Although
Rosemary Clooney
worked with
Nelson Riddle
nearly every week for her '50s radio show, they were together for full LPs much less often -- only this record from 1961 and a 1963 follow-up titled
Love
. The pair made the most of their first collaboration, devising a program of 12
standards
that combined
Riddle
's pugnacious yet intricate arrangements with
Clooney
's warm, grand vocals to create a
swing
record with feeling.
's orchestra roars through his breakneck arrangements for
"April in Paris"
and
"Cabin in the Sky,"
but
weathers the storm with an elegance that borders on the untroubled. Vocalist fits together with orchestra like hand in glove, since nearly all of the musicians were veterans of her show. [A
Bluebird
reissue from 2004 added two bonus tracks,
"Without Love"
"The Wonderful Season of Love"
(the latter was the theme from
Return to Peyton Place
, directed by her husband,
Jose Ferrer
).] ~ John Bush