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The Unforgettable Nat King Cole
His 55 finest
RETROSPECTIVE RTS 4114 2 CDs [2 hrs 38 mins]
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Disc One: Straighten Up and Fly Right; Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You?; Sweet Lorraine; Embraceable You; It’s Only A Paper Moon; Don’t Blame Me; I’m Through With Love; It Only Happens Once; Get Your Kicks on Route 66!; The Christmas Song; For Sentimental Reasons; You’re the Cream in My Coffee; When I Take My Sugar to Tea; What’ll I Do?; Nature Boy; Mo Moon At All; For All We Know; Lush Life; Mona-Lisa; Orange Coloured Sky; Too Young; Unforgettable; Walkin’ My Baby Back Home; Somewhere Along the Way; Pretend; Love Come Back to Me; Tenderly.
Disc Two Can’t I?; Almost Like Being in Love; Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup; Answer Me, My Love; Smile; A Blossom Fell; Autumn Leaves; Let’s Fall in Love; Love is a Many-Splendoured Thing; Too Young to Go Steady; To the Ends of the Earth; Caravan; Love Letters; Stardust; It’s All in the Game; When I Fall in Love; When Sunny Gets Blue; At Last; Stay As Sweet As You Are; Send For Me; Don’t Get Around Much Anymore; The Song is Ended, But the Melody Lingers On; These Foolish things Remind Me of You; Once in a While; Around the World; When Your Lover Has Gone; Fascination; The Party’s Over.
Who could forget Nat King Cole? His silken legato delivery of so many popular ballads thrilled millions in the mid-20th century? No wonder so many ladies swooned listening, for instance, to his way with ‘Don’t blame me’ – “for falling in love with you.” Nat King Cole’s recordings consistently reached top positions in the charts, hits such as: ‘For Sentimental Reasons’, ‘Nature Boy’, ‘Too Young’ ‘Love is a Many-Splendoured Thing’ (the title song of the film with Jennifer Jones) and ‘Tenderly’
Nat died at the tragically early age of 46 leaving behind him such unforgettable hits as (as well as those mentioned above): ‘Mona Lisa’, ‘Pretend’, ‘Smile’ ‘Embraceable You’ and ‘When I Fall In Love’. All these and 44 other gems are included in this collection. The collection spans the earliest recording made in November 1943 of ‘Straighten Up and Fly’ from the film Here Comes Elmer to ‘Fascination’ recorded on 8th August 1957 with Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra.
Nat was born in Montgomery Alabama and showed, early, a precocious talent for the piano. He was weaned on the classics (“from Bach to Rachmaninov”) and first learned to play the piano by ear before formal musical training. This mix of learning probably helped him forge such a winning intimate style. As usual Peter Dempsey’s informative and illuminating notes chart the singer’s life and career through his solo work with bands, in night clubs, on radio and in films and in the recording studios.
A treasury for fans of Nat King Cole
Ian Lace