Ah, I had completely forgotten about that CD box. It's actually an expansion of the LP set: the vinyl covers 50 years, the discs 75 years of film music at Warner Brothers. (I have the vinyl only.) It is my understanding that a few tracks from the LP set were left out of the CD box, but the Peggy track can be found on both, in stereo. (So are the majority of the other tracks, with only a small batch being in mono.)
You are very welcome, and thank you in turn for the nice words. I myself am learning a few things as I write these posts (which means that I am gaining even more of an appreciation as well). Hopefully your pocket won't suffer much ... or, if it does, hopefully it will suffer gladly! So, that's not all there was to the old woman, after all. Anyway, your memory made for enjoyable reading. I sort of pictured the whole scene in my mind, as I was reading. (In my mental version, you are about 15 years old and temporarily going through a pimply-faced stage, I'm sorry to say!) Girl Talk. But six hours? That's a lot of talking from the Lee lady. Let's have her go back to doing some singing. Here we go, on another long plane trip with her:
Very accurate mental picture - the extra strength clearasil was no help with attracting a surfer girl then, other excuses applied later... Suffering gladly through the not-so winter weather with Peggy and Benny today...
THE DECCA PERIOD: SEA SHELLS (CONTINUED & CONCLUDED) Musical Instruments as Sources of Inspiration (III) To the various sources of inspiration that were mentioned in previous posts, we must finally add the very instruments that were played during the recording of Sea Shells. First and foremost: the harp. We have already touched upon the importance of this instrument in the conception of the album; we have also made reference to Peggy Lee's great enjoyment of its sound. In the back cover of Sea Shells, she declares that "[w]e used the harp in this album to capture the mood of the sea -- and because it's just wonderful to sing with harp." Being a lover of classical music as well, Lee had been wanting to sing with harp accompaniment ever since she had listened to the 78-rpm album shown below. In it, New York-based harpist Laura Newell actually performs one of the instrumentals that would make it into Sea Shells, Debussy's "The Maid with the Flaxen Hair." Peggy Lee's enthusiasm for this particular 78-rpm album (and for harp sounds in general) led to her hiring of harpist Stella Castellucci in the summer of 1953. Stella was immediately integrated to Lee's jazz group. At that point in time, the group consisted of bass, drums, piano, and trumpet. Now there would be a harp in the mix. At the singer's nightclub acts, Stella would frequently be given solo spots, too. Some of the numbers from those solo spots actually ended up in Sea Shells. We can thus gather that Castellucci's playing served as one of the inspirations for Lee's idea of recording an extended long play with harp. As the singer declares in her own notes for the Sea Shells album, "Stella Castellucci accompanies me often, which I deem an honor and a pleasure. She is a truly fine musician ... and has a quick sense of how the singer would like to interpret the song." Like many other musicians, Stella gave names to the musical instruments that she owned. The harp that she played throughout Sea Shells was the same one that she had been using for Lee's nightclub performances across the country. It was baptized as Peggy Lee Harp. I believe that the photo seen at the top of this post features not one but two Peggy Lees: the human one by the piano, and the stringed one behind the piano. (For anyone looking at the photo and wondering: Peggy was not a piano player per se, but she had a basic, listener-based understanding that allowed her to operate it. From the 1950s onwards, a piano was a constant presence in the various homes where the singer resided. She made use of it while composing melodies and looking into arrangements.) Talking about piano playing, the only other player heard in the 1955 Sea Shells album (besides Stella Castellucci) is Gene DiNovi, a musician who served as one of Peggy Lee's pianists during the first half of the 1950s. The man is said to have joined the two women on the last day of recording. The decision to add one more instrument was presumably predicated on a desire to add more musical variety to the proceedings. Another, more conceptual reason for the choice of a harpsichord is given by Lee in her album notes: "it creates an interesting far away mood with which to sing." The choice of DiNovi himself must have been a natural one. He was not only Lee's occasional pianist but also, around this time, one of the various folks who were or had been staying at her home in Hollywood. Brooklyn-born and raised, DiNovi had been accompanying Lee at her New York gigs during the first half of the 1950s. He had never been to California before the day on which she phoned and talked him into coming over, to stay at her home for a while. He was actually one of various folks who were temporarily living in her house then. According to a Peggy Lee biographer, the time period that DiNovi spent there felt like "something of a vacation in paradise. Stella would come in and they'd jam." (After a few weeks -- or months, depending on the biographer of choice -- DiNovi returned to his own home in New York. Thereafter, he would keep on coming back to California from time to time, as he found regular work with Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, and Carmen McRae. With the latter, he also traveled to Toronto in 1972, loving it there so much that he left not just New York but the whole US behind. More that four decades later, he still lives in Toronto.) The instrument that Lee asked DiNovi to play on Sea Shells was not a piano, however, but something else -- something which he had never tried or even seen before. Brought to the Decca studio, the harpsichord heard in some of Sea Shells' performances was on loan from its owner, Alice Ehlers, the famous Austrian harpsichordist. Ehlers had been teaching at the University of Southern California, where the instrument had also been hitherto kept. (Ehlers, who had herself recorded for Decca in earlier years, was at the vanguard of the revival of early music which took place during the 1950s. Taking into account the fact that Sea Shells was recorded on that decade, the album could be considered part of that revival, however unintentionally so.) Here's Lee's verdict on DiNovi's novice playing of this instrument: "being a very talented and adaptable fellow, he quickly acquainted himself with the slightly different technique required for playing the harpsichord. He seemed to enjoy the experience immensely." General Assessments of the Album Upon its releases, a Billboard review described Sea Shells as a quality set of recordings -- presenting the chanters in a new light to listeners. No ordinary pop material -- rather, delicate folk and sensitive foreign material, accompanied by harp and harpsichord. The harp gives a feeling of sea and surf ... Miss Lee's vocals are excellent. Sea Shells is a bit of a cult album. It's not well-known, but, among those who do know it, admiration runs deep. One such admirer was Rod McKuen, the once ultra popular poet-singer-songwriter, who told Castellucci that he had "derived a lot of inspiration" from listening to the album back when he was a "new arrival" in the music business. Here are some other worthwhile assessments that I found right in this forum, in other Peggy Lee threads: But how about Peggy Lee's own assessment? She offers one in the album's back cover: "I am most appreciate when I get the opportunity to work with people like Stella and Gene, and I feel particularly close to Sea Shells." Key Songs As the album's opener and mood setter, "Sea Fever" definitely qualifies as Sea Shells' key song. An audio clip of this song can be found in a previous post (#67). A key song is also one for which a given album is particularly remembered, or one that has succeeded at breaking away from said album. From this LP, that honor belongs to only one number: "I Don't Want to Play in your Yard." Part of its success outside of the album comes from the fact that it is an old (Victorian era) children's song. Hence there are English-speaking listeners for whom the song brings back memories from their infant years. Other folk became acquainted with the number through the movies. James Cagney, of all people, sings it in the 1939 flick The Oklahoma Kid. Then you have the 1981 Warren Beatty movie Reds, in which it is sung twice -- once by Diane Keaton, at relatively fast pace. Peggy's version has also been heard in the movies, most notably in the 2007 movie The Savages. It's played at length during the opening sequence. (Since the film is partially about two argumentative siblings, the song is a suitable choice.) Peggy's version has found particular favor among audiences in the United Kingdom, where she would regularly sing it in concerts (presumably in response to requests made in advance). The UK was also the land where "I Don't Want to Play in your Yard" was belatedly released on 45 rpm ... in 1982! And this concludes my endless string of commentaries about Sea Shells!
THE DECCA PERIOD: MISS WONDERFUL The Original Album And Its Later Versions Decca released Miss Wonderful in late 1958 or early 1959. At the time, the album came out only as a 12" LP. Decca's promotion of it might have been somewhat lax; Billboard (p)reviewed the album in its December issue, but misguidedly called it a reissue. After MCA absorbed Decca, the album appears to have been reissued once -- in the United States, that is to say. In the United Kingdom, the album was issued on Brunswick. (See photo above). Curiously, though, other British labels that released Peggy's earlier albums (Ace of Hearts, Jasmine) did not reissue this one. Perhaps the omission was due to the brassy quality of the album's contents, which might have not been in tandem with the type of Peggy material to which British audiences had become accustomed. Or perhaps the album simply fell between the cracks, remaining ignored or forgotten after its initial release. It finally showed up on an EMI twofer CD, which incongruously paired it up with the very different-sounding Dream Street. As is the case for all of Peggy's Decca albums, Miss Wonderful has also been repeatedly reissued in Japan, first on vinyl and then on CD. Elsewhere, the Danish label Official made a nice reissue in 1989, and the suitably called Belgian label Marginal issued it as part of its Pin-up twofer CD series. (Both releases are shown above.) To be continued
THE DECCA PERIOD: MISS WONDERFUL (CONTINUED) Album's Background This is yet another album which Decca issued after Peggy Lee's departure from the label. Following Dream Street, which came out on the year of departure (1957), the label would release Sea Shells in 1958 and then Miss Wonderful in 1959. We can surmise that the album's title was inspired by Lee's success with the song that opens the album, "Mr. Wonderful." It was a top 15 hit for her around March of 1956. I have never come across anecdotal information on the making of Miss Wonderful. For that reason, most of my ensuing comments will be of a speculative (rather than factual) nature. As with Sea Shells, the performances on Miss Wonderful come off as an unified whole, thereby giving the impression that they were originally recorded to be included together in one album. All numbers feature the same arranger-conductor, and all of them are backed by what sounds like the same orchestra. Furthermore, the entire 12-song batch comes from just two recording dates. However, there is a six-month lapse between the two dates (January 6, 1956; June 8, 1956). Such a gap raises doubt as to whether there was truly a plan for an album on January 6, when Peggy and company first went into the studio. Further fueling doubt is the fact that all but one of the eight songs from the January 6 session came out on 78 and 45 singles in 1956. On the other hand, such a high number of songs (eight) from just one record date points toward the making of an album. Usually, singles sessions consisted of two, at most three songs per day. Perhaps, then, it was an album project that what was started in January, after all. Then, the project would have been postponed for one reason or another -- until Peggy's announcement that she was leaving the label brought a Decca request to complete the project. Whichever the actual plan might have been on January 6, there was clearly an intention to produce an album subsequently, when Lee and company returned to do more songs on the same style (June 8). In a nutshell: some unsolved and somewhat intriguing minutia surrounds this album. I have sometimes wondered if there is a dating mistake in the information. It would make more sense if both sessions had taken place in January. Then again, "sense" and "reality" do not often go hand in hand. Album Assessments Billboard characterized Miss Wonderful as "varied and strong ... one of the talented trush's great collections." A couple of its songs were singled out as "smooth and pulsating renditions," and another couple were noted to be compositions by the team of Peggy Lee and Dave Barbour. Stylistically, the album might be said to wed two different genres: big band and rhythm & blues. Behind this marriage was conductor and erstwhile trumpeter Sy Oliver, who had been among the first African Americans to ascend to a publicized, prominent position in the American music world of the 1930s, when white big bands ruled such world. (The position: arranger for Tommy Dorsey. "One of the first black arrangers writing for a white band," Downbeat overtly pointed out in the early 1940s. Fellow Sinatra fans will recall that, decades later, Frank picked Sy to arrange and conduct his album I Remember Tommy, too.) From a significant role in the big band business, Oliver eventually moved on to a prominent place in the record label business: staff conductor & arranger at Decca. It is in such a capacity that he conducted and arranged the Miss Wonderful sessions. Incidentally, there is a chance that the numbers in this album were conceived with the r&b audience in mind -- an audience whose buying habits were earning increased attention from the major record labels. Key Songs Dimly visible in the scan above, the original track listing of Miss Wonderful is as follows: Side A 1. Mister Wonderful 2. They Can't Take That Away From Me 3. Where Flamingos Fly 4. You've Got To See Mama Every Night 5. The Come Back 6. Take A Little Time To Smile Side B 1. I Don't Know Enough About You 2. Joey, Joey, Joey 3. Crazy In The Heart 4. You Oughtta Be Mine 5. We Laughed At Love 6 That's Alright, Honey I just realized that the British edition of this album made one track substitution: Instead of "Joey, Joey, Joey," the Brunswick LP gives us "Wrong, Wrong, Wrong." The likeliest reason for this substitution is that the 1956 musical Most Happy Fella, from which the "Joey" number comes, had not yet premiered in the United Kingdom. (Or, if it had, Brunswick might have still had concerns about the legal ramifications of releasing a version of one of the musical's songs.) We thus have another case of "incest" in Peggy's British discography. The first such case pertained to her Decca version of "I Don't Know Enough About You": Brunswick included that number in both this album and the earlier Dream Street, where it served as substitution for another song from a musical that had yet to premiere in the United Kingdom. (The song omitted from the UK Dream Street: "I've Grown Accustomed to his Face.") The second case of incest finds the song "Wrong, Wrong, Wrong" used in this Brunswick edition of Miss Wonderful and also in a British edition of an album that we will discuss later on (The Fabulous Peggy Lee). Out of the 12 above-listed tracks, the obvious key song from Miss Wonderful is the hit "Mister Wonderful." We will not say much else about it here, however, because I am planning to discuss Lee's Decca hits on a later post. I will instead give the spotlight to one of the album's lesser-known tracks: "Where Flamingos Fly." This number has always been strongly associated with Gil Evans, the famous jazz pianist and arranger who popularized it by repeatedly including the song in his albums. Before he did so, Evans had also arranged it for the Helen Merrill LP Dream of You, on Mercury Records. Her version recorded on June 27, 1956. Because of the popularity of Helen's early albums on Mercury (filled as they were with great jazz players) and because of the acknowledged presence of Evans, the Merrill version of "Where Flamingos Fly" has been wrongly reported to have been the first ever recorded -- as well as Evans' first tackling of the number. Not so: Peggy's version was recorded a few weeks earlier, on her June 8, 1956 date. We do not know its arranger, but we do know that she had previously worked with Evans. (Photo above: Gil Evans and Peggy Lee, 1953.) Leaving aside the different orchestration, the Merrill and Lee versions are so similar that the chances of Evan's involvement in both of them are good. The clip below does not have optimal sound. (The brassy numbers that populate the Miss Wonderful album were devised for loud volume.) Still, this audio clip should serve the general purpose of giving (to listeners unacquainted with the album) a general idea of its Sy Oliver sound.
THE DECCA PERIOD: LOVER & THE JAZZ SINGER The Album's Predecessor Next in our exploration of Peggy Lee's Decca albums should be the LP Lover, which compiles singles dating back to her earliest years on the label (1952 & 1953). Before we discuss that album, however, let's take a detour into the past, going back to two projects from those early Decca years. (Both projects bear ancestral connections to the 1964 LP.) Along with the aforementioned singles, an EP called Selections Featured in the Warner Bros. Motion Picture The Jazz Singer can be counted among the predecessors of the Lover LP. Shown above, the 1953 item might have been Lee's very first album -- or mini album -- on Decca. It's up for contention with the 10" LP Black Coffee, which was released in August of the same year. (I do not know the EP's month of release, but there is a fair chance that it predates the 10" LP.) Selections Featured in the Warner Bros. Motion Picture The Jazz Singer is, like the Lover album, a compilation or anthology. Its four tracks had been previously issued on 45-rpm/78-rpm singles, and would be transferred to Lover later on. As suggested by the EP's title, versions of all these numbers were sung by the vocalist in the 1953 movie of the same name. A remake of the famous Al Jolson classic from the late 1920s, this second of three versions of The Jazz Singer starred Danny Thomas and Peggy Lee, both playing vocalists. In the case of Lee's character (called Judy Lane), the script's choice of profession obviously served as an excuse to feature her in that capacity. Thomas (reprising the Jolson role as a conflicted cantor's son aspiring to become a popular vocalist) had had experience as a singer as well, but was primarily known as a comedian, actor, and radio personality. The Jazz Singer actually marked Peggy Lee's first lead actress role in a long-feature film. (She had previously shown up in a couple of film shorts, and had also had cameos in three flicks.) Lee received very positive reviews for this lead role. What's more, her acting and singing were just about the only aspects of the movie which were not roundly panned by the majority of contemporary movie critics. Of the four numbers, two were actually penned by Lee, specifically for inclusion in the movie. Not surprisingly, however, her standout performance from the film was a nightclub rendition of "Lover." Below is a photo of "Judy Lane" in action, doing her scorching version of the number. (As for the movie clip, it has been already posted in a couple of older Peggy Lee threads.) As an alternative for this thread, I have picked a movie clip that contains one of the two numbers that Lee wrote expressly for the film. "This Is a Very Special Day" seems to have been conceived as a sequel to "It's a Good Day," the big hit from the 1940s that Lee had also written. "Special Day" is, in comparison to "Good Day," a similarly pleasant yet noticeably quieter number -- one seemingly meant to serve more as background than standout, so as to not detract/distract from the accompanying film imagery. In other words, both its mood and lyrics were probably dictated by the movie sequence for which it was intended. To be continued
Thank you for this great thread. I am new to Peggy and am anxious to dig into some lp's I acquired this weekend. I have to admit she has escaped my radar over the years, but my first samplings she seems like something special. Will be reading this thread with great interest.
THE DECCA PERIOD: LOVER & THE JAZZ SINGER (CONTINUED) The Album: Release & Background The album Lover came out in late January or early February of 1964. Seven years had passed since Peggy Lee's departure from Decca, and yet the label was still issuing "new" Lee albums. This particular one was released by Decca-MCA in both mono and stereo. (The mono version is the best of these two options. Prospective buyers should beware of the stereophonic version, being as it is a case of "electronic enhancement." All numbers in this 1964 album were actually recorded well before stereo became commonplace in the music industry. ) In fact, the entire dozen tracks go all the way back to 1952, the earliest year of Lee's contract with Decca. During that year and the next one, most of them were issued on 45-rpm and 78-rpm singles. Lover can thus be categorized as a singles anthology. It is not, however, a thoughtlessly assembled compilation. At the time of release (1964), vinyl lovers were being treated to a collection whose majority of numbers had yet to appear on a 12"LP. (As already stated, many had previously come out on 45 and 78. A few had been on EP or on 10"LP.) Lending cohesiveness to this company project is the participation of conductor-arranger Gordon Jenkins on each and every track. To be more specific, all twelve masters were culled from Lee-Jenkins sessions that were held within an one-year span: April 3, April 28, May 1, July 31, November 28, and December 16, 1952. Musically, the entire set of masters shares a stylistic resemblance, for which Jenkins (seen in the photo below) was primarily responsible. Sources of Inspiration: The Jenkins-Lee Collaboration The set Lover is anchored in Peggy Lee & Gordon Jenkins' professional partnership, which was established at the very outset of her integration to the Decca label. The Rodgers & Hart standard "Lover" started it all. One of the main reasons why Lee signed with the label was a mutual interest (on her part and on the part of Decca executives) in recording that particular song -- not, however, in its tried-and-true, typical sweet ole waltz fashion, but as an innovative, hot and dynamic mambo. That was the style in which Lee and her quintet had been interpreting the number at her nightclub concerts, to very enthusiastic reactions from the crowd. In the studio, any label with deep pockets and a large musician roster could potentially turn such a mambo interpretation into an even more dynamic number: a full orchestra could be added to Lee's quintet, and an arrangement for such an orchestra could be commissioned. At Decca, the words "orchestra" and "strings" spelled out Gordon Jenkins, then one of the company's staff conductors. I might have heard or read somewhere that Lee herself asked for Jenkins to conduct her "Lover." Even if she didn't, he was the natural choice. After his death, Lee would honor his memory by expressing glowing admiration for the quality of his work: "[he] could make such beautiful, broad brush strokes with his arrangements, and such clear, strong, lovely compositions." Meanwhile, Jenkins' son Bruce has written that Gordon "loved Lee, for her genius and creativity and eccentricity." Once "Lover" proved to be a huge commercial hit, Decca naturally sought to pair Lee and Jenkins again, as often as the twosome were willing, and as much as their schedules permitted it. During Lee's first year on the label, they are known to have worked together on the six above-mentioned sessions (from which the tracks for Lover were culled). At least two more Decca dates took place a bit later, in the years 1954 and 1955. Given the pair's original chart success with not only "Lover" but also a few subsequent singles, perhaps fans would have expected more joint sessions. Nonetheless, and taking into account that Lee typically sought variety in her record production, her total number of dates with Jenkins is a fair one. (Not one to be pigeonholed, she also recorded during these same years with her music group, led by Jimmy Rowles, and with a diverse array of arrangers/conductors which included Marty Paich, Victor Young, Sonny Burke, and Shorty Rogers.) Sources of "Inspiration": Peggy Lee in Concert Besides an awareness of the old partnership between Lee and Jenkins, a more contemporary stimulus for the preparation of the LP Lover (1964) becomes apparent when you read the liner notes on the back cover of the LP, and also when you look at its front cover photo. That photo shows Lee in action at Basin Street East. As for the liner notes, they begin as follows: "[w]hen Peggy Lee plays a top nitery such as Basin Street East, the public is there en masse, of course. But what never fails to impress is the turn-out of fellow entertainers, who proceed to lead the applause." Lee's 1960 appearances at the Basin Street East club, had been a resounding success, eliciting admiring remarks from both general crowds and music industry insiders. She would not only continue to appear at that New York City club through the first half of the 1960s but would also make successful rounds in many other venues across the nation, becoming in the process a highly praised (and well paid) performer. Capitol had capitalized on the fact by releasing a LP titled Basin Street East Proudly Presents Miss Peggy Lee. That Capitol album would end up spending over a year in Billboard's charts, thereby qualifying as a significant chart success. Lover might have constituted MCA's attempt at calling the attention or interest of the same buying audience away from Capitol, and into Decca. If so, the attempt was rather half-hearted, and understandably low-key. After all, there were no equivalent nightclub concert tracks in Decca's vaults. The Lover LP (with a third of its tracks evoking Lee's role as a successful nightclub performer in The Jazz Singer) was perhaps as close as MCA could come to providing a similar album of "live-at-a-nightclub" material. (Of course, that was not very close. But beggars can't be choosers.) The cover photo and the opening lines of the liner notes may have also been timid attempts at establishing a connection between the album and Lee's nightclub success. More generally, the makers of Lover might have also been led by a belief that the chosen numbers would evoke a feeling of nostalgia and romance? in fans who had first heard them nearly a decade earlier. The LP's liner notes end with the comment that "[f]or Peggy Lee admirers -- and that means everybody -- this represents an important collection of favorites." Key Songs The above-seen scan shows the song program for Lover. In a case similar to Miss Wonderful (the Decca album that preceded this one), Lover's key track is obviously its titular hit ... about which we won't say anything further here. My plan remains to cover Lee's Decca hits in a later post. Instead of "Lover," I would like to showcase a track co-written by Peggy Lee with Sonny Burke, and arranged by Gordon Jenkins. This number is worthy of the spotlight for several reasons, one of them being Jenkins' own comment about it: "Sans Souci, which she wrote ... that's the one I liked. It was recorded extremely well for those days. I didn't like Lover [as] much because it had already been a hit." Peggy might have not partaken of Gordon's lack of enthusiasm for "Lover," but she most likely shared his love for "Sans Souci." Around 1990, when she finally got around to doing a Peggy Lee songbook, it was one of the songs that the singer-songwriter chose to re-record for inclusion. Another reason to highlight "Sans Souci" is its evocative and somewhat timely topic. At the time of this writing (February 2017), another ongoing thread in the forum bears the name "Songs with a Theme about Immigration." If Lee fans were to honor that thread's theme, we could put together an "Illegal Alien Suite" sung by Peggy Lee. It would combine "Sans Souci" with the previously highlighted "Where Flamingos Fy" (from the Miss Wonderful album). With its evocative lyrics and percussive drama, "Sans Souci" is an intriguing piece -- one which makes you wonder about its raison d'être. Unfortunately, I do not know if the lyrics were written for any particular project, or inspired by any actual news events. (One of Lee's biographers quotes Lee as having once remarked that she remembered feeling very angry when she wrote these lyrics, though she could no longer recall why she felt that way.) A few additional details, directly quoted from the Lee online discography: "Mysteriously, the song Sans Souci receives the alternate title Cyprus in some sources, including ASCAP. It's worth noting that the lyrics of this song seem to allude to a specific story -- the story of an individual who may be an illegal alien, or otherwise an exile. I am left with the suspicion that the song, co-written by Lee, was originally intended for a specific project (a Hollywood movie or a Broadway show), but I have yet to find any evidence that such was the case. It is also worth noting that Peggy Lee & Sonny Burke are not the only American songwriters who have given the title Sans Souci to a composition. So did Count Basie, among others. Johnny Mercer, too. (Mercer's Sans Souci was actually contemporaneous with Lee's. He wrote it for the musical Top Banana, which debuted on November 1, 1951.)" Album Versions Abroad Along with the 1954 10" LP Songs in an Intimate Style, this 1964 compilation qualifies as one of Lee's least reissued Decca albums. I have seen no traces of a reissue anywhere except in Japan, where it has indeed come out on both LP (shown above) and CD (at least twice). Department of Corrections My previous post refers to Selections Featured in the Warner Bros. Motion Picture The Jazz Singer as an EP that contains two numbers written by Peggy Lee. That's an error of mine. There is only one such number: the already discussed "This Is a Very Special Day," whose music she also composed. It is instead the LP Lover that features two Peggy Lee-penned tracks. (Incidentally, most of Lee's albums include at least one lyric written by her; sometimes more.) Up next: The Fabulous Peggy Lee
Cheers! And thank you, too. (Kind of funny, by the way, that it is you, Blue Plate Special, who came up with the idea of a coffee table book!) Guess we already know what the title of this coffee table book should be.
THE DECCA PERIOD: THE FABULOUS PEGGY LEE Album's Release & Background The Fabulous Peggy Lee came out in May of 1964. Once again, MCA released two versions, one monophonic and one "stereophonic." Prospective buyers of this old LP should make sure to get the mono vinyl, and stay away from the electronically channeled stereo version. Visually, these two original US versions can be easily distinguished: one bears the word "stereo" near the top right corner of the front cover, and its catalogue number has an additional 7 digit (i.e., DL 74461 versus DL 4461). A photo of the mono cover can be seen above; there is one of the stereo cover way down below. This is another anthology. More specifically, it is a collection of rarities. For that reason, the song program is all over the place, both stylistically and chronologically speaking. Included are songs from all but one of the years that Lee spent at Decca (1952-1956). The exception is the first of these years, which had already been covered by the preceding MCA LP, Lover. MCA might have put together this album as part of a wide plan to release rare material from Decca's vaults, and to feature in its catalogue (more) albums from female vocalists. In the same month as The Fabulous Peggy Lee (May 1964), the record company also released the following LPs: Ella Fitzgerald - Early Ella Mabel Mercer - Sings Brenda Lee - By Request Carol Burnett - Let Me Entertain You Roberta Sherwood - Songs Everybody Knows Burl Ives - True Love The Tarriers - Gather 'round Moving on to an examination of The Fabulous from a "purely Peggy Lee" front, we find it to have various conceptual connections with MCA's preceding Lee release (Lover), also from 1964. Both are compilations, with the earlier one concentrating on the year 1952, the later one on the three subsequent years of Lee's contract at Decca. There is more. This album's liner notes suggest that, once again, Lee's ongoing success as a nightclub performer had continued to motivate MCA's interest in releasing her work. You can read part of the notes in the scan below. Also worth pointing out is the annotator's characterization of the album as a "collection of long unavailable Lee classics" (with two previously unissued tracks, for good measure). This characterization gives further support to my impression that MCA was carrying out a reissue program, of which Peggy and Ella became obvious beneficiaries. Critical Assessments Billboard gave prominence to The Fabulous Peggy Lee on its May 23, 1964 volume, where the album was listed at the top of the magazine's section for Special Merit Picks. The accompanying review: [t]his is Decca's vocalist month and this is bound to be one of its most attractive reissues, not because of the songs - there are few hits here -- but because Peggy can hardly do less than love a lyric. The backings, like the ages of these tracks, range from Dave Barbour through Sy Oliver to Victor Young or vice versa." Among big fans of the singer, this album enjoys something of a cult status. I can be counted among such fans. Quite a few of us have reacted very enthusiastically upon first listening, sometimes on account of the full song contents, and other times in reference to specific elements, such as the photo on the front cover or any specific number (most notably, the obscure gem "The Tavern," with its retro environment and old-fashioned tale of "forbidden lovers' rendezvous"). Mind you: The Fabulous Peggy Lee is unquestionably a compilation without the cohesiveness of a Black Coffee or Sea Shells. But that's part of its charm. This album's main merit lies precisely in the variety of its performances -- a variety which in turn serves to showcase the singer's versatility. You get something from just about every style: ballad, swing, blues, exotica, comedy, film music ... all of it enticingly sung. Further attracting fans is the fact that, for many decades, a fair share of the album's tracks qualified as rarities. To this day, a few of these tracks have barely made it onto CD. Versions Abroad In the United Kingdom, the budget branch of MCA-Brunswick released the above-seen Ace of Hearts LP (1966). No other British issues exist, as fas as I know. Denmark's Official label made the above-shown LP (1988). In addition to a different front cover, this reissue's back cover contains new, extensive liner notes. The song program remains the same. In Australia and New Zealand, there was one reissue on MCA and another on Festival Records (both vinyl). Japan has released the album at least three times, once on LP and twice on CD. More recently (2010), the Japanese market also counted with an additional, fourth option. It was a Public Domain CD with bonus tracks, put together by a Spanish label whose entire catalogue was exclusively distributed in Japan. Key Songs Here is the track listing for this album: Side A (Sorry, Baby) You Let My Love Get Cold Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me Oh! No! (Please, Don't Go) The Tavern Wrong, Wrong, Wrong The Gypsy with Fire in his Shoes Side B Do I Love You? Wrong Joe Me Johnny Guitar I Belong to You Autumn in Rome The best-known song from the set is "Johnny Guitar," which we will be discussing in a later post. All the other tracks are relatively rare not only within Peggy Lee's own discography but also in the world of pop and jazz standards. We even have here two rare numbers by the legendary songwriter Irving Berlin, including one which is otherwise almost unknown ("Me"). Cole Porter's "Do I Love You?" is better known, but it is with the Peggy Lee version from her Capitol album Beauty and the Beat that most listeners are familiar (a very different version). Co-written by Peggy Lee with Brazilian jazz guitarist Laurindo Almeida, "The Gypsy with Fire in his Shoes" deserves special mention. All throughout that lively number, Peggy enjoys the company of not only Mr. Almeida but also Mr. Entertainment himself, tap dance extraordinaire Sammy Davis Junior, who fulfills the titular gypsy role. (Incidentally, this is an exotic, flamenco-oriented piece, not jazz or bossa nova.) It is hard to pick a clip to showcase from this album. In its original mono version, The Fabulous Peggy Lee has an appealingly warm and deep quality of sound. At YouTube, the few available clips are taken mostly from MP3 files, which suffer from tinny sound and thus leave something to be desired. Ultimately, I have settled for the following clip, primarily because, out of those available, it sports the better sonics. The number of choice, which may or may not sound old-fashioned to modern eyes, is actually the love theme from a car-racing Kirk Douglas movie. Peggy sings it in the film soundtrack, too. More details can be found in the clip itself: The Fabulous Peggy Lee was the last original Peggy Lee LP released by Decca-MCA Records. We have now covered all of them. But that's not all there is. A lot more Lee music on Decca is still awaiting our attention! Up next: Peggy Lee's collaborations with another Decca artist (ba ba boo).
I aren't contributing much to this thread as I have bought a lot of Peggy's albums in a short time, so I need more time to really take them in, but I am enjoying reading it and finding it informative.
You are very welcome. I was hoping that you would enjoy most of that stuff, being as you are such a big fan of Sea Shells! That album's history fascinates me ... It might well be the one album on which I have spent the largest amount of research time. I even visited an ancient and medieval manuscript library once (some ten years ago, or maybe more), just to be able to browse a copy of the book from which Peggy gathered the Chinese poems ... That was an enjoyable visit, by the way, and thus worth the time! I very much appreciate that you are taking the time to say this. Your messages from Peggy's Decca thread were the ones that originally inspired me to include photos of British album covers in many of my posts. To anyone else thinking about contributing, and/or wanting to read, but postponing it: there is no hurry whatsoever. My hope is that this thread will be here to stay, with additional posts turning up every few days. Those of us who enjoy Peggy's music will probably keep coming back to it from time to time, and contributing as we see fit. (To tackle the big elephant in the room: most of my posts have been very long. We all need to be in the mood and/or to make time, before we can get around to reading large blocks of text. Yeah, me, too. I mean, that's how I feel and react sometimes, when I chance upon a "bulky" thread like this one. Luckily, here we always have the option of saving the reading for a rainy day.) Also, and as stated in the opening post, everybody should feel free to discuss any Peggy-related matters in this thread, whenever they want to. It doesn't matter if there is no connection between the stuff that you want to mention and the messages that I have been posting. It doesn't matter either if the topic is some song or album that hasn't been discussed yet. It's all welcome.
Thanks for that! Sadly the copy of Songs In An Intimate Style that I was excited about getting from eBay came through and it was so badly scratched it's unlistenable. I got a refund but ! I have recently got the Classics and Collectibles double CD which I thoroughly enjoyed. I've also been picking up the non-album 45s and EPs as I see them. I love 'Sweetheart'. I can do without hearing 'Light of Love' and 'Boston Beans' much again!
That's really too bad, especially taking into account that it's one of the few that you are still missing. From checking eBay every once in a while, I know that copies turn up, but not frequently. Guess that it will be a matter of waiting patiently ... Good luck! That 10" LP has always been quite rare, even here in the US. The fact that it comes from such an early period must have something to do with it, of course. Then again, copies of other 10" Decca LPs from those years do show up with some regularity. It might be that Decca pressed few copies of this 10", choosing instead to release the album mainly on its EP form ... The EP version is rare, too, but definitely less so than the 10". The EP is what I actually have in my collection. If I've seen a physical copy of the 10" (as opposed to photos on the web), I must have forgotten about it. A good music friend made me a CDr of the even rarer Japanese edition, too. It's a good set with a lot of rarities. The mastering is fine overall. A couple of awful mistakes can't be let go unnoticed, though: two songs are "truncated," missing as they do half of Peggy's vocal ("Sisters," "The Siamese Cat Song"). Also, it sounds to me like the number "How Strange" was remixed; if so, I do not like this remix. I far prefer the way the song sounds in Songs in an Intimate Style. Also, there is an early pressing of the set that misses two tracks, giving you a 5o instead of a 52 total. Leaving aside those small matters, this CD set is most definitely worth having. I enjoy "Boston Beans." It's just a lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek number, written by Peggy herself. I understand, though, how most comical songs can wear thin after repeated listening. There are indications that, for some unknown reason, it gained some public attention in the UK when it came out, yet not much here in the US. As a result, Peggy chose to sing it for a British TV show: I'm not much of a fan of the gospel-pop genre to which "Light of Love" belongs. The degree to which I like the number rests on the fact that it is Peggy singing it -- and with a lot of verve. If it were a different singer, I might not want to hear the song at all! "Sweetheart" has the type of lyric that would normally make me dislike or dismiss interpretations of it. Instead, I like it a lot. It's far catchier than "Light of Love," thanks to the rocking music arrangement, and to the very lively vocal from Peggy.
Peggy does have such a great voice and singing style just about everything I've heard is at least listenable. That's why I've been buying so much. Everything is guaranteed to be enjoyable as a minimum. I haven't heard a bad album. Incredible footage too. I hadn't seen that before.
Interesting point. I hadn't considered the nightclub engagements of the early 1960s to be a decisive factor in the release of the Decca compilation albums, although it makes sense, and certainly the album notes imply as much (although I never consciously noticed until you pointed this out). I simply assumed these titles were issued to compete with Capitol, since Lee had returned to the rival label and Decca was sitting on unissued material that held potential for competition with newer albums. Is it known if Peggy was consulted prior to the release of the Decca compilation albums? Did the label receive the contemporary photos from Lee herself, or if from another source, had Decca requested Lee's approval of the photos and cover art? Ditto for the programming of the albums - is there a possibility that Lee was consulted regarding the track selections? Likely not, but I ask anyway, considering that Decca gave the artist unparalleled artistic freedom during her contract period.
I was listening to my vinyl copy ''mono'' of this album tonight, fabulous indeed, i absolutely love the two songs above, especially ''Johnny Guitar''. There's something about Peggy's beautiful vocal delivery of the song that is pure magic and perfection, it simply could could not be duplicated by anyone else, i don't care who. The second song is just so much fun, knowing it was co-written by Peggy/LA, and that it has Sammy doing the foot clapping just adds to it's charm.
While I, Miss Mary Contrary, relish "Light of Love" and can take or leave "Sweetheart." A quick example that serves as testament to Peggy's versatility and wide-ranging appeal to a variety of listener preferences
Your informative posts inspired me to revisit Miss Wonderful and The Fabulous Peggy Lee this evening. Both of my copies are mono Canadian pressings that feature a silver on black Decca label. My discs are made of a plastic that feels lighter and harder than vinyl. Perhaps I should resist playing these albums with my elliptical stylus (alas, I no longer own a mono table and conical stylus, both of which are better suited for such pressings). Both albums feature a warm and clear sound, with good bass and smooth highs. Thoughts on Miss Wonderful: I'm not too familiar with Sy Oliver's work, but if this album is a classic example, I can assuredly say that I enjoy his sound. The r&b-flavoured arrangements are complimentary to Peggy's vocals and it makes for an exciting sound. Prominent rhythm guitar, syncopated piano, brass hits punctuated with the snare and bass drum, and bongos heard on alternating tracks are some of the elements that serve to make this album sound fresh, fun and modern for its time. I get a dive-y, late-night club on-the-wrong-side-of-town kinda vibe from this album. There are plenty of highlights here; the cohesion between the performances is delightful and there isn't a single performance that I dislike. Peggy's "They Can't Take That Away From Me" is my favourite performance of this very well-known number. She takes liberties with the melody and plays with her phrasing in a manner that I've heard no other singer apply to the tune. I've never paid much attention to "Where Flamingos Fly," but your comments were fascinating and upon closer listen, it becomes apparent how special the recording is (indeed, even more special to learn that Peggy was likely the first to wax the composition). Stylistically, it bears many similarities to "Bouquet of Blues" (a Peggy Lee single), although "Flamingos" adds a pinch of exotica with its subtle flavourings of the orient. "You've Got To See Mama Ev'ry Night" and "You Oughtta Be Mine" are such great fun they almost get me out of the chair. These sides are perhaps the closest Peggy Lee ever came to singing r&b, and both are showpieces for one of the artist's greatest qualities - her impeccable sense of rhythm and meter. Peggy's timekeeping in the a cappella passages of "You Oughtta Be Mine" is sure to retire even the most exacting of metronomes. Two numbers that stand out as highlights are "Take A Little Time To Smile" and "Crazy In The Heart." The former has the trademark optimism of a self-penned Peggy Lee composition, and Oliver's exciting arrangement takes the song well into gem territory. I've always preferred the Decca version of "I Don't Know Enough About You" to the original hit on Capitol. The Decca performance really swings, and Oliver's arrangement effectively "freshens up" a song that might otherwise sound tired by 1956. "Joey, Joey, Joey" is a folksy, atmospheric number that adds a little mystery to the album without sounding out of place, although the arrangement is a little strange. The flourishes of harp that are heard in "We Laughed At Love" add a pensive, sentimental moment to the album as it nears its close. Indeed, the album ends on a sassy note with "That's Alright, Honey" - I only wish there was a subtle use of strings on this number that creep into the background mid-way through and sustain notes in tandem with the trumpets; as it is, the arrangement sounds a little empty. The recording and mixing for the album is very good - many of the instruments are far-miked to create a sense of depth and space in the mono image. Peggy's vocals never distort on loud passages and there is a good sense of pacing and dynamics (perhaps the quietest passage being the racy line "you brought three girls for company" heard during "You've Got To See Mama Ev'ry Night," and yet every syllable is plainly heard). I'm inclined to agree with Billboard's assessment of the album - it's a great collection of Peggy Lee. Highly recommended. Thoughts on The Fabulous Peggy Lee: The variety of performance, style and arrangements make for an interesting listen. The award for best arrangement goes to ... drum roll ... "Me". Fascinated to learn that it was arranged by Dave Barbour, Peggy's ex-husband. Instead, the performance bears a striking resemblance to arrangements that are more commonly heard from Billy May. The saxophone on "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me" is palpable, and Peggy gives a delightful performance. "The Tavern" and "Johnny Guitar" are haunting gems, and "Autumn In Rome" would surely find its way onto Sea Shells if harp was its only instrument. The subtle sparkle of the strings on "Rome" is delightful, although the sound of birds is distracting and gimmicky. "I Belong To You" might well be one of Peggy's most breathy and sentimental performances, of all time. Unfortunately, "The Gypsy With Fire In His Shoes" captivates the attention of my greyhound more than it does me. Are the interjections uttered by Sammy Davis Jr., or is that Almeida? The whole thing is noisy and distracting, although Peggy's emphatic use of staccato in her phrasing is laudable. And, I prefer the Capitol version of "Do I Love You," primarily because of its more pleasing George Shearing arrangement. Strange to think this album was issued as late as 12 years after some of its performances were recorded. Out of curiosity, which two selections were previously unissued?
Alas, thirty minutes too late. Fixed my sentence to clarify a thought: The album ends on a sassy note with "That's Alright, Honey," although its arrangement sounds a little empty in places. I wish for subtle use of strings that might creep into the background midway through the number and sustain notes in concert with the trumpets to make the performance more gripping. Pun in italics.
Agree. (Your more recent post reminded me of this older post, to which I meant to respond back then, but forgot.) I wish she had recorded this version for one of her Capitol albums. She could be really masterful at interacting with the camera at very close range, and for an extended period. "Making love to the camera." Not every singer can pull this off. Because quite a few of her 1960s videos feature extended close-ups, I am guessing that she herself asked for such a treatment at rehearsals. Yes. I love all the songs from that album, to a greater or lesser degree. For "The Gypsy with Fire in his Shoes," Decca initially recruited dancer-actor-singer Dan Dailey, but he didn't quite fit. Then Sammy was brought in, and, according to Peggy, he was perfect for the part. (Both men recorded for Decca Records.)
