Various Artists - The Glory of Gershwin (1994)

In which people who have no business singing Gershwin sing Gershwin. Produced by George Martin, this tribute album was a celebration of the 80th birthday of harmonica player Larry Adler (1914 - 2001). Adler himself plays the harmonica on each of the songs and it must have been fun for him, so there's that. I'll admit the star power is here and the song selection is impeccable, but this compilation is not for me.

But enough of my thoughts, let's see what the rabble over at Amazon has to say about it:

• "Not as good as I anticipated, but, hey, it's Gershwin. How bad can it be?"
• "The rumbling you feel isn't an earthquake it's George & Ira rolling over in their grave."
• "The best thing about this music is Larry Adler's harmonica" [agreed]
• "the performances really are unstylistic and unfaithful to the original ideas of Gershwin"
• "the album is slightly dull; it has the dusty feeling of those specials your local PBS affiliate runs during fundraising week to get donations from nostalgic baby boomers"
• "ersatz elevator music. The female performers hold the CD together." [I am in complete agreement with that last bit]

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #192, but reportedly a top 10 album in other parts of the world.

Tracks:

Summertime	Peter Gabriel	✘
Nice Work If You Can Get It	Sting	✘
They Can't Take That Away From Me	Lisa Stansfield	✔
Someone To Watch Over Me	Elton John	✘
I've Got a Crush On You	Carly Simon	‒
But Not For Me	Elvis Costello	✘
It Ain't Necessarily So	Cher	‒
The Man I Love	Kate Bush	✔
How Long Has This Been Going On	Jon Bon Jovi	✘
Embraceable You	Oleta Adams	✔
My Man's Gone Now	Sinéad O'Connor	✘
I Got Rhythm	Robert Palmer	‒
Somebody Loves Me	Meat Loaf	✘
I'll Build A Stairway To Paradise	Issy Van Randwyck	‒
Summertime	Courtney Pine	✔
Rhapsody In Blue	Larry Adler & George Martin	‒

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None