Various Artists - Capitol Sings Cole Porter: Anything Goes

fine compilation album--with great recording artists at their very best

Capitol Sings Cole Porter: Anything Goes is a fine compilation album of some of the great singers at Capitol Records who sang these Cole Porter tunes like the fine artists they always were! The sound quality is wonderful; and I really like that artwork as well. This is an excellent album.

"All Of You" gives us Annie Ross singing her heart out on this fine tune; and the musical accompaniment makes this ballad shine even brighter! Peggy Lee signs on with her splendid rendition of "Always True To You In My Fashion;" this is a great recording by Peggy and she never misses a beat! Peggy always sang so well; she could sing the phonebook and when she was finished you'd be applauding and begging for more!

"Blow, Gabriel, Blow" gets the royal treatment from one of my very favorite songbirds, the great Martha Tilton. Martha isn't remembered as well as she should be but just one listen proves that she could sing alongside the best of them. In addition, Judy Garland sings "I Happen To Like New York." Actually, this is one of my least favorite songs on this CD even though I am a huge Judy Garland fan; the best and the melody just doesn't "do it" for me. Oh, well.

Louis Prima & Keely Smith do a wonderful, awesome rendition of "I've Got You Under My Skin;" together Louis and Keely were an unstoppable pair and this song tells you why. Nat King Cole also outdoes even himself as he sings so sweetly that it was "Just One Of Those Things." Nat never sounded better; his voice is rich and very full of masculine warmth. The music is also very pretty and it makes the perfect accompaniment for Nat King Cole's vocals.

Margaret Whiting does a wonderful job of singing "Why Shouldn't I;" this is a fine ballad and I always liked Margaret Whiting. She's another underrated singer who deserves more recognition then she receives! Listen also for Nancy Wilson to do a smash-up job on "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To;" Nancy never sounded so good ands she never sings a superfluous note; this impresses me greatly.

The CD closes with the wonderful Andrews Sisters performing their very best on "You Do Something To Me." I think you'll enjoy this ballad very much; and The Andrews Sisters really do this one up right!

Overall, what an incredibly fine compilation CD this is! You get some great Cole Porter tunes and the talented artists on this disc make them shine brighter than the sun. People who enjoy the music of Cole Porter will want this one for sure--and if you like classic pop vocals you will want this CD in your collection, too.
April 17, 2008

Not bad, but not great

The 25 tracks on this CD have exactly one thing that binds them together: all the songs were written (both words and music) by Cole Porter. Some of the singers doing the songs were very well-known artists, others were obscure ones I never heard of. Most of the songs have become standards, but a couple are quite obscure. Most of the recordings were made in the 1950s, but not quite all of them. Most are taken from albums, but at least one is shown as "previously unreleased" on the liner notes. And the styles range from quite jazzy to almost operatic. So this is a very mixed bag.

It should be noted that some of the artists (such as Tony Bennett and Dinah Shore) are represented with recordings made after their primes, as they are best known in work for other record companies, and only recordings for Capitol (or other companies that Capitol took over) are included.

But although there is a variation in all these factors, most, perhaps all, sounded decent to me. Not great, but certainly good. April 9, 2007

Disappointed

After seeing the motion picture "De-Lovely" and reading several Cole Porter bio's, I eagerly anticipated listening to "Capitol Sings Cole Porter: Anything Goes". Although the Capitol CD contains many more selections by competent, well known artists, I much prefer listening to the CD from the soundtrack of the movie. The "Capitol Sings..." arrangements are slick, but to my ear the De-Lovely arrangements are more wonderfully crafted and have a much more sensuous, emotional quality, even when sung by non-singers Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd. Diana Krall's interpretation of "Begin the Beguine", along with the gorgeous minor key accompaniment, is worth the ownership of the CD alone. I find it to be nothing less than thrilling, no matter how often one listens. I gave my "Capitol Sings..." CD away. November 5, 2006

A disappointing "Greatest"

This sterling line-up of songs by the witty tunesmith Cole Porter, as interpreted by some of the 20th-century's greatest singer/performers - Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, etc. - is surprisingly dull. Very little information accompanies the CD, and I suspect many of the numbers were recorded in mono, which might account for the weak stereo sound "enhanced" by digital technology.

Or maybe Capital was forcing the singers to complete contracts. I found the recently released soundtrack for Delovely, a bad bio-pic about Porter, far more enjoyable and it features a cast of some of the best singers of the early 21st century. March 19, 2006

PORTER DONE RIGHT

THIS CD IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED, COLE PORTER SUPERBLY TREATED BY VARIOUS ARTISTS. August 17, 2005

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