinatra’s songbook, it’s easy to create an appealing collection, and this one is packed with great material—but arranged as if the tracklist was drawn at random from a hat.
The album kicks off with a strong lineup of five global classics (Strangers in the Night, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, (Theme From) New York, New York, My Way, and Somethin’ Stupid), but then the sequencing completely loses coherence. To give an example of the chaos, Something (1970) is followed by Anytime, Anywhere (1953) and The Girl From Ipanema (1967). That said, I have to give credit where it’s due: the sound quality is excellent, and they’ve included some lesser-known gems like The World We Knew, Bein’ Green, Forget Domani, and even a Christmas song, We Wish You the Merriest.
Conclusion
For any sane, reasonable person, this double album is utterly unnecessary. For me—an incurable collector—it’s absolutely delightful. Musically, it offers nothing new, but its exotic origins and underground nature make it one of the quirkiest pieces in my collection.
So no, I won’t tell you to go hunt it down. But I will say this: raise your vodka one more time and join me in a hearty Za zdorovye!—to Sinatra and to the scoundrels at Star Mark. Buccaneers, yes. But unquestionably, music lovers.
Article written by Mahnuel Muñoz. Facebook group “Al Mal Tiempo, Frank Sinatra“. https://www.facebook.com/groups/120950148274703
If you want to visit more articles about the life of Frank Sinatra enter the following Sinatra Radio 24h link: https://sinatraradio24h.com/category/articles/
We remind you that you can also listen to Sinatra Radio 24 hours on your mobile phone by downloading our free applications for Android in the Play Store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=sinatra.radio24h for iPhone in the Apple Store https://apps.apple.com/app/sinatra-radio-24h/id6599859344
