Four Classic Albums Plus

構成数 : 2枚
合計収録時間 : 00:00:00
The second half of the 1950s was a relatively active period for Lena Horne as a recording artist. Regularly appearing at the country's top nightclub venues, such as the Waldorf Astoria in New York and the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, she had an exclusive recording contract with RCA Victor that resulted in regular releases. The British Avid Easy label takes advantage of the 50-year copyright on recordings in Europe to compile this 57-track, two-hour-and-37-minute two-CD set, containing Horne's four RCA LPs of the period, Lena Horne at the Waldorf Astoria, Stormy Weather, Give the Lady What She Wants, and A Friend of Yours: Songs by Burke and Van Heusen, plus the four-song EP Lena Horne at the Cocoanut Grove. The Waldorf Astoria album, recorded live, gives a good sense of her vibrant, authoritative stage show and was a Top 30 hit in 1957. Stormy Weather, a studio LP most of which was recorded just after the Waldorf Astoria shows, did not chart, but has attracted great attention since for its collection of torch songs, including Horne's umpteenth rendition of the title track, her signature song. The tracks from the Cocoanut Grove EP, all show tunes, don't sound like they were recorded live, but they are welcome additions to her repertoire. Give the Lady What She Wants was a Top 20 hit in 1958 and serves as a contrast to Stormy Weather, being a concept album of happy love songs. Most unusual of the bunch is the Burke and Van Heusen tribute album. Burke and Van Heusen actually dominated the hit parade of the 1940s, largely because they were Bing Crosby's personal songwriters for his movies. But Crosby never sang the songwriting team's music like this. Horne, as ever, exudes sex appeal, and she makes these songs smolder in a way they never did before. Avid Easy reprints the original liner notes, but not much else. The mastering, presumably drawn from old LPs, presents the music as is, with none of the sparkle that, for example, was present on the 2002 reissue of Stormy Weather on the RCA Bluebird imprint. But that one was a legitimate release able to draw on the original masters. This album is an unlicensed package that brings back into print some valuable material from the 1950s that was otherwise moldering in the RCA vault. ~ William Ruhlmann