Barry's First Head-On With Standards
5
By a song 4u
Outside of the opening and closing tracks of this album which are originals designed to "sandwich", Barry dove head on into standards territory, not just standards but big band and he pulls it off nicely. Rosemary Clooney guests on "Green Eyes" it's not much of a duet as both she and Barry trade off verses but Rosemary is in fine voice. Another duet is "Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree" with Debra Byrd, this particular song, not this version because she passed years ago, was one of my Grandmother's favorites, she sang it almost constantly. Barry being the showman he his pulls off this foray into big band territory quite well, the cover art of this album isn't flattering, Barry looks "lifted" and mannequin-like standing in front of his band with a microphone, but the cover is not a deterrent from this album, a fine index of the hits of the big band era.
