There
are lots of Cole Porter CDs and some are better than others. If
you are looking for a CD for yourself or for a gift, this may help
you. Clicking on CD titles links you to details and the option to
buy at Amazon.com.
If you link from this site to Amazon.com and purchase there, you
help support Cole Wide Web, a community service!
This list includes only currently available CDs that
contain only Cole Porter songs. This list does not contain
CDs (movie soundtracks or bands) that contain less than 100% Cole
Porter. This also does not include out-of-print CDs or albums only
available on tape/record. If you are interested in comprehensive
album coverage, that would take an entire book! In fact, that book,
"The Cole Porter Discography", is very thorough; you can find more
info about it on the Cole Wide Web Books
page.
If you want to add CD information to this list or
send me free CDs for me to review, please write
to me.
Note that I list some CDs with the record label/publisher
on the same line as the title. This indicates there are several
CDs with similar names from different labels. Be careful when ordering
these CDs!
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Anything
Goes: Capitol Sings Cole Porter
An excellent CD with 25 tracks with great singing, great
artistry, and high production values. It contains particularly
brilliant renditions of "What Is This Thing Called Love" by
Keely Smith and "Just One Of Those Things" by Nat King Cole.
If you could only have one Cole Porter CD, this would be the
one to have. |
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Cole Porter fans should own this. |
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Cole Porter fans will love this. |
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Cole Porter fans would like it. |
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Worthwhile to hear, but you may not listen often. |
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Good for collectors, but not recommended. |
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Recommended by someone else. I don't have it, so I won't rate
it. |
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These are CDs that Cole Wide Web owns and has rated.
Note that you might need to try several sections in stores to find
them; you may have try all of the following sections: Soundtrack,
Jazz, Vocal, Rock and even Pop.
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Anything
Goes: Capitol Sings Cole Porter
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An excellent CD with 25 tracks with great
singing, great artistry, and high production values. It contains particularly
brilliant renditions of "What Is This Thing Called Love" by Keely
Smith and "Just One Of Those Things" by Nat King Cole. If you could
only have one Cole Porter CD, this would be the one to have. |
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Ben
Bagley's Cole Porter (6 CDs) |
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Wonderful CDs from Painted Smiles Records. These CDs contains many
of the rare songs you will never hear anywhere else. Email Amazon
and request that they sell it! You can find the Painted Smiles (snail
mail) order form online.
After a lifetime of supporting "lost" music, Ben Bagley
passed away on March 21, 1998, after a long illness. Any of the
Painted Smiles CDs listed on that site can be purchased for just $10
each directly from Bagley's not-for-profit company. |
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Volume 1
Great versions if "You're a Bad Influence
on Me" and "It Ain't Etiquette", and "Coffee". Note: this CD is also
called Cole Porter Revisted. |
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Volume 2
Just plain brilliant, with wonderful
energetic renditions of "Pets", "Sweet Nudity", and other great songs.
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Volume 3
Great versions of "Make a Date With
a Great Psychoanalyst" and "Her Heart Was In Her Work". The singing
is good, but these are not Cole's finest songs, in my opinion. |
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Volume 4
Good, but not the best in the series. |
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Volumes 5-6
I don't have volumes 5 or 6 for review. |
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Red,
Hot, and Blue: A Tribute To Cole Porter |
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Most people will love this CD whether they get it because of the
star line-up (U2, David Byrne, Erasure, etc.) or because they are
fans of Cole Porter songs. Most tracks are done true to the original
with modern instrumentation. Purists should note that 2 or 3 tracks
are very loosely interpreted. As a whole, I think Cole would be very
proud of these versions. My favorites are David Byrne's "Don't Fence
Me In" and k d lang's haunting rendition of "So In Love". If you like
modern instrumentation and classic brilliant songs, you'll love this
album. If you don't know who these musicians are, this album is optional. |
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Ella
Fitgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbooks |
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Excellent singing, excellent muscianship. Classic.
Enough said.
You can also buy this 2 CD set as separate Volume
1 and Volume
2.
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You're
the Top: Cole Porter in the 1930s |
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Another "Centennial Collection", this one
from Koch International Classics. These 3 CDs are a fun historical
romp through the early recordings. You also get to hear tracks like
Experiment and The Physician from the musical Nymph Errant, an entire
Porter musical about woman trying to get laid. The set includes
a nice book with biography and pictures and a nice box for everything.
This would make a nice gift.
The three CDs are sold separately as well for those
who are on a budget or just want to samping the collection. If you
are choosing one of the three, I'd choose Volume 1 because of the
great songs from Nymph Errant:
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Vol.
1 - How's Your Romance?: Cole Porter In The 1930s
Vol. 2 - Easy To Love: Cole Porter In The 1930s - not available
on its own?
Vol.
3 - Ridin' High: Cole Porter In The 1930s |
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The
Complete Cole Porter Songbooks [Polygram] |
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The three CDs in this set are also sold
separately. Sold together, you also get a book and biography. See
below for reviews of individual CDs. |
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Vol. 1
- Cole Porter Songbook: #1
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Also called Night And Day. A delightful
album with much variety. It includes several jazzy classics by Louis
Armstrong (Let's Do It, Just One Of Those Things) and Ella Fitzgerald
(Night and Day, Anything Goes).
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Vol.
2 - Cole Porter Songbook: #2
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Also called I Get A Kick Out of You. More
jazz covers. In comparison to CD#1, this album has renditions which
are more loosely based on the more upbeat originals. More mellow
than CD#1 of this series.
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Vol.
3 - Cole Porter Songbook: #3
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Also called Anything Goes. Nice jazz instrumentals
– no singing. The musicians were allowed to be quite loose
with the song melodies and structure, so purists may not like this
one.
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Cole
Porter Centennial Gala Concert [Teldec] |
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Live album in London. I am not a big fan
of live albums, but this one is pretty good. Includes Michael Feinstein,
Julie Wilson, Robert Guillaume. |
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Close:
Steve Ross and Cole Porter |
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Steve Ross is a well known caberet singer
in New York. He released this compilation of tunes, many of them obscure
Porter tunes. I like some of the tracks, including "Me and Marie (by
the old seaside)" and his version of "Night and Day". Some of the
obscure tracks are deservedly obscure, so I think the strengths of
this album are in the 'standards'. You'll like this album if you like
cabaret style of piano&vocal singing or are looking for to add
unusual tracks to your collection like "When the Summer Moon Comes
Along" and "Close". |
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Great American Songwriters [Columbia's] -- temporarily
not available? |
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Not to be confused with Laserlight's CD
of the same name.This 2 CD set has a great version of "Most Gentlement
Don't Like Love" (Ballard, Alvarez, Wendel), "Tom, Dick and Harry",
and some great classics from Mary Martin and Tony Bennett.This CD
is also cursed with a wacky disco version of "Begin The Begiune". |
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Cole
Sings Porter [Koch]
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Cole himself singing a few standards and
a few obscure songs. Some people really like this album, although
I don't agree about quality of the song selections and the recordings
themselves. |
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Tribute:
Songs of Cole Porter – Jerry Van |
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Vision Records. A big band recording with
(what I consider) lifeless vocals. |
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Cole
Porter: A Centennial Celebration [BMG's] |
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A real mix of 20 very different tracks,
including 2 old tracks sung by Cole. Some tracks are really good.
Personally, I feel that there are too many tracks with good technical
performance, but lacking depth of emotion and depth of humor –
to the point where it bugs me. |
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The Words & Music of Cole Porter |
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This is a CD of remastered 78's, etc.
by Bing Crosby, Marlene Dietrich (You Do Something to Me); Cole himself
(You're the Top). This is not available from Amazon.com, but you can
buy it online at pastperfect.com. One Cole Wide Web visitor recommends
this album. Temporarily Unavailable! |
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Julie
Wilson: Sings the Cole Porter Song Book
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I've heard a few songs from this, but
I don't own it. Her version of "Always True To You In My Fashion"
is great, and appears on other collections. It was one of the songs
that started her career. |
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Frank
Sinatra: Sings The Select Cole Porter |
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Many people consider this a classic Porter
album. although I do not own it. I have respect for Frank, but I'm
not such a big fan of his Porter recordings as I think they lack the
silliness and playfulness intended when originally written. |
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Mabel
Mercer Sings Cole Porter
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One Cole Wide Web visitor says, "This
is a MUST for everyone who considers himself a Cole Porter fan. I
have heard great things about this CD. I will order it when I get
around to it. |
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Cole
Porter: A Centennial Tribute [Pearl Flapper's] |
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1993. Six tracks and supposed to be OK.
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American
Songbook Series, Cole Porter |
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Smithsonian Collection, 1992. |
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Oscar
Peterson: The Cole Porter Songbook
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One Cole Wide Web visitor says, "Great
record printed in 1959, now in CD."another visitor said "I think it's
a little more for Oscar Peterson fans than for Cole Porter fans. The
selections are the ordinary ones, and it's very pleasant, but not
a must-have." |
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Concord
Special Products: Cole Porter Songbook |
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Contains Mel Torme? |
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Cole
Porter Classics |
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Teddy Wilson on instrumental piano |
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Shearing
& Tuckwell: Play The Music Of Cole Porter |
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French Horn versions of Cole Porter songs.
One Cole Wide Web visitor says "the best instrumental Porter music
I have heard![...].This is a must." |
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Decline
& Fall of the Entire World as Seen Through the Eyes of Cole Porter |
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Painted Smiles Records. Part of the Ben
Bagley collection. You can find the Painted Smiles (snail mail) order
form online. I've heard great things about this CD. |
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Anything
Goes: Rebecca Luker Sings Cole Porter |
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One Cole Wide Web visitor says "It's very
good!!!" |
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Anita
O'Day Swings Cole Porter |
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Recommended by a Cole Wide Web visitor.
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Dionne
Warwick Sings Cole Porter |
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One Cole Wide Web visitor says, "Awful,
soulless, synthesized, modern pop arrangements performed with little
regard for the lyrics [...] If someone likes their standards
gutted and disco-ized, this might be for them. |
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Cole
Porter: Night And Day – 101 Strings |
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One Cole Wide Web visitor says, "I enjoyed
it very much". |
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Kiri
Sings Porter [EMI Classics] |
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Kiri Te Kanawa. Mixed reviews here.
One Cole Wide Web visitor says "You can live without it" Another visitor
says "Very beautifully sung and she principally sticks to songs that
were meant to be sung with some voice in the first place. There are
also gorgeous symphonic arrangements, and they're the real stars here."Another
says, "Nice instrumentals and an excellent, albeit operatic, singing
voice." |
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Cole
Porter in Concert: Just One Of Those Things |
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Verve Records. A 1994 jazz compilation.
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I cannot verify the quality of the following CDs.
If you have heard any of these CDs, please email me
and let me know what kind of versions are on the CD and what you
think about it. There are a few full cast recordings that I know
do exist but are not available on Amazon. If you know how to buy
the italicized CDs below, please email me.
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I cannot verify the quality of the following CDs.
If you have heard any of these CDs, please email me
and let me know what kind of versions are on the CD and what you
think about it.
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