Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 21

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 18

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 17

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 16

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 15

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 14

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 10

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 9

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 8

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 6

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 5

Back To The 50's - Rockin' & Rollin' 1

Les 3 Premiers LPs de GEORGES BRASSENS

Édition originale en LP 10" Polydor 530.011

(FRANCE, Décembre 1952)

Édition originale en LP 10" Polydor 530.024

(FRANCE, Décembre 1953)

Édition originale en LP 10" Polydor 530.033

(FRANCE, Décembre 1954)

There Must Be Magic...

Original Released on
- 10" LP Capitol H-357 (US, 1952)
- 12" LP Capitol T-357 (US, 1955)

“Unforgettable” may well be Nat King Cole’s signature song. And no doubt that it is a true classic and one of the most famous melodies of all time. Ironically, when the single first came out in 1951, it didn’t reach the Top Ten. The album "Unforgettable" is the first Nat King Cole compilation released by Capitol Records (1952). In the early days of vinyl, LPs were used to gather a group of an artist’s singles and release them in one handy package. "Unforgettable" was one such release. Packed with hits, the record proved to be one of Cole’s most resilient. The original release featured only eight songs (see the back cover), almost all of which were bona fide hits. The tunes resembled a period of transition for Nat King Cole, as he was moving from the Nat Cole Trio into solo territory. The songs reflect this transition well and serve as one of the essential recordings of the soulfully smooth baritone. Headed off by “Unforgettable”, this compilation is filled with memories. “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons” is a familiar track to anyone, it was Nat’s first number one single and marks the earliest track on the record, dating back to 1946 ( it was recorded a few days after Nat had made his famous version of “The Christmas Song” with strings). Cole sings the great Irving Berlin standard “What’ll I Do?” with such stability that his recording, complete with guitar from Oscar Moore, managed to beat out Sinatra’s string-based version of the same song when the two were released at almost the exact same time. Other of my favourites are the songs “Mona Lisa” and “Too Young”. On both, the orchestral accompaniments were credit to Les Baxter. Three years later Capitol expanded the album for a 12” LP, adding more four tracks. And now, recently (2007), a Collector’s Choice Music edition added another four tracks. As with the other recordings in the collection, CCM has knowledgeably paired the bonus songs with the time period and mood of the original LP, creating a complete release worthy of the attention of any music collector. Unfortunately they mixed all the songs with no respect at all for the previous albums. Rato Records re-arranged everything, ordering the tracks the way they have appeared along the different album editions. I think it’s a better way to look and to listen to.



NOTA: As capas dos discos são para a minha geração parte essencial de um todo chamado Album. Esta capa original de "Unforgettable", por exemplo, é uma memória bem viva da minha meninice, pois o 78 rotações já morava lá por casa pouco tempo depois de eu ter nascido. Segundo os meus pais, desde tenra idade que me entretinha com o manuseamento dos discos, (com alguns acidentes de percurso pelo meio - lembro que os primeiros acetatos se quebravam facilmente...), o que explica esta velha paixão pelos discos (nunca houve outro objecto que ao longo dos anos me desse tanto prazer comprar). É por isso que tenho sempre o cuidado de apresentar neste blog o produto original. Este "Unforgettable" teve uma outra capa mais tarde, mas não a reproduzo aqui, de modo a não adulterar o album original.

NOTE: The records sleeves are, for my generation, an essential part of an whole thing called Album. This “Unforgettable” original sleeve, by example, is still a very bright memory from my childhood, ‘cause the 78 rpm version was already living in my house, a short time after I was born. My parents always told me that in my first years I had the habit to play with records (with some accidents, ‘cause the old acetates were very easy to broke…), fact that explain this old passion of mine for records (there’s never been no other object which brought me such a pleasure to buy). That’s why I always try to present in this blog the original product. This “Unforgettable” had another sleeve later, but I don’t want to reproduce it here, just to preserve the original album.

LINE RENAUD - L'Intégrale 1

Original released on LP Pathé AT-1004

(FRANCE, September 1952)

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