Frankie Laine, Balladeer/Wanderlust

• Artist: Frankie Laine
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1997
• Type: Compilation (best of)
• Genre: Vocal Music

Review

This Columbia reissue combines two like-minded LPs from Frankie Laine: 1959's Frankie Laine, Balladeer and 1962's Wanderlust. The former collects Laine's version of 12 songs loosely gathered around the folk umbrella, from "Rocks and Gravel" to the traditional "New Orleans" (aka "House of the Rising Sun") to Merle Travis' "Sixteen Tons." Laine does an admirable job, though occasionally he gives the material a degree of gravitas it doesn't deserve. Wanderlust is also vaguely conceptual, with freedom or travel the impetus; most of Laine's performances are subservient to the stale arrangements and an impersonal vocal chorus. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Rocks and Gravel	Alan Lomax, Leon Bibb	Frankie Laine	(3:31)
Old Virginny	James A. Bland	Frankie Laine	(2:13)
Cherry Red	Jack Moon, Bill Lazarus	Frankie Laine	(2:16)
On a Monday	Traditional	Frankie Laine	(2:23)
Careless Love	Martha E. Koenig, W.C. Handy, Spencer Williams	Frankie Laine	(3:08)
Sixteen Tons	Merle Travis	Frankie Laine	(2:26)
Jelly Coal Man	Tommy Roberts, Evelyn Freeman	Frankie Laine	(2:39)
Lucy D	E. Miller	Frankie Laine	(2:28)
New Orleans	John A. Lomax, Georgia Turner	Frankie Laine	(3:52)
Old Blue	Traditional	Frankie Laine	(2:26)
Stack of Blues	Rudolf Friml	Frankie Laine	(2:58)
And Doesn't She Roll	Fred Katz, Frankie Laine, Jack Wilson	Frankie Laine	(2:52)
Love Is Where You Find It	Earl Brent, Nacio Herb Brown	Frankie Laine	(2:43)
Serenade	Sigmund Romberg, Dorothy Donnelly	Frankie Laine	(3:02)
Wagon Wheels	Billy Hill, Peter DeRose	Frankie Laine	(2:16)
I Let Her Go	Don Robertson, Hal Blair	Frankie Laine	(2:30)
Misirlou	Nicholas Roubanis, Milton Leeds, S.K. Russell, Fred Wise	Frankie Laine	(3:21)
(Ghost) Riders in the Sky	Stan Jones	Frankie Laine	(3:10)
De Glory Road	Jacques Wolfe, C. Wood	Frankie Laine	(4:29)
What Kind of Fool Am I?	Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley	Frankie Laine	(2:35)
On the Road to Mandalay	Rudyard Kipling, Oley Speaks	Frankie Laine	(3:05)
If I Love Again	Jack Murray, Ben Oakland	Frankie Laine	(3:29)
The Moment of Truth	Frankie Laine, Fred Katz, Nell Western	Frankie Laine	(2:55)
I'm Gonna Live 'Till I Die	M.P. Curtis, Walter Kent, Al Hoffman	Frankie Laine	(2:30)

Credits

Tony Cooper (Liner Notes), Johnny Williams (Conductor), Irving Townsend (Producer)