Nat ‘King’ Cole: Ramblin’ Rose (1962)
How can they call this “Easy Listening” if it’s so damn hard to listen to???
I don’t blame Nat ‘King’ Cole for kowtowing to white, post-war America and its pathetic palate for mainstream pop music, nor for putting his incredible Jazz pianist skills on the back-burner to provide more financial security for himself and his family, but that doesn’t ease the pain inflicted by these tunes.
Built around the titular “Ramblin’ Rose,” which reached No. 2 in 1962, sold over a million copies as a single, and was later nominated for a Grammy, this album makes similar period efforts by Sinatra and Dino sound positively edgy.
Of course, that’s because, as a black man, Cole had to work twice as hard for half as many returns, and that necessitated capturing the most innocuous, non-threatening renditions imaginable of “When You’re Smiling” and “Goodnight, Irene, Goodnight,” both backed by sappy choirs, lush orchestral arrangements, the works!
Elsewhere, a few country-flavored efforts like “Twilight On the Trail” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart” take listeners to the NOT-so-Wild West, though, if you listen real hard, you’ll catch a single, nifty Rock & Roll guitar lick sneaking into “I Don’t Want it that Way.”
But this only illustrates and underscores the reasons why that new teenage craze -- which at the time was enduring a brief setback, between the first generation ‘50s rockers (*) and The Beatles-led British Invasion -- was bound to wipe the popular music slate clean before too long.
Not before the Ramblin’ Rose album shifted tens of thousands of copies across the milquetoast suburbs, ensuring that vinyl-collecting gluttons for punishment like you and me will inevitably find one of these in every used record store today, “From Sea to Shining Sea.”
Well, here’s hoping that this blog saved you some precious time of “hard listening” and a used copy’s typical $0.99 price point.
* Most of those ‘50s rockers were “conveniently” sidelined in ‘62 by a variety of scandals (Chuck berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis), stints in the armed forces (Elvis was still rebuilding momentum after his discharge), or premature death (Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran).
More Nat ‘King’ Cole: Penthouse Serenade.
