Universal, US (0881131002)
Release date: January 14, 2003

Universal presents the first CD compilation highlighting the romantic side of Peggy Lee. These recordings are drawn from Peggy’s years at Decca Records (1952-1956), which are most often remembered for her brassy hit “Lover;” her gleeful Lady and the Tramp songs; and the album Black Coffee, with its late-night torch songs. But as Love Songs reveals, Peggy — then in her early thirties — was equally convincing as a starry-eyed romantic… and as a swingin’ young lover. The tracks:

I’ve Got You Under My Skin
You Go to My Head
Crazy in the Heart
Autumn in Rome
I’ve Grown Accustomed to His Face
Do I Love You?
I Never Knew
Love You So
Sugar
You’re My Thrill
Me
I Belong to You
The Night Holds No Fear (for the Lover)
Love Letters

Three songs make their first-ever appearance on CD: “Me” (by Irving Berlin), “I Belong to You” (by Alex North and Jack Brooks, from the Kirk Douglas film The Racers), and “The Night Holds No Fear (for the Lover).” Three more appear on CD for the first time in the US or UK: “Autumn in Rome,” “I Never Knew” (from Peggy’s Oscar-nominated performance in Pete Kelly’s Blues), and Cole Porter’s “Do I Love You?” The latter was recorded three years before Peggy’s more familiar version with George Shearing on the classic Beauty and the Beat! album.

The release date is January 14 — a month before Valentine’s Day.