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Chet
Baker is certainly one of the most tragically romantic figures of the 20th
century. His soft, feminine voice and vulnerable good looks wooed many a young
jazz lover, and his finesse on the trumpet was amazing. He died a bizarre death,
though, following many years of drug addiction that destroyed his looks and
crippled his talent. My
Funny Valentine (1994) is a lovely collection of romantic classics (mainly
vocal takes) recorded for Blue Note in the mid-50's, including his definitive
reading
of the title song. These sessions possess a affable lightheartedness that nevertheless
fails
to conceal Baker's essential melancholy. That complexity - along with his
brooding, androgynous sensuality - is the heart of Baker's music, and it
is on full display
on My
Funny Valentine. For the lover with staying power, we recommend the boxed
set Romance,
which packages My
Funny Valentine together with two other collections of love songs: Songs
For Lovers and Embraceable
You. Sony's Love Songs (2004) covers different material - also nice, though less essential. |
essential
songs
I Fall In Love Too Easily (1953)
I've Never Been in Love Before (1956)
It's Always You (1956)
Let's Get Lost (1955)
My Funny Valentine (1954)
Time After Time (1954) [top of page] |
I
have been an apologist for the Carpenters
for many years, and at last I grow weary of the exercise. Just listen to the
music, people! One song in particular, "Goodbye To Love" (while hardly
an appropriate sentiment for Valentine's Day) is a jawdropper that should
impress all open-minded
listeners. Karen Carpenter's vocal is stunning, the harmonies are spectacular,
and the blazing guitar solo drives it all home. True, many Carpenters songs
were
bland,
while others were
annoyingly cute, but Karen possessed a voice imbued with a warmth and depth
never equaled - so much so it could redeem some highly questionable material.
That said, some of the Carpenters' best
songs, like the desolate "Rainy Days And Mondays" or the transplendent
"Close To You," are included on this sterling CD, Love
Songs (1998). These songs possess a fearsome faith in the power of love
- to hurt, to heal, to help us transcend our otherwise pedestrian lives. |
essential songs
For All We Know (1971)
Goodbye to Love (1972)
Hurting Each Other (1972)
I Won't Last a Day Without You (1972)
Rainy Days and Mondays (1971)
Solitaire (1975)
Superstar (1971)
(They Long to Be) Close to You (1970)
Top of the World (1972)
We've Only Just Begun (1970) [top of page]
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Soul
reached its apotheosis in Aretha
Franklin. The secret of great soul music is passion - both revealed and
restrained - and Aretha walked that delicate balance with more skill than any
singer
before or since. That said, no one put a love song across with more conviction
than she. I mean, whatta singer! Performances like "(You Make Me Feel Like)
A Natural Woman" or "Baby I Love You" laid the facts of love
out in plain and simple language - devastating, touching, and absolutely true.
Aretha's Love
Songs (1997) shies away from Lady soul's grittier, funkier side (e.g. "Respect"),
and the disc shouldn't be construed as her "greatest hits," or even
her best material. But, Love
Songs reveals the softer side of a notoriously prickly personality and is
unabashedly romantic throughout. Love
Songs is part of a superb series on Rhino
Records
that includes offerings from Ray
Charles, Otis
Redding, Curtis
Mayfield, Dionne
Warwick, and Dusty
Springfield - all of whom arguably deserve a spot on our Top 10 list. (Also see Beautiful Ballads & Love Songs, a collection of early Columbia recordings.) |
essential songs
Baby I Love You (1967)
I Say A Little Prayer (1968)
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (1967)
Day Dreaming (1972)
Call Me (1970)
Oh Me Oh My (I'm A Fool For You Baby) (1971)
Something He Can Feel (1976) [top of page] |
Any
great romantic love certainly includes sex. With Let's
Get It On (1973), Marvin
Gaye wrote a paean to the physical act of love that has yet to be equaled.
He captured the passion, the rapture, the joy, and, yes, the raunchiness of
great
sex - if and when it is imbued with great love. After his popular 60's phase,
Gaye had became predominantly concerned with spiritual, social, and political
matters,
often
to
stunning
effect - "What's
Going On" or "Trouble Man," for instance. With Let's
Get It On, he showed us that the body and mind cannot - must not - be
separated. The title track is a masterpiece among masterpieces; with it's
amazing introduction
(a teasing wah-wah guitar followed by a vicious downbeat wallop), never
fails to knock me upside my head. Among other things, "Let's Get It
On"
helped me woo
and seduce my wife, and I gotta love that! But, the pleasures of Let's
Get It On do not end till Gaye, the listener, and (hopefully) the listener's
partner are sweaty, spent, and happy.
Later, Motown compiled Love
Songs: Bedroom Ballads (2002). It's great, but it inexplicably omits "Let's Get
It On." It's companion, Love Songs: Greatest Duets, is of greater interest because Marvin Gaye recorded numerous albums of duets with singers as distinguished as Mary Wells and Diana Ross. His greatest partner, however, was the lovely Tammi Terrell who died, almost literally, in his arms; see The Complete Duets (2001). Sony's Love Songs (2003) covers much later material including Marvin's sensual swansong, "Sexual Healing" (1982). |
essential songs
Come Get To This (1973)
Let's Get It On (1973)
Please Stay (Once You Go Away) (1973)
You Sure Love to Ball (1973) [top of page] |
Tom
Jones isn't on our list so much because he is a great singer of love
songs (he is) but because he is, well, such a man. I mean, Jones has more
testosterone surging through his loins than an entire posse of gangsta rappers.
I was lucky enough to see him once in a small venue (the Paramount Theater
in Austin, Texas), and the wave of lust surging from audience to performer
was palpable - and more
than
a little
titillating.
Oddly, Jones' love songs tend to be tempestuous - "She's A Lady," "Delilah," "Daughter
Of Darkness" - but he could be playful, too ("Help Yourself," or
his latter-day reworking of Prince's "Kiss"). More than anything,
though, he is passionate to a fault, so that when he wails "Thunderball," you
can feel confident he's not singing about a James Bond movie....
Consumers have many fine choices when seeking some of that savory Tom Jones man juice. The
Best Of Tom Jones (1998)
is an obvious - and excellent - choice, as is the double-disc Gold (2005) or The Definitive Tom Jones 1964-2002 (2003), a sumptuous 4-CD boxed set. All of them are better choices than several "love song" CD's on the market - though Hip-O's Greatest
Love Songs is pretty great. Despite a few decidedly
non-romantic selections (such as "Detroit
City"), these discs give you a fuller picture of this manly man from Wales.
Just put the music on, turn down the lights, get your lover on the couch, and let
Tom's raging hormones do all the work. |
essential
songs
Daughter of Darkness (1970)
Delilah (1968)
Help Yourself (1968)
I (Who Have Nothing) (1970)
It's Not Unusual (1965)
Kiss (with the Art Of Noise) (1981)
Love Me Tonight (1969)
Not Responsible (1966)
Puppet Man (1971)
She's A Lady (1971)
Thunderball (1965)
What's New Pussycat? (1965)
Without Love (There Is Nothing) (1969) [top of page]
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