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Jonathan and Darlene's Greatest Hits | 
 enlarge | Artist: Jonathan & Darlene Edwards
Label: Corinthian Records
Category: Music
Buy New: $80.00
New (2) Used (2) from $10.21
Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 3337
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 101
UPC: 783121110123
EAN: 7831211101230
ASIN: B0000010KB
Release Date: September 11, 1993
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new Item. CD, DVD, Book, VHS more than 400 000 titles to choose from. ALL days Low Price !
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| Tracks:
| • | I Love Paris | | • | Dizzy Fingers | | • | Take The 'A' Train | | • | You're Blase | | • | Alabamy Sound | | • | Nola | | • | I Am Woman | | • | Don't Get Around Much Anymore | | • | The Last Time I Saw Paris | | • | Honeysuckle Rose | | • | Autumn In New York | | • | Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee | | • | April In Paris | | • | Stayin' Alive |
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Heavenly Musical Marriage Out of Hell September 1, 2008
Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States)
It took a few years, but finally the secret was publicly out: Darlene Edwards was not Margaret Truman, as many had guessed, but none other than the vocalist with the serene and silky, solid and reassuring voice on so many top-ten recordings of the '40s and '50s ("You Belong to Me" being her most remembered): Jo Stafford, accompanied by her husband (not Jonathan Edwards but Paul Weston).
From her days with Tommy Dorsey, Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers through her long association with Johnny Mercer and Capitol records, Stafford sang much quality material from the Great American Songbook, but she also recorded a lot of pop ephemera (Jumbalaya, Shrimp Boats) and sentimental schmaltz (Serenade of the Bells). If redemption were in order, the present recording certainly provides it. It's good to know that all along she had a sense of humor about the whole business.
As early as 1947 Stafford showed her light side with a hillbilly version of the exotic scorcher "Temptation," which she called "Timtayshun." (Especially hilarious if you know the original. I once played Hammond organ in Boston's combat zone for a humorless and bossy, featured exotic artist who insisted on the same 4 numbers: "Shangri-La" (the arouser), "Harlem Nocturne" (the seducer), "Misirlou" (the exciter), and finally the overpowering climax: "Temptation"--"you came, I was alone, you were my own, it was thrilling, I was willing." Wish I'd had the guts to do a Jo Stafford variation on the tune).
But her three albums (recorded in the 50s, 60s, and 70s) under the alias Darlene Edwards rank among the greatest musical send-ups of all time (slightly ahead even of Florence Foster Jenkins and Mrs. Miller). This compilation is a good representation of songs from all three albums--from "Take the 'A' Train" (I wonder what Duke and Billy Strayhorn thought at the time) to her hilarious take on the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive." Sandwiched in between are a couple of songs about Paris that all but permanently puncture the romantic mythos surrounding the city.
Musicians will undoubtedly find this collection funnier--and paradoxically impressive (try singing the melody a half step above or below the piano's pitch!)--than non-musicians. But anyone who's attended amateur recitals or performances that didn't go as planned should get sufficient chuckles out of the recording to make it a worthwhile pick-up. As painfully funny as these performances are, it's "earned" humor. Rarely do the performers resort to slapstick and over-the-top gags (P.D.Q. Bach I find decidedly unfunny for this reason). With humor, less is more, and understatement serves both of the Edwardses especially well.
Time will tell, but for some of us this musical parody could indeed turn out to be Jo Stafford's most memorable legacy (though her exquisite reading of the underrated, sublime "Haunted Heart" certainly deserves enshrinement), out-lasting even those Egyptian pyramids she sings about in "You Belong to Me." (Romantic love, as many discover, is not nearly as eternal as well-conceived and deftly-executed satiric humor.)
BE My LIT-tle BA-by BUM-ble-bee... April 6, 2008
Dean Morris (NY NY)
JaDE's first album, my preference, is part of why i love things intelligently absurd and generally uncalled-for. JaDEheads know the first lp offers treasures not here; at one point when the men's chorus sings "has anybody seen my gal?" darlene replies with the priceless "has anybody seen their gal?". amazon reviewers use terms like "wrong note" and "bad rhythm", but it's the polish that makes the illusion work. what seems like a feeble accident is jo and paul's exact choice even in their shining adlibs. you enjoy the contradiction. plus the willingness of the chorus to soldier through just adds extra charm. you can learn a lot about rightness when you revel in the right kind of wrongness.
Delightful... January 15, 2008
John Knox
My family loves this DVD. Even my four year old grandson laughs until he cries listening to 'Darlene' sing Stayin' Alive. Don't miss the chance to buy this!
Hilarious! September 4, 2007
E. Nelson
If you are a musician or a singer, you will die laughing at this album. Fabulous party music!
Grammy Award winner May 9, 2007
G. Slusher (FL)
Paul Weston and Jo Stafford did such a brilliant job as Jonathan and Darlene Edwards that their first release won the Grammy Award in 1957 as the best comedy album! While every reviewer thus far has discussed Darlene's off-key singing and Jonathan's lack of rhythmic expertise, nobody has mentioned his unusual, yet dreadfully wrong harmonies, a very subtle, yet hilarious musical faux pas. Also, what makes these recordings even more hysterical is the fact that they constantly have musical "foils" -- in the French songs, a string section, in the Roaring 20s songs, a trumpet and tuba, and in the sing-along songs, a sing-along gang. These "foils" go straight ahead, despite all the musical chaos going on around them. They play it absolutely straight and it makes the Edwardses musical mayhem even funnier! These CDs reflect some of the finest and wittiest musical artistry even committed to vinyl! Such musical brilliance is very rare.
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