When Noel Coward Album was recorded in 1955 and 1956, Coward was well past his most creative period. In his mid-fifties and well into the fourth decade of his career, Coward was as much a persona as he was a playwright or songwriter by this point. This is basically a straight recording of Coward's cabaret show of this period, a double-album length collection of 29 songs spanning all of Coward's career. (A wry version of the traditional Scottish ballad "Loch Lomond" and a renowned Las Vegas-set reworking of Cole Porter's ...
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When Noel Coward Album was recorded in 1955 and 1956, Coward was well past his most creative period. In his mid-fifties and well into the fourth decade of his career, Coward was as much a persona as he was a playwright or songwriter by this point. This is basically a straight recording of Coward's cabaret show of this period, a double-album length collection of 29 songs spanning all of Coward's career. (A wry version of the traditional Scottish ballad "Loch Lomond" and a renowned Las Vegas-set reworking of Cole Porter's "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)"-- with the immortal couplet "Every man out there shooting craps does it/Davy Crockett in that dreadful cap does it" -- are the only non-originals.) The songs are brilliant, of course, and Coward's droll delivery is utterly note-perfect. Those unfamiliar with this style might at first find Coward's arch, clipped delivery a bit too droll, but a little persistence will uncover the pointed social commentary and often barbed satire behind songs like "What's Going to Happen to the Tots'" and "Mad Dogs and Englishmen." ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi
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