Laura Theodore

LAURA THEODORE & JOE BECK - GOLDEN EARRINGS (2009)

1. Johnny Guitar    
2. Why Don't You Do Right?    
3. Take A Little Time To Smile    
4. Fever    
5. My Small Señor    
6. Don't Smoke In Bed    
7. I Get Along Without You Very Well    
8. You Was Right Baby    
9. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me    
10. Solitude    
11. Everything Is Moving Too Fast    
12. When You Speak With Your Eyes    
13. Golden Earrings    '
14. I Don't Know Enough About You    
15. What More Can A Woman Do?
16. Mañana

Laura Theodore is a stage actor and cabaret singer of some note and Joe Beck is an astounding guitarist who was lost too soon to cancer. Bringing Beck into a project creates the feel of some historical duets like Peggy Lee and her guitarist husband Dave Barbour. We should thank her. Beck has tons of originality including the invention of the alto guitar. That guitar was designed
by Dale Unger and manufactured by the CF Martin Guitar Company. “It features Joe’s unique tuning which allowed him to play the bass notes with his thumb, the chords with three fingers, and melody with one finger-all at the same time!”  The guitar work is stellar from this off and on accompanist to Peggy Lee and I understand that his arranging gives the renditions a good footing. About half of the songs are played with the alto guitar, otherwise he plays a Martin CF-1 Acoustic in standard tuning. Anyone who puts out a CD of old standards, which parallels Peggy Lee’s notable work is not only asking for multiple comparisons but is also trying to fill some big shoes. (sorry about the foot size imagery, Peggy). Theodore seems to be aware of this because her version of ‘Fever’ hits all the notes Peggy never thought of and no one else ever sang. The result is an odd melody line to an overly familiar song. Apparently both Beck and Theodore preferred to do these tracks live and for that there is no going back. I love the guitar work but wish the choice of material had been more original for Theodore as I suspect she has more talent than shows when she is trying to recreate a legend. [J.W. McClure]