Best of the Nat Cole King Trio

Nat King Cole | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 4, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Light Records
• ASIN: B000000COK
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #562,026 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. On the Sunny Side of the Street

2. Sweet Lorraine

3. I Like to Riff

4. Straighten up and Fly Right

5. (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons

6. Little Joe from Chicago

7. It's Only a Paper Moon

8. If You Can't Smile and Say Yes (Please Don't Cry and Say No)

9. Laura

10. Route 66

11. How High the Moon

12. The Frim Fram Sauce

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great songs, Bad recording!!, June 12, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Best of the Nat Cole King Trio (Audio CD)

I love the Nat King Cole Trio. But save your money on this one, folks. While the songs are great, the recording quality is not. Lots of white noise ruined this CD for me.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still reigning King after 60 years, February 16, 2000

By 

Vincent Martin (Paris, France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best of the Nat Cole King Trio (Audio CD)

Having crossed path with the Nat King Cole Trio just changed my whole approach to music. To put it simply, every single track recorded by the classic trio during the forties is a genuine masterpiece. Cole is a world class virtuoso and his guitarist Oscar Moore displays harmonies in an incredible way. Forget Presley, forget The Beatles, this is the greatest popular music ever recorded in the 2Oth century and this comes from a fan of Van Halen and AC/DC. No other music has been so much blessed with grace. Sweet Lorraine is a song to die for

2.0 out of 5 stars Pathetic, August 7, 2007

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best of the Nat Cole King Trio (Audio CD)

I am in total agreement with the reviewer who advises you to save your money on this one. Not only does the sound reproduction leave much to be desired, the one feeble page of background notes is an insult to a star of such magnitude, and they did not even fill out the compilation with hits. And this in one they boldly title "The Best Of The Nat King Cole Trio!"

It isn't as if there aren't plenty of Trio hits to choose from since they had 25 on what passed for the R&B charts from 1942 to 1950, nine of which crossed over to the Pop charts and, in addition, they had six others that made only the Pop charts. So, all in all, 31 selections from which to choose.

The first three here pre-date the Harlem Hit Parade [now R&B charts] and, since they did not make the Pop charts either in 1940, none are technically hits, although Sweet Lorraine is certainly regarded as one of their all-time recordings for obvious reasons. But then again, none among tracks 6, 9, and 11 were either R&B or pop hits for the Trio in 1944.

Six that would have helped this one live up to its label are: I Can't See For Lookin' - the flip of Straighten Up And Fly Right and a # 2 R&B/# 24 pop in 1944; Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You - # 1 R&B and # 20 pop in 1944; You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love) - # 10 pop in 1946; Meet Me At No Special Place (And I'll Be There At No Particular Time) - # 3 R&B in 1947; Nature Boy - # 1 pop [for 8 weeks] and # 2 R&B in 1948; and Put 'Em In A Box, Tie "Em With A Ribbon (And Throw "Em In The Deep Blue Sea) - # 30 pop in 1948.

Scout around. There are other King Cole Trio compilations much better than this pathetic issue.