THE VERY BEST OF JULIE LONDON, NICE WORK FROM
DIANA KRALL AND TONY BENNETT, AND RAY CHARLES
RETURNS
THE VERY BEST OF JULIE LONDON
Julie London.
For me the name Julie London conjures up memories of some very hot
album covers but that is about it. I was a kid and young teenager when she
was most popular as a singer. While I probably, unavoidably, heard her
singing at some point, I have never actually heard any of her albums. My
curiosity was piqued by this CD compilation, though, so I bought it to hear
just what, if anything, I had missed.
And I missed quite a bit.
The album notes are excellent and give an informative overview of her life,
career, and the songs on the CDs. She had an interesting life. Born Gayle
Peck in 1926, she was discovered by Hollywood in 1943 while running an
elevator and given a screen test. She had a movie career in the 1940s and
was also doing some singing. She married Jack Webb* in 1947 and gave up
her career to raise two daughters. She and Webb separated in 1953 and
she subsequently married musician Bobby Troup in 1959**, about whom I
knew nothing, but who is notable in his own right. She was successful as
both a singer and an actress and did not really retire from public life until the
early 1980s. She and Bobby starred in the “Emergency” TV show in the
1970s, which I never saw but was produced by Jack Webb. It must have
been an amicable divorce. Julie London died in 2000. There is tons of
information on her on the Internet. You can see the album covers there.
The Best Very of Julie London (Capitol/EMI 09463-12129-2-5) contains 50
songs, and while the songs are short, it still takes a while to get through an
entire CD. Click here for album photo.
The sound quality of the tracks on these CDs varies from really quite good
to questionable. Virtually all the tracks are typical early stereo with
instruments in the right and left speakers and the vocalist in the middle.
There is no depth to speak of. It is a mix that probably worked better when
these songs were being played back on console stereos with speakers three
feet apart. Some of the tracks were remastered in the 1990s but really don’
t sound any different than any of the other tracks. There is very little tape
hiss present but copious amounts of reverberation appear on a number of
the tracks.
The best tracks musically consist of Julie’s voice accompanied by just a guitar
and bass such as “Cry Me a River” and “Blue Moon.” You can hear the
expression in her voice and low level details in “Every Time We Say
Goodbye.” To my ears, “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Diamonds
are a Girl’s Best Friend, I Left my Heart in San Francisco, Sway, September in
the Rain, and Love Letters” are all outstanding. “Good, Goody” is interesting
as the tape runs prior to the start of the song; she discusses the tempo
with someone in the studio giving a real sense of being there. I thought
that “Sentimental Journey” could easily pass for a recent recording.
Most of the rest of the tracks qualify as good. There is too much reverb on
some of them and the strings tend to sound shrill but it’s no different
sound-wise than other albums of the same vintage.
There are some clunkers, though, and it makes me wonder why, given all the
albums she did, these particular tracks were included. “Misty” has some
really intrusive flute trills that are totally distracting. They appear first in the
right channel and then in the left. And they are loud. “As Time Goes By” is
ruined by way too much reverb. The reverb in spots can sound almost
metallic. Shrill strings damage “I Can’t Get Used to Losing You.”
“Mad about the Boy” places Julie’s voice in the right channel and the
instrumentals in the left. There is nothing at all in the middle. It just
sounds odd. “Lover Man” has noticeable sibilance and hiss. “Light My Fire”
is just a bad idea.
But this complaining is unfair. These songs were never recorded to pass
audiophile inspection 40 plus years later. They were recorded because Julie
London has one of the most enjoyable female singing voices ever and we are
lucky to still be able to hear her. Sure, the words “sexy” and “sultry” are
typically used to describe her voice but these descriptions smack more of
marketing than music. Given the album covers, her voice couldn’t be
described as anything less than sexy.
I would characterize Julie London as the anti-Celine Dion. Julie may not have
a lot of vocal range (at least she doesn’t show it) but you can listen to her
voice itself all day and not get tired of it. You may get tired of the
orchestration but the voice is warm, soothing, lovely, and caressing. And
not boring, I would add. The emotions and inflections are all in there. I just
found myself wishing more of the tracks featured simpler arrangements.***
There is a lot to like on these CDs. I feel like a gap in my musical
background has now been filled.
*Jack Webb is best known for portraying Sergeant Joe Friday on Dragnet.
“Just the facts, Ma’am.”
**Bobby Troup’s best known songs are “Route 66” and “Girl Talk.”
***The songs I liked best all seem to come from the album Julie is Her
Name, Volume 2 so I am going to have to find a copy of it.
FROM THIS MOMENT ON
DIANA KRALL’S NEW ALBUM
From this Moment On (Verve B0007527-02) is Diana Krall’s first studio
album since The Look of Love, according to a note on the CD wrapper, which
I have since thrown out. I hope my memory is correct. Click here for a photo.
What the CD case doesn’t tell you is that Diana fronts a big band on seven
of the eleven tracks on this album. This comes as kind of a surprise when
you are expecting to hear a jazz quartet.
The other four tracks, which are produced by Diana, feature her piano
playing with trio accompaniment and I think are the best tracks on this
album, although, musically, it’s splitting hairs.
Sound quality is very good overall with good soundstage depth and width.
Diana's version of “How Insensitive” is the most emotionally satisfying
version of the song that I have ever heard.
The sole quibble comes from the close-miking of Ms. Krall’s voice, which
leads to more sibilance than needs to be there.
I like this album; I’m still deciding just how much. It seems to improve with
each playing.
So is Diana Krall the Julie London of our time? Good looking, sexy voice,
married to a musician, the similarities are uncanny.
TONY BENNETT DUETS
AN AMERICAN CLASSIC
Here we find Tony Bennett, maybe the last great crooner, fronting a big
band and singing with a bewildering variety of people. It’s a celebration of
his 80th birthday and the CD is part of a promotion that will include a
television special in November. Is it crassly commercial? Yes. Does that
make it bad? No. Is it as good as it could be? No, but it is still very good.
Does it work? Yes, it works pretty well. It’s not perfect but in the final
analysis it’s....Tony Bennett.
Overall, the sound quality of the CD is good. The 18 duets, if you consider
the Dixie Chicks as a collective noun, were recorded in four different venues
but with Phil Ramone as the sole producer, which undoubtedly aided its
consistency. Bob Ludwig did the mastering, which is always a good thing.
Click here for an album photo.
The question at the heart of this CD is: Do the duets work? Most of them
do. I felt that “Because of You” with K.D. Land was the best overall but the
duets with Diana Krall, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Streisand, Elton John, and
Bono all have some chemistry going for them, making them special and very
enjoyable. The Dixie Chicks needed a song that let them do more singing.
What you get on “Lullaby of Broadway” is wonderful; there is just not
enough of it.
Most of the rest of the duets are at least good. I skipped the Celine Dion
track. I didn’t think much of the duet with Paul McCartney but fortunately
Tony does most of the singing.
I hear that Tim McGraw is a singer. I couldn’t tell from his strained efforts
on “Cold, Cold Heart” but in fairness it isn’t Tony’s best effort either. I
would have brought in Tim’s wife instead adding to the number of women on
the album, which totals a rather dismal five. All right, seven if you count all
the Dixie Chicks.
Tony Bennett sounds his age on this CD more than he has on any recent
CD. He still sounds good and on “For Once in My Life” with Stevie Wonder
shows he is still capable of belting a song out. Still, it’s disconcerting to hear
age invading what has been an almost ageless voice. The solo version of “I
Left My Heart in San Francisco,” while an appropriate inclusion on this album,
is not memorable.
Overall, this album is enjoyable, fun, and worth listening to. No one is going
to like all 18 singers, which is why CD players let you skip tracks. Still you
wonder: who is Juanes?
I bought my CD at Target and it includes four bonus tracks. The first of
these features Tony with Diana Krall live at the Tanglewood Music Festival in
2000. It is the best track on this album. It has chemistry, great sound,
musical excitement, and makes you wish all the tracks on the album were
equally as good. I would like to see an album that collects these kinds of
performances in one place. That would be the legacy album that this album,
good as it is, fails to be.
RAY SINGS BASIE SWINGS
RAY CHARLES + COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA = GENIUS 2*
Concord Records/HEAR Music CCD-30026-2)
I bought this CD without knowing what I was actually getting. Ray Charles
vocals from the 1970s are wedded to new recordings by the Count Basie
orchestra to create this CD. A full explanation of where the tapes came from
and how it was done is given in the CD notes. The people who accomplished
this are the same people who produced the Genius Loves Company CD.
Click here for the album cover.
And it works. Very well. I don’t think anyone hearing this CD, without
knowing its gestation process, would suspect it as being anything but a very
good sounding recording of Ray Charles singing with the Basie Orchestra.
There is a convincing separation between Ray’s voice and the orchestra that
gives the illusion of him at the piano singing out in front to the audience.
The balance is just right; the orchestra never overwhelms the vocals. And
the vocals are well worth hearing and more than justify this album’s
existence.
While Ray should have passed on singing “Look What They’ve Done to my
Song,” what he does with the Beatles “Long and Winding Road” transforms
it; it is a totally different song than the one we are all familiar with. Ray
Charles had the ability to make every song he sang his own in a way that
only Willie Nelson comes close to doing. The songs on this CD make that
abundantly clear.
Think of this CD as a gift you never expected.
*The title is Genius Squared but the formatting on Yahoo SiteBuilder won't
let me superscript.
Kent Johnson
October 19, 2006
DIANA KRALL AND TONY BENNETT, AND RAY CHARLES
RETURNS
THE VERY BEST OF JULIE LONDON
Julie London.
For me the name Julie London conjures up memories of some very hot
album covers but that is about it. I was a kid and young teenager when she
was most popular as a singer. While I probably, unavoidably, heard her
singing at some point, I have never actually heard any of her albums. My
curiosity was piqued by this CD compilation, though, so I bought it to hear
just what, if anything, I had missed.
And I missed quite a bit.
The album notes are excellent and give an informative overview of her life,
career, and the songs on the CDs. She had an interesting life. Born Gayle
Peck in 1926, she was discovered by Hollywood in 1943 while running an
elevator and given a screen test. She had a movie career in the 1940s and
was also doing some singing. She married Jack Webb* in 1947 and gave up
her career to raise two daughters. She and Webb separated in 1953 and
she subsequently married musician Bobby Troup in 1959**, about whom I
knew nothing, but who is notable in his own right. She was successful as
both a singer and an actress and did not really retire from public life until the
early 1980s. She and Bobby starred in the “Emergency” TV show in the
1970s, which I never saw but was produced by Jack Webb. It must have
been an amicable divorce. Julie London died in 2000. There is tons of
information on her on the Internet. You can see the album covers there.
The Best Very of Julie London (Capitol/EMI 09463-12129-2-5) contains 50
songs, and while the songs are short, it still takes a while to get through an
entire CD. Click here for album photo.
The sound quality of the tracks on these CDs varies from really quite good
to questionable. Virtually all the tracks are typical early stereo with
instruments in the right and left speakers and the vocalist in the middle.
There is no depth to speak of. It is a mix that probably worked better when
these songs were being played back on console stereos with speakers three
feet apart. Some of the tracks were remastered in the 1990s but really don’
t sound any different than any of the other tracks. There is very little tape
hiss present but copious amounts of reverberation appear on a number of
the tracks.
The best tracks musically consist of Julie’s voice accompanied by just a guitar
and bass such as “Cry Me a River” and “Blue Moon.” You can hear the
expression in her voice and low level details in “Every Time We Say
Goodbye.” To my ears, “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Diamonds
are a Girl’s Best Friend, I Left my Heart in San Francisco, Sway, September in
the Rain, and Love Letters” are all outstanding. “Good, Goody” is interesting
as the tape runs prior to the start of the song; she discusses the tempo
with someone in the studio giving a real sense of being there. I thought
that “Sentimental Journey” could easily pass for a recent recording.
Most of the rest of the tracks qualify as good. There is too much reverb on
some of them and the strings tend to sound shrill but it’s no different
sound-wise than other albums of the same vintage.
There are some clunkers, though, and it makes me wonder why, given all the
albums she did, these particular tracks were included. “Misty” has some
really intrusive flute trills that are totally distracting. They appear first in the
right channel and then in the left. And they are loud. “As Time Goes By” is
ruined by way too much reverb. The reverb in spots can sound almost
metallic. Shrill strings damage “I Can’t Get Used to Losing You.”
“Mad about the Boy” places Julie’s voice in the right channel and the
instrumentals in the left. There is nothing at all in the middle. It just
sounds odd. “Lover Man” has noticeable sibilance and hiss. “Light My Fire”
is just a bad idea.
But this complaining is unfair. These songs were never recorded to pass
audiophile inspection 40 plus years later. They were recorded because Julie
London has one of the most enjoyable female singing voices ever and we are
lucky to still be able to hear her. Sure, the words “sexy” and “sultry” are
typically used to describe her voice but these descriptions smack more of
marketing than music. Given the album covers, her voice couldn’t be
described as anything less than sexy.
I would characterize Julie London as the anti-Celine Dion. Julie may not have
a lot of vocal range (at least she doesn’t show it) but you can listen to her
voice itself all day and not get tired of it. You may get tired of the
orchestration but the voice is warm, soothing, lovely, and caressing. And
not boring, I would add. The emotions and inflections are all in there. I just
found myself wishing more of the tracks featured simpler arrangements.***
There is a lot to like on these CDs. I feel like a gap in my musical
background has now been filled.
*Jack Webb is best known for portraying Sergeant Joe Friday on Dragnet.
“Just the facts, Ma’am.”
**Bobby Troup’s best known songs are “Route 66” and “Girl Talk.”
***The songs I liked best all seem to come from the album Julie is Her
Name, Volume 2 so I am going to have to find a copy of it.
FROM THIS MOMENT ON
DIANA KRALL’S NEW ALBUM
From this Moment On (Verve B0007527-02) is Diana Krall’s first studio
album since The Look of Love, according to a note on the CD wrapper, which
I have since thrown out. I hope my memory is correct. Click here for a photo.
What the CD case doesn’t tell you is that Diana fronts a big band on seven
of the eleven tracks on this album. This comes as kind of a surprise when
you are expecting to hear a jazz quartet.
The other four tracks, which are produced by Diana, feature her piano
playing with trio accompaniment and I think are the best tracks on this
album, although, musically, it’s splitting hairs.
Sound quality is very good overall with good soundstage depth and width.
Diana's version of “How Insensitive” is the most emotionally satisfying
version of the song that I have ever heard.
The sole quibble comes from the close-miking of Ms. Krall’s voice, which
leads to more sibilance than needs to be there.
I like this album; I’m still deciding just how much. It seems to improve with
each playing.
So is Diana Krall the Julie London of our time? Good looking, sexy voice,
married to a musician, the similarities are uncanny.
TONY BENNETT DUETS
AN AMERICAN CLASSIC
Here we find Tony Bennett, maybe the last great crooner, fronting a big
band and singing with a bewildering variety of people. It’s a celebration of
his 80th birthday and the CD is part of a promotion that will include a
television special in November. Is it crassly commercial? Yes. Does that
make it bad? No. Is it as good as it could be? No, but it is still very good.
Does it work? Yes, it works pretty well. It’s not perfect but in the final
analysis it’s....Tony Bennett.
Overall, the sound quality of the CD is good. The 18 duets, if you consider
the Dixie Chicks as a collective noun, were recorded in four different venues
but with Phil Ramone as the sole producer, which undoubtedly aided its
consistency. Bob Ludwig did the mastering, which is always a good thing.
Click here for an album photo.
The question at the heart of this CD is: Do the duets work? Most of them
do. I felt that “Because of You” with K.D. Land was the best overall but the
duets with Diana Krall, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Streisand, Elton John, and
Bono all have some chemistry going for them, making them special and very
enjoyable. The Dixie Chicks needed a song that let them do more singing.
What you get on “Lullaby of Broadway” is wonderful; there is just not
enough of it.
Most of the rest of the duets are at least good. I skipped the Celine Dion
track. I didn’t think much of the duet with Paul McCartney but fortunately
Tony does most of the singing.
I hear that Tim McGraw is a singer. I couldn’t tell from his strained efforts
on “Cold, Cold Heart” but in fairness it isn’t Tony’s best effort either. I
would have brought in Tim’s wife instead adding to the number of women on
the album, which totals a rather dismal five. All right, seven if you count all
the Dixie Chicks.
Tony Bennett sounds his age on this CD more than he has on any recent
CD. He still sounds good and on “For Once in My Life” with Stevie Wonder
shows he is still capable of belting a song out. Still, it’s disconcerting to hear
age invading what has been an almost ageless voice. The solo version of “I
Left My Heart in San Francisco,” while an appropriate inclusion on this album,
is not memorable.
Overall, this album is enjoyable, fun, and worth listening to. No one is going
to like all 18 singers, which is why CD players let you skip tracks. Still you
wonder: who is Juanes?
I bought my CD at Target and it includes four bonus tracks. The first of
these features Tony with Diana Krall live at the Tanglewood Music Festival in
2000. It is the best track on this album. It has chemistry, great sound,
musical excitement, and makes you wish all the tracks on the album were
equally as good. I would like to see an album that collects these kinds of
performances in one place. That would be the legacy album that this album,
good as it is, fails to be.
RAY SINGS BASIE SWINGS
RAY CHARLES + COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA = GENIUS 2*
Concord Records/HEAR Music CCD-30026-2)
I bought this CD without knowing what I was actually getting. Ray Charles
vocals from the 1970s are wedded to new recordings by the Count Basie
orchestra to create this CD. A full explanation of where the tapes came from
and how it was done is given in the CD notes. The people who accomplished
this are the same people who produced the Genius Loves Company CD.
Click here for the album cover.
And it works. Very well. I don’t think anyone hearing this CD, without
knowing its gestation process, would suspect it as being anything but a very
good sounding recording of Ray Charles singing with the Basie Orchestra.
There is a convincing separation between Ray’s voice and the orchestra that
gives the illusion of him at the piano singing out in front to the audience.
The balance is just right; the orchestra never overwhelms the vocals. And
the vocals are well worth hearing and more than justify this album’s
existence.
While Ray should have passed on singing “Look What They’ve Done to my
Song,” what he does with the Beatles “Long and Winding Road” transforms
it; it is a totally different song than the one we are all familiar with. Ray
Charles had the ability to make every song he sang his own in a way that
only Willie Nelson comes close to doing. The songs on this CD make that
abundantly clear.
Think of this CD as a gift you never expected.
*The title is Genius Squared but the formatting on Yahoo SiteBuilder won't
let me superscript.
Kent Johnson
October 19, 2006
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