Customer Reviews

Feelin' Good / Lena in Hollywood

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Lena Horne was on a roll making great vocal collections in the musical sixties but these incredible vocal masterpiece collections were sadly overlooked in the rock & roll era that ignored great talents like Lena Horne and numerous other great vocal artists as programers refused and would not program these awesome musical wonders and you could call in requesting & talk until blue in the face but stations would not budge and loved the power they had to control what the public hear. Mesmerizing vocals fill this amazing collection of songs by peerless composing legends such as Bricusse/Newley, Rodgers/Sondhelm, Mercer/Vimmerstedt, Loesser, Lennon/McCartney, Rogers/HammersteinII, Cahn/Van Heusen, Bacharach/David, Mancini/Mercer, Cole Porter and numerous other great composers of that era and beyond, Lena Horne recordings from this period find the Legend in her finest form and that is as good as great singing from the soul gets!
BRAVO LENA!!!

Like a prayer or an affirmation, the first song on this recording haunted me and made me glad I was alive, even if I felt awkward and stupid. She ends the album with "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" which seemed more appropriate at that time in my life, but one can't lose hope. And Lena was one of many who helped me learn about artistry. She's a stylist. No doubt! But this CD is solid and Lena before her big come-back in the 1980's.

I had the Feelin' Good LP when it came out and it was one of my favorites. Apart from introducing me to Ms. Horne, it included some of my favorite songs. Just listen to Willow Weep For Me. After a long wait here is the cd version which sounds as I remember. I love it.

Gone is the youthful silky voice Lena had in the 1930s and '40s(well she was nearly 50 years old!), but she still has a fine instrument to sing with for these songs. My favorites are The Boy from Ipanema and And I Love Him-gotta love Lena for doing some then modern songs as well as the usual standards. A fine album that compliments her later triumphant Live Broadway album.

I am glad to see these two albums finally get released. While I originally hoped they'd be released separately, they fit together fine on this cd. Lena's voice is in great form, the band is magnificant and the sound quality is great. My only minor complaint is that the inner pamphlet is wrong (at least on my copy). After the track listing, it starts with the third page. I thought is was odd that the first paragraph started with a lowercase letter. What should have been the first page of the liner notes, is on the second to the last page. Other than that it is a great release.