The great thing about doing reviews for this website is that I get to experience artists and hear songs that are completely new to me. Both are true in the recent releases from Masterworks Broadway. These are first-time releases in the digital era, and for me, both new artists, singing a great deal that I've not heard before.

First up onto the digital player is an Ed Ames two-fer entitled Ed Ames on Broadway. The legendary Broadway producer George Abbott once said that Ed Ames’s voice was one of the finest he had heard on the legitimate stage.

After success as a member of The Ames Brothers – the multi-platinum vocal quartet and popular TV fixture ­– Ames turned his attention to acting and a solo vocal career. His acting career took off as he landed roles in the Broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks and the role of “Mingo” in the TV series Daniel Boone.

Opening Night, a collection of songs from Broadway musicals recorded in 1964 was his first solo recording and includes 'Try to Remember' from The Fantasticks, his first charted single. Several years later, he followed up with the album More I Cannot Wish You, another collection of Broadway favourites that includes 'The Impossible Dream' from Man of La Mancha and 'Climb Ev’ry Mountain' from The Sound of Music.

The first thing that strikes you when you listen to this album is the sound. It's so of an age - an orchestral age that dominated the sound of pop vocal recordings of this period. It's all flutes, strings and percussion, and makes for a superb, lively sound on the pop tracks, and a very versatile and expressive sound on the ballads. It works really well on the choice of songs here, and this is no doubt down to the superb orchestrations.

The album is full of classic, well written Broadway songs, and ones that show off Ames's voice very well. From the first album, particular favourites of mine were 'What Kind of Fool Am I' (a worthy comparison can be made to Newley's version), 'I Believe In You' (the best song from that score) and 'As Long as (s)He Needs Me', delivered well, and working fine with the alternative lyrics.

However for me, it's the second album where things really come alive. It's 'Today' and 'If (s)He Walked Into My Life', both from Mame are superb renditions, and I love the arrangement of 'The Trolley Song', the Garland favourite from Meet Me In St Louis. The album ends with an uptempo arrangement of the classic 'Without A Song'. There is not a weak song in this album, and it's one I will be listening to again, very soon.

8

Ian Gude