Today's cd/The Lyric

Jim Tomlinson/The Lyric/2005

This is my last day of Stacey Kent week! Here is the latest album put out by Jim Tomlinson, and as you see on the cover, it says, "featuring Stacey Kent." She sings on all the songs except two on this cd, and in Jardin D'Hiver, the one playing, she sings in French, and is credited with whistling. :<)



This is a beautiful, beautiful collection of many different kinds of songs, from Corcovado to The Surrey With The Fringe On Top. There was one I'd never heard, If I Were A Bell. I've since read it comes from Guys and Dolls and was written by Frank Loesser. The words are such fun.

Ask me how do I feel,
Little me with the quiet upbringing
Well sir all I can is if I were a gate I'd be swinging,
And if I were a watch I'd stop popping my spring
Oh and if I were a bell
I'd go ding dong ding dong ding.

The cd features the lovely, What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life.

I want to see your face in every kind of light
In the fields of dawn and the forests of the night
And when you stand before the candles on a cake
Oh, let me be the one to hear the silent wish you make

Jim Tomlinson writes his own liner notes, and says:

Stacey sings with the voice with which she speaks, the voice through which she lives and tells her story.
Though most of the songs here are probably familiar, Stacey quietly sets about making each one her own. There are no dramatic departures or radical re-workings, no clumsy emoting, or overbearing attempts to appropriate the songs. Delicately yet indelibly, she stamps her mark on each of them. Stacey possesses an instinctive understanding that great songs, like those presented here, do not need anything added. Rather, she shines a light on what is already present, revealing the song's essence and through that process, she reveals her own precious soul.
The quiet perfection of Stacey's performances stands in contrast to much that passes for art today, like a diamond glinting in a bowl of shattered glass.

He calls himself "fortunate in having Stacey Kent as my musical and my life's partner", as are we, their listeners and fans.