Customer Reviews

Why Can't I Walk Away: Stay With Me

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

 

 

Damone at his most charming. Stay With Me album contains some of the definative versions of such classic sambas as How Insensitive and Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars. The centerpiece is an amazing version of Someone To Light Up My Life that rivals Tony Bennett's and Frank Sinatra's classic versions. And Pretty Butterfly rivals Andy Williams playful take. How sad that it took until 2003 for this remarkable album to finally come out on cd. Why Can't I Walk Away has some real gems on it as well, such as the old Sinatra chestnut If You Are But A Dream. And When You've Laughed All Your Laughter is worth the price of the cd alone! Like Someone In Love is excellent, very reminicent of the songs from Vic's best album, The Damone Type Of Thing. (Where is THAT album on cd?? Shame of RCA for taking so long to release Vic's great RCA catalog.) I could live without the dreadful The Glory Of Love and Why Can't I Walk Away, but overall, this cd is like a breath of fresh air. No wonder Sinatra loved him...

To fans of romantic ballad singing of another era, Vic Damone is the gold standard. The two vinyl albums re-released on this CD give you Vic at his sonic, interpretive best.

The album Stay With Me is Vic's study of the Bossa Nova, the samba-infected love songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim with English lyrics by Gene Lees. These tender, wistful songs demand an introspective reading that expresses the sadness of lost love, and Vic doesn't disappoint. Wrap your ears around "The Shining Sea" and share the lover's loss.

Why Can't I Walk Away lets Damone demonstrate a more open throat dynamic range. With more of a night club orchestra setting, Vic belts out up-tempo songs like "When You've Laughed All Your Laughter" and "The Glory of Love," showing off what Frank Sinatra once called "the best pipes in the business." His version of "Star Dust" includes the oft neglected verse.

A young Vic Damone probably wouldn't win an American Idol competition. His technique is too flawless .. his tone too perfect. And he wouldn't slum around with what passes as pop songs today. But that's okay. You and I have recordings like these to remember how love songs should be written and sung.

I can't believe anyone would only give this four stars, but in any case this cd deserves SIX!!! I'm 16 years old and can appreciate the golden vocie of Vic Damone, my Gramma too kme to see him in concert before his heart failure. He was great. And this cd is exellent including a teriffic version of Hoagy Carmichael;'s Star Dust. You get two of his best lp's on one cd, just buy it and truly discover one of the most underrated male pop singers(other than jack Jones).

I love these two albums by Vic Damone but take issue with the remastering. Certainly some effort could have been make to take out the 2 seconds of distortion on the lovely track "Why Can't I Walk Away?" (warbles about 2 minutes into the track). Aside from that minor but crummy detraction, this is a great set.

"Stay With Me," the latin tinged album, is a near classic. It contains mostly bossa nova standards with serviceable arrangements by Ernie Freeman plus a few songs written by composer Johnny Mandel such as "The Shining Sea" and "A Time For Love" which deserve to be much better known. I love Peggy Lee's sad lyrics to the "The Shining Sea." "We'd sit there in the sand/she kissed the hollow of my hand/her kiss/I miss her kiss..." In terms of pure beauty, Damone's voice may exceed that of any other pop singer, and this lovely album is evidence of that.

"Why Can't I Walk Away" is another story. With four arrangers, it's a very mixed bag with wildly differing sounds and no overall theme. When the album came out in 1968, traditional pop singers were struggling, and some of Damone's singing on the more contemporary songs is a little overripe, as if he's trying too hard. (I think this was his last album for RCA.) Some of the songs like "The Glory of Love" are a little overripe themselves. However, Damone sounds magnificent on the standards "Star Dust" and "Like Someone in Love" where he just sings.

I bought this album for the song "Pretty Butterfly" and was quite taken by much of the rest of the CD. Recommended for classic pop music fans.