fine tribute album to Harold Arlen - Capitol Sings, Vol. 13: Over the Rainbow - Harold Arlen is a fantastic compilation of great vocalists singing the best songs ever by Harold Arlen. You may not recognize his name at first, but you DO know his music. He wrote the music for Over the Rainbow, Stormy Weather, That Old Black Magic and more. The sound quality is excellent and the artwork is very nicely done.Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers start things off with a great rendition of Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive. They sing this very well and Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive is a highlight of this album. Peggy Lee sings a most romantic version of Come Rain Or Come Shine, Peggy never skips a beat and this impresses me greatly. Wow! Listen also for Keely Smith on Stormy Weather, Keely delivers this like the great chanteuse she really was and still remains. Keely really belts this one out! Let s Fall In Love also gets the royal treatment from Nat King Cole who delivers this with panache. Nat King Cole never sounded better!Judy Garland sings `The Man That Got Away, this eventually became one of her signature songs after she did the movie A Star Is Born in 1954, and Judy sings this with terrific sensitivity. She really belts this out! Blues In The Night from Dinah Shore also sounds fresh and new when I hear Dinah sing this so well, and the somewhat jazzy arrangement is both pretty and strong at the same time. I ve Got The World On A String by Louis Prima gets a fine treatment, and this jazzy arrangement makes I ve Got The World On A String a most wonderful highlight of this album.Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe features Peggy Lee front and center--and that s quite all right by me! Peggy handles tempo and key changes effortlessly and this enhances the natural beauty of this tune. Nat Kind Cole also returns to sing It s Only A Paper Moon, this tune shines like silver and gold when Nat King Cole performs it so flawlessly.Judy garland also returns to sing her signature song, Over The Rainbow. This 1955 recording is probably the best example of this song that Judy ever professionally recorded--and that s grand! Betty Hutton sings Hit The Road To Dreamland with heart and soul, and the CD ends with Harold Arlen himself performing Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive. Harold wasn t exactly the best vocalist but it still makes a good ending to this tribute album to his talents. This is a fine tribute CD to Harold Arlen. There are a few slight problems, I agree with the other reviewer who writes that they should have used Judy Garland s version of Get Happy on this CD. Lena Horne should have sung Stormy Weather although Keely Smith does do great justice to this tune. I will take off half a star for this minor flaw to make this a four and ½ star review.
Hampered By Some Strange Choices - This is an enjoyable collection, with many treasures, including two versions of Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive (one by Arlen himself), an amazing performance of When the Sun Comes Out by Nancy Wilson, and a lovely version of Paper Moon by the King Cole Trio. It is irritating, though, to hear June Christy s otherwise bouncy version version of Get Happy, in which she amends every instance of the words get happy to be happy. And why include Christy s version, when Garland recorded this, one of her signature songs, many time for Capitol? Ditto Keely Smith s serviceable version of Stormy Weather, when there were recordings by Lena Horne, who is indelibly associated with this song, in the Capitol vaults. Maybe the compilers got bored with the obvious choices, but I have to subtract one star, for be happy if nothing else.