Noel Coward Sings Songs from 'Sail Away' (1999 Remastered Version)

Noel Coward

Released on 01/01/1961 by Parlophone UK
Main artists: Noël Coward
Genre: Pop

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Since the 1920s, Noël Coward has been recording at least some of the songs he has written for his stage plays and musicals, and in the '50s he staked out a separate career as a cabaret performer, notably with the performances captured on the LP Noël Coward at Las Vegas. For his 1961 Broadway musical Sail Away, he not only wrote the libretto and the songs (music and lyrics), but also directed the show and even drew the illustration on the cover of the original Broadway cast album. His name features prominently in advertising for the show ("Noël Coward's new musical comedy Sail Away"), and he even appears beside its star, Elaine Stritch, on the cover of the Playbill magazine passed out to theatergoers. So, it's no surprise that he has recorded his own album of the songs from the show. If anything, this album is better than the original Broadway cast LP. Coward begins with "The Passenger's Always Right," managing to switch between several different types of British accents as he jumps from character to character and delivers mouthfuls of clever lyrics. Elsewhere, he mostly sticks to his familiar upper-class accent, with its clipped syllables and rolled "R"'s, and it is a wonderful vehicle for getting the most out of the rapid-fire words with their many internal rhymes. (From "Why Do the Wrong People Travel?": "There isn't a rock/Between Bangkok/And the beaches of Hispaniola/That does not recoil/From suntan oil/And the gurgle of Coca-Cola.") As was noticeable on the original Broadway cast album, the best songs are the comic ones -- "The Passenger's Always Right," "The Customer's Always Right" (the same tune with different lyrics), "You're a Long, Long Way from America," "Useful Phrases," and "Why Do the Wrong People Travel?" Ballads like "Later Than Spring" and "Something Very Strange" are attractive, but not memorable. On this album, however, they serve as good changes of pace so that listeners can catch their breath before the next torrent of wordplay, and Coward certainly delivers them appealingly. Although the songs suggest the cruise ship storyline of the show, this could be simply an album of new Noël Coward songs, and, if the singer/songwriter desired, could serve as the basis for another successful season in Las Vegas or even just an engagement at the Copacabana.

© William Ruhlmann /TiVo

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Noel Coward Sings Songs from 'Sail Away' (1999 Remastered Version)

Noël Coward

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