I Miss You So / Witchcraft

Chris Connor (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 14, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Collectables
• ASIN: B00005MKC9
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,539 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I Miss You So

2. Go 'Way from My Window

3. Trust in Me

4. Past in the Age of Innocence

5. Time Out for Tears

6. I Love You Yes I Do

7. My Heart Is So Full of You

8. My Deal

9. Mixed Emotions

10. They All Laughed

11. Speak Low

12. Radar Blues

13. Witchcraft

14. I'll Never Be Free

15. The Lady Sings the Blues

16. Come Rain or Come Shine

17. When Sunny Gets Blue

18. (How Little It Matters) How Little We Know

19. I Hear the Music Now

20. Baltimore Oriole

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally!, October 10, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: I Miss You So / Witchcraft (Audio CD)

Almost all the great jazz singers in the 1950s had parallel pop careers, though that fact is all but forgotten today. At Atlantic, the splendid Chris Connor was turning out an unparalleled series of awesome jazz albums while also recording pop singles with great success. "I Miss You So" is a collection of successful singles, singles which previously went unreleased, and a stray track from her Gershwin album. Arranged mostly by Ray Ellis, it's a pop excursion marked by unusual arrangements and horn and choir voicings, and Chris sailing through every kind of song imaginable. "My Heart Is So Full of You" was the extraordinary flip slip of the hit "I Miss You So" and "Radar Blues" was a great single of the last kind of song you'd think Chris Connor would sing. Fascinating music. "Witchcraft" is an all-out big band album arranged by Richard Wess, an extraordinary orchestrator who found Chris the perfect artist to take wing with. What an album from start to finish, including the incredible "Baltimore Oriole" and "Skyscraper Blues." Chris is just a drop-dead singer on this album by any measure and totally different than on her jazz albums. Now someone needs to issue "Misty," the album of singles and unreleased singles which appeared only in Japan, and to add as bonus tracks all the other Chris Connor singles which never made albums, including her fabulous "That's My Desire." Chris has always been an artist who defies classification or prediction; she never was interested in being a hip kitty and her wide-ranging musical enthusiasms have made her an unusually versatile singer. Just when you think you have her pegged, she surprises you. You will LOVE this C.D.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CHRIS CONNOR; SONG STYLIST EXTRAORDINAIRE, August 31, 2003

By 

M.L. Allen "Allen's Opinion" (Daytona Beach, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Miss You So / Witchcraft (Audio CD)

Chris Connor's I MISS YOU SO, and WITCHCRAFT, both released by Atlantic in the fifties and now re-released on a single disc on the Collectables label, contains 24 original tracks--that's two LPs, folks. Half as many would be worth the price. In spite of the bargain price, this is an excellent recording. Chris Connor couldn't offer anything less.

This collection is a great example of Chris Connor in her prime. Her voice, her phrasing, her styling are just so sweet. Her song choices have always been a little off the beaten path; not those that have been done, and overdone, by lesser talents. Every song she sings belongs to her.

Smooth as silk, she glides through "My Ideal," a wistful "Go `Way From My Window," "I Love You, Yes I Do." and the steamy "Past the Age of Innocence." An alto sax echoes the lonely note on "Time Out For Tears" and "Mixed Emotions." She swings "How Little We Know," stirs the blood with "I'll Never Be Free," and pulls out all the stops on "I Hear the Music."

On her swingy "My Heart Is So Full of You," the orchestral and choral work could have been toned down a bit, and in a few scattered places one wishes they'd back off, but it goes with the times. Some things that were standard, or even experimental, practices in the fifties have been improved or abandoned, thank goodness. Connor was strong enough at a very tender age to sing over the energetic Stan Kenton so she can handle these guys with one hand tied behind her. She doesn't let it distract her from her always-perfect performance. The smoky Connor voice and a wailing alto sax more than compensate. Anyway, with WITCHCRAFT, the big band takes over and things find a better balance. Just relax--it's not that bad--and let Chris Connor waft over your nerves like a cool breeze.

All these songs evoke that old feeling, but the CD version is a refreshing experience after watching in dismay the slow disintegration of those old collections of scratchy LPs, misplaced 45s, and stretched and broken tapes.

Excepting Diana Krall, Steve Tyrell, and a scant handful of others who did their homework--you know who they are--this album should be required study for those of the current crop of songsters who sometimes tire one with their over-enthusiastic styling. An afternoon spent with Chris Connor could show them how a serious musician does it.

In the vanguard of ladies of jazz, arm in arm with June Christy and Ella Fitzgerald and very few others, Chris Connor is still a vital force, and has stepped up to prove she can hold her place in line by continuing to release new albums. Her latest, "Everything I Love," is now available.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars my heart is yearning for Chris Connor, January 12, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: I Miss You So / Witchcraft (Audio CD)

this was a surprise, introduced to Miss Connor via A Portrait of Chris my expectations were for something similar, and the second part of this two record set, Witchcraft, fell along those lines. But before that came I Miss You So, which felt more like being put under a spell of witchcraft. The first six songs are so softly smooth they put me in a tearful swoon, too beautiful to leave, a version of forever I would gladly sign up for. Chris picks up the tempo, I wish she hadn't, but there are some nice choices, truly we're in the presence of a remarkable talent. My desert island choice would have to be this lady, though choosing between Portrait and I Miss You SO would be difficult. See other reviews for this CD, erudite and right on the mark, terrific, enjoy