Search - Jane Morgan :: Jane In Spain

Jane Morgan waxes lyrical on exotic "Spain" album

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 05/24/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Sepia label's ongoing love affair with the recordings of Jane Morgan continues with this outstanding release of her 1959 album, JANE IN SPAIN. In the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, it seemed that every singer had to have at least one exotic, south-of-the-border themed album. Jane Morgan's platter of Spanish-flavoured material sits quite comfortably in this semi-genre, and showcases this exciting singer in a brilliant new way that record buying audiences of the period would have found most appealing.



As the title suggests, this is Jane Morgan in a Spanish mood (the album cover features Morgan dressed in a matador costume). Already considered an international singer thanks to her early French recordings, JANE IN SPAIN drove home the wonderful fact that Morgan could adapt her style to another language and still retain her potent musical spell.



Unlike the upbeat jazz Latin albums of Peggy Lee or Abbe Lane, Morgan's JANE IN SPAIN is mostly a collection of moody, languid love ballads, with some nice flamenco beats. Highlights would include "Adios", "Granada", "The Moon was Yellow" and "Magic is the Moonlight".



We can never have enough Jane Morgan, so Sepia has wisely also included her other big 1959 album, JANE MORGAN TIME, as the second portion of the CD. It's back to business as usual for Morgan with a charming selection of popular favourites ("Love is Like Champagne", "With Open Arms") and showtune standards ("Climb Ev'ry Mountain").



Another quality release for Jane Morgan fans."