Art Deco: Can't Help Lovin' That Man

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Columbia/Legacy
• ASIN: B000008DYO
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,121 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CAMP with a capital "K", March 5, 2000

By 

Robby Varner (Atlanta,, Ga. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art Deco: Can't Help Lovin' That Man (Audio CD)

This is an hilarious compilation of old 20's and 30's songs written about men BY men. Supposedly you could not lawfully change the gender in songs to suit the crooner. So what you have is a very nice list of songs with a gay twist. Joe Haymes has an especially good time when he tells the horn soloist, "OH YOU CAN REALLY BLOW THAT THING!". Harold Lom tells you he's got his man... who could ask for anything more?, Cliff Edwards ask, "why don'tcha come up and see me sometime hummm?" and the lead singer of the Clevelanders sounds a trifle TOO serious when he sings of his "hope chest" which has his bridle gown hidden away! The re-recorded quality is superb and hopefully this CD will become available again. Possibly with a part 2?

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NOT SO CAMP AS THEY CLAIM, November 1, 2010

By 

Barry McCanna (Normandy, France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Art Deco: Can't Help Lovin' That Man (Audio CD)

This compilation brings together a collection of songs that, with two exceptions, have one thing in common. That is, they were all written to be sung my women, but here the vocalist is male. According to Michael Musto's liner note, that's because song publishers had such a stranglehold on the popular music industry that you didn't dare tamper with a song lyric. Which doesn't bear scrutiny, because I have "He's My Secret Passion" sung by Elsie Carlisle, and "She's My Secret Passion" sung by Al Bowlly. A more likely explanation is that bands didn't know what they were going to be called upon to sing until they got to the recording studio, with their male vocalist.

I said there were two exceptions. The first is "Masculine Women, Feminine Men" which is the only song that overtly refers to the condition, and is capable of being sung by either sex. The second is "Gay Love" which was sung by Bing Crosby at a time when that word meant carefree, and could be used without hesitation in that context. The liner note, to which I referred earlier, judges these songs through a modern day prism, which is underlined by the cover, and in doing so robs them of a certain innocence. Incidentally, the title should be shown as "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", which is what Oscar Hammerstein II wrote.

All of these recordings date from the late twenties/early thirties, feature some of the best bands around at the time, and contain three previously unreleased sides.