Sammy Davis, Jr.
followed up 1964's
The Shelter of Your Arms
-- his highest charting long-player to date -- with this dozen-song outing, supported by some irresistible backdrops courtesy of arrangers
Jimmie Haskell
and
Perry Botkin Jr.
Rather than another collection of
show tunes
standards
from the American popular music canon,
Sings the Big Ones for Young Lovers
primarily consists of well-known covers, including a handful of early
rock & roll
selections such as
Leiber & Stoller
's
"Kansas City"
and the frisky and loose remake of
"Walk Right In,"
which
Davis
belts and scats into an uptempo swinger. Decidedly less bombastic yet instinctually grooving is the undulating
bossa nova
rhythm on
"Days of Wine and Roses,"
while
' mellow and easygoing take of
"Deep Purple"
finds the vocalist weaving around a woozy string arrangement and a steadily driving backbeat. Of equal note are the
ballads
that the artist so ably reinvents and, in doing so, intimately personalizes.
"I Left My Heart in San Francisco"
is given a brass-intensive upgrade, matching
' hearty intonations. By contrast,
bears a noticeable
Baroque
feel thanks to its quaintly effective harpsichord accompaniment. Although
"I Wanna Be Around"
commences with a sole acoustic guitar, it isn't long before the full ensemble kicks the affair up a notch, turning in a profound and powerful moment. On the softer side,
updates
"It's All in the Game,"
replacing the incessant
doo wop
score heard on
Tommy Edwards
' 1958 version with the charm and allure of an affective
ballad
, creating a coziness and maturity conspicuously absent from the more familiar reading. In 2004
Collectors' Choice Music
issued
as part of their reassessment of
's recordings on
Reprise Records
, marking the first time that a majority of the material had been available in several decades. ~ Lindsay Planer