Originally released in 1970, Watertown is a lost masterpiece and turning point for Frank Sinatra, a concept album with rock and pop influences written by Bob Gaudio and Jake Holmes. It has gone through a re-evaluation in recent years and is now considered one of Sinatra's finest recordings. All tracks are newly mixed from the original session tapes.

• 50th Anniversary
• Deluxe Edition
• New 2022 Remix from the Original Session Tapes
• Embossed Gatefold Cover
• New Liner Notes
• 12" x 24" Poster

Watertown remains an album unlike any other in the Sinatra discography. The seeds of the two-part suite were planted when Sinatra met with Frankie Valli of The Four Seasons. Valli's longtime musical partner Bob Gaudio explained to Ed O'Brien in 1994.

"Frankie spent some time with Frank, and they got to be real friendly. They started talking about a project, and Frankie made the suggestion that Frank and I should meet and talk about doing something contemporary, something maybe a little different and unusual, something he hadn't done before," O'Brien said.

Gaudio and Sinatra met in mid-1968, and within months, the producer-composer began crafting the album that became Watertown. He enlisted Jake Holmes (the original "Dazed and Confused") as lyricist. Gaudio and Holmes had collaborated on The Four Seasons' most ambitious album, The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette, released in January 1969. For Sinatra, they would create a concept album that shared some of Genuine Imitation Life's DNA in its mordant look at American life

"We hit on putting him in a small town. Having a small-town approach, and taking it down as much as we could to basic life in middle America," Gaudio explained. "We tried to strip all of the gloss and sheen off of it."

Released in 1970, Watertown is a lost masterpiece. It was a turning point for Frank Sinatra: a concept album from the man who pioneered the concept album, written by Bob Gaudio, of Four Seasons fame, and Jake Holmes, who previously had written the Four Seasons' own concept album. Despite a top 5 AC chart showing for the single "I Would Be In Love (anyway)," the album was poorly received at the time, but has gone through a re-evaluation in recent years and is now considered one of Sinatra's finest recordings.

"As wonderful as they are, I didn't want it to be like every other album Sinatra had done," Gaudio noted. "I felt the songs needed to be treated a little more introspectively. Like the character. This was not the big city. This was a man in a small town – a very simple, unfortunate slice of life. I wanted to create as haunting a sound as possible and I think I accomplished that. It does have a lot of space, and air, and unusual things. A lot of things Sinatra had never done. Raw is a perfect description for Frank's interpretation."

All tracks are newly mixed from the original session tapes. The LP edition features the original 10-track sequence, a package with all original lyrics, a printed sleeve with new liner notes, track-by-track breakdown from Mr. Gaudio, and a 12" X 24" poster.

Track Listing:

Side A
1. Watertown
2. Goodbye (She Quietly Says)
3. For A While
4. Michael & Peter
5. I Would Be In Love (Anyway)

Side B
1. Elizabeth
2. What A Funny Girl (You Used To Be)
3. What’s Now Is Now
4. She Says
5. The Train

Click here to listen to samples on YouTube.com ♫