I love the American songbook, those old standards from the first half of the last century. I like a lot of types of music, actually, but these songs with their sweetness, sentimentality and innocence just knock me out, not to mention voices like Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Rosemary Clooney or song writers like George and Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter.
Until about 6 weeks ago, there was a Boston station that played this kind of music exclusively and it was my favorite driving muisic. Then one Monday morning, I turned the radio on to discover that they had changed formats, without warning, to the real oldies - pop music of the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Pout…
So I began to pursue the idea of streaming sudio - web “radio” stations and to look around for a station that might play this kind of music. And I found one :)
The bad news is that while service is free, it is, unfortunately, only available to PCs at the moment. They indicate that MAC support is under construction and should be available soon. And you should probably be driving the internet in DSL or cable. A modem isn’t going to cut it.
The good news is that this is quite a site. Have a look at the interface:
Accuradio Interface
It shows the title of the song, the artist and album, the composer(s), label and year of release. Below is a display of the album cover as well as the covers for the last two numbers aired. On the left is a list of artists. If there are any you can’t stand, check the box and hit the save button. Click the Sub-Category tab to further refine your preferences.
I was in heaven! My lap top only has an adequate speaker system, but headphones solves that problem nicely. Ahhhh….
Listen to a young Sinatra (the one who could actually sing…) doing “Luck be a Lady Tonight”
A lady wouldn’t flirt with strangers
She’d have a heart.
She’d have a soul.
A lady wouldn’t make little snake eyes at me,
When I bet my life on this roll…
Or Patti Page singing this picture postcard of a song, “Old Cape Cod”.
If you like the taste of a lobster stew
Served by a window with an ocean view
You’re sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod.
Or Dinah Shore’s utterly simple and heartbreaking version of Jerome Kern’s beautiful “The Last Time I saw Paris”.
A lady known as Paris, Romantic and Charming
Has left her old companions and faded from view
Lonely men with lonely eyes are seeking her in vain
Her streets are where they were, but there’s no sign of her
She has left the Seine.
Or Joni Mitchell’s sweet, bluesy version of “At Last”
At Last my love has come along
My Lonely days are over
And life is like a song
At Last the skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clover
The night I looked at you
Now wait just a durned minute! Joni Mitchell?!?!?!?
I liked the songs Mitchell wrote, back in the day, when she was one of many voices protesting and wailing in the wilderness - but I was never much of a fan of her voice or, at least, what she did with it back then. I simply could not associate this subtle, nuanced delivery with the strident whine of my youth. Serious cognitive dissonance here! So I went and looked at the album which was released in 2000.
Both Sides Now
Except for the title song and one other, all the pieces on this album belong to an older era. If they are anything like the lovely, torchy “At Last” this CD should be astounding.
And then I got another stick upside the head - Rod Stewart has released not one, but two CDs of old standards! He delivers well and amiably enough, though nothing I’ve heard so far has carried the passion of, for example, “Forever Young”.
And there’s more…
Linda Rondstadt (whom I remember performing barefoot with The Stone Pony) has done several collections of old standards with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, lush productions sung with great heart and absolute clarity.
Bette Middler has a CD of Rosemary Clooney hits which includes a duet with Ronstadt doing a very entertaining rendition of “Sisters” from “White Christmas”.
I had always loved the old voices doing the old songs. It appears that new voices are doing the old songs too! Awesome!
One last note about AccuRadio. It does many more styles of music than just standards and the American Songbook - Classical, Country, Jazz, Broadway, Hip-Hop, 80s and Celtic, to name a few.
I’m fairly new to this streaming audio thing. I know there are other web stations out there, as well as any number of radios stations that also web-cast. This is something I am going to enjoy exploring!
Gawd, I love technology :)
No trackbacks yet.
No comments yet.
