The Complete Doris Day with Les Brown

• Artist: Doris Day & Les Brown
• Rating:
• Release Date: April 21, 1998
• Total Time: 130:15
• Type: Compilation (best of)
• Genre: Vocal Music

Review

Forty-two songs cut between November 1940 and August 1946, and the perfect companion to Bear Family's It's Magic box set -- anyone who's been even tempted to own that will have to get this more modestly priced precursor to that material. Day's period singing with Les Brown is, today, regarded with a degree of love and affection reserved for Ella Fitzgerald's era with Chick Webb, or Frank Sinatra's work with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. Yet Sony Music's own releases devoted to Doris Day and Les Brown spread the music around to several different CDs, and suffered from sound that, today, seems substandard. These newly remastered tracks, offered in chronological order, including one previously unissued song ("Are You Still in Love with Me"), not only display a far richer, warmer sound, but have been presented with the kind of care that is normally reserved for the best parts of a label's catalog -- which these sides definitely are. Day's voice during this period (she was 16 when she cut her first sides with Brown) was an astonishingly expressive instrument. Anyone who thinks that 42 songs is more than they want simply hasn't heard her darkly emotive rendition of "When the Music Plays On," or the playful "Three at a Table with You," her jaunty "Broomstreet," or her gossamer enunciation (highlighted by some lovely high notes) on "Between Friends" -- the arrangements and the performances have the texture of the most finely spun silk. The hits are here, of course, but there's hardly a song on hand that doesn't deserve a hearing 50-odd years later. The notes by Joseph Laredo are also lively and informative. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

Tracks

CD 1

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Dig It	Hal Borne, Johnny Mercer	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:16)
Let's Be Buddies	Cole Porter	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:04)
While the Music Plays On	Lupin Fein, Bobby Pratt, Eddie Heim, Irving Mills	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:04)
Three at a Table for Two	Arthur Johnston, Archie Gottler	Les Brown, Doris Day	(2:47)
Between Friends	Ted Straeter, Alan Jay Lerner	Les Brown, Doris Day	(3:04)
Broomstreet	Myrow, Buck Ram, Josef Myrow	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:05)
Barbara Allen	Traditional	Doris Day, Les Brown	(2:50)
Celery Stalks at Midnight	George Harris, Will Bradley, Carl Sigman	Doris Day, Les Brown	(2:58)
Amapola	Albert Gamse, Joseph M. Lacalle	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:10)
Easy as Pie	Kim Gannon, Les Brown	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:12)
Booglie Wooglie Piggy	R. Jacobs, Roy Jacobs	Les Brown, Doris Day	(2:59)
Beau Night in Hotchkiss Corners	Ben Oakland, Herbert Magidson	Les Brown, Doris Day	(3:22)
Alexander the Swoose (Half Swan-Half Goose)		Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:05)
Made up My Mind	Herschel Evans, Barry Mann	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:06)
Keep Cool, Fool	Josef Myrow, J.P. Johnson	Doris Day, Les Brown	(2:53)
Sentimental Journey	Bud Green, Les Brown, Ben Homer	Les Brown, Doris Day	(3:09)
My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time	Manny Curtis, Victor Mizzy	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:17)
He's Home for a Little While	Rob Goellner, Ted Shapiro	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:40)
'Tain't Me	Lanier Davis, Jack Palmer	Doris Day, Les Brown	(2:45)
I'll Always Be With You	Edna Osser, E. Osser, Marjorie Goetschius	Les Brown, Doris Day	(3:04)
A Red Kiss on a Blue Letter	Ray Evans	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:08)

CD 2

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Till the End of Time	Ted Mossman, Buddy Kaye	Doris Day, Les Brown	(2:59)
He'll Have to Cross the Atlantic (To Get to the Pacific)	Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn	Les Brown, Doris Day	(3:02)
I'd Rather Be With You	Frank Comstock, Roy Alfred	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:11)
Come to Baby, Do!	Sidney Miller, Inez James, Sid Miller	Les Brown, Doris Day	(3:03)
Aren't You Glad You're You	Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke, James Van Heusen	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:02)
The Last Time I Saw You	Marjorie Goetschius, Edna Osser, E. Osser	Les Brown, Doris Day	(3:25)
We'll Be Together Again	Carl Fischer, Frankie Laine	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:17)
You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)	Freddy James, Harry James, Larry Stock	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:03)
In the Moon Mist	Jack Lawrence	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:06)
Day by Day	Sammy Cahn, Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:05)
(Oh Yes) There's Good Blues Tonight	Abe Osser, A. Osser, Edna Osser	Les Brown, Doris Day	(3:06)
All Through the Day	Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern	Les Brown, Doris Day	(3:15)
The Deevil, Devil, Divil	Carl Sigman, Bob Russell	Les Brown, Doris Day	(3:09)
I Got the Sun in the Morning	Irving Berlin	Les Brown, Doris Day	(2:32)
My Number One Dream Come True	Lew Brown, Johnny Green	Doris Day, Les Brown	(2:56)
The Whole World Is Singing My Song	Manny Curtis, Victor Mizzy	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:14)
Are You Still in Love With Me	Edna Osser, Les Brown	Les Brown, Doris Day	(3:05)
Sooner or Later (Lyrics)	Charles Wolcott, Ray Gilbert, GIlbert	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:11)
You Should Have Told Me	Redd Evans, Irving Berlin, Edna Osser	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:15)
The Christmas Song	Robert Wells, Mel Tormé	Les Brown, Doris Day	(3:03)
It Could Happen to You	Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen, James Van Heusen	Doris Day, Les Brown	(3:18)

Credits

Ken Robertson (Digital Remastering), Wayne Knight (Photography), Joseph F. Laredo (Liner Notes), Les Brown (Performer)