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In an extraordinary showbiz career spanning almost 75 years, perennial song-and-dance man Dick Van Dyke has only recorded three solo albums (in addition to his appearances on best-selling cast albums and soundtracks, that is!).  While two of those – 2017’s Step Back in Time and 2009’s Put on a Happy Face, the latter with his a cappella group The Vantastix – are from recent years, he did record one LP while starring on the 15-time Emmy Award-winning sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show.  1963’s Songs I Like, recorded with The Ray Charles Singers and Enoch Light’s orchestra for Light’s Command Records label, has just returned to CD from the U.K.’s Jasmine label.

Jasmine has reissued Songs I Like in an expanded edition.  The original album features Van Dyke’s bright and infectiously joyful renditions of such standards and showtunes as the Gershwins’ “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” and “They All Laughed” as well as Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home,” Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Lazybones,” and Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s then-recent soundtrack tie-in tune “Wives and Lovers.”  While the LP didn’t make commercial waves, it remains a potent reminder of Van Dyke’s gifts as a singer in the finest musical comedy mold.  Producer Enoch Light and arranger Lew Davies also included a pop rendition of “Put on a Happy Face,” the Charles Strouse/Lee Adams song that put Van Dyke on the map in Act One of Broadway’s Bye Bye Birdie.  The role of songwriter and would-be English teacher Albert Peterson in the 1960 Broadway musical won the rubber-limbed actor-singer-dancer a Tony Award and brought him to the attention of writer Carl Reiner who would create The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Jasmine’s expanded release adds both sides of a loopy novelty single written and produced by the team of Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard.  “Three Wheels on My Wagon” b/w “One Part Dog, Nine Parts Cat” was released in 1961 on the Jamie label but reissued in 1963 once Van Dyke had become a household name due to the success of his television show.  “Underwater Wonderland” – the B-side of “Three Wheels” on some pressings – has not been included.  Jasmine has, however, added five tracks featuring Van Dyke from the 1960 Columbia Records Original Broadway Cast Recording of Bye Bye Birdie: “An English Teacher,” “Put on a Happy Face,” “Normal American Boy,” “Baby, Talk to Me,” and “Rosie.”

Van Dyke’s co-star in Bye Bye Birdie, Chita Rivera, was among those who celebrated his induction into the 43rd annual class of the Kennedy Center Honors.  (Rivera was herself awarded a Kennedy Center Honor in 2002.)  Julie Andrews, a 2001 recipient, also appeared to pay tribute to her Mary Poppins co-star and longtime friend.  The Honor – acknowledged by Van Dyke, 95 years young, as “the thrill of my life” – is just the latest accolade for this living legend whose most fervent wish is just to get back to work and back onstage.  “I’ve got an hour and half put together like a one-man show,” he told The Washington Post.  “I’ve got so much material.”  We can’t wait to see it.

Dick Van Dyke’s Songs I Like: Expanded Edition – with new artwork inspired by the classic Dick Van Dyke Show – is made possible via current U.K. public domain laws.  It marks the original album’s second release on CD after a 2000 reissue in the U.K. (retitled Put on a Happy Face) on the ABM label.  Note, however, that Jasmine’s release is a CD-R, as the company has all but abandoned pressed silver CDs in recent years.  This lost classic from the beloved entertainer is out now; don’t trip over any ottomans on your way to the computer or the local record store!

Dick Van Dyke, Songs I Like: Expanded Edition (Command LP RS 860 SD, 1963 – reissued Jasmine JASMCD2722, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. Nice Work If You Can Get It
2. Easy Street
3. Put on a Happy Face
4. Walkin’ and Whistlin’ Blues
5. Baby Won’t You Please Come Home
6. Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home
7. Ain’t We Got Fun
8. They All Laughed
9. Wives and Lovers
10. Lazybones
11. My Baby Cares Just for Me
12. When You Want ‘Em, You Can’t Get ‘Em
13. I’ve Got a Crush on You
14. Three Wheels on My Wagon (Jamie single 1178-A, 1961)
15. One Part Dog, Nine Parts Cat (Jamie single 1178-B, 1961)

Selections from Bye Bye Birdie (Columbia LP KOS 2025, 1960)

16. An English Teacher – with Chita Rivera
17. Put on a Happy Face
18. Normal American Boy – with Chita Rivera and Ensemble
19. Baby Talk to Me – with George Blackwell
20. Rosie – with Chita Rivera