Rosemary Clooney – Singing At Her Best
Picture: C Sound: C Extras: D Music: B-
Rosemary Clooney was one of the mid-20th
Century’s most important female vocalists.
She had an amazing voice and adapted remarkably to many styles and
energized any song she did into a song of her own. Unlike many vocalists of the period, her work tends to hold up
and having weathered time better than most.
This Singing At Her Best collection is a solid, if too short, set
of her work. They include:
1) Just You
Just Me
2) I Guess
I’ll Have To Change My Plans
3) The
World Is Waiting For The Sunrise
4) I Can’t
Escape From You (with Boris Karloff)
5) You’d Be
Surprised (with Boris Karloff)
6) After
The Ball
7) I’ve Got
My Love To Keep Me Warm (with Tony Randall & Tab Hunter)
8) Imagination
9) We’re In
The Money
10) A Foggy Day
11) Keep It Gay
12) Marrying For Love (with
Guy Mitchell)
13) I’m Checking Out
14) If I Forget You
15) Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off (with
Gene Puerling)
16) Come Rain Or Come Shine
17) Medley with Bing Crosby: Don’t Fence Me
In, I’m An Old Cowhand, She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain, The Crawdad Song,
San Antonio Rose, Down In The Valley, On Top of Old Smokie, You Are My Sunshine
Though the set barely lasts 40 minutes, it more then
demonstrates why she was such a beloved vocalist. The Bing Crosby Medley is an interesting moment, as Clooney more
than holds her own with the top male vocalist of his time. Clooney was still singing into her final
years and was still a top attraction.
Some of the songs are standards, others are lost songs that are not all
that bad. The camera also liked her, as
these clips constantly show.
The full frame image averages out, usually from videotape,
kinescope or film copies thereof, but all are black & white. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also varied
and average, but we can safely (and sadly) say none of these are stereo
recordings. There are no extras, but
this is one of the best of several dozen vocalists DVD Passport/Koch has issued
to date and is worth your time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
