Sue Raney (5)

SUE RANEY WITH BOB FLORENCE - FLIGHT OF FANCY (1986)

Flight Of Fancy
Sure As You're Born
What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life
Nice N Easy
Summer Me, Winter Me
You Must Believe In Spring
A Piece Of Sky
Make Me Rainbows
His Eyes, Her Eyes
That Face
Medley - The Trouble With Hello Is Goodbye; I Will Say Goodbye
Little Boy Lost (Pieces Of Dreams)
Take Me Home

Sue Raney has long had a spectacular voice with a wide range and plenty of power, yet filled with sensuous subtlety. Unfortunately, she has recorded much too infrequently throughout her career. For the third of her three Discovery LPs, Raney is teamed up with keyboardist Bob Florence, bassist Bob Badgley and drummer Michael Stephans for a dozen songs sporting lyrics by Alan & Marilyn Bergman, plus the title cut, a Raney/Florence tribute to the Bergmans. The emphasis is on ballads, with the better known pieces being "You Must Believe In Spring," "The Trouble With Hello Is Goodbye" and "Little Boy Lost." Raney's voice sounds appealing as usual, but the keyboards are sometimes rather dated and not much improvising takes place on the middle-of-the-road pop set.

SUE RANEY - WHEN YOUR LOVER HAS GONE (1958)

1. When Your Lover Has Gone
2. I Stayed Too Long At The Fair
3. If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight
4. My Ideal
5. It Looks Like Rain In Cherry Blossom Lane
6. It's Easy To Remember
7. Moon Song
8. Heart And Soul
9. If You Were There
10. My Silent Love
11. I Remember You
12. I'll See You In My Dreams

In the late '50s and early '60s, Capitol Records had two leading jazz-oriented pop singers on its roster -- June Christy and Peggy Lee -- and then added another young singer, Sue Raney. Raney cut a few albums which seemed to quickly disappear, never to be heard from again until now. EMI/Capitol UK) reprises two of Raney's Capitol albums on a single CD, the 1958 release When Your Lover Has Gone and the 1960 album Songs for a Raney Day. On the former, Raney is supported by the estimable Nelson Riddle, whose arrangements and orchestrations have graced the recordings of many of the top singers of the last four decades (among the more notable, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra)

SUE RANEY - RIDIN' HIGH (1993)

1.How's That for Openers
2.This Happy Madness
3.Stardust Carmichael, Parish
4.Baseball
5.I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart Ellington, Mills, Nemo, Redmond
6.Pure Imagination Bricusse, Newley
7.Tea for Two Caesar, Youmans
8.Ridin' High
9.Body and Soul Eyton, Green, Heyman, Sour
10.No More Blues

For her second album, Sue Raney teams with a quartet headed by modern jazz player Bob Florence. Raney has a marvelous, sparkling voice that she applies to a play list of both familiar and unfamiliar up-tempo material and ballads. This singer is equipped with outstanding range and excellent diction, along with an ability to make subtle adjustments in the spacing and timing of lyrical phases, giving each tune a unique interpretation. With her flexibility and knowledge of the relevant forms of the popular/jazz songbook, Raney can go from a tender, knowing rendition of the classic "Stardust" to Michael Franks' modern, slightly fantastical "Baseball" and then right over to a lilting "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" without losing any vocal credibility. She handles each with equal facility. Raney is fortunate to have high-caliber partners on this undertaking. "Pure Imagination" features Florence's keyboards, as he inserts a quote from "Brazil," and the flügelhorn of Carmen Fanzone. The dulcet bass timbre of Bob Magnusson is highlighted on such cuts as "Tea for Two" and especially on "No More Blues." Ridin' High is an auspicious follow-up to her maiden album, Breathless. Fortunately, the LP has been transferred to CD; it is worth searching for. ~ Dave Nathan

SUE RANEY - SINGS THE MUSIC OF HENRY MANCINI (1992)

1.Days of Wine and Roses
2.Two for the Road
3.Charade
4.Dear Heart/Moment to Moment
5.Whistling Away the Dark
6.Dreamsville
7.Mr. Lucky
8.Life Is a Looking Glass
9.We
10.Loss of Love
11.Little Boys
12.Bye Bye
13.Moon River

SUE RANEY WITH THE BOB FLORENCE GROUP - QUIETLY THERE (1988)

1.Lovers After All

2.El Cajon

3.Quietly There

4.Sure as You're Born

5.The Shining Sea

6.The Shadow of Your Smile

7.Close Enough for Love

8.Cinnamon and Clove

9.Unless It's You

10.Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)
11.You Are There

12.A Time for Love

13.Emily

14.Don't Look Back

15.Take Me Home

Jazz and pre-rock standards vocalist Sue Raney teams with bandleader Bob Florence and a hand-picked combo for a session with Raney interpreting songs by Johnny Mandell. The backing crew includes Bob Magnusson, Bob Badgley, Tom Warrington, Carmen Fanzone, Jim Plank, and Michael Stephens. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide