Debbie Reynolds - Cocktail Hour (2000)

Tracklist

CD1:

01. Tammy (2:45)
02. A Very Special Love (2:56)
03. Am I That Easy to Forget (2:19)
04. City Lights (2:25)
05. Fine and Dandy (2:56)
06. Gimme a Little Kiss Will Ya (2:31)
07. You're the Cream in My Coffee (3:16)
08. You Won't Be Satisfied (2:44)
09. Aba Daba Honeymoon (2:03)
10. Why Not Me? (2:19)

CD2:

01. Right or Wrong (2:37)
02. Are You for Real? (2:01)
03. Hey Jimmy, Joe, John, Jim, Jack! (2:53)
04. Music Box (2:57)
05. Whistle (1:18)
06. Love Tastes Like Strawberries (2:02)
07. Joey (2:36)
08. Moonglow (3:46)
09. Here I Am in Love Again (2:51)
10. Is Goodbye That Easy to Say? (2:18)


At the turn of the millennium, legitimate in-print U.S. compilations of the recordings of Debbie Reynolds were in sufficiently short supply that when one appeared, however modest it might have been, one would tend to grade it on a curve. Perhaps, then, it would be better to sidestep the flaws in Cocktail Hour -- that, with a running time of less than 52 minutes, it could have fit onto one CD instead of being spread over two, that the annotations are scant, failing to acknowledge that the versions of Reynolds' hits "Aba Daba Honeymoon," "Tammy," and "A Very Special Love" are re-recordings -- and focus instead on what is here, 20 tracks drawn from Reynolds' stints on Dot Records and ABC-Paramount Records in the late '50s and early ‘60s. Fresh from her lengthy movie contract with MGM (and its concomitant recording contract), Reynolds signed to Dot following her two hits on Coral Records, "Tammy" and "A Very Special Love," the product of her being loaned out by MGM to Universal for the 1957 film Tammy and the Bachelor. Dot took a two-pronged approach to developing her as a recording artist. On the singles front, the label decided to treat Reynolds as a potential Connie Francis, giving her light rock & roll arrangements that brought chart success on the songs "Am I That Easy to Forget" (which inevitably reminded people that Elizabeth Taylor had just stolen her husband, Eddie Fisher) and "City Lights." But on her debut LP, Debbie, Dot tried for the adult market, having her cut standards over string charts, such as "Moonglow." Very little of the latter approach is heard on this compilation. Rather, a lot of Reynolds' failed singles and oddities are included instead. The version of "Aba Daba Honeymoon" presents this 1914 copyright as a rock & roll twist number; "Right or Wrong" is another attempt to emulate Connie Francis; and "Why Not Me?" is a torchy ballad in the style of "Tammy." "Is Goodbye That Easy to Say?" seems like it would be a rewrite of "Am I That Easy to Forget," but actually is more of a country tune, complete with piano playing that sounds like Floyd Cramer, as if Dot were trying to have Reynolds become Patsy Cline. All of this is curious, and certainly rare (some tracks have not been heard since appearing on one-off 45s in the early ‘60s), but it is not the best of Debbie Reynolds on Dot, much less the best of Debbie Reynolds in general. As of 2000, however, Cocktail Hour was one of the few Debbie Reynolds CDs for sale in the U.S., and that counts for something.~William Ruhlmann