Serenade

Frances Langford | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 24, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Flare UK
• ASIN: B00004YL8D
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #128,758 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Red Sails in the Sunset

2. The Last Rose of Summer

3. Serenade

4. Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man

5. The Boulevard of Broken Dreams

6. I've Got You Under My Skin

7. Night and Day

8. Then You've Never Been Blue

9. The Shortest Day of the Year

10. Little Grey Home in the West

11. You Have Cast Your Shadow on the Sea

12. Tears from My Inkwell

13. Paradise

14. Carry Me Back to Old Virginny

15. You Hit the Spot

16. My Cabin of Dreams

17. Will I Ever Know?

18. Stormy Weather

19. Swingin' the Jinx Away

20. Deep Shadows

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful love songs of the thirties and forties, August 2, 2002

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Serenade (Audio CD)

Frances was first and foremost a singer, although she also appeared in a lot of Hollywood movies. She did not record a lot music, considering the length of her career, doing most of her singing via radio broadcasts or touring.

This brilliant collection is one of two on the Flare label and there is also an excellent collection on Jasmine (So many memories) which only shares three tracks with the two Flare albums, these being Swingin' the jinx away and Night and day (both on this album) and Sweet Heartache, the title track of the other Flare album.

This album (like the others, dominated by ballads, which was Frances' speciality) begins with a beautiful version of Red sails in the sunset, recorded in late 1947, which might just be my favorite track on this collection - but they are all brilliant, so it's a close decision.

Some of the songs were introduced to the world by Frances in her movies, including You hit the spot (from Collegiate) and Will I ever know (from Palm Springs). The rest are a mixture of the famous and the forgotten - but you can't tell which is which from Frances' performance, which is always excellent. However, you will immediately recognise I've got you under my skin, Stormy weather and a few others, becausec they have been covered so often down the years.

Perhaps the greatest pleasure comes from listening to Frances sing those forgotten songs (Boulevard of broken dreams, Deep shadows, Blue evening and others) and wondering why they have been forgotten. Maybe a modern interpreter of the Great American Songbook will revive them after hearing this CD.

Most singers of the thirties joined bands and sang dance numbers. Not Frances - she enjoyed singing all those wonderful love songs. Enjoy her music !!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The versatility of Frances Langford!, December 9, 2008

By 

Charles Henry Jr. "Hondo" (Philadelphia, Pa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Serenade (Audio CD)

What a wonderful compilation! Frances Langford was always consistent. She gave as much care to the little throw away songs as she did to the classics or soon to be classics. On this disc you can hear how her style evolved from the more staid style of singing in the 30's to the more relaxed style in the 40's. Frances could do it all, from 'The Last Rose of Summer' and Schubert's 'Serenade' to 'You Belong to My Heart'
There were many great female singers in the 40's,a lot with wonderful voices, but Frances Langford stands head and shoulders above them all. Listen to her intensity, the feeling she puts into all her songs, believing every line and making you believe it to. 'Blue Evening' is a song I play over and over. It is incredibly beautiful and so well done. Her voice is at the same time light and airy and yet in a flash it can turn low and sensual. 'Passing Fancy' is sung with such conviction, such passion that you want to tell her it's not a passing fancy, you'll love her forever.
'Will I Ever Know' a song she also sang in the 1936 film 'Palm Springs' is what prompted me to write my fantasy-time travel novel, 'Will I Ever Know' about a man in the present day hearing the words, "The moment that I see him I will know him,no matter how impossible it seems...we have met before in dreams." In the fantasy Frances is also haunted by the words, dreaming of a phantom man running to her but fading out before she can see his face. The man in the present time travels back to 1945 to try and meet Frances. Listen to the way she sings those words, you'll want to time travel too!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frances Langford is a great old tradition., January 3, 2007

By 

James J. Ugrin "James Ugrin" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Serenade (Audio CD)

I bought this for my mother-in-law. She loves it. It is just the kind of nostalgia she needs after the recent passing of her husband of 55 years.