Richard Rodgers Album With Lorenz Hart CD

This is one of many miscellaneous compilations of vintage recordings taking advantage of the 50-year European copyright limitation on recordings. Marking Richard Rodgers' centenary, it is a collection of 24 recordings of songs Rodgers wrote with Lorenz Hart, for Broadway and West End musicals produced in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, made by a variety of performers in a variety of styles, between 1933 and 1951. Most are pop recordings intended for the Hit Parade, though, especially early on, there are several tracks made by British stage performers. Of these, however, only one, Jessie Matthews' "Dancing on the Ceiling," from the London show Evergreen, is by a singer who sang the song in the show itself. Among the later recordings, June Allyson's "Thou Swell," Perry Como's "With a Song in My Heart," Mel Tormé's "Bewitched," and the orchestral recording of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," all derive from the MGM Records soundtrack to the 1948 Rodgers & Hart film biography, Words and Music, while Mary Martin's "The Lady Is a Tramp," and the Jack Cassidy/Mardi Bayne duet on "I Wish I Were in Love Again" come from a 1951 studio-cast recording of the 1937 Rodgers & Hart show Babes in Arms, and issued by Columbia Records. There are some excellent renditions here, notably Shirley Ross' heartfelt treatment of "It Never Entered My Mind," and Lee Wiley's buoyant take on "Manhattan," but the collection overall remains a mixed bag, with uneven sound quality and a thrown-together feel. ~ William Ruhlmann

Composer: Richard Rodgers.

Lyricist: Lorenz Hart.

Personnel: Lawrence Cotton, Sam Browne, Bea Wain (vocals); Bobby Hackett (cornet).

Audio Remasterer: Charlie Crump.

Liner Note Author: Tony Middleton .

Translator: Hans Korbmacher.