Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Melancholy Serenade
2. Best Is Yet to Come
3. I Can't Get Started
4. When Your Lover Has Gone
5. Out of Nowhere
6. But Beautiful
7. I'm in the Mood for Love
8. From Russia With Love
9. Mystery Street
10. If I Should Lose You
11. Tenderly
12. If He Walked into My Life
13. Ruby
14. Glamour
15. Days of Wine and Roses
16. Misty
17. You and the Night and the Music
18. Moonglow
19. Mad About the Boy
20. For All We Know
21. Lover Man
22. Smile

Disc 2:

1. Melancholy Serenade
2. Yesterdays
3. That Certain Party
4. Moonlight
5. Midnight Sun
6. Laura
7. Taste of Honey
8. Brazil
9. I Love Paris
10. Allo, Allo, Allo
11. Last Dance
12. Darn That Dream
13. You Oughta Be in Pictures
14. But Not for Me
15. Shadow of Your Smile
16. Willow Weep for Me
17. It All Depends on You
18. Lawrence of Arabia
19. Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody
20. Deep Purple
21. Blue Velvet
22. That's All
23. Girl from Ipanema
24. Moon River

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9631 in Music
• Released on: 1996-11-05
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .38 pounds

Customer Reviews

good anthology, well annotated
For those of us who have long wondered what the music sounded like on those Jackie Gleason albums long out of print ("Lover's Portfolio," "Rebound," "Lonesome Echo" and so forth), this is a good place to start. Selections from no less than 31 of Gleason's Capitol albums from the 50s and 60s can be found here along with single releases and previously unreleased sides. For each track the liner notes list recording date, soloist, and album on which the track first appeared.

The instrumentations on these sides range from full string orchestra with soloist (often trumpet) to brass orchestra to flute orchestra to mandolin orchestra (try it--you'll like it). The selections here are mostly standards with a few Gleason originals thrown in--one of these, "The Moonlight," is breathtaking. Wistful, yearning, and always romantic are the superb renditions of "Ruby," "I'm in the Mood for Love," "You Oughta Be in Pictures," and "I Can't Get Started." I've listened to these tracks over and over and haven't tired of them yet!

Get this compilation while it's still in print and let's all try to persuade Capitol to re-release some of Jackie Gleason's original albums--"Music, Martinis and Memories" inter alia.

Gorgeous Heavenly Music!
This double Cd compilation Of Jackie Gleason's Finest recordings is heavenly! I bought the David Duchovny Dvd "RETURN TO ME" and was so overwhelmed by the music soundtrack featuring Dean Martin & Jackie Gleason. Those guys were among the finest balladeers and musicians who have ever existed. I can recall both men's variety shows on television when I was a small child and how my parents just loved watching every one of them weekly. For all of you true music lovers, PLEASE get the "Return To Me" soundtrack(see the movie...you'll laugh, you'll cry...great new romantic lovestory classic!) and also get this great Jackie Gleason double disc as well as Dean Martin's "The Capitol Years" double disc mini-box set. All this music has never really gone out of style! It's been revived by the likes of LINDA RONSTADT(her Nelson Riddle Orchestra albums in the 80's), Harry Connick(90's), and the great new classy balladeer JOEY GIAN, who is featured both on the "Return To Me"(2000)movie & the soundtrack. Many other artists are still keeping this music alive all over the world.

"The Great One"
Jackie Gleason was one of the entertainment world's renaissance men. He was an accomplished comedian, actor, arranger, and composer. His music will forever serve as his living legacy. His works set the standard for many of the great musicians who followed, including Mantovani, Mauriat, and others. This CD eloquently captures the soft, sultry, and seductive sounds from an era that was Jackie's alone.

Jackie could not read a note of music, yet he composed and arranged some the of finest music ever recorded in America. He was a gifted artist who could blend the sounds from a crystal-clear coronet, with a simmering sax, soaring strings, and a deep, resonant bass to create an ambiance for romance, reflection, and rapture. From his signature work "Melancholy Serenade" to contemporary classics like "Ruby" and "Misty," the music flows like vintage wine...