Leslie Uggams - On TV / More Leslie on Tv

On TV / More Leslie on Tv  (Two Albums on One CD)

By Leslie Uggams

Very Good Condition

The 1962 album Leslie on TV and its 1963 sequel, More Leslie on TV, are resurrected on this 1999 release. Neither album charted and none of the songs were hits, but the CD adds as a bonus track Uggams' sole pop hit, "One More Sunrise (Morgen)," from 1959. This is a single that peaked at number 98, though, so what are the selling points for this package? Uggams was a popular television personality for one, and Mitch Miller's Sing Along Gang, of which Uggams was once a member, backs her on both albums. Uggams' style is classic pop with a touch of drama, more like Ann-Margret than Della Reese, and her material is likewise drawn from Broadway and the fund of pop standards. The two albums are so similar that they blend into one another and, as good as they are, "One More Sunrise (Morgen)" is still the standout track.

A Review:

Well, I bought this for the Mitch Miller sound. I ran across a stereo copy of the first Lp (Columbia CS 8506), spun it, and it stunk me out beautifully. It's simply a beautifully horrible New York theater pop ASCAP album, a continuation of Mitch Miller's string of 18 SING A-ALONG WITH MITCH albums, all of which are monotonous clones of each other. Then I found out that Columbia and MM followed up with a second album of more of her same (CS 8665), and I had to hear it.

Sound: stereo on all tracks, plus track #25 "bonus" track, her 1959 #98 on the Billboard Hot-100 on 9/14/59 (only appearance). The stereo quality on the two album tracks, #1-24, features a "split" effect" vocally: Leslie's vocals are isolated on the right channel, Mitch's male chorus is banked on the left, and centered is the SING A-LONG rhythm section, bass, drums played with brushes, harmonica and/or accordion, guitar, and all of it is drenched in tile bathroom echo. Track #25, "One More Sunrise," is in more conventional stereo, with Leslie's vocal centered and her backing splitting between the two stereo channels.