Patty Duke Sings Songs From The Valley Of The Dolls & Other Selections

Album review

Patty Duke got a pass on her "teen" oriented albums, but by the time her role in the film The Valley of the Dolls came around there was no excuse for the complete lack of finesse, misunderstanding of great lyrics, and general off-key performance, which is totally disrespectful to the listener, the excellent backing musicians, and the songwriters. Just when you think Duke has hit the depths and can't go any lower, "I'll Plant My Own Tree" kicks in and must stand as the all-time worst rendition of a song by André and Dory Previn in all of music history. At least Duke's hits in 1965, "Don't Just Stand There" and "Say Something Funny" had enough reverb on her voice and production to make them entertaining and workable on a Shelley Fabares/Gary Lewis level, but this album is a travesty. How is it possible such a gifted actress would attempt to sing a theme song indelibly marked in the public consciousness as one of the key pieces of Dionne Warwick's repertoire? She actually sings "Valley of the Dolls" worse than "I'll Plant My Own Tree." Dancer Gene Kelly's liner notes (there's a cute little dancer next to his name, the highlight of the album), are ludicrous, and appear to be written by a publicist. "You have to climb to the top of Mount Everest to reach the Valley of the Dolls" wrote Jacqueline Suzanne in the poem that opens the book. Why these producers and arrangers (Arnold Goland did much work with Patty Duke and should've known better) didn't have Duke read the exquisite Suzanne poem and passages from the novel over these arrangements is the real question. Now that would've been a milestone. Instead, there is this public record that, indeed, Patty Duke had visited "The valley of the dolls." Sounds like she was trapped there.

© Joe Viglione /TiVo