Noel/Cole: Let’s Do It
(Recording)
Louise Gold starred as herself, on the Original Chichester Cast Recording of this
David Kernan revue, recorded on 27 & 29 May 1994 at Whitfield Street
Studios
Catalogue number: (CD) SONGCD 910
(Cassette) SONGC 910
Cast
Singers - Liz
Robertson, Louise Gold, David Kernan, and Robin Ray
Guest
Appearance by - Peter Greenwell
Special
Guest Star - Pat Kirkwood
Production Team
Music and
Lyrics by - Noel Coward and Cole Porter
Arrangers -
Compiled by
- David Kernan
Scripted by
- Robin Ray, and, Dick Vosburgh
Pianos -
Bass - Steve
McManus
Drums - Richard
Coles
Album
produced by - David Kernan, and, James Fitzpatrick
Executive
Producer - Reynold de Silva for Silva Screen Records
Engineered
by - Mike Ross-Trevor
Editing by -
Steve Shin
Track Listing
SONGCD 910
1. Opening Medley:
Where
Are The Songs We Sung? (by Noel Coward from Operette
in 1938)
/ From This Moment on (by Cole
Porter from Out of This World in 1950)
/ Play, Orchestra, Play (by Noel
Coward from Tonight At 8:30 in 1936)
/ Another Op’nin, Another Show
(by Cole Porter from Kiss Me Kate in 1948)
- David Kernan, Liz Robertson, and, Louise
Gold (arranged and played by
2. My Heart Belongs To Daddy
(by Cole Porter from Leave It To Me in 1938) - Liz
Robertson (arranged by
3. Matelot (by Noel
Coward from Sigh No More in 1945) - David Kernan
(arranged and played by
4. Blow Gabriel Blow
(by Cole Porter from Anything Goes in 1934) - Louise
Gold (arranged by
5. Mrs Worthington
(by Noel Coward from Miscellaneous) - Peter Greenwell
(arranged & played by Peter Greenwell
6. 3 Coward Waltzes:
Someday
I’ll Find You (by Noel Coward from Private Lives
in 1930)
/ I’ll Follow My Secret Heart
(by Noel Coward from Conversation Piece in 1934)
/ I’ll See You Again (by Noel
Coward from Bitter Sweet in 1929)
- David Kernan, Liz Robertson, and, Louise
Gold (arranged by
7. The Physican
(by Cole Porter from Nymph Errant in 1933) - Louise
Gold (arranged and played by
8. It’s Delovely
(by Cole Porter from Red Hot & Blue in 1936) - David
Kernan, Liz Robertson, and, Louise Gold (arranged by
9. Chase Me Charlie
(by Noel Coward from Ace Of Clubs in 1950) - Pat
Kirkwood (arranged and played by Matthew Freeman)
10. You Don’t Know Paree
(by Cole Porter from Fifty Million Frenchmen in 1929) - Liz
Robertson (arranged and played by
11.
/ I Happen To Like
- (arranged by Jason Carr, played by Jason
Carr & Paul Bateman)
12.
I’m
Throwing A Ball Tonight (by Cole Porter from Panama
Hattie in 1940)- David Kernan, Liz Robertson, and, Louise
Gold
/ I’ve Been To A Marvellous Party
(by Noel Coward from Set to Music in 1939) - Peter
Greenwell, David Kernan, Liz Robertson, and, Louise Gold
- (arranged and played by Jason Carr & Paul
Bateman)
13. Useless Useless Phrases
(by Noel Coward from Sail Away in 1961) - Peter
Greenwell (arranged and played by Peter Greenwell)
14. Nina (by Noel
Coward from Sigh No More in 1945) - David Kernan
(arranged and played by Jason Carr & Paul Bateman)
15. You’re The Top
(by Cole Porter from Anything Goes in 1934) - Pat
Kirkwood (arranged and played by Matthew Freeman)
16. I wonder What Happened To Him
(by Noel Coward from Sigh No More in 1945) - David
Kernan, and, Peter Greenwell (arranged and played by Paul Bateman)
17. Mad Dogs & Englishmen
(by Noel Coward from Words And Music in 1932) - Robin
Ray (arranged by Jason Carr, played by Jason Carr & Paul
Bateman)
18. 20TH Century Blues
(by Noel Coward from Cavalcade in 1931) - Liz Robertson
and Louise Gold (arranged by Jason Carr, played by Jason Carr
& Paul Bateman)
19. Finale:
Come
The Wild Wild Weather (by Noel Coward from Waiting
In The Wings in 1960)
/ Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye
(by Cole Porter from Seven Lively Arts in 1944)
/ I’ll See You Again (by Noel
Coward from Bitter Sweet in 1929)
- David Kernan, Liz Robertson, and, Louise
Gold (arranged by Jason Carr, played by Jason Carr & Paul
Bateman)
The
Cassette SONGC 910 follows the same listing as the CD SONGCD 910, but with tracks 1 to 11 on Side A
and tracks 12 to 19 on Side B.
All
the performers on this album, of course appeared in Noel/Cole: Let’s Do It on stage, at
least at
The
Trio, David Kernan, Liz Robertson, and, Louise Gold are
all left-handed.
It
is perhaps worth noting that Paul Bateman’s arrangement of The
Physician, at least, was one which he never wrote down, but played from
memory every time they did the show.
David Kernan,
Liz Robertson and Louise Gold went on to appear together in Side By Side By Sondheim, and in the Side By Side By Sondheim 25th Anniversary
Gala, and, Side By Side By Sondheim 30th
Anniversary Gala.
Liz Robertson had
previously appeared in The
Royal Variety Performance (1982), she went on to appear in Regents Park 70th Anniversary Gala
Liz Robertson
and Louise Gold had previously appeared separate halves of Chicago & Company, which was produced by
David Kernan, and had musical accompaniment by
Liz Robertson,
Louise Gold, and, Peter Greenwell all appeared quite separately
in A Time To Start Living, which were
produced by David Kernan, and had musical accompaniment by
Steve McManus
also did musical accompaniment for Defiant Dames..
Louise Gold
also appeared in Kids At Heart, which was
directed by David Kernan, and had accompaniment by
Louise Gold
and David Kernan had previously appeared in Sondheim At The Barbican
Louise Gold,
David Kernan, and, Steve McManus may have also appeared in Comedy Tonight
Louise Gold,
David Kernan and
Louise Gold and Liz Robertson
may have previously appeared together, along with David Kernan in Will-Aid, which David Kernan also directed.
Peter Greenwell composed and arranged
some of the music for Will-Aid.
Matthew Freeman’s conducting
talents can also be heard on The
Great Musicals – Dashing Heroes, Blushing Maidens.
Louise Gold
had previously appeared in Ziegfeld, a show
for which
Louise Gold, Liz Robertson, and, Steve McManus
were all involved with Happily Ever After.
David Kernan, and, Liz Robertson’s recording credits
include The Great Musicals – Laughter And
Tears; which also features Matthew
Freeman’s conducting talents.
Louise Gold
and Liz Robertson both sing Cole Porter on Cole Porter - Night And Day, which
includes Ms Gold’s other version of Blow Gabriel Blow, and
another recording Ms Robertson made of From This Moment On.
Louise Gold has appeared in six and a
half Cole Porter shows, namely the five shows he wrote for Ethel
Merman: Anything Goes, Red Hot & Blue, Du Barry Was A Lady
(see: Du Barry Was A Lady (1993
Production), and, Du Barry Was A Lady
(2001 Production)), Panama Hattie, and Something For The Boys, as well as Kiss Me Kate, the half being Noel/Cole: Let’s Do It (since it is half by
Cole Porter and half by Noel Coward). She has also sung Cole
Porter’s songs on stage on various other occasions, such as: A Time To Start Living, A Lost Musicals Occasion, and, her own
cabaret “Louise Gold Sings Some
Nice Songs”. Unfortunately she has seldom recorded Cole Porter. In
2001 she starred on BBC Radio in a broadcast of Du Barry Was A Lady, but the only actual
albums she has recorded are this one, and the JAY/TER version of Anything Goes - Website Recommended Album, various excerpts
from the latter have also turned up on a number of compilation albums.
Louise Gold
of course also sang It’s Delovely, in its proper original form
when she appeared in Red Hot & Blue,
and, I’m Throwing A Ball Tonight when she appeared in Panama Hattie, both at The Barbican.
Steve McManus
went on to play in the pit orchestra for the London Production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang whose
cast Louise Gold joined for the last year and a half.
Review
by Emma Shane, 31
July 2002
At
first glance this album may appear to be just another album from one of those
compilation revues, in genre the popularised by Side By Side By Sondheim.
At first glance perhaps nothing remarkable. But initial appearances can be
deceptive, and sometimes these sort of albums can contain some truly remarkable
fresh performances, even of songs that have become standards. Fortunately this
is one such album. It also happens to be one of the few recorded examples of Louise
Gold singing Cole Porter that has actually been fairly widely
available, making it a ‘must have’ for anyone who enjoys that
particularly delovely combination. The various tracks on this album vary
in quality, mostly from the pleasant or nice-enough to the truly stunning, with
a minority on the tediously less than good side. That said, some of the
numbers, especially some of those arranged by Jason Carr do lean to the
weird, fortunately he gets away with it, because, these are performed by a trio
of singers who can make that kind of thing work. Liz Robertson is an
experienced performer in songwriter compilation shows, while David Kernan
and Louise Gold both possess a wealth of experience from the zany world
of television comedy-variety.
Medleys
of songs are standard fare for this sort of compilation shows. In this one
perhaps they went a little overboard with the medleys, but on the other hand it
is a rather effective way of presenting snippets of a lot of well known songs
which sometimes when done in their entirety either become tedious, or get done
to death by trying to make them interesting (although performers such as Liz
Robertson and the wonderful Louise Gold could almost certainly sing
them in their entirety without either of those fates befalling the songs). The Three
Coward Waltz’s and the finale are the least remarkable of the medleys.
They are pleasant and they are very well sung, by three singers who really know
what they are doing. The only trouble is they sing the songs so well, one
almost wishes they were doing them as solos rather than medleys. For this
medley the trio basically sang one song each. David Kernan sang an
entirely passable rendition of Someday I’ll Find You, While Liz
Robertson sang I’ll See You Again very nicely. The surprise
of the trio was I’ll Follow My Secret Heart, in which the
reputedly gutsy Louise Gold demonstrated the really beautiful exquisite
quality of her voice. I’ll See You
Again resurfaced later in the finale medley, where it was mainly sung,
very sincerely, by Louise Gold, that medley also included Come The
Wild Wild Weather mostly inhabited entirely satisfactorily by David
Kernan and Every Time We Say Goodbye largely sung by Liz
Robertson, with some assistance from the other two. The other major medley
on the CD is of course the Opening Medley, this too is sung by
the trio, and in this medley they basically sing the bulk of each song in
harmony together. They start with David singing Where Are The Songs We
Sung, he is soon joined by the girls, and the trio move on to From
This Moment On, and then Play, Orchestra Play, Louise
then branches into Another Op’nin Of Another Show, for a time the
other two continue with Play Orchestra Play, before joining her
in Another Op’nin Of Another Show. The medley ends with a compote
of reprises from earlier bits of the medley. One thing that struck me listening
to this track, especially Louise Gold’s rasping of Another Op’nin
Of Another Show, was how it sounded uncannily like something from The
Muppet Show! One can’t help wondering if this has something to
do with a certain arranger’s excellent taste in TV comedy, or a certain
singer’s past, which cannot be forgotten! (And why should such a wonderful past
be forgotten anyway?) One thing noticeable about both the opening and closing
medleys is how David and Liz often seem to get paired together, leaving Louise
to stand-alone. However, if they had to split the trio into a one and a two,
for a counterpoint, then that is probably the most sensible way of doing it, as
judging by the way she dominates when they are singing together, for example in
From This Moment On in the Opening Medley, it needs
the combined forces of the other two to match to her astounding abilities.
Another function of medleys in compilation shows, and compilation show albums,
such as this, is to compare and contrast different songs that broadly speaking
fulfil a similar, or contrasting function, a particularly notable example of
this occurs in the Act 1 finale medley of David Kernan
singing a pleasant rendition of London Pride, and the two women
performing I Happen To Like New York, needless to say Mr Kernan
is somewhat drowned by those strong voiced females.
Medley
form is not the only means of making a classic song interesting in a show such
as this, the effect can sometimes be derived by individual performers doing the
number ‘differently’, which is not necessarily a bad thing, or by taking
what is normally a solo or duet and turning it into a funny ensemble piece.
There are a number of examples of these sorts of things on the album, using
some of Cole Porter’s songs, the most effective of which is the trio
singing It’s Delovely, which must be one of the few numbers by Cole
Porter, and certainly numbers written for Ethel Merman, which is
actually able to withstand this sort of treatment. The least effective is Pat
Kirkwood’s rendition of You’re The Top, other than trying to
turn what was originally a duet into a solo there is nothing really wrong with
her performance of it, but to my ears, at least, it just doesn’t quite make it,
perhaps I’m too much of a perfectionist when it comes to songs written by Cole
Porter (and especially those written for Ethel Merman). Yet another
Merman song that gets a ‘funny’ treatment in this show is I’m
Throwing A Ball Tonight, although the trio, and in particular Louise,
put it across with a great deal of energy and enthusiasm, I would have much
preferred to hear this song done as a solo by the magnificent Louise Gold,
since she could have done this justice on her own, without any help from the
other two.
Good
solo performances, however, is not something this album is in any way short of.
the Chichester show’s narrator Robin Ray, gets a fine chance to
demonstrate his singing talents with that wonderful Coward classic, Mad
Dogs And Englishmen, a song which though written in 1932, is in many
ways astonishingly up to date, in the way its comments about avoiding harmful
UV rays). Then there are the guest artistes. Pat Kirkwood quite rightly
shines with a Coward song that was written for her, Chase Me Charlie.
Peter Greenwell does a brilliant Cowardesque job with his two solos: Mrs
Worthington is a fantastic number to the kind of woman that Styne
and Sondheim would later immortalise in Gypsy, the stage
mother (Noel Coward himself had been to stage school and was a child
actor). Somewhat ironically on this album, the track comes immediately after a
stunning performance from a tall loud-voiced actress with a wide smile who actually
was stage school trained; although fortunately there the similarities between
that actress, and the character in this song end (this lady actually has clear
bright eyes, very good legs, and she really can sing and dance). In my opinion
(whatever that says about a persons sense of humour), Useless Useful
Phrases is one of the funniest songs that Noel Coward ever
wrote, I can only hope that he intended the song to be humorous, because if he
did not, then I regret I do not comprehend it. Peter Greenwell also
sings a duet with David Kernan, I Wonder What Happened To Him,
the song is really rather funny, although one has to bear in mind the era in
which it was written (the days of British India), but then ending seems
surprisingly modern. Did Noel Coward really write a lyric about
gender-changes? There is one more shining Noel Coward excerpt on this
album to which Peter Greenwell makes a contribution, I’ve Been To
A Marvellous Party, this number is also hilariously funny, mainly
thanks to the comedy skills of the trio, especially such expert performers as David
Kernan and Louise Gold, the latter being particularly splendid,
because she is just so good at delivering lines.
The
trio too each get their individual moments of glory on the album, each has at
least one solo in which they shine, and Louise Gold, in fact has two. David
Kernan sings an entirely passable version of Matelot, in much
the same way that he has sung Anyone Can Whistle in various
performances of Side By Side By Sondheim. His real triumph. however,
is Nina. He sings it brilliantly, with all the style the number
demands (and I have to say I agree with Nina on the subject of Carman
Miranda). I would very much like to know who yelled “Ohlay” at the
end of the track though? Liz Robertson’s strong number is My Heart
Belongs To Daddy, she does not sing it in any way innocently, but she
does sing it with sincerity, as if she genuinely means it (in a rather Pygmalion
kind of way). Her performance of You Don’t Know Paree, is that of
a more mature woman (possibly a widow), she sings this with a lot of sincerity
too, although it seemed to me the less remarkable number. To my mind Liz
Robertson’s most outstanding performance on this album, actually occurs in
a duet with Louise Gold, 20TH Century Blues. One often
expects Louise Gold to be gutsy, and one expects her to do
unrecognisable accents. The real surprise on this track is Liz Robertson.
For once Liz has managed to match Louise, gutseiness for gutsieness,
indistinguishable accent for indistinguishable accent. On this track their
voices blend together so extraordinarily well that even their loyalist fans
would be hard put identify them individually, I know there are some moments on
this track where I certainly can’t untangle them! And that really is due
largely to Liz Robertson’s performance of the number, although naturally
Louise Gold plays her part brilliantly too, and Jason Carr’s
extraordinary arrangement must have been a contributory factor.
And
what of Louise’s solos? The Physician, arranged and played by Paul
Bateman, is by far the more straightforward of the two, well in a way it
is. Paul has given the number a fairly straightforward arrangement, but one
which suits Louise Gold’s voice extremely well. However, such simplicity
can be deceptive, especially with Louise Gold around, and this number is
absolutely no exception, as it gives Louise a marvellous opportunity to indulge
in vocal acrobatics with her gift for doing voices, quickly and effectively. On
this number she seems to be changing voices practically every other line of the
song. One word of warning, if you play this track, do make sure your CD and
player are clean, otherwise you can get quite a shock if it jumps while Louise
does the stunning octave leap. In fact Louise sings The Physician
almost too well, after hearing this version if it one doesn’t want to hear
anyone else’s version, because they sound so tame by comparison. Louise’s other
solo, Blow Gabriel Blow, might be described as Louise Gold
and Jason Carr being weird. For it is certainly one of his weirder
arrangements, and she responds to that by giving it one of her weirder
renderings. It is so unusual that it does take a bit of getting used to, and,
your initial reaction may very well be not to like it. I know I was unsure about
it when I first heard it, and even now, I think I actually prefer the more
standard version that Louise recorded with John Owen Edwards for JAY/TER.
But, that said, this version of Blow Gabriel Blow is worth
persevering with getting acquainted with, for what Louise and Jason have
achieved with it is truly remarkable. Naturally Louise ends with an example of
that wonderful ability she has of being able to go from chest tones to head
tones without shifting gears, although she does not do it quite as spectacularly
as she did on the JAY/TER recording; and naturally, the
instrumental part gives Jason Carr an opportunity to put his own
arrangers mark on the piece. In this particular case that instrumental included
some distinctively well executed piano playing (I can’t help wondering if that
is the arranger’s own playing?). But there is much more to this track than just
a good arrangement and a singer with the perfect abilities for the number.
Quite simply in this performance Louise Gold, with the assistance of Jason
Carr’s unusual arrangement, achieves the impossible, she makes the song
completely her own. Generally when singers do numbers written for Ethel
Merman, even if they (quite sensibly) try to do the numbers in their own
way, they rarely succeed in making the songs their own, the song still has Ethel
Merman stamped all over it. Normally when Louise Gold sings a song
written for Ethel Merman she sings it very much in Ethel Merman’s
style, and she (alone) manages to sound uncannily like that unique lady. On this
track however, apart from her passing vocal similarity, and her sheer vocal
power, she doesn’t do Merman at all, she almost entirely erases that indelible
Merman stamp, and truly sings the number as though it had been written for her,
the song is transformed into being complete and utter pure Gold!
Critics Comments
.
Links about
Noel/Cole: Let’s Do It (Recording)
The Cole
Porter Reference Guide (includes a piece about Noel/Cole: Let’s Do It, and
the recording): http://www.geocities.com//porterguide/
Silva
Screen Records’s entry for various Cole Porter tracks, including
some from this album: http://www.silvamasters.com/master_search_results_two.cfm?Searchtype=COMPOSER&Search=Cole%20Porter
Cast album.org database’s entry for
this album: http://www.castalbums.org/recordings/2351
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Let’s Do It (Stage Show)