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ON THE RECORD: Forbidden Broadway's Rude Awakening and Loads of Lena
By Steven Suskin
04 Feb 2008
LENA SOUL [DRG 91504]
MERRY FROM LENA [DRG 77503]
LENA HORNE: FEELIN' GOOD & LENA IN HOLLYWOOD [DRG 91503]
Also from DRG, which has continued to bring us valuable reissues in various fields, come three slices of Lena. Lena Horne, that is. These fall under what they call their "living legends series," and Ms. Horne certainly qualifies. The items at hand are four LPs released by United Artists Records in 1965-1966. "Soul" is — well, not what we might think of as soul; more like pop. (Think "What the World Needs Now.") The 12 songs on the LP are supplemented by six previously unreleased tracks from the UA archives which are, perhaps, more interesting than the contents of "Soul" itself. "Merry from Lena" is, needless to say, a Christmas album, featuring the usual suspects: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "White Christmas," "The Little Drummer Boy" and — for a change — Mr. Loesser's early (1947) pop hit, "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?"
"Feelin' Good" and "Lena in Hollywood" are presented back-to-back on a single CD. "Feelin' Good" takes its title from the song in the Anthony Newley-Leslie Bricusse musical, The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd. Lena sings two other songs from Greasepaint, which at the time was expected to be a big hit. Other entries from upcoming musicals include "Take the Moment" from Do I Hear a Waltz?, in an arrangement that well nigh makes the song unrecognizable; and "Pleasures and Palaces," the title song from the Frank Loesser-Bob Fosse musical which shuttered in Detroit. Lena sings "Pleasures and Palaces"? That should raise some eyebrows!
(Steven Suskin is author of "Second Act Trouble," "Show Tunes" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com)
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