JOHN RAITT – Original Album Series (Stage Door Records, 2 CD set).
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
If ever there was a lovely box of goodies to listen to, this is it. I grew up with the original cast recordings of Carousel, The Pajama Game, Carnival in Flanders, etc with this very masculine baritone voice bringing the characters to life even although I had never seen the shows and lived in a small town on the west coast of Scotland – I felt as if I were there watching him live on stage. As I grew up and would tell people about John Raitt, they would say but what about Alfred Drake and Howard Keel… he’s not as famous as them.Well, I’m sorry but, as much as I liked those other two artists, my heart was always with John Raitt. So, you can imagine my delight to have this set of recordings to review.
For those of you younger musical aficionados who may not be familiar with this gentleman, let me just cut and paste a bit from the press release for this double album:
Creating the iconic role of Billy Bigelow in April 1945, John Raitt was launched to international stardom with The New York Times later proclaiming: “He came to epitomise a new distinctively modern breed of Broadway leading man.” John Raitt, very simply, changed Broadway history.
This double CD set includes four of John Raitt’s albums: Highlights of Broadway, Mediterranean Magic, Under Open Skies and Songs the Kids Brought Home from Camp – the latter of which I had never heard of. Also, some bonus tracks from another two albums.
There are tracks on Highlights of Broadway featuring a selection of Broadway standards from shows such as Kismet, Carousel, Kiss Me, Kate, etc. Then on Mediterranean Magic there are Latin inspired songs such as ‘O Sole Mio’, ‘Granada’, ‘Mattinata’, ‘Amapola’.
Under Open Skies brings us folk songs from all over the world including ‘Loch Lomond’, ‘El Bandido’, ‘I Wonder as I Wander’, ‘Two Shillelagh O’Sullivan’ and then Songs the Kids Brought Home from Camp he is accompanied by kids choruses on a selection of sing-a-long songs associated with youthful excursions to woodland camps and singing around the camp fire, ‘My Grandfather’s Clock’, ‘Old MacDonald’, ‘A Frog Went a-Courting’ (typo on the booklet, or is there such a thing as a ‘Frong’?).
Something for everyone on this superb double CD from Stage Door Records. If you are unfamiliar with John Raitt then you are in for an absolute treat – if you, like me, are a lifetime fan, then you will be in heaven.
Nick Wakeham
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