Search - Lena Horne :: Soul

SULTRY & SOULFUL~BRAVO LENA!!!

Bradly Briggs | TOLUCA LAKE, CALIFORNIA | 08/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lena Horne by the great musical sixties matured in to a full-fledged DIVA who could sing anything she set her lush & expressive voice to and this diverse set of songs is a great mix of saucy & soulful gems that capture the extraordinary legend in tremendous & sublime form. Opening sultry & rhythmic with "I Got A Worried Man" featuring a fun Mae West type of vamp, Lena wraps her glorious voice around "What The World Needs Now Is Love" and all is fine in the musical world and with Lena's great "Soul" lp now with a incredible mix of bonus tracks...romance continues in a sublime way with "Unchained Melody" perfectly suited to the grand diva's classic & original way with song. "Let The Little People Talk" is mesmerizing with fascinating tempo changes & a superb jazz vocal while "Love Bug" is just plain funky fun. Drama & pathos fill a stellar version of the exotic standard "A Taste Of Honey" which features Lena in a brilliant blues-edged vocal mode giving this often sung standard a new feel becoming one of the ultimate definitive versions of this great classic...swinging "The Old Mill Stream" find the grand Diva loose and soulful giving this collection a feel all its own and a must have for anyone who enjoys this legendary "Lady With A Song"! Haunting & mesmerizing original "Like A Child" is another great vocal and Lena Horne is really in great form for these wonderful sessions...rocking and rolling "The Music Of The World A Turnin'" is loose and funky and it is amazing this great work seems to have been lost in the rock madness of the mid-sixties which is what happened to many great vocal collections during this time period as radio would not program these classic singers. "Know What To Do" sounds like a hit single in better times than 1966...exotic & hypnotic featuring a flowing arrangement plus a great vocal from Lena that again sounds like a #1 hit with a bullet!!!

Bonus tracks are wondrous starting with what sounds like another hit single & "The Sand And The Sea" is engrossing and glorious listening.

Lena Horne by the time "Soul" was recorded was firmly established as a legendary singer and like all great singing legends Lena has a way with a classic song unlike anything other in the world of music...experience the finest and take in "I Get Along Without You Very Well" or the amazing take Lena graces us with "On Green Dolphin Street" and know the meaning of high vocal art! Bonus tracks are richly satisfying and make this collection a must have and this is a collection that grows more enjoyable with repeated plays to where it becomes an obsession!!! Anything that Lena Horne put her chops to at this time is total perfection...enjoy one of music world's finest!

BRAVO LENA!!!"

Beyonce, Don't Try to Teach This Grandmother to Suck Eggs

Stephanie DePue | Carolina Beach, NC USA | 03/09/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Lena Horne's"Soul,"was originally released by United Artists in 1966, a period when that great singer, who was born in Brooklyn in 1917, was still going strong. (She now, well into her nineties, is making no further public appearances.) Her career, as a pop/jazz/Broadway diva, ran from 1938, when she was discovered singing and dancing at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem, to 2000. She's been famous since 1943, on the after stream of her worldwide hit "Stormy Weather" from the movie of the same name(Stormy Weather). It was made at 20th Century Fox, while she was a young beauty on loan from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. (There can be little doubt, unfortunately, that at this time and place, her career was largely limited by her color).



Horne, who was blacklisted in the 1950's for her political beliefs, has won many awards in her long career. Several Grammies, including a Lifetime Achievement Award; an NAACP Image Award for her civil rights work, and a Kennedy Center Award. She has headlined at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria in New York - her 1957 live album, "Lena Horne at the Waldorf-Astoria" was the largest selling record by a female artist in RCA history.



The record at hand includes a fine reading of Burt Bacharach's "What the World Needs Now Is Love," and a soulful "Unchained Melody," that has been reimagined from the Righteous Brothers hit recording. Also "A Taste of Honey," and another fresh take on an old fave, "The Old Mill Stream," made a hit long ago by The Mills Brothers. If there's one thing Horne has in abundance, in addition to attitude, it's soul - it's always been soul. We've been reading recently that Beyonce, the gorgeous young singer, has angered veteran thrush Etta James by singing the latter's great hit, "At Last," without respect, or attribution. So all I have to say is, Beyonce, when it comes to soul, don't try to teach this particular great-grandmother how to suck eggs.

"

The Soul Of Lena

G. Carter | Temple Hills, maryland United States | 12/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 1966 lp finds the great Lena in a more soulful musical setting with background vocals and a swinging rhythm section, during this period in Lena's career she recorded several lp's in different styles (Lena In Hollywood, and the wonderful "Latin" lp), 'Soul' is another example of Lena's diversity as a vocalist, just listen to her smooth delivery on 'A Taste of Honey'. The 'Soul' cd is another great addition to the Lena Horne catalog."