3. Other Recordings - Series

(Series of recordings which include some Dorothy Fields songs)

Contents

The Bagley Recordings
(Note that another Painted Smiles CD, The Ladies Who Wrote The Lyrics is described in the Collections section.

The brainchild of the late Ben Bagley, the Painted Smiles Revisited series alternately delights and appals. His commitment to recording rarities should earn the undying gratitude of us all, but some tracks are ruined by his inability to prevent himself expressing an often grotesque sense of humour. The sado-masochistic Haunted Heart on the Schwartz disk is a notable low point. Happily the eleven Fields tracks (not all of which are rare) emerge relatively unscathed.

They are:

Jerome Kern Revisited
Bojangles Of Harlem and Never Gonna Dance performed by terrific Bobby Short. Just Let Me Look At You is one of Fields' deeply-felt expressions of wonder in love nicely done by George Reinholt. Next, Kaye Ballard performs Opening Night , which is reminiscent in tone of 30 Weeks Of Heaven on Lost in Boston IV. April Fooled Me is sung by Henrietta Valor. What's Good About Goodnight? croaked and whispered by Rod McKuen I like it though.

Jerome Kern Revisited Volume II I Dream Too Much Arthur Siegel an odd choice for this operetta style number with a complex Kern melody.

Jerome Kern Revisited Volume III Our Song by Blythe Walker. Another operetta number, working against Dorothy Fields' strengths.

Harold Arlen Revisited With The Sun Warm Upon Me sung slightly flat by Bagley regular Charles Rydell.

Arthur Schwartz Revisited That's For Children by Blossom Dearie quintessential Fields. It's All Yours - original recording with Ethel Merman and Jimmy Durante, given to Bagley by Merman.

Lost In Boston
The Lost in Boston series from Varese Sarabande is dedicated to recording unknown songs by major Broadway songwriters. Songs qualify by having been cut from the shows they were written for.

The whole series features excellent performances of some great discoveries. Five Fields songs are included in the last two disks of the series.

Lost In Boston III
has three collaborations with Cy Coleman. Pink Taffeta Sample Size 10 from Sweet Charity has been recorded before, but Lynne Wintersteller's beautiful performance of it outclasses the others. Big Fat Heart from Seesaw sounds like an early version of Nobody Does It Like Me, sung here by rich-voiced Debbie Shapiro Gravitte. Michelle Nicastro sings Pick Up The Pieces, also from Seesaw.

Lost In Boston IV kicks off with a rousing tale of life on the theatrical road 30 Weeks of Heaven. This song is a good demonstration of Dorothy Fields' talent for fitting jokes to the structure of a song; like Cole Porter she lands the punchline beautifully on the right notes, with a series of fast-paced detail-packed internally-rhymed lines leading up to the big note and the big joke. For example, here's a description of theatrical digs:
The night clerk doesn't clerk at night, he's bowling with the boys,
In dumps like these, we don't get keys, but we have other joys,
They're in your bed, it's Eddie and his Seven Little Foys,
How I love the road!
Brent Barrett and Klea Backhurst do this one justice.
The other Fields number on this disk is Gimme a Raincheck, a precursor to Rhythm of Life from Sweet Charity. Melba Joyce belts it out appropriately.

PrimeTime Musicals is another Varese Sarabande release, a showcase for songs written for TV musicals in the 1950s and 1960s. It includes one song from the Dorothy Fields / Burton Lane TV musical Junior Miss. The song is Happy Heart, it's not very distinguished, and it's delivered by Lynette Perry.

Rialto Recordings
The Rialto Shadowlands recordings were produced by Greg MacKellan in the early 1990s in Los Angeles. Rare treasures are performed by a battery of the best of the current generation of Broadway singers, including Jason Graae, Rebecca Luker, Debbie Gravitte, George Dvorsky, Adam Grupper and Paige O'Hara. Two esteemed veterans also feature - Susans Johnson and Watson. The great songwriters are well represented here, and many curiosities from lesser-known writers also find their place. Where else can you find recordings of songs by Herman Hupfeld other than his one great hit "As Time Goes By"? Sadly these recordings are very hard to find.

You Can't Put Ketchup On The Moon
This is in my view the weakest of the Rialto recordings but still has some great tracks. The highlights are two songs from an obscure Sammy Fain/George Marion score, Toplitzky of Notre Dame, and an excellent Bad Timing from Geri Petchel. Also my favourite interpretation of Love Song from Love Life from Richard Nickol. The Fields track It's All Yours attempts to recapture the wisecracking spirit of Merman and Durante in the original show Stars in Your Eyes, but it doesn't work.

Jerome Kern in London and Hollywood This sadly out-of-print compilation has two choice Fields rarities. However the CD is bursting with other wonderfully performed and rarely heard Kern melodies, including several delights from the Kern/Wodehouse shows. Highly recommended.The Fields tracks are You Couldn't Be Cuter, I Got Love, The Most Exciting Night

Sing Before Breakfast Another hugely enjoyable recording with a rare Fields song. This selection is devoted to songs from mostly obscure musical films of the 1930s, such as Moonlight and Pretzels, to which Herman Hupfeld and E.Y.Harburg (separately) contributed songs. There's a lot to relish here, including Give Her a Kiss from the Rodgers and Hart musical The Phantom President. This one is also out-of-print, I'm afraid. The Fields track is I'm Doin' That Thing

Life's A Funny Present This is another compilation of "Broadway flops and road-kills" dating from 1919 to 1955. It's great to hear Susan Watson on four tracks. George Dvorsky sings an alternative lyric by Buddy de Sylva to Kern's Bill. The Fields song is A Lady Needs A Change - this has the full lyric and is excellently performed by Debbie Gravitte and friends.

1. Collections


2. Cast Recordings


4. Other Recordings - up to 1940s


5. Other Recordings - from 1950s





Dorothy Fields Website Home Page.......... Author : Jon Aldous...........