Drg
2008
The Capitol Rarities (1949-1952)
About This Album
The knock against Mel Tormé's early career -- from critics, fans, and even Tormé himself -- was that he was trapped in the band-singer format, where vocalists were mere cogs in the recording machine and were unable to choose (or even approve) the songs they sang. (Of course, most bandleaders, A&R executives, and even musicians considered that a very practical setup.) From an early point in his career, it had become clear that Tormé was a musical whiz kid -- able to write songs, play a variety of instruments, and arrange for multiple voices, all on top of singing very well -- but when he arrived at Capitol in the late '40s and began recording, he was asked to sing certain songs at certain times. That setup resulted in most of the highest charting hits of his career, but he was only rarely given the chance to record his own choices; when he later gained that ability with Bethlehem and Verve, it resulted in the best recordings of his career. Fortunately, the approach while at Capitol still resulted in very good music, since Tormé's ineffable talent could find the wheat in a field full of chaff. Also, his musical supervisors and arrangers while at Capitol were among the best. Famous names such as Nelson Riddle and Pete Rugolo were ready and willing to take a throwaway like "The Sidewalk Shufflers" and transform it into a solid piece of jumpy swing. The Capitol Rarities (1949-1952) collects 19 rarities from that three-year segment of his career, bypassing the hits "Careless Hands" and "The Old Master Painter" for novelties such as "There's an "X" (In the Middle of Texas)" and "You Locked My Heart (And You Swallowed the Key)." Overall, aside from Tormé fans, who will naturally rejoice at the wealth of material (and Will Friedwald's thorough notes), this rarities compilation from an off-peak period can't be recommended to most listeners. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5 and 12)

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