Betty and Rosemary are Just De-Loveley
Bruce K. Hanson | Petersburg, VA | 08/23/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Until I heard the Sisters CD I had no idea of Betty Clooney's wonderful voice. Talent just seems to run in that family. Of course I had heard the Clooney Sisters' duet Sisters long before as well as their recordings with Tony Paster but I had no idea that Rosemary's younger sister made any solo recordings. Leave it to a foreign company to reissue songs sung by a voice that typifies what was really good during the fifties. In fact, she's still excells thanks to these sparkling clean versions heard on this CD. Were these really 78 rpm records? After listening to Betty sing, I can fully appreciate why her duets with Rosemary worked so well; they were both blessed with the same voice. OK, not exactly. Betty's voice was just a little higher than her sister's and she approached her songs just a wee bit more "head on" than Rosemary's more subtle approach. What's fun is you can hear Betty smiling as she sings. Honest. This is great news for someone like me who has almost all of Rosemary's commercial recordings. Yet there's even more good stuff on this CD. It includes the complete Philips album of Rosemary's concert at the London Palladium which was recorded at two performances between July 19 through August 1, 1955. For some reason, when that album was released here in the states, the folks at Columbia Records felt the need to cut several songs and then add other studio recordings with canned applause! A few years ago it was re-issued on the Collectibles label and the sin was repeated. Yikes! (Fortunately, Bear Records included the original in their amazing Rosemary Clooney CD sets.) Now, at last, fan's of Rosemary Clooney can listen to "live" versions of "This Ole House", "You Make Me Feel So Young", ""Brahm's Lullaby", and a stunning "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me" which opens with Rosemary accompanied by Buddy Cole at the piano. Also included in that concert was a medley of her current hits including "Come On-A My House", Botch-A-Me", and "Mambo Italiano". Added to the above delights is a rare issue of "Happy Birthy, My Darling" which Rosemary recorded for Gibson's cards and the charming duet, "Mr.and Mrs." with then husband, Jose Ferrer. I never could take his solo efforts but on the occasions when he joined his wife in the studios, there was infectuous magic. Also note that another shorter version of this song was used in the MGM film, "Deep in My Heart". The CD ends with what else? "Sisters"! There's one thing certain here: This CD will probably be a very popular gift item in the Clooney clan. Luckily, now we all don't have to be in the family to appreciate Betty Clooney's legacy to music."
Track Listings (28) - Disc #1