Album

This album by operatic soprano Carole Farley is somewhat mistitled; few of the songs are in the first rank of pop standards, and indeed the album's most noteworthy feature is that it includes four world premieres of songs by Kurt Weill, uncovered by Farley herself. To take the obvious first question first, this collection is worth purchasing for the new Weill songs alone. None is less than intriguing. Weill's control, in the brief The Romance of a Lifetime, of the universe of possibility contained in a flirtatious glance on the street is exquisite. And The River Is So Blue, written for the 1937 film of the same name, is a nifty small-scale example of Weill's attraction to literary texts. The words by Ann Ronell take the slightest of romantic topics—a pleasant boat ride with a sweetheart on a lagoon—and just slightly elevate the language beyond moon/June territory: "Oh Love, the river is so blue today—it calls for us to live." Weill responds with a melody that can only be called ravishingly beautiful. Farley delivers this unusual item gorgeously. Among her previous outings in a semi-popular vein have been the cabaret songs of William Bolcom, and she sings this Broadway material similarly, with a slight, rather twittery voice designed for the recital stage rather than for the microphone. She does the melodic pieces justice, articulates the words clearly (for once, when Naxos rather resentfully includes the texts in the booklet, they aren't really needed), and is involved in what she's singing. But in pieces that call for a switch into a gutsier blues or jazz lower register, such as most of the Gershwin songs and Harold Arlen's sublimely angry I Had Myself a True Love, she doesn't quite make the transition. Her blues sounds forced, and not for the usual reasons that bedevil operatic artists who take on this repertoire: she is relaxed even in George Gershwin's most complex rhythmic arabesques around Ira's tortured rhymes (Heine/China, and even sour/Schopenhauer). The sound is another negative, suffering from overall harshness and specifically from a tendency to turn Farley's S sounds into messy hisses. Any specific complaints the listener may have, however, are outweighed by the contribution this album makes to the American popular song repertoire in the form of the four new Weill songs. They are in that repertoire to stay.

© James Manheim, All Music Guide

CD 1
Harold Arlen Composer Casbah Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
1	What's Good About Goodbye?	2:41			$0.99
Kurt Weill Composer One Touch of Venus (musical) Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
2	Love In A Mist	2:41			$0.99
Arthur Schwartz Composer Revenge with Music, musical Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
3	You And The Night And The Music	3:49			$0.99
Harold Arlen Composer Last Night When We Were Young Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
4	Last Night When We Were Young	4:30			$0.99
Kurt Weill Composer You and Me, film score (partly lost) Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
5	The Romance Of A Lifetime	1:47			$0.99
George Gershwin Composer Poppyland (song, from revue The Morris Gest Midnight Whirl) Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
6	Poppyland (song, from revue The Morris Gest Midnight Whirl)	2:17			$0.99
Kurt Weill Composer Lady in the Dark (musical) Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
7	Unforgettable	1:29			$0.99
Arthur Schwartz Composer The Band Wagon, musical Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
8	Dancing In The Dark	3:33			$0.99
George Gershwin Composer Pardon My English (musical) Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
9	Isn't It a Pity?	3:30			$0.99
Harold Arlen Composer When the Sun Comes Out Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
10	When the Sun Comes Out	3:31			$0.99
George Gershwin Composer Of Thee I Sing (musical) Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
11	Love Is Sweeping the Country	2:04			$0.99
Harold Arlen Composer Casbah Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
12	It Was Written In The Stars	2:44			$0.99
George Gershwin Composer Girl Crazy (musical)...Act 2 (original production) Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
13	12.Boy! What Love Has Done to Me	2:57			$0.99
Harold Arlen Composer Bloomer Girl, musical play Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
14	Right As The Rain	2:45			$0.99
Harold Arlen Composer St. Louis Woman, musical play Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
15	I Had Myself A True Love	3:40			$0.99
Arthur Schwartz Composer Between The Devil, musical play Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
16	I See Your Face Before Me	3:38			$0.99
Kurt Weill Composer The River is Blue (film score, a.k.a. 'Castles in Spain') Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
17	The River is Blue (film score, a.k.a. 'Castles in Spain')	2:56			$0.99
Arthur Schwartz Composer Something to remember you by Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
18	Something to remember you by	3:22			$0.99
Harold Arlen Composer Life Begins at 8:40, musical Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
19	Fun to Be Fooled	2:42			$0.99
Kurt Weill Composer One Touch of Venus (musical) Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
20	The Picture on the Wall	2:05			$0.99
George Gershwin Composer Rosalie (musical) Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
21	How Long Has This Been Going On?	3:31			$0.99
George Gershwin Composer Strike Up the Band (musical) Work Carole Farley Soprano, John Constable Piano
22	Soon	3:36			$0.99