Bill Janovitz at Allmusic: After his breakup from Ava Gardner, an emotionally raw Frank Sinatra recorded his third concept album and his first long-player, a melancholy, introspective collection of ballads arranged by Nelson Riddle called In the Wee Small Hours, named after the album's most devastating song, and one that would forever be closely identified with Sinatra. Skipping the song's introduction, Sinatra allows a warm string section to swell and ebb before easing his way into the lyric: "In the wee small hours of the morning/When the whole wide world is fast asleep/You lie awake and think about the girl/And never ever think of counting sheep/When your lonely heart has learned its lesson/You'd be hers if only she would call/In the wee small hours of the morning/That's the time you miss her most of all." Without the introduction, that is the song's entire lyric: an economy of words that says all there is to be said. And as the first song on the record, it lays out the groundwork for the rest of the songs. Here was a bruised and battered Sinatra, his mellifluous voice seasoned, almost tattered, worn and wizened; that which does not kill you...etc. And for all his vulnerability on display on the song, Sinatra does indeed seem stronger for it all; he has loved, lost, and survived, and is moving on, but not before recording this reflective song and this collection of material as blue as its sleeve. This was a song that launched one of pop music's most famous albums, a record that signaled a new level of artistry and maturity from Sinatra as a jazz singer and as a man who was going through life's troubles along with his audience, growing and struggling along with him.

"In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" was written by the famous songwriting team of Bob Hilliard and David Mann, who together also penned such standards as "Jealous Eyes" and individually are responsible for "The Coffee Song," "Our Day Will Come," and "There, I've Said It Again." According to an anecdote printed on the Tunesmiths website (/http://nfo.net/.CAL/index.html#CALTOP), Mann and song-plugger Redd Evans spotted Sinatra walking down Broadway in New York. They beseeched him to listen to this new song, "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning." According to the story, "Sinatra listened and calmly locked the door and said, 'Fellas, this is my kinda song....'" Sinatra's voice sounds completely dry and free of reverb or other adornment that might interfere with the emotional delivery. Riddle's arrangement is spare, with the strings forming a quietly lush pad over a skeletal rhythm section. On I Just Dropped By to Say Hello (1963), the impossibly rich-voiced jazz vocalist Johnny Hartman found a way to make the song sound as lonely as Sinatra's, restoring the introduction -- though as a bridge. His version is even more sparse than Sinatra's, employing a traditional early-'60s small jazz combo, with Kenny Burrell on guitar, Elvin Jones on drums, Milt Hinton on bass, and pianist Hank Jones. The song also enjoyed a bit of a resurgence in the late '90s thanks to Carly Simon's unremarkable and oddly out-of-pitch version on the enormous Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack. For an excellent instrumental jazz recording of the song, check out tenor player Ben Webster with Oscar Peterson on the 1959 Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson, where the pianist quotes other moments from Sinatra's album.

"In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" was written by the famous songwriting team of Bob Hilliard and David Mann, who together also penned such standards as "Jealous Eyes" and individually are responsible for "The Coffee Song," "Our Day Will Come," and "There, I've Said It Again." According to an anecdote printed on the Tunesmiths website (/http://nfo.net/.CAL/index.html#CALTOP), Mann and song-plugger Redd Evans spotted Sinatra walking down Broadway in New York. They beseeched him to listen to this new song, "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning." According to the story, "Sinatra listened and calmly locked the door and said, 'Fellas, this is my kinda song....'" Sinatra's voice sounds completely dry and free of reverb or other adornment that might interfere with the emotional delivery. Riddle's arrangement is spare, with the strings forming a quietly lush pad over a skeletal rhythm section. On I Just Dropped By to Say Hello (1963), the impossibly rich-voiced jazz vocalist Johnny Hartman found a way to make the song sound as lonely as Sinatra's, restoring the introduction -- though as a bridge. His version is even more sparse than Sinatra's, employing a traditional early-'60s small jazz combo, with Kenny Burrell on guitar, Elvin Jones on drums, Milt Hinton on bass, and pianist Hank Jones. The song also enjoyed a bit of a resurgence in the late '90s thanks to Carly Simon's unremarkable and oddly out-of-pitch version on the enormous Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack. For an excellent instrumental jazz recording of the song, check out tenor player Ben Webster with Oscar Peterson on the 1959 Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson, where the pianist quotes other moments from Sinatra's album.

In the Wee Small Hours is the ninth studio album by American vocalist Frank Sinatra. It was released in April 1955 by Capitol and produced by Voyle Gilmore with arrangements by Nelson Riddle. All the songs on the album deal with themes such as loneliness, introspection, lost love, failed relationships, depression and night life. In the Wee Small Hours has been called one of the first concept albums. The cover artwork reflects these themes, portraying Sinatra on an eerie and deserted street awash in blue-tinged street lights.

He had been developing this idea since 1946 with his first album, The Voice. He would successfully continue this "concept" with later albums such as Songs for Swingin' Lovers! and Only the Lonely.

In the Wee Small Hours was issued as two 10-inch LP discs, and also as one 12-inch record LP, making it one of the first of its kind in the pop field. It was also issued as four four–song 45-rpm EP discs sold in cardboard sleeves with the same cover as the LPs, not in paper covers like 45-rpm singles.

The album was a commercial success, reaching number 2 on the Billboard album chart, where it stayed for 18 weeks, becoming Sinatra's highest charting album since Songs by Sinatra in 1947. In 1970 it was re-issued as a ten track album under the name What Is This Thing Called Love?.

In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked it the 101st greatest album of all time.

By the time he recorded In the Wee Small Hours, Sinatra witnessed the end of several relationships. He and his first wife, Nancy Barbato, separated on Valentine's Day 1950. While still married, he began a relationship with Ava Gardner. After he and Barbato divorced in October 1951, he married Gardner ten days later. But they were both jealous of the other's extramarital affairs. The relationship deteriorated during the recording of Songs for Young Lovers.

Despite considerable influence in getting him a part in From Here to Eternity, Gardner left Sinatra two months after the release of the film, divorcing in 1957. She said, "We don't have the ability to live together like any normal married couple." It is assumed that this album's grouping of "love gone bad" songs, and Sinatra's poignant renderings, were a direct result of Sinatra's failing relationship with Gardner, to the point that these are called "Ava Songs".

Riddle credited Sinatra's loss of Gardner with his ability to sing the type of songs contained in this album. The failure of this relationship did not shatter Sinatra but instead caused him to sing more emotionally.  In the midst of these personal disturbances, Sinatra began selecting songs for a new album. He would rehearse each one of them reiteratively at home with Bill Miller, his pianist. Full article