In mining the cavernous Capitol Records vaults for very rare -- and in some cases previously unheard -- Peggy Lee recordings, The Lost '40s and '50s Capitol Masters picks up where other praiseworthy CD anthologies left off.
Over the past ten years, Peggy collectors have enjoyed such multi-CD collections as Miss Peggy Lee (1998),
The Complete Peggy Lee and June Christy Capitol Transcription Sessions (1998), and
The Singles Collection (2002). Through these extensive projects and some valuable single-disc compilations -- most notably Capitol Collectors' Series (1990) and Rare Gems and Hidden Treasures (2000) -- collectors have savored hundreds of recordings from the fertile first portion of Lee's solo recording career (1944-1952), many of them never reissued during the long-playing album era and others entirely unreleased. Following in that tradition, Collectors' Choice Music, in association with EMI Music Special Markets, releases The Lost '40s and '50s Capitol Masters, featuring 39 tracks not found on any of the above releases -- nor on any other solo Peggy release from Capitol/EMI.
Of particular interest to collectors are the twelve previously unreleased tracks, including the enduring standards A Cottage for Sale and Something to Remember You By, along with some slightly less familiar titles that nonetheless have been recorded by many other singers through the decades: I've Had My Moments; Trouble Is a Man; A Hundred Years from Today; and Music, Maestro, Please. Other previously unreleased tracks are true obscurities: I Don't Know What to Do Without You, Baby (co-written by Peggy's Lady and the Tramp songwriting partner, Sonny Burke); Don't Give Me a Ring on the Telephone (a Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke song parody); and Pick Up Your Marbles and Go Home (co-written by Steve Nelson of Frosty the Snowman fame).
In addition to the twelve previously unreleased tracks, two songs are heard in previously unreleased alternate versions: Don't Be So Mean to Baby and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Both alternates were recorded three months before the versions that Capitol issued.
Among the collection's many rare singles are lesser-known songs by such distinguished songwriters as Cole Porter (Climb Up the Mountain); Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke (Sunshine Cake); and Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green (So Far, So Good). Although the George and Ira Gershwin song Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did? was released on a Gershwin CD from Capitol featuring various artists, this is its first official appearance on a Peggy solo CD. Peggy the songwriter is represented by three of her many collaborations with husband Dave Barbour: Don't Be So Mean to Baby; Neon Signs; and That Ol' Devil Won't Get Me. Though Barbour was the primary arranger-conductor for these recordings, other sessions were led by Sid Feller, Billy May, Louis Prima, and Pete Rugolo.
The Lost '40s and '50s Capitol Masters is produced by Jim Pierson, whose work on previous Peggy projects includes the popular 2004 documentary Fever: The Music of Peggy Lee, available on DVD, and the two-CD compilation of Decca hits and rarities, Classics and Collectibles (2003). While preparing this project, Pierson discovered two 1947 recordings previously unknown to researchers: Love Ye and What'll It Getcha?
Nicki Lee Foster, Peggy's daughter, shares reminiscences in the CD's booklet, alongside liner notes by David Torresen, editor of PeggyLee.com. All four releases in the Collectors' Choice series (The Lost '40s and '50s Capitol Masters; All Aglow Again!; Then Was Then, Now Is Now / Bridge Over Troubled Water; and Make It With You / Where Did They Go) will be available exclusively from Collectors' Choice upon initial release in mid-March, 2008. All will become available in wider release on May 27, 2008.
Disc One
(recorded 1944 to 1949)
1. Ain't Goin' No Place
2. A Cottage for Sale (previously unreleased)
3. Don't Be So Mean to Baby (alternate version - previously unreleased)
4. Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?
5. I've Had My Moments (previously unreleased)
6. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (alternate version - previously unreleased)
7. Trouble Is a Man (previously unreleased)
8. Music, Maestro, Please (previously unreleased)
9. It's Lovin' Time
10. Ain'tcha Ever Comin' Back?
11. It Takes a Long, Long Train with a Red Caboose
12. The Freedom Train (with Johnny Mercer, Benny Goodman, Margaret Whiting and The Pied Pipers)
13. A Hundred Years from Today (previously unreleased)
14. Keep Me in Mind (with Benny Goodman)
15. Love, Your Spell Is Everywhere
16. Love Ye (previously unreleased)
17. What'll It Getcha? (previously unreleased)
18. I Wanna Go Where You Go Then I'll Be Happy
19. I Don't Know What to Do Without You, Baby (previously unreleased)
20. Neon Signs
Disc Two
(recorded 1949 to 1952)
1. A Man Wrote a Song
2. Sunshine Cake
3. Run for the Roundhouse, Nellie
4. The Cannonball Express
5. Don't Give Me a Ring on the Telephone (previously unreleased)
6. If I Could Steal You from Somebody Else (previously unreleased)
7. Ay, Ay, Chug a Chug
8. Something to Remember You By (previously unreleased)
9. Climb Up the Mountain
10. Pick Up Your Marbles and Go Home (previously unreleased)
11. That Ol' Devil Won't Get Me
12. If You Turn Me Down
13. Boulevard Cafe
14. It Never Happen' to Me
15. So Far, So Good
16. My Magic Heart
17. Telling Me Yes, Telling Me No (with Mel Torme)
18. Shame on You
19. Goin' on a Hayride
