18.7.12

"This love of mine" by Jack Jones (1959)



For years I just couldn't take this ridiculous cover photo - because of it, I dismissed this artist completely and just recently re-visited the album again, listening with my ears instead of looking at the cover - its actually pretty fair vocal album of its time and perhaps I was to critical initially. 

Jack Jones was very young at the time and this was his first step into recording studio (for "Capitol Records" no less) so very probably he had to go with whatever bigwigs suggested, including attention-grabbing photo cover representing him like a caveman, which by the way is completely wrong anyway because Jones was a gentle crooner of romantic ballads, there is absolutely nothing macho about his music. Of course, nobody comes close to Sinatra on his turf, although young singer valiantly tries quite a few songs associated with chairman - "This Love Of Mine", "We'll Be Together Again" and "Angel Eyes" are closely associated with Sinatra, while "To Whom It May Concern" was already recorded by Nat "King" Cole. Comparisons are unfair because these artists were genuinely untouchable at the time and young newcomer was nowhere near their heights - Jones had a mellow, relaxed delivery that puts him in the group of pop crooners like Andy Williams, Pery Como and the rest of Las Vegas entertainers which eventually became his livelihood. In a way, "Capitol Records"  sabotaged him with this silly album cover, because later when he moved to "Kapp Records"  hits started pouring and he just continued on and on successfully forever, weathering rock and roll surprisingly well. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the music here, except that it relied too much on standards and he would have been served much better with new material, but that was just around the corner. 

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