Track Listing

1. He Was Beautiful
2. I Loves You Porgy
3. No One Is Alone
4. Birdsong
5. Solitude
6. Streets Of London
7. I Don't Know Why
8. Send In The Clowns
9. Dreamsville
10. Gonna Get Through
11. Skylark
12. Creole Love Call
13. What'll I Do
14. It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
15. You Must Believe In Spring
16. Wish You Were Here (I Do Miss You)
17. Bill
18. Lies Of Handsome Men
19. Play It Again Sam
20. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter
21. If
22. Won't You Tell Me Why
23. I Remember
24. Just A Sittin' And A Rockin'
25. Woman Talk
26. Sophisticated Lady
27. Music
28. Bess You Is My Woman Now
29. My Man's Gone Now
30. I'm Beginning To See The Light
31. Time For Farewell
32. Turkish Delight
33. Born On A Friday
34. Thieving Boy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42977 in Music
• Released on: 1997-05-03
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .28 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Blessed with both a natural jazz instinct and an extraordinary range covering several octaves, Cleo Laine is one of the outstanding singers of our times. Her husky low notes and astonishing forays in the upper registers make her voice uniquely identifiable. She makes the most intelligent use of an eclectic span of material and her recordings are always filled with delightful surprises. The sweep of music in this remarkable collection reflects all that and her lyrics here have been composed by some of the best writers of the times, starting with one W. Shakespeare, who has three of his best numbers--"O Mistress Mine", "It Was A Lover And His Lass" and "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summers Day"--treated with imagination and grace. Standards by Arlen and Alec Wilder rub shoulders with compositions by Laine's husband John Dankworth. The latter's "Dunsinane Blues" is a swinging and delightful exercise in Shakespearean gore and ghosts and his setting of an Auden poem is written with taste and purpose. Guests include guitarist John Williams--a most delicate partnership with Laine on three tracks--and pianist Dudley Moore. --Steve Voce

Customer Reviews

Great inroduction to a great singer!
This compilation is drawn from Cleo Laine's RCA albums recorded between 1974 and 1996. Over this period she recorded many albums of various themes and styles. Therefore this 2CD set features a mixture of jazz, Broadway and pop. Cleo Laine's beautiful voice and wide range is showcased on great songs like "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'", "It Don't Mean a Thing," plus "Bess You Is My Woman" and "My Man's Gone Now" from her duet album with Ray Charles "Porgy and Bess". Also includes famous Laine songs outside of jazz, "Send In The Clowns", "He Was Beautiful" and "Streets of London". This collection is a good introduction to Laine's back catalogue, and will give the listener the opportunity to decide whether they want to delve deeper into her jazz, pop or Broadway albums.

Slection of Songs
I have to say sorry, but ths is the most boring CD selection I have heard in years. Cleo Laine is unboubtedly superb in herself, but the selction of songs on this double CD is unbeleivably not very representative of Cleo at her best, it is a non-stop collection of typically slow and boring broadway themes out of context and syprupy sweet ballads with no pace. I would personally never pick such a large collection of undynamic music of the same ilk to string together. Those that like this type of sweet sickly song collections will love it, because Cleo Laine is without a doubt a superb technical singer with a style that surpasses even that of the likes of Barbara Streisand. I would like to have been able to listen to a far broader cross section of Cleo's musical repertoire. Not good and probably why the CD box was so cheap. The only redeeming factor is the inclusion of a very good version of 'It don't mean a thing', on CD 1 and a couple of other nice jazzy numbers on CD 2.

Buy this one!
If you buy one box set of Cleo Laine, buy this one. An excellent listen!