Originally, Frank Sinatra had planned to record Only the Lonely with Gordon Jenkins, who had arranged his previous all-ballads album, Where Are You. Jenkins was unavailable at the time of the sessions, which led Sinatra back to his original arranger at Capitol, Nelson Riddle. The result is arguably his greatest ballads album. Only the Lonely follows the same formula as his previous down albums, but the tone is considerably bleaker and more desperate. Riddle used a larger orchestra for the album than he had in the past, which lent the album a stately, nearly classical atmosphere. At its core, however, the album is a set of brooding saloon songs, highlighted by two of Sinatra's tour de forces -- "Angel Eyes" and "One for My Baby." Sinatra never forces emotion out of the lyric, he lets everything flow naturally, with grace. It's a heartbreaking record, the ideal late-night album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Frank considered this to be his best work. I consider it the greatest album ever recorded. Nobody could swing like Sinatra, but his lonely ballads, his 'saloon songs,' exceed even that standard. Arranger/conductor Nelson Riddle makes heavy use of rubato, the musical term for bending the rhythm of the music to accentuate the content. Sinatra and Riddle slow the tempo to a crawl on bitter, lonely phrases, as if facing the end of the world. Amateurs need not apply. It's pure, serious music.