Twentieth Century Blues: Songs of Noel Coward

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Type: Music
Studio: Ichiban
Release Date: 2002-02-05

Description Not Available

Ghastly covers
Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noël Coward

Oh, my, this is awful. I'd hoped that a recording of Coward's songs done in the 1990s would have the "uncensored" lyric version of "Mrs. Worthington" -- it doesn't. If you liked what Sheryl Crow did to "Begin the Beguine" in the Cole Porter bio "De-Lovely," you'll probably enjoy this CD. If, on the other hand, you thought that rendition a butchery of a fine tune, you'll feel much the same about the offerings on this CD. Except for the peerless Marianne Faithfull's version of "Mad About the Boy," and, to a lesser extent, Bryan Ferry's "I'll See You Again" and Robbie Williams' "There are Bad Times Just Around the Corner," the rest is just the worst sort of '90s drekcess. As it ground toward the end, I saw that the last song would be Elton John singing "20th Century Blues" and I thought "well, at least that's bound to be good." WRONGGGG! I don't know who's to blame for the arrangements on this CD, but Sir Elton was working against what sounded like a low-end Las Vegas lounge orchestra, and he himself was apparently channeling a finger-snappin' shiny-suited Bobby Darin IMITATOR.

Some awful music, like that of Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, is sublime and even brilliant. This collection isn't in that category. It is, rather, more a matter of "get the Faithfull tune on the iPod and then Frisbee the CD at the dumpster!" Can't even think of anyone to GIVE this one to.

Terribly, terribly poor...
Difficult to know what to make of this oddity, really. On the one hand it manages to mangle Coward's splendid works, without then turning what it produces into anything worth listening to.

As another reviewer has noted, Sting and McCartney treat the songs with the respect they deserve, and thereby manage to create something which is delightful to listen to, whilst still retaining each performer's individual style.

As to the rest, they range from the "just don't get it" category (Robbie Williams, trying to be funny with "There are bad times just around the corner" and not realising how funny it was to start with) through the "must have seemed like a good idea at the time" category (Vic Reeves' sotto voce rap of "Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington"), to the "how the blazes did this ever seem like a good idea at any time?!" category (The Divine Comedy's atrocious "I've been to a marvellous party", which is especially disappointing from a group who seem closest to Coward's intelligent comedic style in the modern time).

The rest are just poor versions which highlight the performers' inadequacies when set against Coward's enormous talent. Nobody involved emerges with any real credit.

Do yourself a favour - there's so much real work by the master available, and it costs next to nothing. Find some of that, and be enraptured. Leave this to quietly be forgotten.

Coward Spinning in Grave
Amy resemblance beween the witty, ironic, cutting-edge music of Noel Coward and this CD is negligible, except in the title song. The musicians had no concept of these songs and probably had never heard them before. The people singing could not read music. (I.e., the melodies were wrong.) The percussion totally drowned out everything else. The musical director and producer of this CD had no clue what they were doing. The arrangements are among the worst I have ever heard of anybody's literate music. I play the piano and specialize in 20th century Broadsway, London, and Hollywood music. This was the worst CD of its kind I have ever heard. (And it didn't have to be this way -- the cenntennial recording of Cole Porter's similar music, "Red Hot & Blue," nicely updated, sung, and arranged by then contemporary singers, was a wonderful introduction for the uninitiated to the sophisticated music of people like Kern, Porter, Coward, Weill, etc. -- the musical giants of the 20th century.)

A disgraceful Travesty
Words cannot describe the disgust I feel for what this group of "artists" has done to the work of Noel Coward. Avoid it like poison.

Forget it...Forget it...Forget it...
The idea is not bad. Contemporary pop performers doing classic Noel Coward songs. Unfortunately, despite some talented individuals, the songs are almost without exception ruined by interpretations that destroy Cowards' sense of melody, tempo and lyric.

The word abysmal comes to mind. Coward was understated, subtle, mischievous, sentimental and melodic in his music. These characteristics are undiscovered on these performances.

Paul McCartney is one of the few who tries to do Coward justice and seems to at least have the musical sensibilty to understand what his song is about. Even Elton John, who has the ability and talent to do better, sadly disappoints on Twentieth Century Blues.

If you want contemporary Noel Coward, look at the cast CD of All For Love, the 1999 show featuring Twiggy and Harry Groener. They get it right!