This week I rented De-Lovely
...I think perhaps my disappointment may have been fueled by the songs, made over by contemporary artists. Singers who are not up to the task. Alanis Morrisette's version of "Let's Do It" is particularly painful. Sheryl Crow has nowhere near the vocal talent required for "Begin The Beguine". Whether it was the performers or the arrangers, the wink and a smile that Porter wrote into his songs is sadly absent on most of the film tracks. The interpretations feature affectations that would not have been heard in that era. So....
Which made me think of the album Red Hot + Blue. So of course I had to put the CD on... It's been a long time since I've listened to this album. It reminded me of how good it really is... The Neville Brothers, Sinead O'Conner, U2, Tom Waits, Annie Lennox, K.D. Lang, Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, The Pogues, Erasure, Jody Watley, David Byrne, Neneh Cherry (what ever happened to her?), and others. It was a hell of an album (and because the music is so timeless it still is)!
Vox goes on to offer some great performances of Cole Porter's work...
This weeks Radio.Blog features some older recordings of Cole Porters songs. There are two versions of Let's Fall In Love - Billie Holiday and Eartha Kitt - with two distinctly different feelings...but they both make the Morisette version look like a poor attempt at Karaoke. You'll find Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Fred Astaire (who many of these songs were written specifically for). I didn't go through and listen to all of these tracks yet, so one or two muzak versions may have made it in - if I find them in the next few days I'll delete 'em [Vox]
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