Then Was Then Now Is Now!

Album review

Peggy Lee is one of the very few singers to have been fortunate enough to make the transition from the 1940s and '50s style of big-band jazz and Hit Parade standards into the comparatively mod post-British Invasion pop world. Granted, Lee wasn't destined for the top of the charts. However, the 11-song Then Was Then, Now Is Now! (1965) does showcase the artist's wide and somewhat eclectic interpretive styles. She certainly hasn't abandoned her ability to belt out jazzy melodies, as aptly demonstrated on the Sid Feller-arranged opener, "Trapped (In the Web of Love)," or the signature sound of Billy May's brassy and stylish score during "Leave It to Love." Nor has Lee lost any of the appeal that she infuses into her interpretation of the slower-tempo "Losers Weepers," the title track "Then Was Then (And Now Is Now)," the breathy intimacy of "(I'm Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over," and the charming "The Shadow of Your Smile" (aka "Love Theme from The Sandpiper"). Yet the most consistently engaging material spotlights the singer in a hipper context. The swinging and tambourine-shakin' "Free Spirits" is a prime example of Lee letting her proverbial hair down, while she gets funky on her update of Willie Dixon's blues classic "Seventh Son." All but standing in a class by itself is the sensitive cover of the Kinks' Ray Davies-penned "I Go to Sleep." Perhaps not surprisingly, those three selections all hail from a sole July 7, 1965, Feller-led recording session. After several decades out of print, in 2008 Collectors' Choice Music paired Then Was Then, Now Is Now! with Lee's Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970) LP and supplemented the collection with a trio of bonus tracks. These include the Sid Feller-directed single-only sides "Stop Living in the Past" and "Maybe This Summer" plus, under Billy May's skilled baton, an excellent reading of the Steve Allen-inked "This Could Be the Start of Something Big."
© Lindsay Planer /TiVo