Capitol Sings, Vol. 17: Jimmy McHugh - I Feel a Song Comin’ On

RELEASE
1995
LABEL
Capitol
GENRES
Vocal Music, Cool, American Popular Song, Torch Songs, Swing, Show Tunes, Bop, Jump Blues, Vocal Pop, Cast Recordings, Traditional Pop, Vocal Jazz, Standards

Album Review

Jimmy McHugh is one of the lesser-known songwriters to be included in the Capitol Sings series of compilations, but several of his songs, including "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," and "I'm in the Mood for Love," are standards, and many more, written during a 40-year career mostly devoted to Broadway and Hollywood, are familiar. McHugh's most successful work was written with lyricist Dorothy Fields in the late '20s and early '30s, and much of his catalog predates the founding of Capitol Records in 1942. So, necessarily, most of the selections here are 1950s recreations of songs written in previous decades. (One exception: Nat "King" Cole's popular recording of "Too Young to Go Steady," drawn from McHugh's unsuccessful attempt to return to Broadway with Strip for Action in 1956.) That means lots of vibrant studio orchestra music conducted by Nelson Riddle and Billy May, among others, and lots of bravura singing by people like Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Dinah Washington, and Sarah Vaughan. But there are also some performances that provide a change of pace, such as Julie London's smoky "I'm in the Mood for Love," accompanied only by bass and guitar, and Chet Baker's jazzy reading of "Let's Get Lost." The result is more a grab bag than a definitive McHugh compilation, but there are some excellent individual interpretations.
William Ruhlmann, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. I Feel a Song Coming On
  2. Too Young to Go Steady
  3. It's a Most Unusual Day
  4. You're a Sweetheart
  5. I'm Shooting High
  6. I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night
  7. I Can't Believe That You're in Love With Me
  8. I'm in the Mood for Love
  9. Let's Get Lost
  10. Can't Get Out of This Mood
  11. Warm and Willing
  12. Exactly Like You
  13. Cuban Love Song [#]
  14. When My Sugar Walks Down the Street
  15. Don't Blame Me
  16. A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening
  17. Where Are You?
  18. On the Sunny Side of the Street
  19. Love Me as Though There Were No Tomorrow
  20. I Can't Give You Anything But Love