Sings For All Sizes

Album review

This odds and sods collection was the third of four 12" LPs from James Darren, whose talents reached beyond that of a teen idol singer and onto the silver screen. Sings for All Sizes (1962) gathers a dozen sides from numerous sources, such as tunes used in the popular series of "Gidget" romance flicks, as well as cuts that had formerly been available only on 45 rpm singles. The timing of the release suggests one primary impetus was the novelty-esque "Goodbye Cruel World" becoming Darren's first Top Ten smash. Aside from that, the material has become more notably oriented toward a youthful market. This was a contrast from Album No. 1 (1960) and Love Among the Young (1962), as both contained heavily scored adult MOR cuts of traditional pop. Appropriately, "Goodbye Cruel World" opens the effort with the familiar melody based on the calliope sounds of a circus. Although arguably lightweight, it allowed the artist an opportunity to connect to his core audience. However, with the exception of the bubblegum folderol "I Don't Wanna Lose Ya," a majority of this album features the vocalist backed by a chorus warbling a garden variety of conventional love songs in a fairly predictable pre-rock & roll style. Standouts include the up-tempo ballad "Angel Face," one of the earliest platters to have garnered Darren attention, as well as the airy "How Sweet Are You," with instrumental support that is curiously similar to Frankie Avalon's hit "Venus." The concluding "Man About Town" and "Dream Big" return to the copious orchestration and big-band arrangements, although the results are uniformly even, as opposed to the bulk of the disc, most of which is dismissible. In 2004, Collectors' Choice Music packaged both Sings the Movies (Gidget Goes Hawaiian) (1961) and Sings for All Sizes onto a single CD, making each available for the first time in four decades.

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