NAT "KING" COLE - Year by Year - Part 2

lyrics for that song I was talking about:

When Israel was in Egypt's Land,
Let my people go,
Opressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.

Chorus
Go down, Moses,
Way down in Egypt's Land.
Tell ol' Pharoah,
Let my people go.

Thus saith the Lord, bold Moses said,
Let my people go,
If not, I'll smite your first-born dead,
Let my people go.

Chorus
Go down, Moses,
Way down in Egypt's Land.
Tell ol' Pharoah,
Let my people go.

No more shall they in bondage toil,
Let my people go,
Let them come out with Egypt's spoil,
Let my people go.

Chorus
Go down, Moses,
Way down in Egypt's Land.
Tell ol' Pharoah,
Let my people go...

 

taking stock

Stardust--Complete Nat King Cole 1955-1959, first 8 discs
1. I'd Rather Have the Blues
2. I Hear Music
3. My Heart Stood Still 1
4. My Heart Stood Still 2
5. I Never Knew
6. Tea For Two
7. Nothing Ever Changes My Love For You
8. Breezin' Along With the Breeze
9. Someone You Love
10. What Can I Say After I Say Sorry
11. Takin' a Chance on Love
12. Don't Blame Me
13. It Could Happen to You
14. I Surrender Dear 1
15. I Surrender Dear 2
16. Little Girl
17. Imagination
18. April in Paris
19. Love Walked In
20. I See Your Face Before Me
21. Stella by Starlight
22. I Didn't Know What Time It Was
23. If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)
24. Autumn Leaves
25. I Get a Kick Out of You
26. Intro to: We Are Americans Too
27. We Are Americans Too
Stardust - The Complete Capitol Recordings Songs DISC 2:
1. There Will Never Be Another You
2. My Dream Sonata
3. Let's Fall in Love
4. Love Is a Many Splendoured Thing
5. Ask Me
6. Just One of Those Things
7. I Want to Be Happy
8. You Are My Sunshine
9. Up Pops Love
10. Take Me Back to Toyland
11. Love Me as Though There Were No Tomorrow
12. Too Young to Go Steady
13. Dreams Can Tell a Lie
14. Back in My Arms
15. Mr. Juke Box
16. Dame Crazy
17. I Just Found Out About Love
18. I Got Love
19. My Personal Possesion
20. Stay Believe
21. That's All There Is to That
22. Night Lights
23. Shadows, The
24. To the Ends of the Earth
25. I Promise You
26. Way I Love You, The
27. Never Let Me Go
Stardust - The Complete Capitol Recordings Album DISC 3:
1. Unfair
2. Make Me
3. Sometimes I Wonder
4. Once Before
5. I'm Willing to Share This With You
6. I Need a Plan
7. Story's Old, The
8. You Can Depend on Me
9. Candy
10. Sweet Lorraine
11. It's Only a Paper Moon
12. (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66
13. Don't Let It Go to Your Head
14. You're Looking at Me
15. You're Looking at Me
16. Just You, Just Me
17. I Was a Little Too Lonely (And You Were a Little Too Late)
18. How Little We Know
19. Should I?
20. Ballerina
21. Caravan
22. Lonely One
23. Blame It on My Youth
24. What Is There to Say
Stardust - The Complete Capitol Recordings CD DISC 4:
1. Sometimes I'm Happy
2. I Know That You Know
3. When I Grow Too Old to Dream
4. Two Love Have I
5. True Blue Lou
6. Like Someone in Love
7. I'm Shooting High
8. Tangerine
9. One Sun
10. You Are My First Love
11. Maybe It's Because I Love You Much Too Much
12. Love Letters
13. I Thought About Marie
14. Where Can I Go Without You?
15. Stardust
16. Love Is the Thing
17. It's All in the Game
18. When I Fall in Love
19. Ain't Misbehavin'
20. When Sunny Gets Blue
21. At Last
22. Stay as Sweet as You Are
23. When Rock and Roll Came to Trinidad
24. China Gate
25. Blue Moon
26. With You on My Mind
27. Don't Cry
Stardust - The Complete Capitol Recordings Songs DISC 5:
1. Send For Me
2. Let's Make More Love (I Want Your Love)
3. Don't Get Around Much Anymore
4. Song Is Ended, The (But the Melody Lingers On)
5. You'll Never Know
6. Just For the Fun It
7. Song of Raintree County, The
8. Who's Sorry Now?
9. Who's Sorry Now?
10. These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)
11. Once in a While
12. Just For the Fun of It
13. Just One of Those Things
14. I Should Care
15. Party's Ove, The
16. Cottage For Sale, A
17. I Understand
18. When Your Lover Has Gone
19. When Your Lover Has Gone
20. There's a Gold Mine in the Sky
21. Around the World
22. An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)
23. Fascination
24. How Did I Change?
25. It's None of My Affair
26. Angel Smile
27. Nothin' in the World
Stardust - The Complete Capitol Recordings Album DISC 6:
1. Overture: Love Theme/Hesitating Blues
2. Harlem Blues
3. Chantz les Baz
4. Friendless Blues
5. Stay
6. Joe Turner's Blues
7. Beale Street Blues
8. Careless Love
9. Morning Star
10. Memphis Blues
11. Yellow Dog Blues
12. St. Louis Blues
13. Make It Last
14. Thank You, Pretty Baby
15. Looking Back
16. Just as Much as Ever
17. Do I Like It?
18. I Wish I Knew the Way to Your Heart
19. This Is All I Ask
20. More I See You, The
21. I Found a Million Dollar Baby (In a Five and Ten Cent Store)
22. Making Believe You're Here
23. My Heart Tells Me (Should I Believe My Heart?)
24. Don't Blame Me
25. Chrechez la Femme
26. Very Thought of You, The
27. Paradise
Stardust - The Complete Capitol Recordings CD DISC 7:
1. Cachito
2. Noche de Ronda
3. Maria Elena
4. Lisbon Antigua
5. Acercate Mas (Come Closer to Me)
6. Tu Mi Delirio (You Are My Obsession)
7. El Bodeguero (Grocer's Cha Cha)
8. Come to the Mardi Gras
9. Te Quiero Dijiste (Mucho, Mucho) (Magic Is the Moonlight
10. Arrivederci Roma (Goodbye to Rome)
11. Quizas, Quizas, Quizas (Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps)
12. Las Mananitas
13. Adelita
14. Acercate Mas
15. 1 (Come Closer to Me) (Spanish)
16. There Is No Greater Love
17. Magnificent Obsession
18. Cherie I Love You
19. Impossible
20. But Beautiful
21. For All We Know
22. Too Much
23. Lovesville
24. Cant' Help It
25. I Got Love
26. She's Funny That Way
27. Anytime, Anyday, Anywhere
28. I Want a Little Girl
29. Mood Indigo
Stardust - The Complete Capitol Recordings Songs DISC 8:
1. Blues Don't Care, The
2. Avalon
3. Baby, Won't Yoou Please Come Home?
4. Late, Late Show, The
5. Welcome to the Club
6. Look Out For Love
7. Wee Baby Blues
8. Madrid
9. To Whom It May Concern
10. Love
11. Wise
12. In the Heart of Jane Doe
13. My Heart's Treasure
14. You're Bringing Out the Dreamer in Me
15. Give Me Your Love
16. Coo Coo Roo Coo Coo Paloma
17. Non Dementicar (Don't Forget)
18. Bend a Little My Way
19. This Morning It Was Summer
20. Thousand Thoughts of You, A
21. Crazy She Calls Me
22. Until the Real Thing Comes Along
23. You Are My Love

On the first 8 discs of this set what songs were the biggest surprise to you? Which new songs, along with old favorites, would make a list of your top ten for the first 8 discs. There are so many, that it's tough to make a list. Sketching down on a piece of paper I found I had more like a top 30. I guess that would probably fit on one disc. A lot of my favorites are the songs done for movies. I feel like NKC is a very cinematic singer. More than most he sets almost a visual scene and mood for me that I can "see" in my mind as I hear the song. Anyway, here's my list...

1. I'd Rather Have the Blues
2. Autumn Leaves
3. Let's Fall in Love
4. Mr. Juke Box (this one just makes me laugh)
5. Night Lights
6. The Shadows
7. Once Before
8. Just You Just Me
9. Caravan
10. Stardust
11. Love is the Thing
12. When I Fall in Love
13. China Gate
14. Raintree County
15. Just One of those Things
16. The whole St. Louis Blues album.. Love it
17. The Very Thought of You
18. Blues Don't Care

And that's about 30 tracks since I'm including one whole album. And still I'm leaving out a lot. There are a lot of treasures on this set.
Autumn Leaves

 

Ben, interesting analysis of that song Go Down Moses from Every Time I Feel The Spirit album. I will remember that when I play it.

You may be skipping ahead, but I have been trekking back thru the Forties. I have some more coming up, on the pseudonym jazz dates where there are recordings, for instance.

 

I like your list, but I would have to add in To The Ends of The Earth, When Sunny Gets Blue and the whole album of Just One of Those Things, and that is just a start.

I haven't made a list yet. I don't know if I can restrict it to just one disc's worth.

The next time Capitol issues a 'favorites' disc, I wish they would include more of your titles. There is so much to choose from.

 

I enjoyed seeing your orange vinyl from the Far East! I see that the Japanese put some NKC on red vinyl once in awhile. I don't have any red vinyl, but a jazz set from the early 80's is on a burgundy vinyl. Here is the Nat King Cole LP from the set. These are very quiet pressings.

 

[1943] Norman Granz session

June-July 1943, unknown studio, Hollywood.
Harry Sweets Edison, trumpet; Dexter Gordon, tenor sax; Nat King Cole, piano; probably Johnny Miller, bass; probably Juicy Owens, drums.

I've Found a New Baby
Rosetta
Sweet Lorraine
I Blowed and Gone

If these were recorded in 1943 (Norman Granz couldn't remember for sure in 1978, he thought 1943 or 1944 in Los Angeles) then it was just before the King Cole Trio was signed to Capitol. The recordings were not issued until 1948 on Mercury. According to Klaus Teubig, the group was named the Dexter Gordon Quintet when the Mercury records came out. If they were recorded after Nov 1943, Granz would have run into the same problem with the Capitol exclusive contract, that he did with the Disc label 78s of the Jazz at the Philharmonic.

You may have these 4 tracks if you have this CD: Lester Young Trio. Verve 314 521 650-2, 1994. The 4 tracks were added as a bonus.

I liked I've Found A New Baby and I Blowed and Gone the best. They have better sound too. The Sweet Lorraine version is different. Nat's solo is quite unlike the hit. It is mostly single note with some nice runs. On Rosetta, it is hard not to hear a lot of Earl Hines and Teddy Wilson. In later years, you didn't get to hear Harry 'Sweets' Edison in extended solos that much. Here he is maybe the major player.

I compared some versions. The Verve CD is the best digital version I heard. There is an 'unofficial' reissue CD from the History label distributed out of Hamburg. It is a bad sounding copy of these tracks, called Dexter Gordon Gone With The Wind. The best sounding I heard was on a U.S. LP from 1974, Phoenix #5: Nat King Cole Meets The Master Saxes. There is also a British pressing on the Spotlite label. There was more life and swing on the LP. It made me slightly dissatisfied with the remastering on Verve for these 4 tracks.

Here is a photo of Harry 'Sweets' Edison from that era that I like. Sweets is on the left, Illinois Jacquet is on the right. (Jacquet is NOT on these 4 tracks.)


This photo of Dexter Gordon was evidently from the same photo session as the somewhat famous photo often seen as a jazz poster.



These were the CD sources for this 4 track session:

 

These were the LP sources for the Dexter Gordon session:

 

Before we get too far away from the Christmas season, I just acquired this.

Here is a PROMO CD for Nat King Cole. It is a 1994 Christmas promo, U.S. 4-track promotional use only CD, including The Christmas Song Intro, & full song, a spoken holiday wish, and Caroling Caroling, custom printed disc including tracklisting, DPRO-79524.

The Christmas Song version is the one with the orchestra conducted by Ralph Carmichael.

The spoken intro starts off with "Hello, hello, hello..."

The spoken Holiday wish starts off with "This is Christmas time..."

On the play side is the catalog number and the mastering info. But it is reversed. If you hold it up to a mirror, you can read that it was "Mastered by Nimbus".

 

That's pretty cool, Dale. What was this disc issued to promote? One of Nat's commercially released Christmas CDs?

 

I don't know yet, but I agree that is the most likely reason. Do you know where you look to see what NKC CDs were released by Capitol around 1994?

 

10th Anniversary

I had always supposed that I'm An Errand Boy For Rhythm was a part of Capitol's history in the 1940's. I happened to look in Mosaic. Friedwald doesn't mention when it was issued. The sessionography says it was first issued on "EAP2/H1/W514". H1? I didn't know anything about an H1. I knew that Capitol used the letter H as the main identifier for 10" LPs.

Now I suppose nearly all of you already knew this, but for the two of us who didn't, here is how 10th Anniversary first appeared on LP. There were two LPs.

H1-514
H2-514

I went on ebay and ordered them. Here are my scans. I had never seen scans of these before. You can see the banners across the top that say either Part 1 or Part 2 and the LP number.


Since there are 16 songs on the 12" LP from 1955, I should have wondered --well how many songs were on the 10" LP.

Then I checked back through places to see if anyone had these albums listed. Tim Neely, who has contributed to this thread, wins the prize. In Tim Neely's 2008 book, Goldmine Standard Catalog of American Records 1950 to 1975, 6th edition, he gives us the information. And he lists 1954 as the year of release. The book says "the year of release of the record, [is] based on record label information or chart data."

The Both Sides Now internet "list in progress" gets one of the numbers wrong, and also gets the year wrong. They say 1955 - which was the year for the 12" LP, W514.

 

I wonder why Capitol never released I'm An Errand Boy For Rhythm during the Trio days?

It was recorded Oct. 18, 1945 and it was approximately 8 years later before it was put out.

I believe, IIRC, it was Dick LaPalm who was quoted in one of the NKC biographies, that it was this song --I'm An Errand Boy For Rhythm heard on the radio in a live trio performance -- which decided for him that he wanted to go to work for Nat King Cole.

 

The take used in the Mosaic set is an alternate, different from the one on 10th Anniversary.

 

Actually, I think it was just a random promo so that radio stations wouldn't "forget" to play Nat King Cole at the holidays. This was before there was at least one all-holiday, all-the-time station in every major market (and most of the mid-sized and small ones, too). Most of the time, radio stations might sneak in one or two Christmas songs an hour during December. So if Capitol sent out a brand-new promo of a couple NKC chestnuts, the radio station PD wouldn't have to go hunting in its library to find the original Nat King Cole album - he/she would have the two most requested cuts right there.

There was no new NKC Christmas reissue at that time, and I think it was "in between" reissues and repackages of the rest of the catalog, too.

All the major labels have been known to send random Christmas promos (I have some of them, but I don't have the one you pictured - neat find!) in order to get "old" Christmas catalog on the air again, thus spurring sales of albums that have been out a long time and are still available. The Christmas Song album has never stopped selling, and one reason is that many of the songs continue to be played on the radio every holiday season.

By the way. Capitol insiders called a promotional CD single by the name "Dpro" (pronounced DEE-pro), which came from the prefix the label used for its promo CDs for many years. Thus the title "Christmas Dpro."

 

There's more material in this thread than Hulk Hogan ripped through in his whole career.

Could've made a hundred threads from all this. Where's our thread-count conservation award.

Take a break and look what happens. It'll take me quite a bit to catch up!

In the meantime if I may, I'll point to the latest article at my NKC site, concerned with Where Did Everyone Go? and prompted by Steve's recent inquiry for a vinyl copy (thank you, by the by, to Jordan for pointing me to the thread as I might otherwise have missed it). It's rather broad and reaching in scope, so it might eventually be divvied up somewhat to be integrated in future articles. I just wanted to relate a sense of the sea-change going on as that too-often overlooked album was being made. For the time being here's the link:
http://apileocole.alongthehall.com/releases/album26.html
Hopefully it'll be of some interest and provide some food for thought to chew on until this thread eventually migrates to that time.

In the meantime, we'll bask in this prolific "golden age" of the late 1950s.

Hey Ben.
How do you take it? It's 80 degrees out here and has seldom varied from 60s and 70s with clear blue skies all "winter." What with the market relatively down and all, might be a good time to buy out here.

One comment for now on this disc you mention. It's interesting that the reverent (albeit not Gospel) This Holy Love and Peace of Mind come a few sessions after the Every time I Feel The Spirit project. Coincidental? Some dissatisfaction or frustration the album didn't cover the spiritual angle as he'd hoped so they took a stab at a couple in more typical Nat classic pop style? An interest in continuing the angle?

 

What a great essay on this album! It has inspired me to pull out my copy and give it another listen.

For some reason, I always felt this album fell short of the mark. Gordon Jenkins' arrangements seeem so dramatic, so lush, that I thought they undercut the somber and quiet mood of the lyrics... At least, that's what I thought when I first heard the album a few years ago. Since then, I've grown to appreciate the album. (I wonder whether the strings are more subdued on the mono mix of the album?)

 

Your earlier take on it may be fairly common I suspect, but I suggest it is supposed to be more high-keyed, a pointed contrast in that respect to Love Is The Thing just like the rest of its themes.

The lyrics could be approached different ways, with quiet being one way. Everything from their approach (including the choice of Gordon to arrange) suggests to me that they opted to highlight the dramatic with a kind of assertive gradeur so to speak - like a bare spotlight cast in the dark - much as Nat and Gordon had used their dynamics to feel out romantic sentiment and blissful warmth, respectively, in the previous two. The vocals and arrangements follow that, tending to be grander, more assertive, more tension less release, so on.

That's not exactly the approach one expects, especially from Nat. In its unexpected way, I suggest it does follow their previous albums and is quite effective once we take it on its own rather than what we expect. Maybe I should add something to that angle in the write up as it's related to its reception. I seem to remember it was a while before the album struck me right.

Haven't heard the mono. The orchestra would likely be less pronounced in the mono by nature but it's probably not as big a difference as one might find on earlier albums. I know (as usual) I'd like less reverb on the stereo version.

 

Very glad to see you back from a break.

That is quite a wonderful piece you have done on the album Where Did Everyone Go? Such good writing makes one want to hear it anew.

It is haunting and you have pointed out all the changes taking place in Nat's world, making its 'concept' all the more poignant.

 

Apileocole, thanks for sharing your illuminating and informative essay on Where did Everyone Go. your time is much appreciated and now in the early morning dawn, post snowstorm I'm going to give it a morning listen, not a time I normally think to play this, but I think its going to work nicely with the snow on the ground...when the earth is young...

 

Apileocole returns!

Wow. What an essay! Many thanks. It's as enjoyable to read as a Nat King Cole album is to listen to. Welcome back. We missed you. Your web site is terrific. It is now as far as I've seen the best NKC site on the web.

I have to admit, however, that aside from a few tracks I'm just not familiar with Where did everyone go. I've probably only listened to it once all the way through. I'm still going mostly chronologically, I guess.

I've been listening lately to the disc with the rather weak Cole Espanol. Even I can tell his accent is pretty bad. I like the songs where he's singing in English and he lets the back up singers handle the Spanish. I still like it though. Since I'm a teacher, I'm going to give my grades for the albums we've done so far. Anyone else willing to do the same?

1955 Penthouse Serenade (12 inch LP version)--A-, basically love this
1955 Nat King Cole Sings For Two In Love (12 inch LP version)--A-
1955 10th Anniversary Album (12 inch LP version)--B+
1955 Top Pops (12 inch LP version)--B+
1955 The Piano Style of Nat King Cole--A-
1956 Ballads of the Day--B+
1957 This Is Nat King Cole--B+
1957 After Midnight--A
1957 Just One Of Those Things--A-
1957 Love Is the Thing--A
1958 Cole Español--B-
1958 St. Louis Blues--A+ (his Sgt. Peppers)
1958 The Very Thought Of You--A



I hope this is ok, but here is Apileocole's essay on the classic Nat King Cole album....
"Where Did Everyone Go?
Recorded August 13th and 14th 1962

Nat Cole, vocal
Gordon Jenkins, arranger & conductor
Allan J. Reuss, guitar
Jock Ryan, bass
Leon Petties, drums
Ray I. Sherman, piano
Armand Kaproff, Raphael 'Ray' Kramer, cello
Kathryn M. Thompson, harp
Alvin Dinkin, Louis 'Lou' Kievman, G.R. 'Roy' Menhennick, Alexander Neimon, Paul Robyn, Sandy Schonboch, viola
Victor Arno, Isroel Baker, Harry Bluestone, Walter 'Watt' Edelstein, David 'Dave' Frisina, Joseph 'Joe' Livoti, Daniel 'Dan' Lube, Jacques 'Jack' Gasselin, Murray Kellner, Erno Neuteld, Joseph G. 'Joe' Quadri, Louis 'Lou' Raderman, Mischa Russell, Paul C. Shure, Marshall Sosson, Felix Slatkin, violin

1. Where Did Everyone Go?
2. Say It Isn't So
3. If Love Ain't There
4. (Ah, The Apple Trees) When The World Was Young
5. Am I Blue?
6. Someone To Tell It To
7. The End Of A Love Affair
8. I Keep Going Back To Joe's
9. Laughing On The Outside (Crying On The Inside)
10. No, I Don't Want Her
11. Spring Is Here
12. That's All There Is

Where Did Everyone Go? is a great classic pop "concept" album, featuring affecting vocals by Nat King Cole at the height of his art in this direction, fine songs and top form arrangements by Gordon Jenkins in solid vintage Capitol production and stereo sound. Certainly a classic of its genre. Not exactly a lifestyle accessory to reinforce positive thoughts while munching a Klondike bar, but on a lonely night with the right wine... it's priceless.

Nat King Cole and Gordon Jenkins collaborated on three album projects: Love Is The Thing, The Very Thought Of You and this album. Their titles reflect the approach to the subject: we might say that Love Is The Thing is about love in a romantic and romanticized sense; The Very Thought Of You as expressions of one in love, having a heady, euphoric sense of bliss; and Where Did Everyone Go? is ...after.

The bliss is chopped down to pathos, the songs and the approaches to them are expressed from one who had and now has not. The sequencing of songs isn't entirely random, at least not the first and last three selections, the "bookends" if you will, which make a rather disquieting suggestion. The album opens with our learning of someone's unasked-for reminiscing about how things used to be. Whether we may see any blame as to why he is where he is now isn't the point here, the point being that he is and we can come to understand that he can't just forget and move on to another round. Various stages of realisation, rationalisation, reminiscing, longing and struggle come and go before the album ends in a defeated resignation.

This is a haunted and haunting world. Well he knows the beauty in things, a keen expression being the sensory-infused reading of the line from If Love Ain't There, "in the warm spring air." But what was once love, to which so much was related, can now be an ache or worse as it lingers, as much as he tries to rationally tell himself, "if it ain't there, it ain't there." Even as spring blooms all around him in the standard Spring Is Here, he can only wonder at how isolated he is left. "Spring is here ...I hear." That phrase in the Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers-penned standard has never been as acutely expressed as it is here. That is the angle at which the readings in this album excel and which distinguishes it as a creative pinnacle above and beyond being a finely crafted album of beautiful music.

The music and lyrics could be approached different ways of course, with a somber, perhaps resigned and gently confiding manner being most reasonable to expect given Nat's nature and the warm nature of the past collaborations with Gordon. But they did not take that approach here. Everything from their approach suggests to me that they opted to highlight the dramatic angle with a kind of high-keyed, assertive grandeur so to speak - like a bare spotlight cast in the dark - much as Nat and Gordon had used their dynamics to feel out romantic sentiment and blissful warmth, respectively, in their previous two projects. The vocals and arrangements follow suit, tending to be grander, more assertive, more tension less release, so on. The result can be quite effective and is a pointed contrast in many respects to Love Is The Thing, just like the rest of its themes. As said it may not be quite what one expects, especially from Nat. Once taken on its own terms its creative approach may be better appreciated. I seem to remember it took a while before the album struck me right.

Nat tended to record lesser-known songs more often than the familiar, and this album, despite a theme which might have begged many other folks to stuff it with standards, is no exception. The standout to me is I Keep Going Back To Joe's. Coming from the tragic backdrop to the fore at times, Nat's way of being personable, open and gentle shines as he relates the scene, somehow being both wistful and affected in a popular song equivalent of a moody, poignant photograph or portrait of a lost man at a bar.

On the more often recorded side of the selections, The End of a Love Affair has perhaps the stiffest competition, with several great versions over the years. Still it's my favorite here and I don't feel it's been bettered. In particular, the contrast in his voicing of the line, "And the tunes I request / Are not always the best / But the ones where the trumpets blare" gets me, ranging from the candidly needy softness of "request" to a bald and surprisingly literal "blare!" Likewise Gordon Jenkins' sense of musical drama and contrasts lends itself to this song like hand in glove.

A dramatic self-portrait song, (Ah, The Apple Trees) When The World Was Young has many versions, most of which, to be blunt, sound rather sappy to me. Despite this having a scoring that might have prompted the most histrionic of performances, I find this to be easily the most moving version I've heard. Nat is quite assertive and digs in vocally, to a stronger overall effect dramatically and musically, while perfectly tied to Gordon's setting of a viscerally visual Technicolor night. It was a surprise to me, going into it not caring for the song and ending up struck by it.

Two more songs were recorded at the same sessions for this project and were ultimately left off the album: Happy New Year and A Farewell To Arms. They were the first two of the sessions and it's my suspicion that they sensed things weren't clicking as they'd like. Personally I agree they're not up to the same level as the rest and feature a less than inspiring chorus. Nat's vocal in Happy New Year is rather good, but it seems to me that Gordon's arrangement just wasn't striking the right vibe. Gordon seems to have made some adjustments, including dismissing the chorus, quickly striking gold thereafter. Nat is such a great choice for that song that the relative failure of this attempt is all the more disappointing. The definitive Happy New Year to my ears remains the one Judy Garland made with Gordon in 1957, and A Farewell To Arms just doesn't do much for me. Still, that's a relative measure. Even the two "rejects" have their moments, as one might expect. Happy New Year and A Farewell To Arms were only issued years later with overdubs. Naturally they're better as originally recorded, but so far are only available in original form on the 1960-1964 Bear Family box set.

Some feel Nat's greatest vocals are on this album; I'd agree it has Nat's greatest vocals of dramatic ballads. While his voice by this time is raspier, drier, with a less pliant and supple fluidity as he had in earlier years, the maturity of his technique and the use of his "late era" voice bring a palpable sensitivity and depth of nuance and color to words and feeling which is of far greater importance to these songs. In addition, the longer, arching lines of his later style is wholly appropriate for the aesthetic style of this project, only enhancing its grand, dark beauty.

Yet it's not all that well known. The timing, title and theme of Where Did Everyone Go? were eerily apt. Nat Cole's 26th original album by my reckoning, it turned out to be a high point on the ending side of a lot of things, including the prime era of the specific musical genres it is fashioned from, the coinciding vintage era of the organization producing the record and tragically, of Nat himself.

Capitol Records had been at the forefront of what we might now call "classic pop" when that particular art/genre was enjoying the last gasp of its "golden age" as the mainstream music of America and many other countries. As Rock'n'Roll, among other things, was coming into its own and public tastes were rapidly shifting, some artists were still achieving much widespread success with music based in the Swing and pre-Swing eras. Capitol had an impressive range of the finest talents on their label, including such iconic greats as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, June Christy, Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Dean Martin, Judy Garland and musical arrangers, musicians and technicians whom easily ranked among the finest. Their whole organization, offices and studios both based in their landmark Capitol Tower, was an emblematic part of the cultural scene of the era.

But times were indeed a-changin'. By the time of this album Capitol had lost many of its luminaries in the classic pop field (including Frank, Dean, Prima, Keely) and ties had loosened with others for varied reasons (including Judy, Nelson Riddle and Billy May). Capitol's Country and Western, or perhaps more accurately, Country-and-Folk-Pop interests were still going very well with artists from The Kingston Trio to Merle Haggard and Buck Owens and would continue to thrive for years to come. The already decimated classic pop side was largely supplanted by Capitol's overwhelming successes in rock, principally with The Beach Boys and The Beatles, both of whom happened to have started their careers with Capitol/EMI the very same year as Nat was making this album.

An album of similar caliber made 5 years earlier was a huge mainstream chart topper, sitting at Number One for quite a spell. In 1962 - 63 this project had little hope of being a big hit. Compounding the situation, this was an album with a depressing, darker mood, which was bad news for sales back then. Undoubtedly fans of the genre, including enthusiasts of Frank Sinatra and other peers, recognized this as a classic album, but it wasn't likely to get far with the most popular outlets of radio or retail. Yet Nat and Company - still at Capitol after most others had gone - chose to make this album in this style in the face of waning commercial prospects. Even in technical respects this album maintained the same creative approach, personnel, studios and equipment as Nat's previous recordings: recorded live to dedicated mono and 3-track stereo in only two focused sessions with everyone performing together in the studio. That extended to the vinyl mastering, which at least on the contemporary pressings I've heard, sounds closer to vintage Capitol of the past compared to the "overcooked" character heard on much of Capitol's vinyl from the '60s (beginning in 1962 and affected Nat's other vinyl releases in '62 on).

This album is the prime illustration of the method I suspect Nat and Company chose in response to the changing climate. Just as they had tried a variety of approaches to cover Nat as a pianist and vocalist into the mid-50s, they appear to have divided efforts between projects that endeavored to keep them in the popular game, such as produced the mega-hit Ramblin' Rose, and the occasional project based on the musical sensibilities they were more familiar with and might have held in higher regard creatively, such as this album or the dismal selling, beautiful album of ballads from 1960, The Touch of Your Lips. Sometimes there was a happy middle ground, as with the hits-centered anthology The Nat King Cole Story, but it seems to me that in their efforts to hit both quality and quantity, they sometimes ventured to projects they might have looked upon as leaning pretty heavily one way or the other. An inclusive approach that also involved prolific recording and releases, but it served Nat, Capitol and ourselves well through the years.

This effort was not rewarded any too well. Sales were apparently anemic and it has spent years out of print. Most people bought the sing-along-with-Mitch-esque pop of Ramblin' Rose and Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer instead. Today we may appreciate the approach Nat and Company took to their changing times all the more acutely. Whereas Ramblin' Rose and its relations have dated to being an acquired taste not as broadly embraced today, Where Did Everyone Go? is just as haunting now as it was then. We are fortunate they chose to make both albums instead of opting exclusively for the best bet for sales at the moment.

As far as it concerns Nat, some folks also consider this album to be Nat's last "masterpiece" level album and to feature his finest late-era vocals. Given the nature of this project, its commercial reception and the steep odds of having much success at a classic pop album in such styles at the time, it's impossible to say if this album would have been followed by another collaboration of Nat and Gordon and a bit difficult to figure where they would have gone from here if they had. I'd suggest that Frank Sinatra carried the course ahead as far as that went in his subsequent collaborations with Gordon, particularly with September Of My Years, with much success. At any rate, Nat would not have enough time ahead of him for us to have seen what they might have done. This album stands as a fitting if stark consummation to this side of Nat King Cole."

 

Hey DJ--nice to see you. I love that Song to a Siren too.

Here are the lyrics by the tragic and mystic Tim Buckley:

Long afloat on shipless oceans
I did all my best to smile
til your singing eyes and fingers
Drew me loving to your isle
And you sang
Sail to me
Sail to me
Let me enfold you
Here I am
Here I am
Waiting to hold you

Did I dream you dreamed about me?
Were you hare when I was fox?
Now my foolish boat is leaning
Broken lovelorn on your rocks,
For you sing, touch me not, touch me not, come back tomorrow:
O my heart, o my heart shies from the sorrow

I am puzzled as the newborn child
I am troubled at the tide:
Should I stand amid the breakers?
Should I lie with death my bride?
Hear me sing, swim to me, swim to me, let me enfold you:
Here I am, here I am, waiting to hold you

 

That's a bit tricky as I'm not used to grading his music... it is what it is, y'know? I'll give it a shot. Of these, mindful that a D on a Nat Cole record could easily be a delight from many others...

- 1955 Penthouse Serenade (12 inch LP version)
B. It Could Happen To You is among my top fav Nat piano selections. A certain lack of inspiration and fire in the spontaneous jazz sense grudgingly takes a point, but I'd suggest one could as soon think that's being a bit tough if you just care about what it does offer.

- 1955 Nat King Cole Sings For Two In Love (12 inch LP version)
A. From end-to-end, about as good as classic pop balladry gets. The lesser songs (Tenderly, IMH) are still really nice here and the greats are tops (Autumn Leaves).

- 1955 10th Anniversary Album (12 inch LP version)
C. Uneven... but then, it appears to have been targeted for the Cole-ector. Considered giving it a higher grade just for its then-remarkable and now-familiar concept.

- 1955 Top Pops (12 inch LP version)
C. Uneven, again. The poorer are decidedly mediocre while the better are strong, assuring a good passing grade well above an F. To be sure I even like some in the middle (Papa Loves Mambo is cute) but critically in the scheme of things...

- 1955 The Piano Style of Nat King Cole
A. A more inspired idea than Penthouse and just as fine playing. Easy to sink into or just play lightly.

- 1956 Ballads of the Day
B. A bit random as an album and slightly uneven, but full of great classic pop.

- 1957 This Is Nat King Cole
B. Same as above.

- 1957 After Midnight
A. A pinnacle. The pinnacle to some.

- 1957 Just One Of Those Things
A. Among the finest, also uses its genre brilliantly. Ironic Cole?

- 1957 Love Is the Thing
A. Slice of heaven, anyone? The first two tracks are killer and the rest is some super gravy.

- 1958 Cole Español
D. Yeah the accent is bad and just whose idea was this anyhow? Still, much better than it coulda been and it deserves some props for making the effort as well as having a warm reception.

- 1958 St. Louis Blues
A. After Armstrong was through making the definitive "modern" anthology of W.C. Handy, why bother with another? Nat and Nelson proved the validity of a different approach.

- 1958 The Very Thought Of You
A. Continuing a sonic slice of bliss with sublime vocals, apt arrangements etc. What it lacks in highs in comparison to Love Is The Thing it makes up for with consistency, which is crucial since sustained mood is so key here.

Though it might depend on what day of the week you ask and where the moon is in relation to Alpha Centauri.

 

I think you're being kind here...

 

I think you are right. There was a discussion about the intro to the song Unforgettable, but I couldn't find any discussion of the album as such. Probably some of the songs were mentioned individually.
We still have lots of things to catch up on in our discussion. I love it that we can go back and bring up albums, sessions, or individual songs whenever we feel the need.