Dinah Shore Sings Gershwin

My friend Ernie complained that my last post wasn't a single - it was two records. Well, Ern, I guess I am cheating again, because here is another two-record set.

In it, Dinah Shore applies her considerable skill and charm to four Gershwin tunes, early ("Do It Again"), late ("Love Walked In") and in-between ("The Man I Love," "Someone to Watch Over Me").

Dinah was then (1945) at the height of her popularity as a singer, so of course Victor periodically produced 78 albums for her. I have an earlier one called Musical Orchids, whatever that may mean, dating from 1943.

Rather than using a hard cover, this present album is presented in a soft double envelope, with the colorful front cover above, a center spread detailing the songs, and a back cover glorifying the artist (below).

Click image to enlarge

I have presented a few of these soft-cover albums over the years. Their biggest drawback is that they offer little to no protection to the shellac within. Somewhere along the line, probably in moving, I managed to crack both records in four places. I found a good transfer of the 78 coupling "Love Walked In" and "Someone to Watch Over Me" on Internet Archive, so it's been substituted for my crunchy copy. For the other two songs I have resorted to lossy copies, which still do sound good. (Note (February 2024): these have now been remastered in ambient stereo.)

If you like Dinah, you'll find the results worthwhile. She's in good voice, and the backings by Al Sack are lovely, reminiscent of those that Axel Stordahl was producing for Frank Sinatra during the same period. Sack, a talented and in-demand arranger, died in 1947 of heart disease at age 36.

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