Various Artists - Blue Valentines: From Blue Note With Love (1999)

Nice mix of styles, artists, decades, instrumentation, etc. We're treated to delicate ballads, lite bossa, hard bop, big band, torch songs, and early '60s pop. All with the common theme of love, of course. I will say, however, having the word "love" in the title doesn't necessarily make the song romantic or appropriate for February 14 (e.g., Falling In Love With Love, Loverman). I'm not wild about My Funny Valentine, but here we get three different takes on that standard. Sequencing is off and leads one to think this was just thrown together without much thought. There are much better choices for a romantic evening (from Linda Ronstadt, for example.) A good, not great, compilation despite the star power: an interesting idea, poorly executed.

Part of Blue Note's "Blue Series" CD compilations from the 1990s:

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

1. My Funny Valentine - Dinah Shore/Andre Previn (1960)
2. Let There Be Love - Nat King Cole/George Shearing (1962)
3. Lover - Sonny Clark (1958)
4. Falling In Love With Love - Hank Mobley (1957)
5. So In Love - Peggy Lee (1961)
6. What Is This Thing Called Love - George Shearing (1956)
7. Love Letters - Julie London (1962)
8. Loverman - Stan Kenton Orchestra (1957)
9. At Last - Lou Rawls (1989)
10. Like A Lover - Dianne Reeves (1991)
11. My Funny Valentine - Chico Hamilton (1955)
12. I'm In The Mood For Love - King Pleasure (1961)
13. Like Someone In Love - Duke Pearson (1959)
14. As Time Goes By - Hugh Lawson (1990)
15. I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling - Mel Torme (1949)
16. My Funny Valentine - Chet Baker (1954)

I'm partial to the instrumentals; my favorites today are Lover, Falling In Love With Love, What Is This Thing Called Love, and Like Someone In Love. Of the vocal tracks, I dig Dianne Reeves singing Like A Lover (first made familiar to me by Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66) plus The Velvet Fog crooning I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling, which contains my favorite lyric of the album: "Hey, Mr. Parson, stand by." Reeves and Lou Rawls share a tasty duet on At Last over a wonderful string arrangement.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:

Blue Bacharach (1999)	Capitol Rare (1999)
Blue Brazil (1999)	Capitol Rare Vol 2 (1999)
Blue Break Beats (1992)	Capitol Rare Vol 3 (1999)
Blue Beat (1991)	Blue Bossa (1991)
Blue Boogie (1999)	Blue Bossa Vol 2 (1999)
Blue Series Sampler (2001)	Midnight Blue (1999)
So Blue So Funky (1994)	Blue 'N' Groovy, Vol 2