Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings’ new box set Frank Sinatra: A Voice on Air (88875 09971 2) begins, appropriately enough, with the jarring sound of an old-time radio tuning in. The shrill noise quickly segues to the first of nearly 100 performances on four CDs – 19-year old Frank Sinatra, one-fourth of The Hoboken Four, singing the perky “S-H-I-N-E” on WHN Radio’s The Major Bowes Amateur Hour. Here, then, is the future Chairman of the Board – before he sang for swingin’ lovers, before he did it his way – as a…
Review: Johnny Mathis, “The Singles”
A new 4-CD box set from Legacy Recordings and Columbia Records can be best summed up by the title of its very first track: “Wonderful! Wonderful!” Johnny Mathis’ simply-titled The Singles doesn’t bring together every track released by the legendary artist on 45 RPM; such an endeavor would take far more than four discs. Instead, it features the tracks originally released by Mathis on Columbia in the singles format – in other words, non-LP sides – between the years of 1956 and 1981, in their original single mixes. This amounts to 87…
Hey, Look Me Over! Harbinger Celebrates The Music of Cy Coleman On New Collection
When Bob Dylan released his first collection of standards earlier this year, the venerable singer-songwriter took umbrage at the notion that he was “covering” classic songs. “I don’t see myself as covering these songs in any way,” he reflected. “They’ve been covered enough. Buried, as a matter a fact. What me and my band are basically doing is uncovering them.” Among the songs uncovered by Dylan was Cy Coleman and Joseph McCarthy’s “Why Try to Change Me Now,” first recorded by Frank Sinatra at his final session for Columbia Records in 1952. …
Review: Peggy Lee, “At Last: The Lost Radio Recordings”
When Mad Men returned to television on April 5 for the first of its final seven episodes, viewers saw a different Don Draper – perhaps ready, at last, to realize what he’d become. To underscore his possible epiphany of disillusionment, the strains of Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?” recurred numerous times throughout the episode. The song’s placement underscored just how resonant Lee’s music – mysterious, elegant, startling, bluesy, sensual, sly, hip, alternately hot and cool – continues to be, thirteen-plus years after her death in 2002 at age 81. In…
Review: Frank Sinatra, “Ultimate Sinatra”
On August 31, 1939, Frank Sinatra stepped into a New York recording studio as vocalist of Harry James’ orchestra for a two-song session. The second song recorded, Arthur Altman and Jack Lawrence’s “All or Nothing at All,” captured a philosophy that the 23-year old “boy singer” would hold closely. “All or nothing at all/Half a love never appealed to me,” he asserted. “If it’s love there is no in-between…” Indeed, Frank Sinatra’s life was one of triumphant highs and shattering lows – no in-betweens. The vocalist returned to the song numerous times…
Wouldn’t It Be Loverly? Two Julie Andrews Classics Return to CD
By anyone’s estimation, Julie Andrews was one of Columbia Records’ leading lights by 1962. Her Tony-nominated performances onstage in My Fair Lady and Camelot had both led to chart-topping, record-breaking original cast recordings on the Columbia label; in fact, it was under the leadership of president Goddard Lieberson that the record label underwrote the original Broadway production cost of My Fair Lady – an investment that, needless to say, paid off many times over! So it was unsurprising that Columbia signed Andrews as a solo artist. (She had previously recorded at RCA…
Review: Perry Como, “Live on Tour”
“I was a barber. Since then, I’ve been a singer. That’s it.” So reflected Perry Como on an astounding career in which the onetime haircutter from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania sold more than 100 million records, charted 131 singles in the United States, fourteen No. 1s, and seventeen Gold records – including the very first single to receive that certification, 1958’s “Catch a Falling Star.” He hosted more than 1,000 television programs, earned five Emmys, a Grammy, and a Kennedy Center Honor. What was the secret to Mr. C’s appeal and his amazing longevity…
Rosemary Clooney, Jim Reeves Rarities Arrive From Mint Audio
Newly-launched label Mint Audio recently made a splash with Operation Santa Claus: Live from Hong Kong 1962, a previously unreleased concert from vocal great Matt Monro. The label’s two other premiere releases salute two other titans of song – Rosemary Clooney and Jim Reeves. Rare and Unreleased features 30 radio performances from Maysville, Kentucky’s favorite daughter, Rosemary Clooney (1928-2002). Most are from the period of 1955-1961, with the earliest tracks dating to a few years earlier. The first five tracks, from 1951-1952 sessions, feature the young “girl singer” backed by the Earl…
Love Is Everywhere: Anita Harris’ Trip to “Jumbleland” Is Revisited By Cherry Red Label
Trivia: Which British songbird, in 1965, introduced “London Life,” Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s ode to Swingin’ London? Hint: It’s not Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark or Cilla Black! The answer is Anita Harris, an actress and singer who, for a short period, seemed to poised to share the charts with those illustrious names. Harris charted a quartet of hits in the U.K. in 1967-1968, most notably Tom Springfield’s “Just Loving You” (No. 6) and “The Anniversary Waltz” (No. 21). Ultimately, her recording career didn’t thrive for long, but it did set the…
Margaret Whiting and George Shearing’s “Lost Jazz Sessions” Found
With her straightforward, emotionally honest and vocally pristine style, it’s no wonder why Margaret Whiting became one of the foremost interpreters of the body of work known today as The Great American Songbook. One of the earliest signings to Johnny Mercer’s fledgling Capitol label, Whiting scored approximately 50 chart hits in the 1940s and 1950s, popularized now-standard songs including “My Funny Valentine,” “It Might as Well Be Spring,” “Moonlight in Vermont” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” and was the first major artist to record a songbook tribute album (1947’s Margaret Whiting Sings…
Portrait of His Love: New Mint Audio Records Label Launches With Unreleased Matt Monro Concert
We’ve written often here in the past about the splendid restoration work of Richard Moore on projects for vocalist Matt Monro and composer Roy Budd, among others. Now, we’re happy to spread the word that Moore has launched a new label. U.K.-based Mint Audio Records has kicked off with three releases (and counting!) from a trio of bona fide music legends: Rosemary Clooney, Jim Reeves, and Matt Monro. All three of these titles premiere never-before-released music, and we’ll be taking an in-depth look at each – including today’s spotlight on Monro’s Operation…
Review: Judy Garland, “Swan Songs, First Flights: Her First and Last Recordings”
“Forget your troubles, come on, get happy!” exhorts the song by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Ruth Etting, “America’s Sweetheart of Song,” introduced the anthem in 1930 as the finale of Broadway’s short-lived The Nine Fifteen Revue. But as soon as a svelte Judy Garland performed the song against a painted backdrop of white clouds on a pink sky for 1950’s MGM musical Summer Stock, “Get Happy” belonged to no one else. After all, Koehler’s lyrics could have been written for Garland, epitomizing her can-do spirit in the face of adversity with…
Another Side: Shedding Light On Bob Dylan’s “Shadows”
With this week’s release of Shadows in the Night, Bob Dylan has unveiled his buzziest album in years. On track to become Dylan’s eighth No. 1 album in the U.K. – with chart success also expected stateside – Shadows in the Night is the album on everybody’s lips. We can’t stop talking about it at Second Disc HQ, either. Joe filed his review on Tuesday, but longtime Dylanphile Ted has “another side” to offer, too! Please join the discussion and sound off below on the latest work from one of America’s most…
Review: Bob Dylan, “Shadows in the Night”
How does it feel, to be on your own, with no direction home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone? Chances are it feels much like the milieu of Bob Dylan’s newest studio album, Shadows in the Night. The characters that emerge from these Shadows have all pulled up stools at the last chance saloon, a room filled with strangers and lost souls, where idylls of romance vanish into the air as quickly as the omnipresent wisps of cigarette smoke. Regrets, they’ve had a few. The songs on Shadows in the…
Ella, Satchmo, Aretha, Miles and The Merm Featured On Starbucks’ “Fascinating Gershwin”
When The Library of Congress established a Prize for Popular Song in 2007, one name was affixed to it: Gershwin. With no disrespect to Messrs. Berlin, Porter, Rodgers and company, George and Ira’s surname is synonymous with the gold standard in American popular song. The recipients of the award to date – Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Carole King and Billy Joel – have all followed in the Gershwins’ footsteps of marrying smart, sophisticated and incisive lyrics to unabashedly melodic, sweeping musical statements. Starbucks’ recent compilation…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Judy Garland, “The Garland Variations: Songs She Recorded More Than Once”
Judy Garland opens JSP Records’ new 5-CD box set The Garland Variations: Songs She Recorded More Than Once (JSP 975) with “Everybody Sing,” the kind of rousing showstopper she was practically born to sing. Sessions for the song from MGM’s Broadway Melody of 1938 began when Garland was on the cusp of just fifteen years old, but the power of her vocal instrument was already in place. But even when belting with a force to rival the mighty Merman, there was always something unfailingly intimate – or personal – about a Judy…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Frank Sinatra, “London”
It was ambitious, even for Sinatra. His sixth studio album on his own Reprise label – and one of five full-length LPs released in 1962 alone – would be recorded in Great Britain with a British musical director, producer and personnel, and would feature only songs from British composers. For the quintessentially American singer, it must have been a formidable challenge. But Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain proved that The Voice was up to the task. Over time, it became a highly-regarded album in a considerable canon, and also a…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: A Classic Christmas With Rosemary Clooney, Frank DeVol
Welcome to Part One of a two-part series exploring the recent line-up of Christmas releases from Real Gone Music! 1954’s White Christmas, quite simply, remains one of the most beloved holiday musicals to ever hit the silver screen. Built around the songbook of Irving Berlin – who lived to the age of 101 in 1989 but was already a Grand Old Man of American music by 1954 – the film starred Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen. Such a quartet promised an evening’s entertainment filled with song and dance,…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: “The Classic Christmas Album” Series
Johnny Mathis. Frank Sinatra. Perry Como. Steve Vai? Menudo? When it comes to Christmas music, Legacy Recordings doesn’t pull its punches. The label’s series of Classic Christmas Album releases has become a bit of an annual tradition, and this year’s batch of single- and various-artist anthologies once again draws on names both expected and unexpected. While the packages are bare-bones, with no liner notes (but happily with full credits and discographical annotation), the music most certainly is not. Johnny Mathis recorded his first Christmas album in 1958 and his most recent in…
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Johnny Mathis, “The Complete Global Albums Collection”
In two short years, Johnny Mathis will likely celebrate his 60th anniversary with Columbia Records, a towering achievement by any standard. But even the strongest marriages must sometimes weather separations, as was the case when the vocalist jumped ship to rival Mercury Records for the period between 1963 and 1967. At Mercury, Mathis formed Global Productions to administer his master recordings, and recorded some eleven albums (only ten of which were originally released) under its aegis. Upon his return to Columbia, a select few of Mathis’ Mercury recordings were reintroduced to the…
Splish Splash! Bobby Darin’s “The Milk Shows” Premieres Two Discs of Never-Before-Heard Recordings
Bobby Darin knew he was in a race with time. If it was a race he would inevitably lose as a result of the heart condition he fought for his 37 years, Darin accomplished more in that short period of time than many artists who lived twice as long. A master of reinvention, Darin successfully transformed himself from teen idol to sophisticated hipster to folk troubadour and back again before his death in 1973. He also left behind a catalogue of impressive size at Atlantic, Capitol, Motown and his own Direction label,…
Billy Paul Is “Feelin’ Good” On BBR Reissue Of His First Studio Album
Big Break Records and Billy Paul – they’ve got a thing going on. The label, an imprint of the Cherry Red Group, has just returned to the soul titan’s catalogue for the sixth time – and with this release has gone back to the very beginning. BBR’s previous reissues from the “Me and Mrs. Jones” singer have explored his Philadelphia International discography as well as his Neptune release Ebony Woman and a post-PIR album for Total Experience Records. Now, the label has turned its attention to Paul’s debut LP, 1968’s Feelin’ Good at…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Matt Monro, “The Rarities Collection” and “Alternate Monro”
How lovely to sit here in the shade, with none of the woes of man and maid/I’m glad I’m not young anymore! The rivals that don’t exist at all, the feeling you’re only two feet tall/I’m glad I’m not young anymore! Matt Monro recorded those Alan Jay Lerner lyrics in January 1973 at just 42 years of age. But by that point, the golden-voiced singer had already acquired enough experience to interpret them with supreme confidence and natural charm. Monro’s reassuring, crisply impeccable tone earned him early comparisons to Frank Sinatra, but…
Now Sounds Tip-Toes Thru The Tulips With “God Bless Tiny Tim”
Welcome to my dream, and how are you? Will you be here long, or just passing through? Brush off that stardust, where have you been? Don’t tell me my rainbow was late getting in… When Herbert Buckingham “Tiny Tim” Khaury, 37, married Victoria May “Miss Vicki” Budinger, 17, on December 17, 1969 before Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon, The Rev. William Glenesk and a studio audience filled with 268 of the happy couple’s closest friends, roughly 40 million people were watching. It was a high point for Carson’s Tonight Show, and some 44…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Bobby Darin, “The 25th Day of December” and Various Artists, “Funky Christmas”
Real Gone Music is ensuring that it’s going to be a merry Christmas, indeed, with a number of holiday-themed releases that practically beg to be enjoyed alongside a glass of egg nog and a warm fireplace. Bobby Darin’s The 25th Day of December, the late singer’s only holiday LP, arrived on the Atco label in 1960. However, the album wasn’t the work of Bobby Darin, the splish-splashin’ rock-and-roller, or Bobby Darin, the finger-snapping, tuxedoed crooner. It’s not even the work of Bob Darin, the folk troubadour. Instead, it displays another side of…
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