Search - Pat Kirkwood :: Unforgettable Pat Kirkwood

AN INNATE ABILITY TO PUT A SONG ACROSS

Barry McCanna | Normandy, France | 05/15/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"NOTE: I don't know why Amazon state that this has been discontinued, because it's still available! Search and ye shall find.



The tracklist is as follows:



CD 1: Just One of Those Things (KM); Save A Little Sunshine (JR); Dinah/Nobody's Sweetheart (JR); My Heart Belongs To Daddy (JH); Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love (JH); The Only One Who's Difficult Is You (NMDO:RM) Heaven Will Be Heavenly (JH); You've Done Something To My Heart (NMDO:RM); Oh, Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh! (GSW); Where Or When (GSW); This Can't Be Love (RM); In The Mood (RM); My Kind Of Music (PY); The Victory Roll; South American Way; Listen To Me (GS); All The Time (GL); Love On A Greyhound Bus (GL); Isn't It Wonderful? (GS); selections from "Starlight Roof" (GD) and "Ace of Clubs" (M) 79:31



CD 2: The Boy In The Gallery (KM); Ohio/One Hundred Easy Ways/Swing!/The Wrong Note Rag ("Wonderful Town": Cyril Ornadel); I'd Pick Piccadilly/Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?/Stars In My Eyes/The Man That Wakes The Man That Blows Reveille ("Stars In Your Eyes: Edwin Astley); After The Ball/The Army Of Today's All Right/Jolly Good Luck To The Girl Who Loves A Soldier ("After The Ball: MM); Is This Love?/Love Is A Game/Saturday Night/No More Love Songs/Shanghai Lil/ ("Chrysanthemum": Roy Lowe); On A Wonderful Day Like Today; What A Wonderful World; Guess Who I Saw Today?; If Love Were All/I'm A Dreamer, Aren't We All?; Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (KM); As Time Goes By/It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow/To Keep My Love Alive/London Pride/People ("Glamorous Nights Of Music": Geoffrey Brawn) After The Ball/Farewell Speech of Vesta Tilley ("After The Ball": MM); You're The Top 77:48



Accompaniments: GD - Guy Daines: JH - Jack Hylton: KM - Ken Moule: GL - Guy Lombardo: M - Mantovani: MM - Muir Matheson; RM - Ronnie Munro: NMDO - New Mayfair Dance Orch. JR - John Reynders: GS - Georgie Stoll: GSW - George Scott Wood: PY - Peter Yorke



Some stars begin by shining brightly, but burn out too soon. Pat Kirkwood's showbiz career began at the tender of 14, but she defied changing tastes by continuing for almost 60 years. That was due in large part to her ability to play a wide variety of roles across the entertainment media. Evidence abounds throughout this compilation, issued just a year after her death at the age of 86, of her innate ability to put a song across. It spans the years 1938 to 1993, and is such a cornucopia that it is difficult to do justice to it in the space available.



The two items accompanied by John Reynders come from film soundtracks. The first is the title song and is accompanied by much background action! The medley comes from "Me And My Pal" and was belted out by a very self-assured Miss K. Over the next couple of years she made a number of recordings with dance band accompaniments, the majority of which are included here, and show her to have been as good as the best of the chanteuses. An added bonus is that she usually sang the introductory verse.



1946 saw her in Hollywood, starring in the MGM musical film "No Leave, No Love" and four numbers appear here, including a duet with Van Johnson in "All The Time". Listening, it's apparent that she's assimilated to great advantage the style and inflections of her female American contemporaries. The first CD concludes with five titles from the 1948 show "Starlight Roof", on one of which she duets with Vic Oliver, and the 1950 musical play "Ace of Clubs" which includes duets with Graham Payn.



The second CD concentrates mainly on particular aspects of her film and stage appearances, and includes her recreations of Vesta Tilley, from the 1957 film "After The Ball", and a recording from 1977 of "The Boy I Love Is Up In The Gallery", recalling her portrayal of Marie Lloyd for BBC TV in 1953. She duetted with Shani Wallis in two of the numbers from "Wonderful Town", and with her then husband Hubert Gregg in two of the "Chrysanthemum" tracks. Four of the tracks from "Glamorous Nights Of Music" were recorded live from the stalls at the Wimbledon Theatre, but their lo-fi quality is offset by the high audience response which she generated by her undimmed stage presence at the age of 72 .



This is a generous package, which illustrates many facets of Pat Kirkwood's talent, and to which Michael Thornton has contributed an affectionate and well-illustrated liner note.























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