Very Best of

Cole Porter | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 15, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hip-O Records
• ASIN: B000294QX6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,891 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #79 in Music > Jazz > Traditional Jazz & Ragtime > General AAS
  • #79 in Music > Jazz > Traditional Jazz & Ragtime > Traditional Jazz General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

99 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than the DE-LOVELY Soundtrack!!, July 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Very Best of (Audio CD)

I really can't say it any better than the notes from inside the CD (read below). This is an incredible collection - just look at the artists on here - Ella, Tony Bennett, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong...not to take anything away from the soundtrack to the film, but this is some real starpower!! I listened to the other collections floating around out there, and THE VERY BEST OF COLE PORTER truly lives up to it's name.

The amazing thing about Cole Porter is that the most sophisticated of all songwriters is also the most passionate. You wouldn't normally expect those two qualities to go together hand in hand. Indeed, one of the essential components of sophistication is coolness-a blasé quality. The most heinous breach of upper-crusty behavior would be to actually show that you care about something. Yet, Cole Porter takes passion to its ultimate extreme: people in Cole Porter songs are always at the end of their rope, they are borderline obsessives who have the object of their obsessions under their skin and can't stop thinking about him or her night and day. They are mystified, hypnotized, and every time their lover leaves them, they die a little.
As one of Porter's progeny, the lyricist and showman Alan J. Lerner put it, "Cole was the only composer lyric writer in the entire musical world who ever knew how to write a passionate song. Everybody else could-when we're fortunate-write a tender song, or romantic song, or a wistful song, or a nostalgic song. But only Cole could write passion." It's in that duality-the contrast between describing the day to day activities of the uber-rich, those who keep their cool at all costs, and those of us who feel love with such a burning passion that they would, nay must, die for it.
Porter himself was, likewise, a mass of contradictions, which began with his birth. How can it be that the Prince of New York sophisticates was actually born in the Midwest- Peru, Indiana no less? He did, however, enter the world exceedingly rich (in 1891), went to Yale and probably never would have had to labor a day in his life had he not wanted to.
All the major songwriters created myths about themselves. For Richard Rodgers, it was his wholesomeness. Rodgers knew more about the dark side of life than he wanted you to know, and the evidence is there in his music. Irving Berlin created the character of a tight-fisted Jewish businessman, but you didn't have to look very far to find the artistic generosity in his music. Cole Porter wanted everyone to think he was a gadabout playboy, a rich dilettante who knocked off bauble-like songs in between cocktail parties and polo matches. The truth was that Cole Porter worked as hard as any coal miner-he wasn't pining over lost loves night and day, he was laboring at his piano. He had an amazingly deep knowledge of music theory. Along with Jerome Kern and George Gershwin, his are some of the most musically advanced songs ever written. And he approached each lyric like an especially intricate crossword puzzle, struggling with the thing for hours and hours until it came out right, finding precisely the right word to fit precisely the right note.
The durability of the songs themselves is proof that he succeeded. A Porter song could tell a whole story, and, like that other great American artform, the blues, Porter could often communicate more with what he leaves out of a song than what he puts in. What exactly is the relationship between the singer of "My Heart Belongs To Daddy" and the individual she refers to only as "Daddy?" Is she her husband, her paramour, her father? Is she somehow challenging expectations and gender roles? Porter could be comically salacious, as he is in "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)," and Louis Armstrong captures every minute nuance of the mighty man's text when he asks the listener, "What's the use of balls?" At the same time, he could be amazingly sincere, almost naïve. "True Love" is a text that suspends all disbelief and approaches love with a wide-eyed innocence.
Throughout, it's the contradictions that make the songs work. The exuberant declamations of the young swain who has found true love are almost always undercut with an undercurrent of melancholy. "You'd be so easy to love," the song goes, but it ends with a note that "it does seem a shame that you can't see your future with me." "You Do Something To Me" and "I Get A Kick Out Of You" have their protagonists only begrudgingly and not very happily admitting that their own happiness is bound up with, and even controlled by, someone else-rather like Angelo in Measure For Measure. The reality is that all your money and power and social position and intellect and logic or whatever, can not protect you from heartbreak.
Although his songs can be done upbeat and swinging, "I Get A Kick Out Of You" is also potentially one of the saddest songs ever written. There are times when Porter is purely playful, as on "It's De-Lovely" and "Too Darn Hot," where the sonics of the words themselves are everything, cases when Porter the lyricist takes a backseat to Porter the composer. There's a certain kind of rhythm in "A-list" songs, and much of Porter's work is highly rhythm-driven. Other Porter songs are almost operatic in their scope and their range. "In The Still Of The Night," for example, has the sort of soaring, classical melody you might find in Jerome Kern or Giacomo Puccini. At the same time, the masterstroke of "Begin The Beguine" is that it's a virtual symphony in its structure (over 100 bars)-anything but classical in its texture and driven entirely by pan-Caribbean rhythmic modes.
Porter continually finds a note of sadness in the highs and a hint of optimism in the lows. "Love For Sale" and "Just One Of Those Things" are nothing if not arias of resignation, yet there's a haughty hint of defiance in the first and optimism in the second. In Porter's songs, as in his life, nothing is ever exactly what it seems. His melodies and lyrics have inspired great instrumentalists and vocalists and beguiled listeners for nearly a century, and they show no signs of stopping now.

Will Friedwald
New York City
December 2003

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sigh of Relief, August 1, 2004

By 

MovedbyMusic - See all my reviews

This review is from: Very Best of (Audio CD)

What an astronmical composer. I just am completely amazed by how many gorgeous songs Cole Porter wrote through the years. The voices on this cd are perfectly matched to sing these lovely songs. What a great cd. If you saw the movie "De-Lovely" and didn't like the soundtrack (I didn't either) but are enamored by Cole Porter's wonderful music this one is a great find.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful album of Cole Porter tunes, June 21, 2008

By 

Matthew G. Sherwin (last seen screaming at Amazon customer service) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Very Best of (Audio CD)

The Very Best Of Cole Porter is an excellent CD that has a broad diversity of artists who recorded some of Porter's best known songs. The quality of the sound is rather good and the artwork is very nicely done as well. There's a lot to like on this album.

Ella Fitzgerald, The First Lady Of Song, delivers "Too Darn Hot" with lots of positive energy and she makes this tune sound sharp and snazzy. Ella sings and swings brightly to make this tune her own; and indeed I've never heard a better interpretation of this tune than Ella's. Ella Fitzgerald also profits from a musical arrangement that fits in perfectly with her singing--great! Peggy Lee also performs another excellent Porter tune, "My Heart Belongs To Daddy." "My Heart Belongs To Daddy" gets a pure jazz arrangement that you're either going to like or dislike--this is far from the normal delivery of this song and therefore whether of not you like Peggy's version depends on how much you enjoy jazz. There's even Tony Bennett singing the rarely heard lyrics to the famous "Begin The Beguine;" "Begin The Beguine" is a classy number and Tony does great justice to this song with his wonderful voice and his elegant, sensitive treatment of this ballad.

Listen for the great Sarah Vaughan to deliver "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" with panache; Sarah Vaughan could take the phone book and after she was finished singing it you'd be standing and applauding, begging her for more! Sarah truly gives "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" the royal treatment; and it shows when you hear this. Dean Martin also turns in a fine performance of "True Love" that moves me with its beauty; Dean Martin croons this and sways gently to make "True Love" a major highlight of this album.

"Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)" is wonderful when the immortal Louis Armstrong sings it; and that's grand. Louis Armstrong does this with a very solid treatment and as the tempo picks up just a little bit this number really takes off like a jet! Eartha Kitt also delivers a very smooth interpretation of "Let's Misbehave." "Let's Misbehave" is one of my favorite Cole Porter tunes and I really like Eartha's interpretation of this number. Anita O'Day also sings "Just One Of Those Things" with passion; Billy May & His Orchestra provide a heavenly musical arrangement that stands out without ever overshadowing Anita's vocals.

"I Get A Kick Out Of You" by Dinah Washington is absolutely exquisite; Dinah never misses a note! Fred Astaire also sings "Night And Day" with style and grace; you're sure to enjoy Fred's singing this number! The album closes well with "You Do Something To Me" by the great Ella Fitzgerald. Ella gives this her all and it shows when you hear it!

Overall, The Very Best Of Cole Porter makes me wanna applaud every time I hear it--what an electric album! I highly recommend this for Porter fans and the people who enjoy the artists on this CD. People who like classic pop vocals will not be disappointed.