Trilogy: Past Present Future

Artistic scheme

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 (The Past), Don Costa (The Present), and Gordon Jenkins (The Future).

For "The Past," Sinatra made a record of standards ("The Song Is You," "It Had to Be You," "All of You") for the first time since the early 1960s. "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 "ambitious, experimental, and self-referential — more of a freeform suite than a set of songs".

The Past: Collectibles of the Early Years

1. "The Song Is You" (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II) – 2:39
2. "But Not for Me" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 3:50
3. "I Had the Craziest Dream" (Mack Gordon, Harry Warren) – 3:13
4. "It Had to Be You" (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn) – 3:53
5. "Let's Face the Music and Dance" (Irving Berlin) – 2:50

1. "Street of Dreams" (Sam M. Lewis, Victor Young) – 3:32
2. "My Shining Hour" (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) – 3:21
3. "All of You" (Cole Porter) – 1:42
4. "More Than You Know" (Billy Rose, Edward Eliscu, Vincent Youmans) – 3:22
5. "They All Laughed" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 2:49

The Present: Some Very Good Years

1. "You and Me (We Wanted It All)" (Carole Bayer Sager, Peter Allen) – 4:07
2. "Just the Way You Are" (Billy Joel) – 3:26
3. "Something" (George Harrison) – 4:42
4. "MacArthur Park" (Jimmy Webb) – 2:45
5. "Theme from New York, New York" (Fred Ebb, John Kander) – 3:26

1. "Summer Me, Winter Me" (Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand) – 4:02
2. "Song Sung Blue" (Neil Diamond) – 2:47
3. "For the Good Times" (Kris Kristofferson) – 4:41
4. "Love Me Tender" (Vera Matson, Elvis Presley) – 3:34
5. "That's What God Looks Like to Me" (Lois Irwin, Lan O’Kun) – 2:55

The Future: Reflections on the Future in Three Tenses

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

1. "The Future" (Continued): "I've Been There!" – 3:33
2. "The Future" (Conclusion): "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

All songs on "The Future" section written by Gordon Jenkins.

Personnel

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.

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."