Sunday, September 22, 2013

Blossom Dearie - Chez Wahlberg (US, 1985)


It's just a quiet Sunday afternoon and after that last Blossom post I was surprised to find the album I mentioned earlier still on my computer so hastily I packaged it and uploaded it for the few souls who might be curious enough to listen to it.  At last check there were some 90 people who had chosen to download the last album, rightly or wrongly, and to those brave people I dedicate this second offering.

As I said before to me this is a masterpiece of jazz and one of my favourite albums ever.  This is because of the wide range of human relationships she covers in these songs, not just ordinary love songs, but all kinds of eventualities that have happened to us all.  I'll give you an idea by describing some of the songs:

"Are You Still in Love with Emily"
Anyone who has been in a couple of relationships will understand the idea, humorously covered by Elaine in Seinfeld with regards to the guy who got misty-eyed whenever Desperado played on the radio, of looking at your partner and wondering if they are still in love with their ex and thinking of him or her.  The last line just kills me: "I wish Emily would let you go..."

"Good Morning Darling what's your name"
Self-explanatory I guess.

"A Small Love Song"
Another huge lifelong favourite, this is a childhood romance, he was 7 and I was 8, among apple trees and daisy chains in the "summer that will never come again..." Again, something everyone can empathize with.

"A Friend Like You"
The dreaded friend zone?

"Only Yesterday"
Falling in love means suddenly songs and everything are more beautiful than ever before, the whole world is more beautiful: "I can't remember the last time I thought about a tree... will you phone today? will you come and see me?"

"The One who loves the most"
The one who loves the most will walk away, while the one who loves the least will stay.
Who hasn't been through such an experience in life, and understands what she is saying?

So you can see the whole range of feelings the album covers, and I don't think I've ever even heard a single album discuss so many different relationship emotions in one package.
Features the famed Mark Murphy in two love song duets.



A shout out to Jaye Maynard for her reference to Blossom:
http://theblossomdeariesongbook.com/
You're right, she was a musician's musician, like S. Sondheim.

8 comments:

John said...

Blossom Dearie, just a joy to listen to.

mess said...

She's hip

Anonymous said...

Hi, having heard Blossom Dearie's "Party is over" on the radio the other day, I had a look at my HD to see if I had some of her recordings and did not find much. So I turned to the web and there was Prognotfrog with vol. VI (thank you very much!) and this 14-song record posted as "Chez Wahlberg" that confused me, especially with its strange title numbering starting with #10. Generally the "Chez Wahlberg" LP is listed with 16 titles, 8 on each side; the descriptions in Wikipedia and at Discogs differ only in that B7 "Olde Thyme" lacks the "h" in Discog's list, which seems more plausible to me. The 14-song version you present misses "Sad Song Lady" (A2 in the original) and the "Olde Tyme Love Affair", B7 in the original LP. Maybe there are different versions of the LP for Europe and the USA, or maybe you have a rip of a CD with 14 songs only? (Although I could not find any proof that "Chez Wahlberg" was ever issued on CD). Any solution to the mystery?
Thanks a lot from the Black Forest - great blog!

Pluisje said...

Thanx for Dear Deary....but is 1 track missing ?? A2~8 Sad Song Lady seems to be missing according to Discogs http://www.discogs.com/Blossom-Dearie-Chez-Wahlberg-Part-One-Volume-IX/release/4201696

Tristan Stefan said...

Yes, both of you are right, and the solution to the mystery is simple, I hated those 2 tracks and when I burned from computer to a CD, I left them off to save myself the misery of hearing them. So in the copy on backup I ripped from the record, they are there, the record has 16 tracks, it's that simple. The CD I made had another record for the first 9 songs, which is why this one started at track 10. Someday I'll pull out the original rip and post the full album!

Pluisje said...

Thanx will wait for someday ;-)

Anonymous said...

O.K., works for me - thanks for resolving the puzzle, and btw, for a look inside... I'll be back!
Cheers

Tristan Stefan said...

I posted a complete album here:
http://prognotfrog.blogspot.ca/2014/02/part-three-of-blossom-dearie-chronicles.html?showComment=1391255425016#c9159618369739995989

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