Customer Reviews

Sings Sondheim

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4 star:		(1)
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I have owned this CD since its initial release in 1988, when a friend bought it for me in America. Already both a Sondheim and a Cleo Laine fan, I fell on it like the proverbial ton of bricks and for weeks it never left my CD player for any length of time. Twelve years later it is still one of the most remarkable musical collaborations I have ever heard (I'm listening to it again, as I write). Jonathan Tunick's arrangements are impeccable, his orchestra plays superbly, the recorded sound is close to perfection, but they really are just the sugar on top of a perfect confection. Sondheim is a genius - few people can argue that - and in Cleo Laine he has found a rare fellow genius who can truly justify his own. The lyrics are at least eighty percent of his appeal and, with her famous "hot potato in mouth" diction Cleo does them more than justice. Has anybody ever noticed that the correct line from "Losing my mind" is "Spend sleepless nights to thing about you" and not "and think about you"? The many "standards" presented here all come off superbly, as do the the lesser-heard numbers, like the excerpts from "Anyone can whistle" (when is this going to be revived?). Superbly subtle, gloriously outrageous, immensely satisfying, this is a collection which should grace any.

This is a great Cleo Laine album.

Recorded in 1988, Cleo took a selection of Stephen Sondheim's work from a number of his shows. The songs date back to 1962's A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, through to a song written for the 1987 London production of Follies. Cleo uses the songs to cover a variety of characters and styles, expressing her versatility in no uncertain terms.

Highlights for me: Liaisons; No One Is Alone; The Miller's Son; I'm Still Here - the slower songs basically.

My one regret about this collection is that Cleo missed the golden opportunity of recording One More Kiss with her daughter, Jacqueline Dankworth. That's a minor regret though, on a very good album.

What a wonderful idea - matching Dame Cleo with Sondheim and Tunnick! Not surprisingly, actually - Cleo has already quitte experience in theatre (there was a musical written specially for her) but was surprises me is the passion she invest in this album.The well known songs, so wonderfully arranged and orchetsrated are given breath-taking performance by this unbelievable jazz singer and good actress!There is a song ("No one is alone") that later could be heard as a dueth with her daughter on "The very best of".I have a impression that Dame had very good time while recording this!

I wanted to hear Dame Cleo Laine and this was my first compact disc but not my last. She is a great singer with a super range. She can sing all of Sondheim songs especially Send in the Clowns which is one of my favorite Sondheim songs. I love Dame Cleo and I have listened to the original Company soundtrack and Dame Cleo puts them to shame sorry but she's just wonderful to listen to on the car ride home.

This is the finest all around recording available as far as solo performers of Sondheim go!
Not only does Ms. Laine truly know how to interpret his songs but the lush orchestrations and production quality of this recording are unsurpassed. I cannot recommend this recording more highly.

I first encountered Cleo Laine in the recording of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood". She is not one of those typical big belters Broadway currently mass-producing. The arrangement of sondheim songs here are quite dated. However, the saving factor is the interpretation of Cleo Laine. She knows the beats of the Sondheim songs. Hearing her version of "I Remember", and even "I'm Calm", one could not help but wonder on the approach and motivation. The attacks are very simple but honest. Not one of those typical "being" actors attack wielded by current singers. Interesting songs here are "Anyone Can Whistle", "I Remember" and "I'm Calm". For Sondheim fans, this is the definitive songbook.

Dame Cleo Laine must be in her late 70s now, although this album was recorded in 1988. It is in her jazz and theatre work that she best demonstrates her vast range and pyrotechnical abilities, actually touching high B-flat in one version of the song "Music" and was registered as reaching a note higher than B in her live version of "Being Alive" in Carnegie Hall.

"Cleo Sings Sondheim" did not showcase those stratospheric vocal flights except in some instances where the song calls for that, but her burnished lower registers and her storytelling technique in songs are what separate her from other singers. She can tell the story of a woman slowly unhinged in "Losing My Mind" or vamp up a Follies tune "I Am Here" with the insouciance of an experienced woman. She can then revisit songs overly recorded like "Send in the Clowns" and vastly and differently remove us from the unforgettable versions of Marti Webb, Sarah Vaughan and even Glenn Close's heartbreaking live performance. She can locate a moment of barely contained hysteria in "I'm Calm" and do a rapid-fire vocalese of "Everybody Says Don't" that has all the technical skill and precision of a newly cranked Ferrari.

Sondheim songs are difficult to sing because of the theatrical demands imposed upon a singer who should act the songs rather than sing beautifully with detachment. That is why very few singers ever do Sondheim or when they do, there are performers who do them better justice than others. I single out Ute Lemper because of her profound understanding of the darkness in these songs. I can imagine Holly Cole doing a Sondheim song too and deconstruct it the way Patricia Barber does but none of the postmodern lapses of the latter. Surprisingly, those who were touted as Sondheim "interpreters" did not move me much, like Bernadette Peters and Barbara Cook. But I was awed by non-singers like Glenn Close who managed to see the melancholy and pessimism of his songs and bring them out much better than trained singers.

Cleo Laine's album of Sondheim-niana is a very good place to start, but then there is no accounting for personal tastes and a listener is always finding things in songs than others. But this is as good as any Sondheim tribute albums out in the market.

A SHOWSTOPPER of a CD from start to finish. No one does SONDHEIM better than CLEO...and Jonathan TUNICK's orchestral arrangements are in a word - stunning!

When Cleo sings Sondheim, and that instrument of hers meets up with that genius of his, it just takes your breath away. She paints glorious pictures with his amazing, brilliant lyrics, and the listener is left with teary eyes, or a severe case of indignation, or even an audible giggle. What an incredible pairing...Miss Laine catches every nuance (and Mr. Sondheim has never been short on nuance). As she finishes each song, I feel like I've been to a full length theatre peice. It's scrumptious!

As as been said, this CD is absolutely wonderful in ever aspect. Get it, don't ask questions, just get it NOW!