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Joanie Sommers
Voice Of The Sixties/Sommer's Season *
This Collectors Choice two-fer pairs long out of print Warner Bros. efforts recorded by Joanie Sommers in 1961 and 1963, respectively. The Voice of the Sixties! teams the singer with arranger Neal Hefti, an inspired pairing that yields some of the most vivacious music of her career. Although the album title trumpets Sommers as the voice of her decade, the material here draws heavily on the standards of previous generations, as exemplified by "I'm Old Fashioned," Hefti's inspired backings nevertheless boast an energy that's decidedly modern, staking out territory that's somewhere between pop and jazz, with the end result perfectly complementing Sommers' crystal-clear vocals. With a name like Joanie Sommers, it was probably inevitable that the singer would record a seasonal album sooner or later, and the Stan Applebaum-arranged Sommer's Season is it. And while the session is better than its hokey concept might suggest, it isn't much better -- the material is painfully obvious, and for all of Sommers' charms, there's little she can do with familiar retreads like "April in Paris," "Summertime," and "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Applebaum's wan arrangements aren't much help -- his jazzy backdrops afford Sommers a fair amount of space in which to operate, but the line between subtle and dull is a fine one. ~ Jason Ankeny
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Eydie Gorme
Eydie Vamps The Roaring 20's
Personnel: Eydie Gorme (vocals).
Audio Remasterer: Charles Paakkari .
Liner Note Author: Eydie Gorme.
Arrangers: Don Costa; Buddy Bregman.
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$ 17.98
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Eydie Gorme
Eydie In Love
Audio Remasterer: Charles Paakkari .
Liner Note Author: Eydie Gorme.
A heartfelt, deeply sincere collection of love songs and ballads that's sweet but never saccharine, Eydie in Love ranks among Eydie Gorme's most consistent and accomplished LPs, thanks as much to her poignant vocals as to the impeccable backings of conductor and arranger Don Costa, whose feather-light, moonstruck sensibilities perfectly capture the fluttery emotions of budding romance. The songs capture all facets of love and loss, spanning from the joy of "Love Letters" to the sorrow of "In the Wee Small Hours" -- then 27 years old, Gorme manages to articulate both girlish infatuation and world-weary resignation with authority and understanding, all rendered with the signature warmth that makes her records so appealing. ~ Jason Ankeny
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Eydie Gorme
Love Is A Season
Audio Remasterer: Charles Paakkari .
A song cycle that spans from "The Things We Did Last Summer" to "Winter Night" and back again, Love Is a Season transcends the novelty parameters of its concept to emerge as one of Eydie Gorme's most rewarding albums. Even if the basic idea behind the session is a bit familiar and trite, few other singers who've tackled the seasonal theme have possessed the sheer scope of Gorme's talents. She's as comfortable and compelling on material like "September Song" as she is on "Easter Parade," shifting effortlessly from pop effervescence to torch song melancholy. Don Costa's jazzy arrangements are no less vital to the album's success, perfectly pinpointing the music's seasonal settings but never succumbing to clich‚s. ~ Jason Ankeny
$ 19.98
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Doris Day
With A Smile And A Song
Personnel: Doris Day (vocals).
Liner Note Author: Daniel M. Schaarschmidt.
Arrangers: Martin Broones; Jim Harbert; Allyn Ferguson; Malcolm Arnold.
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$ 12.98
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Frank Sinatra
Nothing But The Best
Audio Mixers: Larry Walsh; Terry Woodson; Charles Pignone.
Audio Remasterer: Bernie Grundman.
Liner Note Author: Charles Pignone.
Recording information: Hollywood, CA; New York, NY.
Authors: Bill Miller; Frank Sinatra; Al Viola; Quincy Jones; Billy May.
Photographer: Ted Allan.
Arrangers: Claus Ogerman; Don Costa; Ernie Freeman; Gordon Jenkins; Nancy Sinatra; Nelson Riddle; Quincy Jones; Skip Martin ; Torrie Zito; Billy May; Billy Strange.
"The Chairman of the Board" died in May of 1998, yet his music sounds as vital and relevant today as ever. Released on the 10th anniversary of his death--in coordination with a slew of DVD releases commemorating the singer's acting career as well as an official U.S. Postal Service stamp--NOTHING BUT THE BEST provides an excellent look at Sinatra's tenure at the Reprise label. Among the album's 22 vintage cuts are classics such as "The Way You Look Tonight," "Luck Be a Lady," "Strangers in the Night," and "My Way." The disc also contains a bonus track in the previously unreleased recording of "Body and Soul." Diehard Sinatra fans will likely own most of this material, yet as a greatest hits set (albeit covering the Reprise years only) NOTHING BUT THE BEST lives up to its title.
Released to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Frank Sinatra's death, Nothing But the Best is indeed one of the best single-disc compilations ever released on Sinatra. This isn't a career overview, however, since it begins with his inaugural Reprise recordings circa 1960 and surveys the rest of the '60s (including only two tracks not from the '60s). This was the age of Sinatra as the hard-swinging Chairman of the Board, illustrated perfectly by "Luck Be a Lady" and "My Kind of Town." But it was also the age of wistful, middle-aged material like "Summer Wind," "Strangers in the Night," and, of course, "It Was a Very Good Year." And it was also the age when Sinatra had the freedom to record with everyone he wanted to record with, whether it was Count Basie or Antonio Carlos Jobim or his daughter Nancy (the latter on the 1967 chart-topper "Somethin' Stupid"). All of those periods are represented on Nothing But the Best, which takes its place above the best previous Reprise collection, Sinatra Reprise: The Very Good Years, even though it somehow omits one of his classics, "Love and Marriage." For this compilation, Reprise also commissioned new 2008 remasters of each track, which sound better than any previous, and added a new bonus track: a version of "Body and Soul" with a vocal recorded in 1984 laid over a 2007 arrangement by Torrie Zito and Frank Sinatra, Jr. ~ John Bush
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Various Artists
Sinatra At The Movies
Personnel: Frank Sinatra (vocals).
Photographers: Ken Veeder; Sid Avery.
Frank Sinatra was not only the 20th century's greatest vocalist, he also happened to be a movie star. Sinatra's charm and charisma lent themselves well to film, and he had a long, successful movie career. SINATRA AT THE MOVIES is a collection of songs the crooner king sang in some of those films. It almost functions as an alternative best-of, sporting the inspirational "Young At Heart" from the film of the same name, the rollicking "Chicago" from THE JOKER IS WILD, the sassy "The Lady Is A Tramp" from PAL JOEY, and plenty more. Even if you throw the cinematic concept out the window, SINATRA AT THE MOVIES simply contains some of the singer's finest moments, grouped together in a fresh context.
After Bing Crosby, no jazz vocalist had more success in the movies, or was better at intertwining his performances with his films, than Frank Sinatra. From 1940 to 1970, he was never far from Hollywood, and his film successes often went hand in hand with his popular fortune. (Even his movie personas aligned with his musical themes and ambitions, from his breakthrough starring role, in Higher and Higher, to the ambitious On the Town, the scrappy From Here to Eternity, the quintessentially swinging Pal Joey, and the self-satisfied Ocean's Eleven.) Sinatra at the Movies isn't the career-spanning movie retrospective that it should be -- instead, it concentrates on his Capitol period of the '50s. (Even his big film hit from 1943's Higher and Higher, "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night," is present here only in its 1957 version.) The '50s are virtually defined by Sinatra's great music, but the quality of his movie titles was scattershot. Yes, there were some big hits from the film world -- "Three Coins in the Fountain," "All the Way," "(Love Is) The Tender Trap," "All of Me" -- and virtually all of them were great performances. Sinatra was also making sure he recorded plenty of great material, classics like "I Could Write a Book" (from Pal Joey), "The Lady Is a Tramp" (Pal Joey again), and "Just One of Those Things" (Young at Heart). Yet he was occasionally becoming lighter and more pithy by the end of his Capitol era, never more so than when a children's choir began "High Hopes." Overall, it's not a great choice for beginners, although note that it provides a great complement to his studio albums of the '50s. An added bonus here is the inclusion of several songs that are comparatively rare on Sinatra retrospectives: "Not as a Stranger," "Monique," and "C'est Magnifique." ~ John Bush
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Matt Munroe
Munroe, Matt: Matt At The Movies
The beloved British crooner sings you 74 songs from decades of movies—from 'The Wizard of Oz' to 'West Side Story' to 'Funny Girl' and beyond! He does 'Alfie; The Impossible Dream; Over the Rainbow; People; Days of Wine and Roses; From Russia with Love; All My Loving; Sunrise, Sunset; Laura; Singin’ in the Rain; Everybody’s Talkin’; When You Wish upon a Star', and more.
3 CD IMPORT
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Rosemary Clooney & Jo Stafford
Clooney, Rosemary/stafford: Complete Rdc
There’s a lot of gold in the 'Reader’s Digest' vaults—the company made state-of-the-art recordings of some of the 20th century’s biggest vocal and instrumental stars—but these sessions featuring two of the greatest female singers of all time have to be counted among the label’s most desirable nuggets! Jo Stafford recorded for 'Reader’s' from 1967–1970 (often with husband Paul Weston), and you’ll find all 21 songs here; Rosemary Clooney, meanwhile, laid down tracks in the ’50s, ’70s and ’80s, 27 sides in all, which 'Reader’s' has garnished with 10 tracks from her classic recordings for Concord in the ’90s. Put the two together, and you have a marvelous portrait of two legendary ladies of song, with plenty of previously-unheard cuts! Includes 'September in the Rain; People; Over the Rainbow; I’ll Be Seeing You; Somewhere, My Love; What the World Needs Now Is Love' Jo Stafford; 'Harbor Lights; My Old Flame; Witchcraft; God Bless the Child; Come On-A-My House; Hey There; Days of Wine and Roses; We’re in the Money; Goody Goody' Rosemary Clooney, and more.
3 CD SET
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$ 39.98
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Jo Stafford
The Columbia Hits Collection
Includes liner notes by Gene Lees.
Not long after Jo Stafford's arranger (and future husband) Paul Weston moved from Capitol to Columbia in 1950, she followed him, preferring to work with an understanding producer (surely their budding relationship played a part as well). During the first half of the '50s, Stafford continued gracing the Hit Parade with the same balance of sedate, honey-toned balladry and up-tempo novelty singles cooked up with Weston. The pair's Corinthian label delivered this compilation of her rather erratic Columbia years, including 25 hits -- six of which were recorded in tandem with Frankie Laine. Stafford's biggest hit at Columbia (and of her entire career) was the wistful ballad "You Belong to Me," which spent months at the top of the charts. Even though she specialized in songs like this at Capitol, she didn't record many of them while at Columbia; "It Is No Secret" is similar, as is "Tennessee Waltz" and "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such As I." The emphasis, however, is decidedly on the novelty songs, paced by frenetic country cornpone like "Hambone" and "Setting the Woods on Fire" (both with Laine). Most of the arrangements here would've been appropriate for the typical weak-lunged pop singer of the '50s; Weston and Columbia don't appear to have placed much confidence in the pure strength of Stafford's voice. ~ John Bush
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Teresa Brewer
Brewer, Teresa: Sweet Old Fashioned Girl
The first tribute to the great Teresa Brewer since she passed away is also the best collection ever put together, two CDs and a whopping 62 tracks including her complete, debut album, 'Music! Music! Music!', featuring the smash title track plus the sought-after songs 'Nora Malone' and 'A Sweet Old-Fashioned Girl'. And, of course, more hits are here, highlighted by 'A Tear Fell; You Send Me; Empty Arms; Bo Weevil; A Sweet Old-Fashioned Girl; Mutual Admiration Society', and more. A beautiful British import!
2 CD IMPORT
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Engelbert Humperdinck
Humperdinck, Engelbert: Greatest Hits
Three dozen ’60s breakthroughs and ’70s smashes by this romantic-ballad king! Every big hit is here: 'Release Me (and Let Me Love Again); After the Lovin’; Winter World of Love; Am I That Easy to Forget; A Man Without Love; There Goes My Everything; The Last Waltz; Les Bicyclettes de Belsize; I’m a Better Man; The Way It Used to Be; My Marie; Sweetheart; In Time', and more.
3 CD IMPORT
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Bing Crosby
Gold [us]
In the first half of the 20th century, Crosby was a media icon on the order of Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. From the 1930's on, his smooth, gently suave, and subtly jazz-influenced vocals sold millions of records, and in turn influenced many pop and jazz singers who came after. What distinguishes GOLD from other Crosby collections is the presence of the many fine duet performances, such as those with jazz immortal Louis Armstrong, vocal group Andrews Sisters, and film star Jane Wyman (!). And once again, GOLD displays Crosby's remarkable, genial versatility, from Irish and Hawaiian tunes to dreamy ballads and gorgeous Christmas songs.
In his self-published book Bing Crosby's Commercial Recordings: From 78s to CDs, Crosby scholar F.B. Wiggins provides a list of "Bing's 40 Top Hits." Wiggins is also the compiler of this 40-track hits compilation, and unsurprisingly 32 of its selections are included on that list, plus two songs in different versions from the ones on the list. Wiggins' primary deviation from his list is forced upon him -- there are six tracks from the period 1931-1934 that are not owned by Universal Music and thus not available for a compilation on its Geffen imprint. One of them is "Please," for which Wiggins substitutes a 1940 re-recording. But he also takes the opportunity to augment this roughly chronological sequence of chart-toppers with some signature tunes, such as "When the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day," Crosby's radio theme song; "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral," an excellent example of his way with an Irish number, and early-'50s collaborations with Louis Armstrong ("Gone Fishin'") and Jane Wyman ("In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening"). These are some of the liveliest performances on the album. Indeed, Crosby always seems to be stimulated by a collaborator, whether it's Connee Boswell ("Bob White") or the Andrews Sisters ("Don't Fence Me In"). Perhaps supposing that one meeting with Boswell was enough, Wiggins drops their 1938 version of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (included on his list of top hits) in favor of a 1947 one with Al Jolson. Still, the heart of this collection is the series of major hits Crosby scored in a variety of styles over a period of 20 years, as he excelled whether singing straight ballads, rhythm numbers, country & western-flavored material, Dixieland, or even Hawaiian songs. (In fact, he showed a particular affinity for music from the islands.) By Wiggins' count, Crosby made 2,000 studio recordings for commercial release over 52 years. This album contains only 40 of them from the two-decade height of his popularity. But it gives a good sense of what the rest were like and why Crosby was such a dominant singer in his era. ~ William Ruhlmann
2 CD SET
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Mel Torm‚
The Capitol Rarities (1949-1952) *
Personnel: Mel Torm‚ (piano); Mary Osborne (guitar); Bunny Shawker (drums).
Liner Note Author: Will Friedwald.
Recording information: 12/19/1949-09/26/1952.
Arranger: Pete Rugolo.
Though best known as a jazz singer and balladeer, the late Mel Torme was also a songwriter, author, drummer, and actor. He recorded a massive body of work throughout his life, and not all of it is readily available. THE CAPITOL RARITIES collects singles and oddities from his tenure with Capitol Records, and is loaded with characteristically classy performances of jazz and pop songs. Torm‚ brought a musician's sensibility to singing. His voice could elevate the most ordinary song from acceptable to outright impressive; his velvety-smooth delivery virtually glistens with artistry.
The knock against Mel Torm‚'s early career -- from critics, fans, and even Torm‚ himself -- was that he was trapped in the band-singer format, where vocalists were mere cogs in the recording machine and were unable to choose (or even approve) the songs they sang. (Of course, most bandleaders, A&R executives, and even musicians considered that a very practical setup.) From an early point in his career, it had become clear that Torm‚ was a musical whiz kid -- able to write songs, play a variety of instruments, and arrange for multiple voices, all on top of singing very well -- but when he arrived at Capitol in the late '40s and began recording, he was asked to sing certain songs at certain times. That setup resulted in most of the highest charting hits of his career, but he was only rarely given the chance to record his own choices; when he later gained that ability with Bethlehem and Verve, it resulted in the best recordings of his career. Fortunately, the approach while at Capitol still resulted in very good music, since Torm‚'s ineffable talent could find the wheat in a field full of chaff. Also, his musical supervisors and arrangers while at Capitol were among the best. Famous names such as Nelson Riddle and Pete Rugolo were ready and willing to take a throwaway like "The Sidewalk Shufflers" and transform it into a solid piece of jumpy swing. The Capitol Rarities (1949-1952) collects 19 rarities from that three-year segment of his career, bypassing the hits "Careless Hands" and "The Old Master Painter" for novelties such as "There's an "X" (In the Middle of Texas)" and "You Locked My Heart (And You Swallowed the Key)." Overall, aside from Torm‚ fans, who will naturally rejoice at the wealth of material (and Will Friedwald's thorough notes), this rarities compilation from an off-peak period can't be recommended to most listeners. ~ John Bush
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