Track Listing:
1. April Fool
2. Just Friends
3. Hit the Road to Dreamland
4. This Time the Dream's On Me
5. How Long Has This Been Going On
6. But Beautiful
7. Why Shouldn't I
8. I Wish I Knew
9. Accidents Will Happen
10. Gone With the Wind
11. Better Luck Next Time
12. How About You
13. Little Love Can Go a Long Long Way
14. If You'll Be Mine
15. If You Were The Only Girl (previously unreleased)
16. Fool In Love
17. Melody For Lovers
18. If You Were the Only Girl
19. Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)
This album was Tony's recording debut, and I absolutely love it! It's simple, but extremely classy - taking his time through each of the tracks, his voice just oozes romance. This is the kind of record I'd love to play at a jazzy dinner. I feel that the first four songs are the strongest, for both vocals and musical arrangement, and is a perfect introduction to Tony as a singer. Tracks 1-12 are the original self-titled album, but on this new edition CD, 13-19 are the bonus Epic Singles which were released in the late 1950s.
The song I enjoyed the most was by far his playful romp through "How About You"- especially the line "Sophia Loren's looks give me a thrill!" (it was recorded at the same time as Desire Under The Elms). Also, if you're wondering about the "previously unreleased" version of "If You Were The Only Girl In The World", it is a slower version of the song which was recorded in the studio 2 months prior to the one which was released as a single, so is extremely rare indeed.
"Melody For Lovers" initially reminded me of something that should have been on the soundtrack for Grease or Dirty Dancing because of the beat and stereotypical 50s feel to it. But those male backing singers are awful! They should have used some softer, female vocalists. I think they would have complimented Tony's voice and the song much better, but at least they only feature in about 2 of the tracks. His rendition of the Friendly Persuasion theme is wonderful, they should have definitely used his version instead of Pat Boone's for the opening credits of the movie, it would have made far more sense to! All in all, it's a great CD, absolutely recommended. I wonder what made them re-release it... it's a bit of an obscure choice - but hey, I'm not complaining! It's a pure treat for any Perkins fan.
back