Lazy [CD-single] [Enhanced] [Import]

Lazy [CD-single] [Enhanced] [Import]

Track Listings

1. Lazy (Radio Edit)

2. Lazy (Original)

3. Lazy (Norman Cook Remix)

4. Lazy (Video)

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Much, much more than an anthem for the clubs, 'Lazy' is a truly great pop record that delights at every step. With the legendary David Byrne on vocals, 'Lazy' is X-Press 2's first proper vocal excursion. 'Lazy' is taken from the X-Press 2 album 'Muzikizum

Tracks:

Mattinata - Romano Ledenzio And His Orchestra
Mala Femmena - Frankie Fanelli
Canto D'Amore - Romano Ledenzio And His Orchestra
Guaglione - Carlo Savina And His Orchestra
Lary Mary(Luna Mezza Mare) - Lou Monte
Anema E Core - Perry Como
Funiculi Funicula - Romano Ledenzio And His Orchestra
Soldi, Soldi, Soldi(From 'Boccaccio '70') - Sophia Loren
Santa Lucia - Gino Del Vescovo And His Mandolins
Hey Gumbaree(Bibadee Bobadee Bu) - Lou Monte
Come Back To Sorrento - Romano Ledenzio And His Orchestra
Volare(nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu) - Domenico Modugno
A Man Without Love(Quando M'Innamore) - Sergio Franchi
O Sole Mio - Romano Ledenzio And His Orchestra
Forget Domani(From 'The Yellow Rolls Royce') - Perry Como
Mama - Lou Monte
O Mio Bambino Caro - Romano Ledenzio And His Orchestra
Non Dimenticar(Don't Forget) - Lou Monte
Al Di La(From 'Rome Adventure') - Frankie Fanelli
Arrivederci Roma(Goodbye To Rome) - Romano Ledenzio And His Orchestra

Customer Reviews:

ITALIAN LISTENER.......2007-07-16

This was a great cd. it came on time and was as promised in good condition. I would recomend the seller again.

Terrific!.......2007-05-30

I bought this CD because I missed listening to the music my grandfather played. This CD brought back a flood of memories for me. Wonderful compilation of my favorite italian classics.

So-So CD.......2007-04-06

This is more cafe style but still worth listening to.
Great dinner background music.

This CD will put you to sleep.......2007-02-26

We bought this CD for our daughter's wedding. After reviewing it, we could have saved our money. The version of Funiculi sounded like the Salvation Army band and it was totally lifeless. Lou Monte's Hey Gumbaree (it is actually Eh Cumpare in Italian--that should have given it away) was awful, and he consistently butchers the Italian language in all his other songs (annoying, I mean, couldn't he have learned the right pronunciation?).

While Perry Como and others have melodic voices (and very wisely sing in English because they don't know Italian), these are '50s versions of the songs, for the most part. While you have to appreciate them, they are really old and reflect the '50s type of instrumention and style. Would have loved to have heard all these songs done in a fresh and original way. Soldi Soldi was our favorite by far, and that is why we gave the CD two stars.

Could have gone to the library for this one.

Thanks for letting me voice our opinion. We are a big Italian family and just spent hundreds of dollars buying every CD out there for our daughter's wedding and figured we would share our opinion with others.

Mi piace davvero!.......2007-02-20

This is a beautiful CD filled with the authentic sounds of Italy! Each track brings be back a little farther to the streets of Italy...Rome...Trevi Fountain...bellissimo!!!!

Average customer rating:

Great Album
A Perennial Fave
River Dancing
I have to agree, this is timeless...
Great CD!

Up a Lazy River
Leon Redbone
Manufacturer: Rounder / Umgd
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

Nostalgia | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Folk Rock | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music

Ragtime | Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music

Rounder Records | Specialty Stores | Music
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On the Track
Sugar
Double Time
Champagne Charlie
No Regrets

ASIN: B0002IQI2E
Release Date: 2004-08-17

Tracks:

Play Gypsy Play
At the Chocolate Bon Bon Ball
Lazy River
When Dixie Stars Are Playing Peek-A-Boo
Mr. Jelly Roll Baker
Gotta Shake That Thing
You're a Heartbreaker
Bittersweet Waltz
Goodbye Charlie Blues
That Old Familiar Blues
Dreamer's Holiday
I'm Going Home

Customer Reviews:

Great Album.......2007-01-15

This is the best Leon Redbone album I've heard (I own about 7 and have heard parts from his other albums). In fact, this is one of my favorite albums of all time. One gem after another. Beautiful music. A Classic.

A Perennial Fave.......2005-08-09

Some musicians are out there to keep traditional music alive. Ry Cooder springs to mind. He does it multiculturally, whereas Leon Redbone and Randy Newman stick pretty close to Americana and the Hoagy Charmichael school of singer. I love the old stuff. It's just such a serendipitous/smooth/Moonlight on the Wabash Old School sorta thing! Not too many of us were even born when these tunes were popularized, but like Harry Nilsson's "A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night" and Linda Rondstadt's great renditions of classic tunes, this recording is near landmark quality!

Great accompaniment from his backup band, as usual. Quality recording in every sense! Five stars easily!

BEK

River Dancing.......2005-07-09

Redbone for the Redbone fan. The right mix of the old classics done with that Redbone flair and those distinctive songs that are his own. I heartily recommend this work to anyone who enjoys Leon at his best.

I have to agree, this is timeless..........2005-01-16

I never get tired of playing this album. It is short, but sweet and no missteps. Great music for a lazy, Sunday afternoon...

Great CD!.......2004-12-11

If you like Leon Redbone (who doesn't), add this one to your collection. I have listened to this CD hundreds of times and I never get sick of it. A must have for any jazz lover.

Average customer rating:

Long-time Fan
Satisfied Husband
SENSATIONAL DEBUT PERFORMANCES BY THE JAZZY SWEDE SONGSTRESS WHO LOVES BRAZIL

Lazy Afternoon
Elin
Manufacturer: Blue Toucan Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Brazil | South & Central America | International | Styles | Music

Brazilian Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
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Every Time I Think of You
Easy To Love
Walking with My Bass
Around the City
Softly

ASIN: B000H7JCNM
Release Date: 2006-09-05

Tracks:

Fascinating Rhythm - Bina Coquet, Elin, Pedro Ito, Ricky Sebastian, Luiz Paulo Simas
Lazy Afternoon - Gustavo Amarante, Elin,
I Love New York - Gustavo Dantas, Elin, , Adriano Santos
Aquarela Do Brazil - Gustavo Dantas, Elin,
Vera Cruz - Gustavo Amarante, Elin, , Ricky Sebastian
Bonita - Bina Coquet, Elin
Luna - Elin, Adriano Santos
Lush Life - Elin
Doralice - Gustavo Amarante, Gustavo Dantas, Elin, Pedro Ito, Ricky Sebastian
Sugar - Gustavo Amarante, Elin, Adriano Santos, , Keith Underwood
Casa Forte - Gustavo Amarante, Elin, , , Ricky Sebastian

Customer Reviews:

Long-time Fan.......2007-04-08

Elin has a beautiful way of making every song her own. That is the result that some musicians spend a lifetime mastering, but she grabs onto a tune and drinks down the lyrics in a way that shows it is second-nature to her.
The Brazilian tunes, especially, flow perfectly.
A great cd for jazz enthusiasts and neophyte listeners alike.

Satisfied Husband.......2007-01-16

I purchased the CD for my Husband for Christmas, he has liked all the selections so far.

SENSATIONAL DEBUT PERFORMANCES BY THE JAZZY SWEDE SONGSTRESS WHO LOVES BRAZIL .......2006-12-24

Five HUGE Stars!!! Elin is a wonderful Sweden-born, New York-based singer/songwriter who is SENSATIONAL on this chart-making debut CD. She fell in love with Brazilian music and the culture as a teen, learned Brazilian Portuguese, and lived in Rio for a while. Formally educated, she is no stranger to the singing venues of the world from Sweden to Brazil to Miami to New York and beyond. Her performances here of Brazilian music and straight-ahead jazz display flawless time and dazzling technique as she nails Portuguese phrases and creates jazzy scenarios. She also sings in English and Spanish on this CD, displaying three of her five fluent languages. And when they walked into this studio, she and her cohorts were READY to make some special music. This disc has received great reviews from jazz radio DJs and the esteemed 'Downbeat' magazine. BTW, "Elin" is pronounced "e-ah-LEEN' " spoken quickly.

Her lovely honey-toned voice is used as an instrument which goes from slow ballads ("Lush Life") to smoking sambas ("Casa Forte") to 'cuica'-imitation ("Aquarela do Brasil") to vocalese gymnastics ("Doralice") within her well-defined range. This CD has a group of exceptionally-arranged songs bolstered by jazz soloists of power and imagination. I love singers who can hold their own and graciously share solo time.

The 'Pieces De Resistance", the best of the best, begin with a sizzling treatment of "Fascinating Rhythm" in English as a samba that jumps to "Telefone" in Portuguese to 'scat'-ing and it totally works (kudos to Elin and the clarinet player). "Lazy Afternoon" swings away from Brasil as a straight-ahead commendable ballad (lush vocal from Elin & great flugelhorn from Claudio Roditi), and she swings it right back to Brazil with hip sambas: her own "I Love New York" and a fun "Aquarela Do Brasil". Elin's second lovely composition "La Luna" is in Spanish & heats up vocally as it goes, with two smoking 'Getz-ian' tenor sax solos, leaving us wanting more.

The late Brazilian super-diva Elis Regina's influence is strong on this CD and Elin has the subtle power and technique to both pay homage to Regina and use her music as a springboard for individualistic vocalizing. This is seen in the case of the extended treatment of the wordless "Casa Forte" (love the hot cello work behind her) and the AWESOME ballad and baião treatment of "Vera Cruz", which was originally a short Elis Regina tour-de-force. Elin shows her familiarity with Regina's version then expands on it TWICE with fresh Portuguese nuances, extending the performance to over 6 minutes of wonderful, emotional vocalizing and instrumental solos (Claudio Roditi makes a second stunning appearance on flugelhorn ). "Vera Cruz" can best be described as pure 'ear & brain candy'. Bravo, Elin! This is a wonderful, sensational debut. More, please! Highly Recommended!! Five ENJOYABLE Stars!!

(Notes:
*This review is based on an ITunes musical download.
*Sweden is a hotbed of musical excellence, much like Brasil, but there are a number of singers using the name "Elin". Our Brazilian/jazz "Elin" is using only one name as her stage name, but others such as Elin Sigvardsson, Elin Ruth, and model Elin Lanto are also out there, so buy carefully, although they are also excellent vocalists. Keep your eyes (and ears) on Swedish music.
* Elis Regina's short but incredible version of "Vera Cruz", with it's hairpin twists and turns, can be heard on the 'FIve Star' CD "Como & Porque".)

Company of Strangers - Brown Bag Edition

Average customer rating:

Colin Hay is awesome!
Colin Hay at Largo In Los Angeles
As Always, Good Stuff
Colin Hay is Amazing!
colin is brilliant

Company of Strangers - Brown Bag Edition

Manufacturer: Lazy Eye America, Inc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

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Going Somewhere
Topanga
Man at Work
Are You Looking At Me?
Peaks & Valleys

ASIN: B00006LACJ
Release Date: 2002-09-09

Tracks:

I Got Woken Up
Small Town Big Hell
Lucky Bastard
Company Of Strangers
No Win Situation
Dear J
Small Price To Be Free
How Long Will It Last
Lifeline
Don't Wait Up
Beautiful World
And If You Only Knew

Album Description

The 7th solo album from singer/songwriter Colin Hay (from Men at Work). This album shows Colin Hay at the top of his game. It is a most compelling work from a brilliant songwriter. The album has a full electric sound with lush string and horn arrangements. Undoubtedly his best album to date.

Customer Reviews:

Colin Hay is awesome!.......2006-05-11

My husband turned me on to Colin Hay as he and his best friend from high school were big "Men at Work" fans and subsequently followed his solo career. "Company of Strangers and "How Long Will It Last?" are beautiful, beautiful songs. I love the strings in "Company of Strangers"; it's a mesmerizing song. Of course, the lyrics on this CD are fantastic, as always, especially in "How Long Will It Last?"

This is my favorite CD right now. Buy it. You will NOT be disappointed. All of the songs are good. (The only one I skip is "Lucky Bastard" because I listen to the CD in the van with my 6-year-old and 4-year-old sons. They love Colin Hay and know the lyrics!

Incidentally, my husband and I were fortunate to have seen Colin Hay in concert at a club in Denver this past year. Colin is an OUTSTANDING performer -- funny, too! I can't wait to see him again!

Colin Hay at Largo In Los Angeles.......2006-04-09

Just saw Colin tonight in the tiny club Largo on Fairfax in Los Angeles where he is a egular since he lives here - He began the set acoustic and then brought on four others, including his wife. The set lasted about 2 hours and was filled with Colin's humor and an absolutely amazing array of his solo work and some MAW singles as well. I hadn't purchased any of his solo work, but after tonight, they are all part of my collection - "Company" being the favorite since he played many of the songs found here -

As Always, Good Stuff.......2005-12-30

You may find this one a bit sleepy at first, but stick with it. It's more mid- and slow-tempo than previous Hay albums like "Looking For Jack," "Wayfaring Sons," and "Topanga." On the first pass, only "Small Town Big Hell," "No Win Situation," "Don't Wait Up," and the haunting title track really jumped out at me. However, if you give it a few tries, songs like "I Got Woken Up," "Dear J," "How Long Will it Last" and the closer really start to grow on you. I started out mildly disappointed and ended up thinking it's among the best work he's ever done. It also features the third recording thus far of "Beautiful World," this one virtually indistinguishable from the version on "Man @ Work." It's a gorgeous song, though, so fine by me. All in all, a very worthy buy for fans of this underrated artist.

I provide the following as a checklist for Colin Completists who are stymied and frustrated by the lack of availability of his solo albums. If you wanna have it all, this is what you gotta get (wherever you can get it):
- LOOKING FOR JACK [1986, not commercially available]
- WAYFARING SONS [1990, not commercially available]
- PEAKS & VALLEYS [1992, available on import]
- TOPANGA [1994, available but expensive]
- TRANSCENDENTAL HIGHWAY [1998, available]
- GOING SOMEWHERE [2000, available]
- COMPANY OF STRANGERS [2002, available]
- MAN @ WORK [2003, available]

Good luck!

Colin Hay is Amazing!.......2005-08-19

There is so much to say about this extremely talented artist, but the other reviews have done such a fine job in doing so. Along with Jeff Lynne (of ELO), Colin Hay is one of the most talented, yet under-appreciated musicians of our time. And, this album is truly one of his finest compilations. Colin is one of the few artists that can bring me to tears with the beauty of his music (in a weak moment). :) Order this CD while you can and try to see Colin in concert. You'll see exactly what I mean.

colin is brilliant.......2004-04-03

well I have seen him twice in Australia in the last 4 years and he is not to be missed.The last time was in Melbourne I flew from Perth Western Australia to see him. I love all of his album but my favs are peaks and valleys , T>Highway and Going somewhere.
There are two sites that fans can visit my page at http//www.downundercom.tripod.com which has photos reviews , articles and mosaiscs on colin hay and men at work and also another site called http//www.menatwork.br.com

Average customer rating:

Provocative and evocative. Brilliant.
Sublime.
The sultry jazz stylings of the the incomparable Ms. Regina Belle
Regina: a showstopper with star power !
This is a monster line-up CD !! Regina loves company !!!!

Lazy Afternoon
Regina Belle
Manufacturer: Peak Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Contemporary R&B | R&B | Styles | Music

General | R&B | Styles | Music

General | Soul | R&B | Styles | Music

General | Adult Contemporary | Pop | Styles | Music
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Forever, for Always, for Luther

ASIN: B0002A2W9K
Release Date: 2004-07-13

Tracks:

Lazy Afternoon
Fly Me To The Moon
What Are You Afraid Of
If I Ruled The World
Corcovado
There's A Love
Why Do People Fall In Love
For The Love Of You
If I Should Lose You
Moanin'
The Man I Love
Try A Little Tenderness

Customer Reviews:

Provocative and evocative. Brilliant........2007-07-21

One of the most versatile and artistically daring singers and musicians to emerge in recent decades, Regina Belle has always kept her admirers on their toes, never giving them a hint of what to expect next.
"Lazy Afternoon" is no different in that respect: it's full of surprises, both in its luxuriant, floral arrangements and production and its singular conceptual focus on songs that ask why so much in our world has gone just plain wrong, when it would be so simple to flip it over and make it all right.
To get her point across, Belle has chosen a number of Broadway songs and jazz classics taking on the uneasy task to re-invent them and make them sound totally new and absolutely gorgeous.
Regina also contributed material, and in choosing pianist /keyboardist maestro Gorge Duke, one of the country's most visionary record-makers of the day, to produce, she ensured that her ideas would be taken to fruition with a maximum of creative juices flowing on all sides.
Duke and Belle work closely together to complement the singer's alternately graceful and robust, ever sensual, remarkably flexible jazz-like phrasing with equally bright, sonically rich accompaniments. Bringing in a number of different arrangements and a roomful of extraordinairy guests ), Regina has succeeded in making a poignant statement without resorting to proselytizing.
With hits such as "Baby, Come to Me" and "Make It Like It Was" from Stay with Me and "If I Could" from Passion, Regina Belle has always been categorized as an R&B singer, though one never needed to dig too deep to discover the jazz inflections and influences in her music (check this To Grover, With Love out) .
Still, it's taken nearly two decades for her to release what the singer calls her first "in-your-face" jazz record.
"I always wanted to do a jazz record, but the thing for me was making sure I hooked up with the right people," says Belle about her latest offering.
"I have a special feeling for jazz, and I don't want to disrespect anybody because it requires a different type of study, a different type of focus.
"At the same time, I wanted to make sure that what I was doing was Regina Belle, not Ella Fitzgerald or Nancy Wilson as much as I love them. I needed to make sure that what I did had my signature on it.
Although she's performed such jazz songs as "You'll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini)" and "If I Should Lose You" in concert, whenever the Grammy winner broached the topic of making a jazz album, record label officials had a hard time believing.
"They wanted an R&B vocalist, and I could do that, so I did that", she says. "It's a rare occasion when you get an opportunity to do what you want to do".
That opportunity came when Belle, 40somehing now, signed to Peak Records, which also released her Grammy-nominated R&B album, This Is Regina in 2001.
Still, with Belle's versatile, supple voice, Andi Howard, president of the contemporary jazz label, encouraged her to finally make a jazz CD.
"We said, 'Let's do something different, let's do something that shows a side of you maybe your concert-going audience has seen, but maybe your record-buying audience has not heard," Howard says. "At a time when everybody is talking about doing these standards records and jazz records, this is perfect for her".
"Lazy Afternoon" is an album of standards, but unlike similar collections by such diverse artists as Diana Krall, Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow, Bette Midler or Carly Simon, Belle doesn't hesitate to radically reinterpret American classics -- such as turning Frank Sinatra's finger-snapping "Fly Me to the Moon," into an elegant ballad.
"I needed to put on a new dress on these songs, some 'Regina-bling,' and that made the difference," says Belle, who lives in suburban Atlanta.
"Trying to sing these songs the same old way they've been sung over the past 50 years wasn't going to work for me, and getting to do my own renditions of songs I've loved for so many years was a real honor."
For "Moanin'", which has been recorded by such artists as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Ray Charles, and Lambert, Hendricks & Ross (Jon Hendricks wrote the words for Bobby Timmons's original composition), Belle recorded the song as gospel-tinged blues.
"That's the way I used to do it in college with these guys I used to work with," she says. "We did it in a gospel way, and for this I really wanted to do something different."
Helping Belle was an array of noted jazz musicians, including bassist Christian McBride, guitarist Ray Fuller, Everette Harp, Lenny Castro and the Perri Sisters.
"George is just a gifted individual," Belle says, who adds that Duke was her first choice to produce. "He's underrated. There's so much he's done, so much he's accomplished, and George made this album so easy for me."
Secure with the talents surrounding her, Belle even felt comfortable performing "Try a Little Tenderness", a song closely associated with Otis Redding.
The late soul great made the tune his own when he performed a staggering version at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, and it remains one of his signature songs.
Still, Regina was not reticent in giving it her own spin.
"You can't keep his version out of your head," Belle says. "My challenge was making sure I gave the song some justice without going in there and trying to do an Otis Redding.
"I needed to be the best Regina I could be, and hopefully make him smile down on me."
Regina is at the forefront of a new generation of jazz singers. With one of the most distinctive voices in music, the singer - and now also songwriter, check it out on the latest Paul Taylor's Ladies' Choice - pushes the boundaries of conventional jazz performers and expands the jazz repertory creating modern jazz standards.
"Lazy Afternoon" is ultimately, in purely musical terms, a hopeful, sunny, simply wonderful record.

Sublime........2007-07-09

I've had this recording for 2-3 weeks now, and I can't seem to get enough of it. On first listening, from the first few notes breathed from Regina Belle's voice, I knew I was in for something magical.
Even though Regina's sound is recognizable immediately, no one should mistake that statement as characterizing her as standing still musically - her art is continuously evolving and growing. Since the issue of her first albums , I've been following the creativity of her music, and I've never been disappointed.
Regina's music expecting it to be limited to R&B - that would be a big mistake. When asked if her music should be called 'Soul', Regina wisely says `Time spent trying to define the music is time taken away from playing it. I always simply say, "I sing"....
At the peak of her maturity and her most subdued, as its title indicates, the CD sees the singer in full-on ballad mode, tenderly wrapping her burnished pipes around a cherry-picked collection of standards that range from achingly sad to romantically moody.
How good is she?
She manages to put her stamp on songs as well covered as the title tune, which has already been done by the likes of Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughn, Patti Austin...
This is a perfect album that will delight both afficionados of the American Songbook and those who just want music to sigh to...
Does the music touch you or not? This is what matters.
I've always felt that the mark of a master vocalist is the impression left with the listener that the voice is an extension of the performer's very soul - a window to their inner being, through which everything that makes them the person they are can be "seen" in the form of music.
This recording delivers on that rare level - and it soars even higher on repeated listenings.
It's a treasure in the fullest sense of the word.
It could be accused of being almost too sophisticated and tasteful at times, and you can certainly see all those people looking for dinner party music rushing to buy it. Yet that shouldn't detract from the fact that Regina Belle is a wonderful singer and this collection of songs is her best yet.

"If I Shoul Lose You" and ""Why Do Peple Fall In Love" perfectly capture the originals' heartbreaking poignancy quite beautifully.
Although maybe 'cover version' isn't really the right word - Ms. Belle is really a reinterpreter of songs, putting her own spin on most of the numbers here and often making them her own. They're split between standards that most people will recognise and some rather more obscure material.
It won't change your mood, or alter your emotional state, but when it's listened to in a certain frame of mind it soars. I listened to it first on a Sunday afternoon, with a cup of iced tea : it's that kind of music, a warm, slowly engulfing hug of an album that puts Regina's glowing vocals at the forefront.
Ignored by mainstream press and radio, LAZY AFTERNOON is the latest example of an artist - and an album - bypassing the traditional publicity routes and finding success by word of mouth on the internet.

The sultry jazz stylings of the the incomparable Ms. Regina Belle.......2007-06-29

American vocalist supreme Regina Belle is plenty more than the easy-listening artist it's easy to typecast her as, though this album - mixing originals and classics - may be one of the first ones of hers to prove it beyond doubt.
Her engaging,wonderful tones are complemented by George Duke's piano sound and deft contributions from soloists including saxman Everette Harp, percussionist Lenny Castro, bassist Christian McBride, just to name a few.
The tracks are short and the solos are brief but the restrained instrumentation gives Regina's voice plenty of space to charm.
Passionate and emotional it may be, but there's no theatrical wailing and gnashing of teeth here.
Regina Belle has the knack of sounding natural and even offhand when she sings - as if she's talking with a friend.
Regina Belle is elegance personified, putting her sultry stamp on the most popular jazz standards. In fact, she's a rather elegant time-machine, turning back the clock to a time, warmer than this, when music was still for dancing; proverbially, cheek-to-cheek. When all's said and done, she's a torch singer; and, in this respect, and many others, few can hold a candle to her. Her music is the stuff of which memories are made.
On her self-penned "There's A Love", she shows how powerful a word, a whisper can be.
Her liquid gold voice takes on a dark edginess, and on Nina Simone's "If I Should Lose You", a heartbreaking interpretation with piano by Duke and Regina's voice only. A masterpiece of a song, worth alone the price of the album.
It's clear that these songs have been chosen for their lyrics.
The one-time pop goddess has taken a leaf out of Diana Krall's book with this new CD.
The emphasis is firmly on love songs and Regina' lived-in voice is ideal for such jazz ballads as the Gershwins' "The Man I Love" and the splendid Tony Bennett's "Why Do People Fall In Love".
Listen to it, please!

Regina: a showstopper with star power !.......2007-06-19

When Regina Belle sings, she's like a historian. In her phrasings one can hear the struggles of generations of black singers who used the sheer, powerful force of vocal styling to tell their stories.
Compared with other contemporary singers, her voice reveals real strength of character. She may not have the biggest voice or hold the longest notes, but her sound really resonates in a room. It calls up the spirits of black musicianship. And when Regina gets the spirit, the spirit gets you. Or,as she admits, people believe her.
We all know this Lady from her numerous hits and especially the Grammy awarded tune " A Whole New World " back in 1993. If you loved those songs then you will not be disappointed with her latest offering.
The vibe of the album is laid back, sun-drenched with jazzy flavours and unapologetically adult-oriented.
Regina's vocals are fantastic and are also captivating in that they are sexy, smooth, luxuriant and relaxed in a magnificently warm amalgam. For instance, check out the opening song, the ESSENTIAL "Lazy Afternoon". Every time I get into this sexy groove I hear Billie Holiday's influences, Nina Simone's depth, Sarah Vaughan's sensibilities, Julie London's barely restrained eroticism betwixt the groove and Nancy Wilson's sensitivity in delivery. Oh yes, this is what I want to hear!!!
"Lazy Afternoon" is a gorgeous floater that will have lovers reaching for the repeat button. We do not hear tracks of this quality much nowadays, dear readers, and the fact that there are but 12 songs on offer here should not put you off at all.
Here in this world it is the quality that counts and there's more of that in the first two tracks that anywhere else, let alone the rest of the CD!!!
The aforementioned "Lazy Afternoon" lopes along with its warm , sensual, jaunty stride and has echoes of Sarah Vaughan within its make-up. I'm thinking more of the sensitive arrangements and chord changes that are cleverly and neatly understated.
When I heard "Why Do People Fall In Love" I could imagine Anita Baker attempting this type of ballad. I especially like the fresh, live feel of the recording . This song is woefully short for my liking - a sure-fire indicator that I love it very much and cannot get enough of it. Luckily the beautiful "If I Ruled The World" has similar traits and although does not rise to such dizzy heights has much to keep you gripped...(please, just to understand how a song should be interpreted,check the latest Tony Bennett's "An American Classic : Duets" album and the same song sung by Tony and Celine Dion -- ) !! Can you hear, can you feel the difference ?
More impressive still is the excellent "If I Should Lose You" with only George Duke on acoustic piano.
It really is lovely to have real singing and real instruments in the studio. Slinky, hearbreakingly emotional - a dream of a track! Enough said.
Throughout the whole album, the backing, heavenly vocals by the Perri Sisters in support are sublime.
"The Man I Love" and "Try A Little Tenderness" are the jazziest offerings and a smart, cool way to drop the curtain on what has been one of THE jazz albums of 2005 and beyond...so far.
Please do not overlook this album. Hopefully we will receive more gems like this from Regina Belle in the coming years.

This is a monster line-up CD !! Regina loves company !!!!.......2007-06-15

This year has proved a CLASSIC year for lovers of quality music. Here comes an essential album that defies musical pigeonholing; knows no boundaries or lines of demarcation. Regina delighted us with some fantastic albums years ago and now she returns with a vengeance with "Lazy Afternoon", which is what I will call an interpretation album.
These are not simple cover songs. That is the domain for the less able artist, and plenty spring to mind. Regina Belle is much above the arch-mediocrity of proliferating acceptable middle-class orientated "jazz" artists that are seeping their way into the charts with their "cover sets".
As far as I am concerned Regina excels herself with this album of timeless American classics. The album cannot be described as anything less than sheer luxury, sumptousness and exuberance, and overflows with the lady's gospel/jazz/r&b roots, her ever-expansive talent and her boundless energy and enthusiasm. The tempo is down, the mood firmly in the traditions of Soul, Jazz, Groove idiom ( with a hint of Bossa Nova..).
Also she is extremely comfortable with jazz and you can easily sample her gorgeous jazz phrasing on the sax master Paul Taylor's latest Ladies' Choice.
The multi-talented George Duke (keyboardist/pianist/arranger/producer) joins Regina, and we fondly remember them from the fantastic track "JUST THE TWO OF US" (with Steve Cole on sax) from the gorgeous tribute album To Grover, With Love, produced by Jason Miles.
The Perri Sisters, Everette Harp, Lenny Castro, David Parks, Ray Fuller, Gordon Campbell, Alex Al, Oscar Brashear and Christian McBride join in the fun, too. And yes, I do mean fun!
On this album one can clearly hear that all the musicians involved are masters of their craft, in the studio making the music they want to make and are getting their thrills from doing it. The sheer elegance and smoothness of production is palpable and together they work as one to re-craft, remould, tear apart and gently reassemble some of the most well known songs in America's standard songbook.
The opening song will have you hooked; the gentle, lazy, sexy "Lazy Afternoon" and velvet-rich vocals turning this into a song that I may as well never heard before. Sheer quality. The piano and the guitar make this an essential summer song by anyone's standards. This pattern is repeated and each song is a considered, expertly performed track in its own right.
Many conventional readings of such standards as "Fly Me To The Moon" and the Gershwins' "The Man I Love" have given me a lifetime of cold ambivalence to songs which actually contain exquisitely beautiful lyrics. Regina proves its not what you have, it's what you do with it. I think these great songwriters, those past masters that I had once grimaced at, would be very proud of these interpretations. The melodies are pure Regina Belle, the lyrics often precise and cleverly juxtaposed with the bubbling, passionate nature of George Duke's productions yet the perfect match is made and we here we have one of the essential albums for 2005!
"Lazy Afternoon" is perfect for that lazy afternoon (like the one I wish I was having!), "Why Do People Fall In Love" and "For The Love Of You" are Regina-penned gems. George Duke, the Perris and Regina have crafted an indispensable album that will delight established fans, lovers of standard songs, those of a romantic nature and, if justice be done, SHOULD be known to the wider, mass record buying public.
Next time,I'd like to hear Regina making some jazz covers of songs by the unforgettable,legendary LOST VOICE of SOUL : TIMI YURO.
Summer is here. So, in the meantime,enjoy a 'Lazy Afternoon' with Regina!

Average customer rating:

Lazy Afternoon....
Barbra Streisand: Lazy Afternoon (1975)
One of her strongest albums, even if rather downhearted
ANOTHER OF BARBRA'S CATALOG GEMS
MESMERIZING STREISAND CLASSIC~BRAVO BARBRA!

Lazy Afternoon
Barbra Streisand
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000255P
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Lazy Afternoon
My Father's Song
By The Way
Shake Me, Wake Me
I Never Had It So Good
Letters That Cross In The Mail
You And I
Moanin' Low
A Child Is Born
Widescreen

Customer Reviews:

Lazy Afternoon...........2007-05-26

I love Barbra."Lazy Afternoon" has a few good ones...."My Father's Song" amung other's...very low key Bab's, but still GREAT!!!

Barbra Streisand: Lazy Afternoon (1975).......2005-08-18

In October of 1975, Barbra Streisand released her twentieth album entitled, LAZY AFTERNOON. This is album is one of strongest albums. This album was very enjoyable and I'm glad I gave it the chance it deserved. Let me tell you why.

LAZY AFTERNOON
The album's title track. This is such a great song.

MY FATHER'S SONG
This song is just outstanding. That's the best & only way I could describe this song.

BY THE WAY
Great.

SHAKE ME, WAKE ME
Great.

I NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD
Incredible.

LETTERS THAT CROSS IN THE MAIL
Great.

YOU AND I
Amazing. In 1982, Eddie Rabbitt & Crystal Gayle had teamed up to record their beautiful duet entitled, "You And I". Their duet turned out to be my mother & father's wedding song.

MOANIN' LOW
Don't know what to say here.

A CHILD IS BORN
Is this supposed to be a prelude to Barbra's 1976 lead role in the film, "A Star Is Born".

WIDESCREEN
Great.

LAZY AFTERNOON is for all Barbra fans. I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed this album. So, if you want this album, especially since you are trying to gather all of Barbra's albums, then, by all means, please, buy this album.

One of her strongest albums, even if rather downhearted.......2004-10-20

Barbra Streisand was one of the most popular and successful personalities in entertainment by the mid-1970s, managing both music and film careers with the greatest of ease. With her keen eye for material that suited her talents, a Barbra album was more than likely to be both innovative and enjoyable. While her careers may have been moving full steam ahead in the success department, on record, Barbra seemed more in reflective mood on 1975's LAZY AFTERNOON.

Indeed, this album is definitely one of Barbra's most sedate, with ballads reigning supreme, playing to her strengths as a torch singer for the modern day. This is also surprising considering her main collaborator on LAZY AFTERNOON. Songwriter/co-producer Rupert Holmes was just appearing on the scene, his debut album about to hit the market. While he would have success with more quirky material like "Escape [The Pina Colada Song]", "Him" and "Answering Machine", Rupert shows off a different, soul-stirring side to his talents in his work on LAZY AFTERNOON.

"My Father's Song" is clearly one of the most personal songs Barbra ever sang, given that her own father died when she was still a child. She demonstrates her uncanny ability to make another songwriter's lyrics (Rupert's) sound like hers. That is perhaps the true test of an interpretative singer, and Barbra has always passed with flying colors.

"By The Way" features a rare co-writing credit for Barbra that she claims came about by accident, but resulted in her first original English-language tune. For someone who envied the work of female singer-songwriters their knack for writing their own material, this somber ballad proves that Barbra can indeed work magic with a pen when the inspiration comes.

"Letters That Cross In The Mail" sounds like one of those typically quirky songs that Barbra often included on her albums (just consider "Honey Can I Put On Your Clothes"), and is definitely something you'd expect Rupert to conjure up. But the more subdued mood of LAZY AFTERNOON turns this into a borderline-heartbreaking song that shows how communication is both important and a hinderance on the path to true love. I think this song would have benefited from a more upbeat and humorous atmosphere.

"Widescreen" originally appeared on Rupert's debut with lyrics that wanted to linger in the dream world of motion pictures and the mystery it embodied. However, Barbra didn't exactly feel the same way, and asked if Rupert could slightly change them towards the opposite. While this frequent occurence in Barbra's career is often named by her detractors as proof of her perfectionism, Rupert understood and revised his lyrics towards those that embraced reality more than fantasy (particularly the line "let the movie end").

For the non-original tunes, Barbra proves once again her ability to know exactly what her strengths are and, if possible, discover some hidden ones. The title track was from a moderately successful Broadway musical called THE GOLDEN APPLE, and Barbra thought the song deserved a revival. With the languid atmosphere on the album, this was a perfect choice for the title track.

Paul Williams' "I Never Had It So Good" was not one of his more popular songs, but Barbra has always been a seeker of the best if not well-known works in a songwriter's output, and this song about disbelief in how well things are going in your life is par for the course. Barbra had been inspired by Kris Kristofferson's performance of the song at a party to record her own version (Kris had done it a few years earlier).

Stevie Wonder had a fervent fan in Barbra, her having recorded "All In Love Is Fair" earlier on. So she returns to the well for "You & I", which contains probably her best vocal performance on the album, soaring to the heavens in a way that had to have inspired mutual admiration on Stevie's part.

An American Songbook standard was expected from Babs sometime on the album, and here, it's "Moanin' Low", a torch song if ever there was one. Featured prominently in the classic movie KEY LARGO, the tune has the right amount of bump-and-grind to make it more than your average "my-baby-done-me-wrong" sobfest.

"A Child Is Born" had originally been written for Barbra's 1972 film UP THE SANDBOX, but didn't make the final cut. She loved the song enough to ask her friends, lyricists Alan & Marilyn Bergman, to write lyrics. Barbra was right in saying that the spare piano accompaniment worked better than the orchestrated one that had also been recorded. Such a tender lyric would have been too sugary with so much sweetening.

LAZY AFTERNOON's sole sign of spring in its step is Barbra's cover of the Four Tops' classic "Shake Me, Wake Me [When It's Over]". It was this song that encouraged me to pick up the album because it is one of my favorite Tops songs. Disco had not yet become the way of life it would soon be thanks to SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, so the fact that Barbra practiced it before it was cool shows how visionary she is. While I still prefer the Tops' version, Barbra's gives LAZY AFTERNOON that added hint of lightheartedness to prevent it from being completely introspective.

Barbra Streisand certainly had no reason to be down in the mouth in real life during the time of LAZY AFTERNOON, but for the sake of artistry, she maybe could afford to create such a deeper album. By collaborating with someone like Rupert Holmes, who was just on the cusp of stardom in his own right, Barbra demonstrated her wish to stay ahead of the curve in whatever she did, something that has not changed in her career. True, LAZY AFTERNOON may not be the album one will enjoy on first listen, but it's certainly one of Barbra's works that reveals its strengths after a few listens, particularly on lazy afternoons.

ANOTHER OF BARBRA'S CATALOG GEMS.......2004-03-23

Barbra Streisand's career has been filled with so many highs that some of her most unassuming, sensitive work seems to fall unnoticed. Of course, when discussing Streisand, unnoticed is a relative term, as nearly all of her studio albums are either gold or platinum and are always "events" for her legions of fans. "Lazy Afternoon" fell right after the controversial "ButterFly" and (partial) letdown of "Funny Lady" and about one year before the "A Star is Born" phenomenon. Now, nearly 30 years later, "Lazy" remains one of her seminal works from the 70s. The opening title ballad is an astonishingly lovely piece of pop magic and sets the thoughtful tone for the album. Rupert Holmes' strong contributions include the Streisand-inspired "My Father's Song", "Letters That Cross in the Mail", and the closing epic "Widescreen", and he did much of the arranging here as well. Would that Barbra could always have been gifted with such a dream collaborator as Holmes, who understood her strengths and shared his meaningful songs with her to both their advantages. Listen to the purity and sheer beauty of her vocals on "By the Way" and "A Child is Born", and then remember that people at the time were still buying Helen Reddy and Olivia Newton-John records--it really gives one pause. I guess Barbra, still on top after 40-plus years, is having the last laugh. My only reservations were the inclusion (or maybe just the sequencing) of the disco-tinged "Shake Me, Wake Me" and the hard-to-warm-to torcher "Moanin'Low", but these are small reservations. The remastering on this, as with all of Barbra's catalog, is excellent; she never sounded so good. Except on all the other albums.

MESMERIZING STREISAND CLASSIC~BRAVO BARBRA!.......2003-09-22

When this gorgeous set of great songs came out in the mid-70's it was such a relief after the uneven "BUTTERFLY" as it was a return to great form plus a new depth in Barbra's interpretations. From the hauntingly beautiful opener "LAZY AFTERNOON" to the soulful closer "WIDESCREEN", its clear that BARBRA had reached a new level of artistic growth and these performances are timeless classics that hold up beautifully with the passage of time. Soul deep performances such as "MY FATHER'S SONG" becomes a deeply moving experience and the pensive self-penned "BY THE WAY" is dark and moody. A Motown classic "SHAKE ME,WAKE ME" is a rhythmic cooker that BARBRA has fun with and the beautifully sentimental "I NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD" is another winning vocal filled with heartfelt emotion. RUPERT HOLMES and BARBRA really connected and were a musically inspired pairing and "LETTERS THAT CROSS IN THE MAIL" is a magically haunting vocal that goes deep inside these unique lyrics that tell a fascinating story. A definitive version of STEVIE WONDER'S "YOU AND I" make one wish that BARBRA would do the STEVIE WONDER SONGBOOK and a classic torch song "MOANIN' LOW" becomes one of the most electrifying performances ever from BARBRA and it is a thrilling ride on a soaring voice. Soft and warm is the glorious "A CHILD IS BORN" while "WIDESCREEN" is a dramatically intense tour-de-force classic that becomes a sweeping mini-epic that is stunning and completely original as it transforms one back to that special time of getting lost in and growing up at the movies. "LAZY AFTERNOON" stands the test of time and is one of the really brilliant classics from this gifted singer who is an original classic who is second to none...do not miss this tremendous masterpiece if you want to experience vocal artisty at its finest and thank you BARBRA STREISAND!!!! This is a timeless and wonderous collection and oh so very satisfying...

Average customer rating:

Living in Question...The Answer!!!!!!!
A NEW VESSEL FOR HAWAIIAN TRADITION

Living in Question
Living in Question
Manufacturer: Lazy Bones
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000C504Y
Release Date: 2003-08-19

Tracks:

...
Euphly
Oil
My Mother Was A Sun Worshiper
Tradition
Somebody Else
Ms. Directed
Sad Story
What It Feels Like
If You Want It You'll Get It
Find My Way
Dealing With Char Siu
Trouble
Aubrey
Overrated

Customer Reviews:

Living in Question...The Answer!!!!!!! .......2005-04-03

THE ULTIMATE ISLAND ROCK BAND!!!!!Their debut recording on indie label LAZY BONES fuses hard rock with an "island vibe" to perfection. Check out "TRADITION" and "IF YOU WANY IT YOU"LL GET IT". LIQ keeps it interesting by mixing the brew with electronic/rock instrumentals "MY MOTHER WAS A SUN WORSHIPPER" and "DEALING WITH CHAR SIU". Overall a great first effort. But to really appreciate the LIQ ENERGY check out their latest release "GREEN" also available on LAZY BONES RECORDINGS. In my experience LIQ is best experienced live...check 'em out!!!!

A NEW VESSEL FOR HAWAIIAN TRADITION.......2004-06-12

It can be taken with some skepticism, a band that tells the legendary story of the Islands through riffs reminiscent of Finger Eleven, Dishwalla, and all genre's in between. The heavy tracks "If you want it you'll get it" and "Tradition" are somehow beautifully balanced by the melodic "Find My Way" and "Aubrey". The tracks fill a niche that was once occupied by the infamous IZ ("of the islands"), but now can appeal to a more suburban-rock audience.

BUY THE ALBUM, ROCK OUT TO THE MUSIC, LISTEN TO THE LYRICS, AND LOVE IT!

Ben Broussard
Average customer rating:

Wow! This is a good one!

Really Good!

WOW!!

Awesome CD!!

Ben Broussard
Ben Broussard
Manufacturer: Lazy Bones Recordings, Inc.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music
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It Won't Be Soon Before Long

Daughtry

Continuum

Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing

ASIN: B000BGQU3E
Release Date: 2005-08-15

Tracks:

I Hate Goodbyes
Take It All Back
Again
105
Three
I Know It Will
Hold On To Me
Deep
Decision
Children
Hitting The Ground
The Day

Product Description

Professional Baseball Player, Ben Broussard's solo debut full-length recording. Outstanding singer/songwriter in the vein of Jack Johnson and Counting Crows. The CD contains 12 solid original songs.

Customer Reviews:

Wow! This is a good one! .......2007-04-06

I, too, heard Ben's music on Dog the Bounty Hunter, and decided to check it out. When I played the CD, several people asked me who it was. The music is great, and it is one that I play a lot wherever I am. Nice job, Ben!!

Really Good!.......2007-03-12

Really good CD. If you like Pete Yorn, you will definitly like Ben.

WOW!!.......2006-11-27

This is a great CD! I really like all the songs on it and have listened to it quite a few times already. I first heard him on Dog the Bounty Hunter too and immediately went looking for the CD. (I've discovered a lot of good music on that show, it's my favorite program). My husband listened to the whole CD without even knowing who was singing and thought he was great! And he's a baseball player too?? Multi-talented man!

Awesome CD!!.......2006-11-14

Heard Ben's music on Dog the Bounty Hunter. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the entire CD was. Every song is super catchy and it's definitely one of the best CDs I've heard all year. I was even more suprised to find out that he's a professional baseball player. I highly recommend this recording.

Goldilocks (1958 Original Broadway Cast)

Average customer rating:

A beguiling album
Broadway FLOP yields a HIT original cast album
a classic cult musical
Straight from Broadway's Golden Age: It's Goldilocks!
Worth your investment - A real delight!

Goldilocks (1958 Original Broadway Cast)
Joan Ford , Walter Kerr , and Jean Kerr
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Leroy Anderson Collection

ASIN: B0000027WO
Release Date: 1992-05-19

Tracks:

Act I: Overture
Act I: Lazy Moon
Act I: Give The Little Lady
Act I: Save A Kiss
Act I: No One'll Ever Love You
Act I: Who's Been Sitting In My Chair?
Act I: There Never Was A Woman
Act I: The Pussy Foot
Act II: Lady In Waiting
Act II: The Beast In You
Act II: Shall I Take My Heart And Go?
Act II: I Can't Be In Love
Act II: Bad Companions
Act II: I Never Know When
Act II: Two Years In The Making
Act II: Heart Of Stone

Customer Reviews:

A beguiling album.......2004-10-31

Someone had a brilliant notion in getting Leroy Anderson to write a show. (It wasn't the first time; he was hired for "Wonderful Town" but was ditched in favor of Leonard Bernstein.) That it didn't quite work may owe to the fact that he was largely written out, the best of his imperishable vest-pocket tone poems long in the past. Still, this is an utterly captivating score, superbly interpreted. If you want a complete idea how it sounds you might want to get MCA's budget two-disc anthology of Anderson conducting his own music, including several of the show's dance numbers; they almost make you forget how great Arthur Fiedler was with this master of the pops.

Broadway FLOP yields a HIT original cast album.......2004-02-13

This is another splendid original cast recording from Goddard Lieberson and Columbia records. Great score by Leroy Anderson by a fine cast headed by Elaine Stritch who is in great voice here. Don Ameche is her nemesis/love interest and Pat Stanley nearly steals the show with her first act number "The Pussy Foot."

The record is short (45 minutes) and does not include the dance pice "The Town House Maxixe" which can be heard on MCA's Leroy Anderson collection. What is on the CD is quite delightful and Sony has done a first rate job coaxing excellent sound from the early stereo tapes. The booklet gives a good essay on the history of the trobled show and a detailed plot summary.

a classic cult musical.......2002-10-19

GOLDILOCKS is one of my all-time favorite 'lost musicals'. It struggled through three months and 161 performances on Broadway, only to close after scathing reviews and dwindling audiences.

GOLDILOCKS was written by theater critic Walter Kerr as a love-letter to the silent movies that had captivated him as a child. The story concerns sardonic silent-actress Maggie Harris (Elaine Stritch) who has a stormy love-hate relationship with her cocky director (Don Ameche). Complications arise in the form of beautiful Lois Lee (Pat Stanley), who sets out to steal him for herself. Maggie decides to make one more picture under the assumed name of Goldilocks, and makes one last grab at romance...

The reason why the show failed so miserably was the weakness of the book, which was magnified a thousand times over by the greatness of the score; which features "Lazy Moon", "Lady in Waiting", "The Pussy Foot", "Where is the Beast in You?", and my personal favorite "I Never Know When to Say When".

Through its lovely cast album, the musical has a devout cult following and no wonder. Elaine Stritch in her first Broadway leading-role (after years of supporting work in revivals of PAL JOEY and ON YOUR TOES) and the sparkling score of Leroy Anderson is fantastic stuff. Highly recommended.

Sony Music.

Straight from Broadway's Golden Age: It's Goldilocks!.......2001-06-29

I first discovered Goldilocks through the double draw of Leroy Anderson and Elaine Stritch. Elaine Stritch I already knew as Joanne in Company singing "The Ladies Who Lunch", and Leroy Anderson was one of my favorite composers, known for such light programmatic and novelty orchestral pieces as The Syncopated Clock, Belle of the Ball, Bugler's Holiday, The Typewriter and Plink, Plank, Plunk. That combo of names caught my eye as I was flipping through the record bins one day, and as I scanned the album cover I saw the names Don Ameche, Nathaniel Frey and Margaret Hamilton which absolutely clinched the deal. I left the store with the record and went straight home to play it. From the moment I dropped the needle (yes, I've had it that long) I was captivated, and it has since become one of my perennial favorites.

The score is top notch, particularly in the material for Stritch and the perfectly cast Don Ameche. It does sag a bit in the material for the secondary couple, but I think that's because it's the primary couple who are the comedians while the secondary couple gets stuck with the sappy side of romance. Yes, there are book problems. Walter Kerr later admitted that they kept beefing up the comedy at the expense of the love story, and reading through the book (which through an incredible stroke of good fortune I found at a local Half Price Books) that's a fair criticism. But this weakness doesn't overwhelm the show and make it unworkable. I have to agree with the assessment that with The Music Man already running featuring a slightly more lovable con artist and a sweet rather than brassy leading lady, Goldilocks wasn't able to measure up to the competition. Taken on its own terms though, Goldilocks works wonderfully.

To mention particular favorites of mine in the score, I have to start with Stritch's Act 2 torch song, "I Never Know When To Say When". Why didn't this become a standard? It stacks up with the best Broadway has to offer. You can hear the pain in Stritch's voice as she laments the mess she's made of her relationhips. "Give the Little Lady" near the top of Act 1 doesn't really cover much in the realm of plot, but it's just so much fun, and "The Beast In You" never fails to get me laughing. All of these feature Stritch alone or with the chorus, but her duet with Ameche, "No One'll Ever Love You", is just as good, and Ameche's solo number, "I Can't Be In Love", in which he discovers to his astonishment that he is indeed in love, is priceless. Then on top of that is "Bad Companions" for Don Ameche's shady sidekicks Nathaniel Frey (an excellent comic character actor who appeared in many better known shows such as Damn Yankees and She Loves Me) and Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West sings!) which is a hoot from start to finish. These are the standouts in my book, but the whole score is eminently listenable, pleasant and tuneful. Of course with Leroy Anderson writing the music it couldn't be anything else.

I sometimes wish I had been born 30-40 years earlier so I could have actually seen what I am only able to get the barest hint of from reading the libretto and listening to the cast album. I strongly recommend to anyone who has had enough interest to wind up here reading these reviews to make this show a permanent part of your collection. More people need to know this show!

Worth your investment - A real delight!.......2001-01-14

Having learned about the life of Leroy Anderson through the recent PBS story on his career,I was very interested to hear this famous composer's only Broadway show.

This original cast recording is a gem. The majority of the songs are first rate, the perfomers are all first rate and the recording quality sounds as fine as anything on the market today. What a shame that the show had such serious problems, such as a weak book and opening with such hits as West Side Story and Music Man already running on Broadway.

Tracks:

Theme From 'Route 66' - Route 66 Orchestra
Route 66 - Bobby Troup
The Mother Road - Alan Rhody
What's Left Of 66 - Jason Eklund
Willy Rogers Highway - Kevin Welch
The Long Red Line - Mary Cutrufello
Used To Be - The Red Dirt Rangers
2200 Miles - The Mad Cat Trio
Don't Haul Bricks On 66 - The Dusty Chaps
Route 66 Revisited - Jimmy La Fave
Route 66 - Charles Brown

Customer Reviews:

Music to travel Route 66.......2007-06-27

This CD really set the tone for our trip from Tulsa, OK to Santa Monica. We played it the first thing every morning and can't tell you how much it added to the trip. Great CD to get you "in the mood"

Dusty Chaps-not "original" Capitol Records version!.......2004-11-01

I love the Dusty Chaps recording for Capitol Records entitled "Honky Tonk Music". The track "don't haul bricks (on route 66)" is a real highpoint of that fine LP, but, sadly, the recording on the Route 66 compiliation is not the original album version that I was familar with.
It is a complete shame that someone hasn't already released the Dusty Chaps album onto CD. It rivals anything by Commander Cody or the New Riders.

King of Anthologies Strikes Again!.......2004-06-26

Austin Super Producer David Sanger [NOT the New York Times reporter] has acquired a reputation as King of the Anthologies, because of his output of quality work in that type album. This is the first of two collections Sanger has produced honoring The Great American Highway [and as drummer for traveling band Asleep At the Wheel, Sanger knows highways!] The first two cuts are obligatory: the theme from the long-ago TV series "Route 66" and the song of that title, as sung by its composer, the late Bobby Troup. The rest of this one is a skilled, imaginative blend of songs recorded especially for this collection and catalog tunes unearthed in memory or research, including the only known CD availability of the '70s alt.country forerunner, The Dusty Chaps, with a drug-smuggling warning, "Don't Haul Bricks on 66." This great album tells a story or two (the Road and our fascination with it) and sounds terrific at the same time! A class AAA effort.

Dusty Chaps: Tucson Home Town Heros!!!.......2003-01-07

Any compilation that includes a Dusty Chaps track is automatically worth at least 4 stars! The Chaps were songwriter George Hawke's showcase band in the late 70's and early 80's. In their element, a grimy beer joint attached to an old motel down on the Benson Highway, they kicked butt. "Don't Haul Bricks" may not be their greatest track, but its very worthy and makes this album a must for me, as their various albums are completely unobtainable.

A gateway to Jason Eklund.......2002-11-19

Jason Eklund was introduced to me through this cd. He is truly a great songwriter and I encourage those who liked his track to buy all of his cd's. He is American music!

Music:

Music

music

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Songs, Opus 27,73,9 & 36

Strike Up the Band/Fats Waller Album

Music: Grétry: Richard Coeur de Lion; Rousseau: Le Devin du

Sounds You Can Feel

Them

Tan Cerca, Tan Lejos (So Close, Yet So Far)

The Party Ain't Over Yet [Import]

Sooner Or Later [Import]

The Anna Russell Album

Sweet Tango

The Definitive Black & Blue Sessions: Sings Louis Jordan

Salsa Caliente

Martha Argerich

Live! At the Royal Albert Hall