Some find "celebrities who sing" awfully funny.
Don't laugh at Honor Blackman. First of all, she'll beat the crap out of you. Even now. Second, when she recorded her lone album in late 1964, "Everything I've Got," she acknowledged in the liner notes that she was not a professional singer, was asked to give it a try (coming off her James Bond film fame) and so, what the fuck (I'm not quoting exactly) she did.
And she did good. Mostly.
No surprise that her most effective tracks were more spoken than sung, most notably a fierce and passionate reading of Charles Aznavour's venomously sulky "Tomorrow Is My Turn."
Like an actress working in Broadway musicals rather than a professional singer working in nightclubs (Gwen Verdon, Angela Lansbury and Chita Rivera would all be in that latter category) Honor Blackman puts over a tune with panache if not pitch-perfection. Show tunes with strong lyrics and a mild octave range shimmered under her sultry breath. Less successful, but kind of cute, is her attempt at pop via "World Without Love."
As Gomez Addams used to say: "That's FRENCH!"
And so one must say "Merci" rather than "Mercy!" when this gutsy woman chose to take a shot at "C'est Droll," c'est seriously.
Here's fascinating Honor Blackman, who puts a bit of a thrill in the ill category of celebrity cash-in singing albums.
Your four tracks in the zip file:
To Keep My Love Alive (murderous black humor from Broadway)
C'Est Drole (half spoken, half sad)
Tomorrow Is My Turn (easily the best version of this Aznavour grunt)
World Without Love (please...lock me away...)
Here's 4 From Galore
I was lucky to find "Everything I've Got" for not too much money and have enjoyed it immensely. Of course, I'm a huge huge huge Honor Blackman fan, so perhaps it goes without saying. My favorite song on the album is "I Wouldn't Walk Across The Street."
ReplyDeleteWonderful post about her record. Very humorous!