Rosemary Clooney - Singing at Her Best

Product Description Nobody could sell a tune quite like Rosemary Clooney. Starting out with her sister, Betty, she went solo in the 1950s and quickly became on of the most popular vocalists of all time. ROSEMARY CLOONEY SINGING AT HER BEST shows Rosie off to her very best advantage. SONG LIST Just You Just Me I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plans The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise I Can't Escape From You You'd Be Surprised After The Ball I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm Imagination We're In The Money A Foggy Day Keep It Gay Marrying For Love I'm Checking Out If I Forget You Let's Call The Whole Thing Off Come Rain Or Come Shine 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 Smokey You Are My Sunshine Rosie's Theme (Performed by the Britt Orchestra) Amazon.com She's probably best known these days as actor George Clooney's aunt, but way back in the day, Rosemary Clooney (who died in 2002) was hot stuff, a pop singer with mild jazz leanings and more than a few hits. Rosemary Clooney: Singing at Her Best showcases her rich, lovely voice, and with some 17 songs (including one medley) crammed into just 40 minutes, there's plenty to choose from here, even if it's almost totally bereft of those hits. What we get in these various vintage clips (all in black & white, many apparently from Clooney's own '50s TV show) is a singer who was very much of her time: smiling, perky, perfectly coiffed, wearing an array of bows, lacy collars, and chaste gowns--i.e., appealing, wholesome as all get out, and strictly squaresville. Song-wise, there are some great writers represented here--like Duke Ellington (whose "I'm Checking Out," written with Billy Strayhorn and probably the most swinging tune of the bunch, lasts all of one minute!), Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, and Rodgers and Hammerstein--but for the most part these are not their best works. And while a Western-themed medley ("Don't Fence Me In," "San Antonio Rose," and such) with Bing Crosby is corny but cute, Clooney's partnerships with the likes of Boris Karloff and Tab Hunter are not the stuff of which dreams are made. Rosie, as she was known, was a fine artist, but calling this collection "at her best" is a stretch. --Sam Graham