Trilogy: Past Present Future


Trilogy: Past Present Future is the fifty-fifth studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released in March 1980 through Reprise. The triple album included his last top 40 hit, "Theme from New York, New York".

Album concept

Each of the album's three records was conceived as an individual work portraying a different time epoch, and each was arranged by one of Sinatra's major collaborators: Billy May, Don Costa, and Gordon Jenkins. Nelson Riddle also contributed the arrangement of "Something" for The Present.
For "The Past," Sinatra recorded standards for the first time since the early 1960s: "The Song Is You," "It Had to Be You," "All of You". "The Present" concentrates on pop hits like "Love Me Tender", "Something", "Song Sung Blue", "MacArthur Park", and "Just the Way You Are". Stephen Thomas Erlewine's review described "The Future" as "a mess", although it was also called "ambitious, experimental, and self-referential — more of a freeform suite than a set of songs".

Reception

Trilogy: Past Present Future peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200.
At the Grammy Awards of 1981, Trilogy: Past Present Future was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and Sinatra's recording of "Theme from New York, New York" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and the Grammy Award for Song of the Year. It won the Grammy Award for Best Album Notes.
On his WNEW-AM show, Jonathan Schwartz described the "Future" suite that forms the final part of this album as "narcissistic" and "a shocking embarrassment". Sinatra rang to complain, and had Schwartz suspended from his job.
Writing for Billboard in 2015, Bruce Handy said, "35 years after its March 1980 release, in this, the year of Sinatra's 100th birthday, it remains one of the most ambitious, strange, brilliant and bloated albums of his or any other artist's body of work."

Track listing

"The Past"

Arranged by Billy May
Side One:
  1. "The Song Is You" – 2:39
  2. "But Not for Me" – 3:50
  3. "I Had the Craziest Dream" – 3:13
  4. "It Had to Be You" – 3:53
  5. "Let's Face the Music and Dance" – 2:50
Side Two:
  1. "Street of Dreams" – 3:32
  2. "My Shining Hour" – 3:21
  3. "All of You" – 1:42
  4. "More Than You Know" – 3:22
  5. "They All Laughed" – 2:49

"The Present"

Arranged by Don Costa, except "Something" arranged by Nelson Riddle
Side Three:
  1. "You and Me " – 4:07
  2. "Just the Way You Are" – 3:26
  3. "Something" – 4:42
  4. "MacArthur Park" – 2:45
  5. "Theme from New York, New York" – 3:26
Side Four:
  1. "Summer Me, Winter Me" – 4:02
  2. "Song Sung Blue" – 2:47
  3. "For the Good Times" with Eileen Farrell – 4:41
  4. "Love Me Tender" – 3:34
  5. "That's What God Looks Like to Me" – 2:55

"The Future"

All songs written, arranged and conducted by Gordon Jenkins
Side Five:
  1. "What Time Does the Next Miracle Leave?" – 10:44
  2. * Soprano solo by Diana Lee
  3. * Narration by Jerry Whitman
  4. "World War None!" – 4:27
  5. "The Future" – 4:05
  6. * Alto solo by Beverly Jenkins
Side Six:
  1. "The Future" : "I've Been There!" – 3:33
  2. "The Future" : "Song Without Words" – 6:00
  3. * Soprano solo by Loulie Jean Norman
  4. * Alto solo by Beverly Jenkins
  5. "Finale: Before the Music Ends" – 9:46

Personnel