Charming, outrageous, lyrical, extraordinary, pithy, rarified, tuneful, earnest, ravishing – put them all together and what do they spell? Cole Porter, a master of melody and lyric invention the likes of which are rarified indeed. To that we can add witty, urbane, naughty, heartfelt, impish, and sophisticated. “Night and Day,” “Love for Sale,” “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “Anything Goes,” “All Through the Night,” “You’re the Top,” “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” “Being the Beguine,” “Just One of Those Things,” “It’s DeLovely,” “Ridin’ High,” “You’d Be So Easy to Love,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “In the Still of the Night” are just the tip of the Porter iceberg, along with such shows as Fifty Million Frenchmen, The New Yorkers, Gay Divorce, Nymph Errant, Anything Goes, Jubilee, Red, Hot, and Blue, Kiss Me Kate, Out of This World, Can-Can, Silk Stockings, and films like High Society, Les Girls, Born to Dance, and more.
There were five volumes of Cole Porter Revisited on LP and then CD. The second volume was called Unpublished Cole Porter Volume II, even though it’s really volume two in the Revisteds, or so it would seem. This volume is all about the rare and we get some real unknown gems here, sung by the likes of Karen Morrow, Edward Earle, Laura Kenyon, Alice Playten, Blossom Dearie, Carmen Alvarez, Charles Rydell, and an appearance by Kaye Ballard. The arrangements are by Judd Woldin. As we’ve done for all these releases, we’ve considerably spruced up the sound for this new release. And the cover art is, of course, by the great Harvey Schmidt. -KRITZERLAND
1. Get Yourself a Girl - Edward Earle and Entire Company
2. When Love Comes to Call - Laura Kenyon
3. After All, I’m Only a Schoolgirl - Alice Playten
4. If Ever Married I’m - Blossom Dearie, Carmen Alvarez, Laura Kenyon, Alice Playten
5. Kate the Great - Karen Morrow
6. What Does Your Servant Dream About? - Alice Playten, Edward Earle
7. Oh, It Must Be Fun - Charles Rydell, Karen Morrow
8. Pets - Alice Playten and Entire Company
9. Dainty Quainty Me - Edward Earle
10. At Last in Your Arms - Laura Kenyon
11. Sweet Nudity - Entire Company
12. If You Like Les Belles Poitrines - Alice Playten and Entire Company
13. To Think This Could Happen to Me - Karen Morrow
14. Humble Hollywood Executive - Carmen Alvarez
15. I Know It’s Not Meant for Me - Karen Morrow, Charles Rydell
16. Where Would You Get Your Coat? - Carmen Alvarez, Laura Kenyon, Alice Playten
17. I Could Kick Myself - Carmen Alvarez, Blossom Dearie
18. Bertie and Gertie - Alice Playten, Edward Earle
19. Fish - Carmen Alvarez
20. Pills - Edward Earle and Chorus
21. When I Was a Little Cuckoo - Kaye Ballard
22. Give Us the Land - Edward Earle and Entire Company
Musical Direction and Arrangements by Judd Woldin