American Songbook 1: Best of A-I

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 2, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B0000AQS3O
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,421 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. At Last - Etta James

2. Almost Like Being In Love - Nat 'King' Cole

3. Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe - Peggy Lee

4. Baby It's Cold Outside - Margaret Whiting & Johnny Mercer

5. As Time Goes By - Nilsson

6. A Foggy Day - Fred Astaire

7. I Can't Give You Anything But Love - Sarah Vaughan

8. April In Paris - Dinah Shore & Andre Previn

9. Fools Rush In - Brook Benton

10. How Deep Is The Ocean - Dick Haymes

11. Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) - Tony Bennett

12. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye - June Christy & Stan Kenton

13. Blue Skies - Willie Nelson

14. I'm In The Mood For Love - Julie London

15. Blue Moon - Mel Torme

16. Come Rain Or Come Shine - Ray Charles

17. Embraceable You - Dianne Reeves

18. I'll Be Seeing You - Bing Crosby

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Listening, December 1, 2009

By 

Christopher Lipp (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: American Songbook 1: Best of A-I (Audio CD)

I have had this CD accompany me worldwide on business, airplanes, hotels. It is a wonderful compilation of both various artists and composers. What I really appreciate is the variety of high-quality performances. By far and away, this has the best performances of "At Last" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside" that I have every heard. Ever listened to the Starbucks album with "Baby..cold outside?" You simply cannot appreciate it after hearing the fabulous version on this CD.

I own big compilations like Ella Fitzgerald sings the Cole Porter songbook. Sure, excellent excellent set of recordings. Yet, jazz does well with variety. This album is no exception. It withstands the repetition of same singer/same composer, and thus has huge re-re-replay value.

If you are looking for a great compilation and variety of high-quality jazz performances, this is a wonderful album to own.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars all classics, October 7, 2003

By 

worldtraveler (milwaukee, Wi) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Songbook 1: Best of A-I (Audio CD)

This is a really nice addition to the growing examination of popular American songs. We put it on last week at a friend's barbecuse and withnearly every song on both Volumes someone had a something great to say about either the song or the singer. A must have for any msuci collector. My kids love it too as they are beginning to get exposed to music from the '30's - '50's in school through theater and dance performances. Great liner notes too!

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good collection, but not definitive...., October 3, 2003

By 

Mr. Stanley M. Schmidt "boymitch" (Rockford, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: American Songbook 1: Best of A-I (Audio CD)

Short review here...

After listening to this set of two discs (A-I and J-Z), I was really pleased with the cross section of artists they served up. I was not real happy with the song selections though. There are far, far better songs done by each artist that could more effectively capture what this set was trying to accomplish.

I do have one serious critique of disc A-I: what were they thinking when they put Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes" on there??? I started to sing that Sesame Street song "One of these is not like the other...". Maybe it was an error or oversight, but either way, detracted from the disc.

This collection will take you back to the yesteryears, but other recordings can do it much better.