Customer Reviews

Wonderful Day/With a Smile and a Song

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Compiled to capitalize on her then-current film "Lover Come Back", 'Wonderful Day' was an Imperial Butter give-away never intended to last more than a few months in shoppers' minds, but at long last it's available on CD(coupled with the corny, but sweetly inspiring 'With a Smile & A Song'). Doris is featured in some of her finest movie-music moments on "Never Look Back", "Possess Me" and "Should I Surrender", not to mention her smash hit "Que Sera, Sera". It's an album that was only available in thrift stores, old record shops and antique barns for years. It's wonderful to have it on disc!

Ok, this is the proof that I do indeed listen to all the genres. Frankly, I'm a punk rock girl and a real music snob. I should be the last person ever to praise Doris Day. Yet, that is what I'm here to do. As a child, I spent days listening to my Grandama's vinyl. Wonderful Day by Doris remains one of my favorites. The older I get the more I see just how great she is and what an incredible voice she has. Fun, passionate, romantic and a little rebellious, Doris is a singer for all ages.

This music has been available as part of an eight-CD set of music recorded by Doris Day in the l960's, which is my favorite Doris Day. This lady is one of the pre-eminent voices of the 20th century, a woman who has such a way with a song, a woman with great respect for the songwriter and the voice she was God-given to interpret the music she lent her voice to. My favorite of the two albums featured here is "With A Smile and a Song." Although some are songs written for, say, a Disney movie, they are also songs that we adults of a certain age grew up with and which retain their appeal all of these years later. If you don't have the 8-CD set, I recommend, as it also contains her recording (with Robert Goulet) of the score of "Annie Get Your Gun" and the soundtrack from "Jumbo," which movie I loved when I saw it, featuring wonderful Doris Day performances. And, if you don't have the Doris Day Christmas album, the original with twelve wonderful songs of Christmas, it too will soon be available in new format for the holidays. It's one of several holiday albums I would rank as among the most satisfying for holiday listening.

This is one of the more mis-matched Doris Day album twofers, but her fans aren't likely to complain. Featuring her 'greatest hits' compilation album WONDERFUL DAY, plus the children's sing-along title WITH A SMILE AND A SONG, lovers of Day's music will find plenty to sing about in this collection.

WONDERFUL DAY was, for many years, one of the most collectible Doris Day albums. Issued exclusively in 1961 as a promotion for--of all things--Imperial Margerine, WONDERFUL DAY collected many of Day's rarer and unissued recordings, including her 1952 single version of "It's Magic" and the theme to "Julie". Day's film songs (especially those from "Lover Come Back", released around the same period) make up the bulk of the songlist for WONDERFUL DAY, including "Possess Me", "Should I Surrender?", "Lover Come Back" and "Teacher's Pet".

1964's WITH A SMILE AND A SONG gave Doris the chance to do an album of songs geared to the kiddie sing-along market. Day always loved working with children in her movies, so this album was a nice fit for her personality. Accompanied by Jimmy Joyce's children's chorus, Day brings alive such great songs as "Give a Little Whistle", "Getting to Know You" and "High Hopes". The best number is arguably the haunting, wistful "Inchworm".

Two classic Day albums for a great price.

The first half of this album is done with children. I like children. I just don't like not hearing Doris over the kids AND it is obvious that she's "singing down to them," i.e., without the strength, crispness, and phrasing that you'll find in most of her albums. The second half is too religious for my taste, and her renditions are not as good as her Christmas album or other artists' gospel renditions. Furthermore, it's impossible to classify the album for my MP3 player. Of the 17 Doris Day CDs I have, this is my least favorite.

It's difficult to be objective about music that has been part of you for 30 years. I tracked down these Lp's when already out of print, and for the most part loved them, as I have all of Doris's vocal output. The inspirational/hymn filled YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE has creative small ensemble orchestral arrangements done by her long term pianist and a hand full of hymns with just an organ, which are my least favorites only because to my ear (and only my own opinion) sound funerial. Doris' vocals always sound like they are straight from her heart; direct and honest and perfectly phrased. WITH A SMILE AND A SONG is a sheer delight. Another wonderful "concept" album (and Doris was doing them long before anyone else) with her vocals sounding burnished and magical and with arrangements that no one seems to know how to do anymore. These tracks have been available on the incredible Bear's Family label Box sets, and from England. This domestic issue is a class A production, and the sound is terrific. Photo's seem to be alternate shots from sessions for the YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE cover. Only wish in the booklet here is that the Lp covers would have been reproduced as full size as they have on some of the other 2'fers, instead of the smaller inlays on the front. But again, that's a pretty minor comment over the excellence of this reissue.

It's Christmas every day with Doris, as this terrific "Two on One" proves. That voice never fails to put a smile on my face. First off, "Wonderful Day" is a nice collection of some of her most famous hits, including "Pillow Talk" and "Whatever Will Be, Will Be." The album was made to center around two songs from her then current film "Lover Come Back," the title song and "Should I Surrender." Also included are Day's haunting and rare "Julie" and a fun version of "That Jane From Maine." "With a Smile and a Song" is an LP I've been waiting for a few years to be released on CD. Backed by a delightful children's chorus, Day makes "Do Re Mi" and "High Hopes" her own. My favorite is "Swinging On a Star" - which truly soars. This is an excellent disc you will want in your collection!

A children's album may seem to be an odd choice to pair with a compilation that mixed hits, misses and obscurities, but they are both bright and cheerful albums, so it seems to be work well. After I bought this, primarily for the children's album, I noticed that it has been re-issued on a different twofer, this time paired with a gospel album but at a somewhat higher price. All things considered, I'm happy that I bought this.

Wonderful day, the first album of the two, is the compilation. Originally released in 1961, apparently to promote a brand of margarine, it features two tracks (Lover come back, Should I surrender?) from the movie Lover come back, which was released at around that time and starred Doris Day with Rock Hudson. With the exception of When you're smiling, a cover of a song that dates back to the twenties, all the songs on Wonderful day, as originally issued, were songs featured in soundtracks of Doris Day's movies. A mix of famous hits and obscurities, the songs work well together. For this re-issue, alternate versions were used on some tracks. The credits for these sat previously unreleased in UK/US. This almost certainly means that these alternate versions can be found somewhere in the Bear Family boxed sets. (For those who don't know Bear Family, they are a German label who specialize in re-issues, especially of the fifties and sixties. Usually, they avoid the big names, but they made an exception for Doris Day, releasing a series of four boxed sets covering everything she recorded in her entire career. These boxed sets have always been available in Britain and America to those who can afford them.) To further differentiate the re-issue from the original album, two bonus tracks are added (That Jane from Maine, A perfect understanding).

With a smile and a song, the second album of the two, is the children's album. Over the past few years, I've become interested in children's music that adults can enjoy too. My interest developed gradually as I discovered that there is some seriously good music of this type around and this album provides further proof. While children's music will never form a major part of my music collection, I do enjoy listening to it occasionally. This album includes a re-recording of Whatever will be will be, so you hear the song twice on this twofer, though the difference between the two versions is noticeable. Elsewhere, other familiar songs include Give a little whistle (a cover of a Disney song from Pinocchio), Nick nack Paddy whack (a popular children's song), Getting to know you (a cover of a song from The king and I), Zip-a-dee-doo-dah (a cover of a Disney song from Song of the south), High hopes (made famous by Frank Sinatra, but it works well as a children's song), Do re mi (a cover of a song from The sound of music), Swinging on a star (originally a hit for Bing Crosby, it became popular with children long before Big Dee Irwin and Little Eva had their hit version in the sixties) and With a smile and a song (a cover of a Disney song from Snow White).

These are both fascinating albums that will obviously interest Doris Day's fans, but there is plenty to appeal to the uncommitted too.