Search - Louis Prima, Keely Smith :: Together

What happened here?

10/28/1998

(3 out of 5 stars)

"After listening to Louis and Keely's first album of duets released by Dot Records, I was pumped to hear this one as well. Boy, was I disappointed. Though the album has a lot of potential, it is dragged down by slow, cheesy background vocalist and minimal musical effort by Sam and the Witnesses. Starting off quite nicely, the song "Together" brings a smile to your face. But it is immediately wiped away when you here those horrible background singers common in Dean Martin recordings with the Gus Levene Orchestra. They do nothing for the duo on songs like "Paradise," "Teach Me Tonight," and especially "Nyow! Nyow! Nyot Nyow!" a rather ridiculous song in its own right; however, had Sam and the boys been doing background vocals, it would be much more pleasurable. It takes away the personality that is usually put into their recordings. However, there is always a plus side to Louis and Keely, and on this particular album it happens to be their jazzy treatment of "I Can't Give You Anything but Love" (though the trumpet solo is ambiguous: is it Louis or Morgan Thomas?) as well as "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "Begin the Beguine," and "They Can't Take That Away From Me." These songs swing the most, and include solos from Louis and Lou Sino that make things a bit more interesting. Overall, the album is okay... but it is no "Louis and Keely.""