Unlike most celebrity vocalists,
Robert Mitchum
actually had musical talent. Music was never anything more than an occasional sideline to his acting career, but he recorded sporadically throughout the years.
That Man, Robert Mitchum, Sings
collects all of his commercial recordings from the '50s and '60s, including the complete albums
Calypso Is Like So
(1957) and
That Man
(1967), plus the hit single
"Ballad of Thunder Road."
The latter, a song
Mitchum
wrote for his film
Thunder Road
, charted twice for him and once for the
bluegrass
duo
Jim & Jesse
, who covered it for the
country
market in the late '60s.
is one of many albums of its era designed to cash in on the
calypso
craze, but is a cut above the typical offering because of
's obvious fondness for the style and the humorous songs, most of which comment on the war between the sexes.
"What Is This Generation Coming To"
addresses
rock & roll
and the generation gap, and
"From a Logical Point of View"
is based on the same
tune as
Jimmy Soul
's later hit
"If You Wanna Be Happy."
In a completely different vein,
is a
album
cut for
Monument Records
after hearing
Charlie Walker
's
"Little Ole Winedrinker Me,"
which
included on the album. That song became a big
hit for
, and the rest of the album is just as good. He sings an assortment of
pop
and
hits, a new version of
"The Ballad of Thunder Road,"
and a lovely
ballad he composed,
"Whippoorwill,"
all in a style similar to
Dean Martin
recordings. ~ Greg Adams