Search - Lita Roza :: Love Is the Answer / Listening in the After-Hours

Two mid-fifties albums from first Liverpool pop star

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 01/12/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lita Roza was a star long before anybody had ever heard of the Beatles but although her career as a singer was long and successful she only had three UK hits, none of them included here (they can be found on another Vocalion release, Decca singles). This twofer is typical of the music that Lita liked to record - covers of classic romantic ballads from the Great American Songbook.



Any fan of the old standards will recognize most of these songs though some are more famous than others. Bewitched, the opening track here, may be the most famous of the lot, having been covered by countless singers down the years, but Lita's version is excellent, setting the standard for what follows, which include superb recordings of Fools rush in, I had the craziest dream, Where is your heart (from Moulin Rouge), That old black magic, Too marvellous for words, The nearness of you, You'll never know and many other classic songs.



This is a mellow album so if you're looking for up-tempo songs to provide a change of pace, you won't find them here. Lita could sing those songs but this is what she was best at.



It is unfortunate that Lita is best remembered (if she is remembered at all) for her cover of How much is that doggie in the window, with which she had a UK number one hit. It really isn't typical of her music, just as it isn't typical of Patti Page, who had the American hit with the same song.



Buy this if you enjoy romantic ballads from the first half of the twentieth century."