Customer Reviews

Live From Las Vegas

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A great collection of the best in the classic popular vocalists. The so-called entertainers of today can learn a great deal from these giants of the past. To hear these performers and realize the music comes from lounges and showrooms of some of the great Vegas hotels of the past is something to cherish forever. Get this CD and fantasize about these immortal singers by imagining you are in the audience.

This CD is one of a set of CDs that was produced in 2005 for the centennial celebration of Las Vegas. Fortunately for all of us, this CD has singing and instrumental music that does great justice to that era when "The Strip" was fresh and incredibly vibrant for the first time ever. The recordings on this CD also help us to remember those good times people had when they needed a place to go and forget their problems. Sure, some people may be against gambling--I don't do it myself--but that isn't the product being reviewed here. I'm reviewing the CD; and it's one heck of a CD with fantastic recordings to celebrate the glamour of Las Vegas and even the great nightclubs of ALL the hottest cities!

These recordings are crystal clear and lovingly remastered by Dave McEowen at Capitol Mastering in Hollywood. You would never know these artists made these recordings decades ago! Frank Sinatra sings "Luck Be A Lady;" Dean Martin does a great medley of "Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes/I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine/I Love Vegas (Paris);" and Keely Smith performs "I've Got You Under My Skin." Sublime!

Judy Garland fans will also delight when they hear her sing "Lucky Day," released for the first time ever on this CD. A real plus--she attacks that song with POW!

There is also the theme of "luck" running through the song set. Of course, this is a reference to the gambling aspect of the Las Vegas experience. For example, Sinatra sings "Luck Be A Lady;" The Buddy Rich Big Band performs "Mr. Lucky;" Judy Garland belts out "Lucky Day;" and Louis Prima with Sam Butera and The Witnesses does a great job with "Greenback Dollar Bill." It's all very well done; and the musical arrangements are excellent.

The liner notes include a brief history of each of the hotels and clubs where these recordings were made and there are a couple of great black and white shots of Vegas at that time. You don't get the song lyrics but these artists sing everything so clearly that you really don't need them anyway.

In short, this CD is great entertainment and a great piece of the centennial tribute to the city of Las Vegas. I highly recommend this CD for fans of that era on "The Strip;" fans of classic pop vocals and fans of The Rat Pack as many of the Rat Pack members are featured on this CD. Get this CD and enjoy!

I highly recommend this CD to everyone who remembers when these Artists appeared in Las Vegas and around the country. The songs keep your foot tapping and aside from being very enjoyable, consider the songs on this CD, "History" in a new generation who are forgetting the basic music of this CD which gave all newer music their start.

It's interesting..but truly wonderful to hear Judy Garland with Lucky Day. Sound is great. Wish a CD with just her from her Las Vegas show would become available.

Anyone who has heard the title song to the musical "Cabaret" in the dramatic context of the show knows that it's chilling and tragic, the last gasp of the free-livers before the eradication of their carefree and careless ways by the new German totalitarian order. Much the same feeling is provoked by this recording, which is a reminder of the days when Las Vegas was a cabaret, when musicians and comics and magicians gave it everything they had night after night, accompanied by actual "acoustic" instruments(unless the Stan Kenton or Buddy Rich Band was itself the attraction). The casino owners regarded entertainment as a mere "loss-leader" to entice tourists to gamble in their casinos, but the gain was to the fans of world-class, inexpensive entertainment provided by often extemporaneous, always communicative performers.

So this collection is less part of a legacy than a time capsule of a moment irretrievably lost, now that the casinos have yielded to mega-resorts and family theme parks constructed by the new corporate moguls and Wall Street entrepreneurs. The biggest profits no longer come from the gambling but from the obscenely high-priced admissions to staggering, huge productions (ironically many of them "just plain" Country & Western stars) that pass for entertainment (is there a water-world resort yet?).

It's too bad that "Live from Las Vegas," apart from the title, has so few references to the town in the recording itself. Virtually all of the same material can be found on other, superior recordings by the same performers. Of the tracks on this collection, Dean Martin's "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes" is a highlight (hard to believe we once thought of him as family entertainment--times sure have changed), while Sam Butera singing "Greenback Dollar Bill" probably ranks as the weakest choice. There are 18 tracks in all, so a listener is almost assured of finding something to his or her liking.

Biggest disappointment: No Wayne Newton! No Liberace! Not that I'm a fan of either, but let's have some authenticity (Nat Cole, Nancy Wilson and Judy Garland were far from Vegas regulars or stars on the strip). Noel Coward is also inexcusably passed over, despite his tremendous popularity in a town not known for championing gentility, sophistication and wit.

As for Elvis, that's an omission I can forgive.