🎵 AotW Classics Claudine Longet CLAUDINE SP-4121

[Harry]

Claudine Longet
CLAUDINE
A&M SP-4121

Released in mono as LP-121, and on Japanese CD POCM-1939

Tracks:

SIDE ONE
1. A Man And A Woman (Un Homme Et Une Femme) (Barough-Lai) 3:08
2. Here, There And Everywhere (Lennon-McCartney) 2:18
3. Meditation (Meditacao) (Jobim-Gimbel-Mendonca-Marnay) 3:09
4. Tu As Beau Sourire (Jourdan-Canfore-Baselli) 2:43
5. A Felicidade (Jobim-de Moraes) 3:35

SIDE TWO
1. Wanderlove (Mason Williams) 2:20
2. Hello, Hello (MacNeil-Kraemer) 2:13
3. Sunrise, Sunset (Bock-Hornick) 3:12
4. Until It's Time For You To Go (Buffy Sainte-Marie) 2:18
5. My Guy (W.Robinson) 2:38

Credits:
Producer: Tommy LiPuma
Arranger: Nick De Caro
Engineer: Bruce Botnick
Album Design: Peter Whorf Graphics

 

[Harry]

I was a latecomer to the Claudine Longet party, never having bought any of her albums originally. Back in 1999 or so, an outfit called Thoughtscape Sounds, which imported a lot of albums from overseas, was having a closeout sale on a number of titles. All four of the 1994 Claudine Longet titles were on sale for $10 each, so I grabbed all four of the then-available titles, and I'm happy I did.

I particularly enjoy this first album, though admittedly, Ms. Longet's vocal capabilities take a bit of getting used to. I find her easier to listen to than Charis Montez, anyway. The big musical fun here are the Tommy LiPuma productions and the Nick DeCaro arrangements.

I think my favorite here is "Wanderlove", which was also featured on the FAMILY PORTRAIT album.

Harry

 

[Moritat]

Well, I really surprised myself when I voted for Wanderlove. My initial instinct was to vote for Hello Hello which has been my favorite Claudine Longet song ever. But in the last 5-10 years, I've REALLY grown fond of Wanderlove. So I thought... its really a tie between the 2 tunes. After voting I was shocked to see that all 3 votes are for the same song! The opening of Wanderlove is outstanding! Her very average voice is offset by those teriffic A&M arrangements. Hello Hello has the great piano. Other arrangements work as well. Felicidade (my third choice) has a very cool short sax solo. Its really a pretty good album.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I've only heard two Claudine Longet songs -- "Snow," from SOMETHING FESTIVE, and the tune that appears on the MUSIC BOX collection. I just can't get to where I enjoy her voice.

I like looking at her pictures though!

 

[Dave]

My Claudine collection began with seeing her first four albums on an A&M Inner-Sleeve...

I mail-ordered them from a good, reliable dealer in California, since I didn't think that they would be very easy to find here... I also assumed that getting them all from one place would mean they would all be in Mint Shape, as the seller claimed, even used...

Well, it wasn't long after that before I found all four titles on a CD that regularly carries Import CD's, including a few A&M's, and after managing to sell or trade-off the records, I then bought them...

I also found While You Were Sleeping on Barnaby, there, too... But the print was so small, I hunted down a new copy (also mail-order purchased Online) on vinyl...

I also owned Run Wild, Run Free, her last A&M (which appears on a later A&M Inner-Sleeve) and I was disappointed that I couldn't find it on CD and We've Only Just Begun, another LP on Barnaby was what completed my collection (And I later wanted We've Only Just Begun on CD, so I ordered it from Amazon.com...)

I had at least a couple non-LP '45's of hers... A double-sided white-label Promotional Copy of "Sleep Safe & Warm (from ROSEMARY'S BABY)", which with a boys choir she used on one of her other songs, was not quite the ideal find... I also had "Flea In Her Ear", which I also wasn't to crazy about, and long-out-of my Claudine phase, I believe I saw a '45' of "White Horses", which I think was backed with "Nothing To Lose" from the Peter Sellers movie, THE PARTY, that now I regret not buying... (Maybe because I was holding out for "Shadows Of The Night (QUENTIN'S THEME)", which her ex-hubby Andy Williams also did...)

That brings us to this album that I used to enjoy and I think both the front and back cover photos of her are excellent, but at the same time, she gets a lil' too giggly, almost as though her ad-libs between songs were accidentally recorded...

I also dislike the "cutesy" material, such as "Hello, Hello", which was done by the early Psychedelic group, Sopwith Camel and "Until It's Time For You To Go", covered by many, including its author, Buffy Saint-Marie...

So this debut album of Claudine's was the first to go, as the rest of her works (though also eschewed one-by-one until I was left with the two Barnaby releases, While...Sleeping on vinyl and We've...Begun on CD) I have found to be generally a lot more listenable and enjoyable...

And in that regard, I picked "Wanderlove" (written and later recorded by Mason Williams) which I at least could hear on the A&M Multi-Artist LP, Family Portrait as my favorite...



Dave

 

[Harry]

We've Only Just Begun was her last A&M and I was disappointed that it didn't make it to CD and Run Wild, Run Free, another LP on Barnaby were what completed my collection

That's backwards. WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN was on Barnaby, and RUN WILD, RUN FREE was her last A&M.

Harry

 

[JOv2]

This is a good debute LP. The arrangements were done with care to support the unique vocal stylings of the singer. The use of English horn is particularly lovely (recalling the wonderful Mitch Miller/Music Until Midnight LP ['54]) -- as is the sitar, refreshingly heard in a "straight" role away from the typical psychedelia-swamped offerings characteristic of 1967. (I believe the LP was cut in late '66 -- which would give De Caro high marks for the use of that instrument well before its mainstream popularity. Perhaps we'll find out the recordings dates soon enough!) Matching a "French" singer with Brazilian material was a wise move that worked quite well.

Mason Williams' Wanderlust may be the strongest all-around performance on the LP (geeze, now there's an artist who was tragically ignored by the CD re-release boom!).

The Japanese-CD issue from the '90s is a terrible transcription. Even when played through a tube CD player and a tube amp the shrill strings will surely decalcify one's spinal column at concert volume; while the flute on My Guy is so distorted one could plausibly pass it off as an early Ian Anderson experiment.

The first time I heard Claudine Longet was a bit over 20 years ago...I borrowed a 45 I spotted in someone's parent's record collection. I remember playing it and my first girlfriend trained a pair of piercing blue eyes on me exhibiting a frighteningly-accusatory look of hideous "what the *@#&$ are you playing!" proportion. She said not one word...and wrote the following on a scrap piece of paper: hard-ons for middle-aged white boys.

~ A-HEM ~​

Well, er...uh -- needless to say, she didn't like the 45. Same story for gf#2 --who, oddly enough, had a voice quality similar to Claudine's (sans the accent as well as an ability to carry a tune). In fact, I can't think of one music-type I've ever been able to get to like this stuff over the ensuing 20+ years.

An acquired taste for sure.

 

[Dave]

We've Only Just Begun was her last A&M and I was disappointed that it didn't make it to CD and Run Wild, Run Free, another LP on Barnaby were what completed my collection

That's backwards. WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN was on Barnaby, and RUN WILD, RUN FREE was her last A&M.

Harry

Yes, I know... I fixed it, realizing I was in a hurry to write all that, the first time...



Dave

 

[Harry]

I also owned Run Wild, Run Free, her last A&M and I was disappointed that it didn't make it to CD

Though RUN WILD, RUN FREE was rather difficult to find, it WAS available as a Japanese import with the others. The fellow that runs the Cuddle Up With Claudine website had, for years, maintained that RUN WILD, RUN FREE was part of the Japanese releases in the '90s.

It's since been re-issued on mini-LP CD from Japan in limited quantities.

Harry

 

[Dave]

...I also owned Run Wild, Run Free, her last A&M and I was disappointed that it didn't make it to CD...

--

...The fellow who runs the Cuddle Up With Claudine website...--

Which can be found right here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~elbroome/longet/​

Ran into it quite "accidentally" doing a general AOL Search for information on Claudine Longet that I couldn't get off The Corner...

--...had, for years, maintained that RUN WILD, RUN FREE was part of the Japanese releases in the '90s...

...It's since been re-issued on mini-LP CD from Japan in limited quantities...

Ooh, yes, I've misquoted myself, again...!!! I meant to say that "I was disappointed that I couldn't FIND it on CD"...

Although, in comparison with the restocking of the other four titles at that particular store (or at least SOME or a FEW of the other four) in succeeding years, Run Wild...Free must've, at least to my speculation, been in limited quantities (or maybe the store I saw it at just never had it), though I never exactly saw it Amazon or other places Online until the more recent reissuing took place!



Dave