Prisoner of Love

• Artist: Russ Columbo
• Rating:
• Release Date: January 20, 1998
• Total Time: 76:19
• Type: Compilation (best of)
• Genre: Vocal Music

Review

Warm, handsome, intimate, romantic, personable, and charming, gentle-voiced Russ Columbo sang songs of love, happiness, and heartbreak in a richly sentimental manner without ever sounding false or affected. This was his natural element. Poised at the portal of a promising career as recording artist and star of radio and motion pictures, his accidental death at the age of 26 pulled the plug as it were, leaving only 32 studio recordings for posterity to savor. Of those recordings, 23 are included in Living Era's tribute to this archetypal crooner. Anyone seeking context for the careers of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Billy Eckstine, and Nat King Cole should tap into this compilation. During his brief professional life, Columbo helped to set the standard for both pop and jazz ballad singing for the remainder of the 20th century. His recorded works are useful if one is in need of straightforward primary renditions of these old-fashioned melodies. Columbo's 1931 performance of his own composition "Prisoner of Love" is the perfect prelude to the Lester Young/Teddy Wilson rendition of 1956. Columbo's passionate handling of "Just Friends" contains thrilling premonitions of later interpretations by Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Prisoner of Love	Clarence Gaskill, Scott Sheets, Leo Robin, Russ Columbo	Russ Columbo, Nat Shilkret & His Orchestra	(3:26)
Back in Your Own Backyard	Al Jolson, Billy Rose, Dave Dreyer	Russ Columbo, Gus Arnheim & His Orchestra	(3:09)
Glad Rag Doll	Jack Yellen, Dan Dougherty, Milton Ager	Russ Columbo, Gus Arnheim & His Orchestra	(3:01)
A Peach of a Pair	George Marino, Richard A. Whiting	Russ Columbo, Gus Arnheim & His Orchestra	(3:05)
I Don't Know Why (I Just Do)	Fred E. Ahlert, Lisa Angelle, Roy Turk	Nat Shilkret & His Orchestra, Russ Columbo	(3:14)
Guilty	Richard A. Whiting, Gus Kahn, Harry Akst	Russ Columbo, Nat Shilkret & His Orchestra	(3:03)
You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love)	Russ Columbo, Paul Gregory, Con Conrad, Gladys Dubois	Nat Shilkret & His Orchestra, Russ Columbo	(3:46)
Sweet and Lovely	Gus Arnheim, Harry Tobias, Jules LeMare	Russ Columbo, Nat Shilkret & His Orchestra	(3:39)
Time on My Hands (You in My Arms)	Mack Gordon, Vincent Youmans, Harold Adamson	Russ Columbo, Nat Shilkret & His Orchestra	(3:11)
You Try Somebody Else	Buddy DeSylva, Ray Henderson, Lew Brown	Russ Columbo	(3:36)
Call Me Darling (Call Me Sweetheart, Call Me Dear)	Rolf Marbet, Bert Reisfeld, Dorothy Dick, Mort Fryberg	Russ Columbo	(3:29)
Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)	Roy Turk, Fred E. Ahlert, Bing Crosby	Russ Columbo	(3:30)
Save the Last Dance for Me	Walter Hirsch, Frank Magine	Russ Columbo	(2:55)
All of Me	Gerald Marks, Seymour Simons	Russ Columbo, Leonard Joy & His Orchestra	(3:07)
Just Friends	Sam M. Lewis, John Klenner	Russ Columbo	(3:10)
You're My Everything	Joe Young, Harry Warren, Mort Dixon	Russ Columbo	(3:22)
Auf Wiederseh'n, My Dear	Al Goodhart, Edward Nelson, Al Hoffman, Milton Ager	Russ Columbo	(3:34)
Paradise	Nacio Herb Brown, Gordon Clifford	Russ Columbo	(3:21)
Living in Dreams	Johnny Green	Russ Columbo	(3:21)
When You're in Love	Bernie Grossman, Russ Columbo, Jack Stern	Russ Columbo, Jimmy Grier & His Orchestra	(3:08)
Too Beautiful for Words	Jack Stern, Bernie Grossman, Russ Columbo	Jimmy Grier & His Orchestra, Russ Columbo	(3:18)
I See Two Lovers	Allie Wrubel, Mort Dixon	Jimmy Grier & His Orchestra, Russ Columbo	(3:25)
Goodnight, Sweetheart	Jimmy Campbell, Jimmy Campbell, Reginald Connelly, Ray Noble, Rudy Vallée	Nat Shilkret & His Orchestra, Russ Columbo	(3:29)

Credits

Jack Shilkret (Piano), Gus Arnheim & His Orchestra (Performer), Jimmy Grier & His Orchestra (Performer), Peter Dempsey (Liner Notes)