Eydie Gorme (3)

EYDIE GORMÉ - BLAME IT ON MY YOUTH (1963)

1. One Note Samba
2. Melodie d'Amour
3. Gift
4. Sweetest Sounds
5. Dansero
6. Blame It on the Bossa Nova
7. Desafinado
8. Message
9. Almost Like Being in Love
10. Moon River
11. Coffee Song
12. I Remember You
13. Sweet Talk
14. Oba Oba

During this period of pop music, Eydie Gorme was the most versatile of pop singers. Her Columbia period & that just before were all genre-themed albums. Her 1st on Columbia, BLAME IT ON THE BOSSA NOVA, was her only jazz venture. The title tune which was her biggest comemrcial hit, 11 other jazz styled tracks , & 2 bonus Bossa Nova tracks compose this cd.. That title tune was fun, arty & as nuanced & off keyed as any Peggy Lee. Whatever the instrument is in the song's middle, it works just fine! The cd sound, which makes E.G.'s voice sound richer, is better than the lp sound. I can't think of any other singer who did more to make her voice so different to fit the respective material. I stated that Jo Stafford was the most verstatile of singers. Well, then, Eydie Gorme took ovet the honor followed by Linda Ronstadt. With today's music, who knows & who cares! Still, Linda did not change her voice as much as she did genres; Eydie & Jo could make their voices sound different. During Eydie's period, her big selling Blame It On Bossa Nova & Grammy winning If He Walked Into My Life were the farthest vocal stretch in pop music. In the BLAME IT ON BOSSA NOVA opener, One Not Samba, Gorme strays very far from that note. Paradoxically, she sings every note on key. Eydie starts & ends with that glorious high note & scats so well Ella must have cringed! In Dansero, Eydie sings the same line off & on key to give stylistic & artistic effects to the same feeling of love. The cross overs to jazz (Melodie D' Amour, The Sweetest Sounds, Almost Like In Being In love, The Coffee Song, Moon River, & I Remember You ) artfully equal the stritly jazz ones, (Desfinado, The Message, The Gift, Dansero, & One Nore Samba) while the big hit nicely supports those "better songs". Eydie was quite the revealation. She was jovial, dramatic, wide-ranging & vibrant. Most jazz singers have to stretch their voices to do this materail; but on those other 11 & the 2 bouus songs, she was straight on key, never flinching. She was & is what other singsers could never be: EYDIE GORME! PS. Only Eydie could make Moon River really swing. It's that's song definitive version because everyone else did it as a ballad.
By Jim Holtz

EYDIE GORMÉ - EYDIE IN DIXIE-LAND (1959)

1. When The Saints Come Marching In
2. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
3. Ja-Da
4. Sleepy Time Down South
5. Limehouse Blues
6. Basin Street Blues
7. Bill Bailey
8. Bye Bye Blues
9. South Rampart Street Parade
10. Lazy River
11. Mississippi Mud
12. Wang Wang Blues

EYDIE GORME - EYDIE IN LOVE (1958)

1. When the World Was Young    
2. In Love in Vain    
3. Here I Am in Love Again    
4. Why Shouldn't I?    
5. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning    
6. Love Letter    
7. Fly Me to the Moon    
8. When I Fall in Love
9. Idle Conversation    
10. Why Try to Change Me Now?    
11. Impossible    
12. It Could Happen to You

A heartfelt, deeply sincere collection of love songs and ballads that's sweet but never saccharine, Eydie in Love ranks among Eydie Gorme's most consistent and accomplished LPs, thanks as much to her poignant vocals as to the impeccable backings of conductor and arranger Don Costa, whose feather-light, moonstruck sensibilities perfectly capture the fluttery emotions of budding romance. The songs capture all facets of love and loss, spanning from the joy of "Love Letters" to the sorrow of "In the Wee Small Hours" -- then 27 years old, Gorme manages to articulate both girlish infatuation and world-weary resignation with authority and understanding, all rendered with the signature warmth that makes her records so appealing. ~ Jason Ankeny