There is a enjoyable new sixtieth anniversary reissue by legendary singer and composer Peggy Lee now streaming from the oldsters at Universal Music and Capitol Records that’s actually fairly fascinating, a time capsule actually. I believed a few of you Dear Readers of AudiophileReview who prefer to stream excessive decision audio may take pleasure in it.
Some background perspective to contemplate from the official press launch for this album: “Originally launched in March 1963, I’m A Woman spent 26 weeks on the Billboard album chart. Now perennially related to Peggy Lee, the title monitor and album’s first single, “I’m A Woman,” spent 9 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 and garnered Lee a 1962 GRAMMY nomination for Best Solo Vocal Performance, Female. A second GRAMMY nomination adopted in 1963 for Best Vocal Performance, Female”
If you’re a comparatively new or informal fan of Peggy Lee’s music — as I’m — it actually helps to get your self within the mindset of the time and place that this music was made to completely respect it. Specifically, mid century America… that’s submit World War II… submit Korean War… in the midst of the Cold War with Russia… and with the Vietnam War sneaking up simply as some of us have been beginning to attempt to sit back a bit…
It is 1963… Elvis is within the films after popping out of the military. Be Bop is lengthy over and Jazz generally is beginning to odor humorous to some (paraphrasing Frank Zappa, if you’ll). Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, Richie Valens and Eddie Cochran are gone. Rock and roll is sort of over save for Phil Spector’s productions and The Beatles haven’t actually taken off fairly but as a world phenomenon (Capitol’s Meet The Beatles was launch in January 1964). President John F. Kennedy was nonetheless alive and nicely when Peggy Lee’s I’m A Woman was initially launched.
Picture your self for a second in an ideal suburban snapshot of the American dream… like that also gorgeous opening scene of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, all technicolor and vivid greener-than-green lawns, redder-than-red firetrucks, whiter-than-white picket fences….blissfully glad Wonder Bread Moms and a pair of.5 children per family working across the yards. Amidst all of the darkness underlying that blissful dream state, there was a lot want for escapism and softer themes. For the children who grew up within the 40s by the Nineteen Sixties many have been now younger mother and father and nicely on their option to turning into the older era in want of sunshine escapist leisure that wasn’t Mitch Miller and possibly a little bit headier than Lawrence Welk.
Peggy Lee’s I’m A Woman crammed not less than half-hour of the enjoyment America wanted at that second in time.
Curiously, the Women’s’ liberation motion hadn’t fairly taken off by this level as a mass motion so the title monitor’s lyrics — written by the legendary male hit songwriting duo Leiber & Stoller (“Hound Dog,” “Kansas City,” “Yakety Yak,” and so on.) — are a double edged sword. Here, Peggy particulars in mock-bluesy splendor all of the issues a girl might do higher and quicker than a person might — however solely largely citing home tasks and residential chores as examples! So this isn’t the fashionable twenty first century girl Peggy is championing right here — the enterprise homeowners, engineers and scientists who do way more along with simply being relegated to the position of glad home-maker placed on earth to serve men-kind.
I imply, try the primary verse lyrics:
“I can wash out 44 pairs of socks and have ’em hangin out on the road
I can starch & iron 2 dozens shirts ‘fore you may depend from 1 to 9
I can scoop up a fantastic massive dipper stuffed with lard from the drippins can
Throw it within the skillet, exit & do my procuring, be again earlier than it melts within the pan
‘Cause I’m a girl! W-O-M-A-N, I’ll say it once more”
Nina Simone would have in all probability cringed if she heard a few of these lyrics!
Anyhow, all that apart on I’m A Woman right here we discover Peggy in all probability backed by some nice Wrecking Crew musicians recorded in Hollywood. One of the stuff you don’t get with streaming is authentic liner notes so I needed to look on-line and discover a picture of the unique again cowl (thanks Discogs!). There are some nice gamers on this together with drummer Stan Levey, pianist Mike Malvoin, guitarists Al Hendrickson and John Pisano in addition to the legendary Max Bennett (who seven years later performed on Zappa’s Hot Rats!). The nice Benny Carter conducts on a number of tracks together with the title opus.
She tackles Tony Bennett’s signature “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” as a form of slow-mambo for shut dancing. Here Peggy covers Ricky Nelson’s “I’m Walking” in a form of awkward quasi-rock ’n roll vibe that might enable you so sway your hips with out spilling a drop of your excellent Manhattan. There is a splendidly awkward tongue-in-cheek samba take of Kurt Weill’s “Mack The Knife” which is very shiny and sunny in marked distinction to the lyrics that are a couple of assassin.
I’m A Woman was made again within the early 60s — in all probability Capitol Records’ then state-of-the-art studios in Hollywood — so these are little doubt very good sounding, excessive constancy recordings. The reissue’s producers have presened this music in a comparatively uncompressed method, providing streams as much as 96 kHz, 24-bits. Thehigh decision stream sounds glorious, remarkably heat and wealthy, crisp and quiet.
These are early Stereo mixes, so go into this count on excessive separation, with at occasions drums and strings on one channel with vocals and bass on the opposite. That is a part of the mid-century appeal of those recordings.
There can also be a CD-quality expanded version of the album which sounds fairly good for the primary twelve songs however once you get to the bonus tracks the sound will get a bit brighter at occasions (some tracks are in Mono). There you’ll hear some enjoyable outtakes just like the swinging “Close Your Eyes” and the bluesy model of “Try A Little Tenderness” (sure, this is similar tune that Otis Redding become a rock ’n soul epic some 5 years later; it was initially written in within the Thirties!)
Its fantastic listening to Ms. Lee on an unreleased duet-of-a-sort with Bobby Darin on “Jealous” who was a scorching star of the occasions who had signed to Capitol Records; I gained’t spoil it however their frivolously spirited banter earlier than the tune is enjoyable.
You can leap to I’m A Woman on Tidal in 16-bit, 44.1 kHz MQA format by clicking right here. To hear it in 96 kHz, 24-bit constancy, head over to Qobuz Hi Res (click on right here) and whereas there you may as well hear the “Expanded Edition” (CD Quality, click on right here). It can also be on Apple Music () if you happen to use that platform.
So what are you ready for? Pour your self a martini, sit down in your sofa, put your toes up on the espresso desk and for a second take a little bit journey into one other time and place with Peggy Lee’s I’m A Woman.