Album Cover: Beauty and the Beat!

When is a 'live' album not a 'live' album?

Upon its first release Beauty and the Beat! was marketed as a live recording from the 1959 Miami convention of disc jockeys. Though Miss Lee and Mr Shearing did perform there, and recordings were made for later release, the songs heard on the LP issue were recorded in the studio and overdubbed with rather obvious canned applause, announcements, and even post-production echo.

Playlist: 24 Mar 2012

SPRING IS HERE!

Intro: If You Could Read My Mind - Todd Gordon & Jacqui Dankworth: Ballads from the Midnight Hotel

1. Spring Is Here - Frank Sinatra: Only the Lonely
2. It's Anybody's Spring - Lena Horne: A Friend of Yours: Songs by Burke & Van Heusen
3. Spring, Spring, Spring - Bing Crosby & Fred Astaire: A Couple of Song and Dance Men
4. A Fine Spring Morning - Blossom Dearie: Blossom Dearie
5. It Might As Well Be Spring - Dick Haymes: Rain or Shine
6. Some Other Spring - Carmen McRae: Lover Man and Other Billie Holiday Classics
7. Wherever You Are It's Spring - Johnny Mathis: I'll Buy You a Star
8. Love Turns Winter to Spring - June Christy: Gone for the Day
9. You Must Believe in Spring - Leslie Uggams: On My Way to You
10. Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most - Mark Muphy: Rah!
11. There'll Be Another Spring - Peggy Lee & George Shearing: Beauty and the Beat!
12. Younger Than Springtime - Vic Damone: On the Street Where You Live
13. Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year - Ready Willing & Mabel: A Cocktail for the Ears
14. Another Spring - Sammy Davis Jr: That's All (Disc 1)
15. April Showers - Bing Crosby & Al Jolson: The Complete Radio Duets

Outro: Holding On - Todd Gordon: Made in Korea

Album Covers

I was speaking to a friend the other day, lamenting the demise of the 12" Long Playing Record. Not because I was adopting the frequent audiophile's argument about vinyl sounding better than digital, but because the artwork and liner notes don't play the same part they used to in the overall enjoyment of buying an album.

So many great covers, sometimes with leading-edge design, are now consigned to a thumbnail or, at best, a 12cm x 12cm facsimile. And, at my age, without the aid of spectacles or indeed a magnifying glass, they don't do them full justice!

Therefore, I thought I would start adding a few favourites from my record and CD collection - mainly from the playlists of The Singers and The Songbook - and I hope you will share my enthusiasm for their eye-catching glory.

Playlist: 17 Mar 2012

Intro: If You Could Read My Mind - Todd Gordon & Jacqui Dankworth: Ballads from the Midnight Hotel

1. You're the Top - Jean Turner: From the Creative World of Stan Kenton Comes Jean Turner
2. Sing It Loud - k.d. lang: Sing It Loud
3. On the Sunny Side of the Street - The Four Freshmen: Voices In Fun
4. Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps - Doris Day: Latin for Lovers
5. Manhattan Serenade - Jo Stafford: The Essence of Tommy Dorsey (Disc 1)
6. A Good Man Is Hard to Find - Alberta Hunter: Amtrak Blues
7. All I Do Is Dream of You - Dean Martin: Sleep Warm
8. Paradise - Lena Horne: Lena On the Blue Side
9. A Woman Is a Sometime Thing - Harry Belafonte: Porgy and Bess
10. You're Nearer - June Christy: The Intimate Miss Christy
11. So Hard to Laugh, So Easy to Cry - Lou Rawls: Soulin'
12. There Will Never Be Another You - Julie London: Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast
13. Downhearted Blues - Jimmy Rushing: Jimmy Rushing and The Smith Girls
14. I Can't Believe That You're In Love with Me - Joanie Sommers: Let's Talk About Love
15. Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You - Long John Baldry: Long John's Blues
16. Together - Ray Charles & Betty Carter: Ray Charles & Betty Carter

Outro: Holding On - Todd Gordon: Made in Korea

Playlist: 10 Mar 2012

ALIVE AND KICKING!

Intro: If You Could Read My Mind - Todd Gordon & Jacqui Dankworth: Ballads from the Midnight Hotel

1. You Can Depend On Me - Tony Bennett & k.d. lang: A Wonderful World
2. By Myself - Alice Ricciardi: Comes Love
3. Rules of the Road - Claire Martin & Richard Rodney Bennett: Witchcraft
4. Charade - Harry Connick Jr: Come By Me
5. Came So Far For Beauty - Jennifer Warnes: Famous Blue Raincoat
6. My Man (You Changed My Tune) - Martha Reeves: Martha Reeves
7. The Loss of Love - Janet Seidel: Charade
8. You and the Night and the Music - Jamie Cullum: Pointless Nostalgic
9. It's Alright with Me - Elaine Delmar: Ev'rything I Love
10. Forty-Two - Ian Shaw & Liane Carroll: Lifejacket
11. Some Other Time - Sheila Jordan & Harvie Swarz: Old Time Feeling
12. Prayer for Peace - Jacqui Dankworth: Back to You
13. Living Is Easy - Cleo Laine: Born On a Friday
14. Here, There and Everywhere - Roberta Gambarini: So In Love
15. I Just Found Out About Love - Erin Dickins: Nice Girls

Outro: Holding On - Todd Gordon: Made in Korea

Playlist: 3 Mar 2012

THROUGH THE YEARS... BING, PEGGY, PERRY, ELLA & FRANK

Intro: If You Could Read My Mind - Todd Gordon & Jacqui Dankworth: Ballads from the Midnight Hotel

1. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? - Bing Crosby: American Songs During The Great Depression
2. Whispering - Bing Crosby: Bing with a Beat
3. Little Green Apples - Bing Crosby: Bing 'n Basie
4. Goody Goody - Peggy Lee: Trav'lin' Light
5. No Fool Like an Old Fool - Peggy Lee: Somethin' Groovy!
6. I'm Not In Love - Peggy Lee: Peggy
7. Papa Loves Mambo - Perry Como: Como's Golden Records
8. S'posin' - Perry Como: We Get Letters
9. And I Love You So - Perry Como: And I Love You So
10. Undecided - Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Fitzgerald with the Chick Webb Band (Disc 1)
11. It's a Blue World - Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Swings Gently with Nelson
12. I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Ella Fitzgerald: Things Ain't What They Used to Be (and You Better Believe It)
13. Blue Skies (outtake) - Frank Sinatra & Tommy Dorsey: Sinatra in Hollywood
14. You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To - Frank Sinatra: A Swingin' Affair
15. All of You - Frank Sinatra: Trilogy (The Past)

Outro: Holding On - Todd Gordon: Made in Korea