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Still Unforgettable (Amazon Exclusive Bonus Track) | 
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| Artist: Natalie Cole
Label: Rhino Records
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $10.47
You Save: $8.51 (45%)
New (51) Used (16) from $5.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 374
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 512315
UPC: 643027811121
EAN: 0643027806127
Release Date: September 9, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Walkin' My Baby Back Home(w/Nat King Cole) | | • | Come Rain Or Come Shine | | • | Coffee Time | | • | Somewhere Along The Way | | • | You Go To My Head | | • | Nice 'N' Easy | | • | Why Don't You Do Right? | | • | Here's That Rainy Day | | • | But Beautiful | | • | Lollipops And Roses | | • | The Best Is Yet To Come | | • | Something's Gotta Give | | • | Until The Real Thing Comes Along | | • | It's All Right With Me | | • | How Do You Keep The Music Playing |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
17 Years After The Multi-Platinum Album "Unforgettable...With Love", The Eight-time Grammyr Winning Singer prepares to release her follow-Up album 'Still Unforgettable' on 29th September with substantial UK promotion to coincide with the release. This much anticipated release is a timeless collection of popular tracks from the great American songbook, transformed to life with Natalie's beautiful vocal and iridescent flair. Natalie has had an amazing string of hits throughout the years including 'This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)', 'Miss You Like Crazy' and 'Pink Cadillac', achieving Grammy success eight times over. 1991 saw the release of 'Unforgettable' featuring her own poignant arrangements of her Father the legendary Nat King Cole's greatest hits. The album went on to sell over 14 million copies worldwide. Recorded at the historical Capital Studios in LA and produced by Natalie herself, the album features classics 'Walkin' My Baby Back Home' a duet with Nat King Cole, 'Come Rain or Come Shine', 'Here's That Rainy Day' and 'But Beautiful'. Pre-ceding the album release, is the lead track from the album 'Walkin' My Baby Back Home' - a wonderful duet with her late father Nat King Cole, which was first released by him in the 1950's - available digitally from 29th July. A brand new video for this song and an EPK is being created for TV promotion.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 Still Unforgettable, still brilliant October 15, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Like her albums "Unforgettable w/ Love" and "Take a Look" from 1991 and 1993 respectively, Natalie Cole takes on the classic American songbook. The results are again breathtaking. Lush, exquisite arrangements and outstanding production complement Miss Cole, who's in fine voice as much as ever. If you buy just one album this year, make it this one.
*wolf7*
Sweet and Mellow October 17, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Relaxing and mellow. Reminds us what a great voice Natalie Cole still has. Would have liked more "Duets" with Dad, though.
Well worth the six year wait September 10, 2008
29 out of 55 found this review helpful
I awoke this morning thinking about Natalie Cole (her latest CD went on sale today in Canada) and my thoughts were about Natalie's long-ago `Winnipeg connection.'
Back when Natalie was embarking on her own career, and appearing for the first time on TV-network talk shows -- like Mike Douglas (more about that in a moment) Natalie performed at a long-forgotten Winnipeg nightclub -- "Town & Country." It was there Natalie met with the wife of a dear friend -- named Edna Ducharme, then our city's preeminent dress designer (whose creations were once featured in the Chicago Tribune fashion pages).
Natalie asked Edna to custom-design some dresses, and wore them, to Edna's delight, on a couple of network TV appearances. Edna died several years ago (after a long battle with diabetes). And, I'd like to think she's looking down today -- and smiling proudly at Natalie's continuing appreciation for the most exquisitely-beautiful, (one-of-a-kind?) fashion creations --- as modeled by Natalie on the cover and liner notes of this latest `gem' of an album.
That style and grace certainly extends to the music here!
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Do me a favor, would you? When you get this CD, go straight for track 8 - "Here's That Rainy Day" [one of the two best songs written by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen -- the other is "But Beautiful" - the track that follows this one]. Just leave your CD running from there . . . for what may be the BEST sequence of several songs on the album (though every one of these is brilliant, and each arrangement sparkles with subtle, delightful differences.
All my life I've been waiting to hear (what I would declare) the "best-ever" version of "Here's That Rainy Day." Up till this evening, my favorite was Frank Sinatra's reading (to a magnificent Gordon Jenkins' arrangement).
This one, dare I say, surpasses Frank's - filling my heart with joy: Absolutely note-perfect in every way! Natalie's slow and gentle, almost rubato, out-of-tempo, take on "Rainy Day" breathes new life into every word of Johnny Burke's poignant, two-stanza masterpiece. And the arrangement by the (almost) incomparable Alan Broadbent . . . leaves me lost for words. [Correction: Alan did most of the beautiful ballad arranging here . . . but not this one -- another one orchestrated by Nan Schwartz, (see below).]
The track that follows, "But Beautiful" has been performed by many vocalists ("over 400 recordings," Natalie says in her own liner notes) but this rendition is another "best-ever" recording, I think.
[A word about Natalie's delivery: It is as powerful and lovely (and `athletic' and `artless' -- even more like Sinatra than her Dad) and you would never guess that Natalie faces "chemo" for Hepatitis C in the days to come, "and all my hair cut off next week" (she said last night on "Entertainment Tonight").]
Following "But Beautiful," is a genuine surprise - a lovely reading by Natalie (with almost motherly advice) on the never-out-of-date ways to touch a woman's heart: a truly brilliant re-working of a song that won Jack Jones a Grammy in 1960 -- "Lollipops & Roses." (Words and music by Tony Velona - who had two other hits 40 years ago: "Domani" ("Tomorrow") and the instrumental "Music to Watch Girls By").
Just listen to Natalie caress these words (to a subtle and sublime orchestration by a "new" arranger - a woman named Nan Schwartz): It's like opening a door to something so fresh and fragrant. (I envy those who are hearing this one for the first time!)
"One day she'll smile . . .
Next day she'll cry
Minute-to-minute
You'll never know why . . .
Tell her you care,
Each time you speak
Make it her Birthday
Each day of the week . . .
"Nan Schwartz" - you get my vote as "Best New Arranger" 2008 - hope you help Natalie win another Grammy! (Any relation to Arthur S. of "Dancing in the Dark" fame, I wonder?)
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Half these songs are ballads -- brilliantly-performed and superbly orchestrated, employing a 48-piece string section. The other seven tracks are "swing" performances just as brilliantly arranged for 'Big Band' -- with a 19-member brass section, including trumpet great, Warren Luening, (who does a solo and closing obligato 'to die for' on "Here's That Rainy Day." The big-band is arranged (mostly) by master bass player, Jim Hughart.
Frank Sinatra, who did a brilliant, late-in-life rendition of "Until The Real Thing Comes Along" would forgive me, I believe, for saying this version by Natalie "retires the trophy" [even though it could not include some additional stanzas, custom-written for Frank by Sammy Cahn, (which include perhaps `dated' references like)
"I'd walk on burning coals for you,
I'd take the Chrysler - leave the Rolls, for you!"]
For the `closer' to this great album, Natalie selected Cole Porter's IT'S ALL RIGHT WITH ME . . . and it is note-perfect in every way. The big band musicians dance with Natalie at a quick fox-trot tempo -- a sparkling, tightly-arranged orchestration by Harold Wheeler, who allows some joyful 'call-and-response' between the singer and her all-star cast. Simply brilliant!
Natalie's `duet' with her Dad on the opening track provides a shining example of improved recording engineering, in the 17 years since Nat & Natalie's first Grammy-winning duet, for the "Unforgettable" album [which has sold an astonishing 14 million copies, and is always (including this very day) Amazon.com sales-ranked in the "Top 250" of the 2-to-3-million CDs now available at the world's biggest website).]
Naturally, Natalie went straight to the "Tower that Nat Built" - Capitol Studios, Hollywood, to ensure that this album, like her others, would be "recorded and mixed by (the legendary) Al Schmitt" who has managed to capture even greater `spatial depth' of individual musicians; perhaps his best work to date?
I've listened to this album four times tonight (five as I type this) and it just keeps getting better and better! I've been smiling with joy for so long now, my facial muscles are hurting!
One more thing: Something I look forward to each time Natalie gifts us with a new album of standards (this is her fourth such offering but the first one in six years). There's always a great tune most of us have never heard before. This time, it's "Coffee Time" - a deceptively simple little `riff' tune (as Frank Sinatra used to call them) - this one written by my second-favorite composer, Harry (Salvatore Guaragna) Warren.
Natalie (in her delightful, but too-brief) liner notes gives credit where its due - "to Tony Bennett."
"I ran into Tony on several occasions in 2007 and he kept bugging me about doing this song! I had never heard of it. But he said I would thank him . . . and he was right: Introduced in 1945 by Fred Astaire and recorded by the late Mike Douglas the talk show host, [there we are, Edna!] as well as by singer Carmen McRae. It's totally cool, Tony - thank you!"
[NOTE to Natalie: On your spring tour this year, you made one stop in a Canadian city (lucky Halifax, Nova Scotia). Just wanted to say, we have a world-class symphony orchestra here in the "world's coldest major city." And we promise you a warm welcome, should you find your way back here!]
Mark Blackburn
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Still Unforgettable is simply superb!!!! September 12, 2008
4 out of 13 found this review helpful
Natalie Cole has done it again. I cannot stop listening to this CD. Her production is absolutely sublime. I'm proud of her and wondering why did it take her so long to produce her own CD? Clearly she has done a great job with this effort. Her rendition of How do you keep the music playing is haunting, yet beautiful. Simply superb!!! Good job Natalie.
A Warm Welcome After "Unforgettable With Love". . . It's "Still Unforgettable" September 12, 2008
9 out of 23 found this review helpful
"It is with pleasure and delight that I bring to you once again...some of the most Unforgettable Music of all-time. Ever since a certain record called "Unforgettable" changed my life and my career back in 1991, I have had the 'itch' to re-create this moment if at all possible once again. And so, seventeen years later I found myself delving into that great American Songbook looking for more treasures...and I was not disappointed." ~ Natalie Cole ~
I'm not disappointed either. And so with the enthusiastic admirers of Natalie Cole's music and artistry as evident in its sales rank. As of this writing, this album ranks #5 in music sales at the world's biggest website, Amazon.com.
It's been a while since I bought a Natalie Cole CD and I welcome this newly-released album "Still Unforgettable" with warmth and child-like enthusiasm. It is, indeed, a lovely and unforgettable album which is much-awaited and a perfect sequel to her bestselling album in 1991, Unforgettable: With Love. I've been listening to it non-stop since last night - each listen comes with greater appreciation for Ms. Cole's incredible flair and talent. It is surely a potential material for a Grammy nomination and award taking into consideration her exceptionally beautiful interpretations enhanced by the sublime big band and orchestral arrangements from various arrangers namely; pianist Alan Broadbent, one of my all-time favorite pianists/arrangers whose superb artistry I've seen in live performances at Spazio in the past, bassist Jim Hughart, Bill Holman, Patrick Williams, Harold Wheeler and Nan Schwartz; and the excellent musicianship of the rest of the big band musicians such as Tamir Hendelman (piano), Jeff Clayton (sax), Warren Luening (trumpet), Gregg Field (drums), among many others, and an impressive group of orchestra players.
The entire album is simply splendid and is worthy to any music lover, but the center of my ears' attention includes absolutely breathtaking interpretations of "You Go To My Head" and a seldom-recorded song but a favorite of mine when I was in my teens, "Lollipops And Roses." The first version I heard was from my late father's record of Perry Como. And not to mention a dramatically powerful reading of "Here's That Rainy Day" highlighting the hauntingly beautiful trumpet solo by a fine musician, Warren Luening, and an engaging danceable digital duet with Nat King Cole, "Walkin' My Baby Back Home." Ditto with heartfelt treatments of "Until The Real Thing Comes Along," "But Beautiful," and special mention to a song from Kurt Adams and Sammy Gallop that was first recorded by her legendary Dad in 1952 which remained on TOP 10 for 25 weeks, and also the first of five songs that she singled-out on Liner Notes, "Somewhere Along The Way." It was also recorded by Bette Midler and Tony Bennett. While the notes do not indicate who the arranger is for this track, the arrangement particularly the intro reminds me so much of one of Nelson Riddle's charts. I maybe wrong, but I guess it is Alan Broadbent's chart.
"The friends we used to know
Would always smile "Hello"
No love like our love, they'd say
Then love slipped through our fingers
Somewhere along the way
I should forget, but with the loneliness of night
I start remembering everything
You're gone and yet
There's still a feeling deep inside
That you will always be a special part of me."
The CD booklet's centerfold shows Ms. Cole in four different poses donning a very elegant evening gown -- she looks fabulous and much younger than her age. On her Liner Notes for Ask a Woman Who Knows, she said, "When life gives you lemons, you'd better learn how to make lemonade." Amen to that. For me, not only I learned how to make lemonade, I've also perfected my Lemon Meringue Pie. I admire her fighting spirit, and I earnestly pray for her recovery. On all her acknowledgments on Liner Notes, she never fails to thank God ... "First and foremost to God who is my All in All...my Lord and my Redeemer."
Thank you, Natalie Cole! It's been a lovely listening experience.
P.S. Thank you kindly to a wonderful friend, MH, (Brad Pitt of O.C.) for your thoughtfulness. This will be one of my cherished CDs from my collection. A keeper.
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