The Singles (2000)

About this title: An EMI collection that compiles some of Nat King Cole's rarer chart entries, Singles balances a few perennials ("Lush Life," "Tenderly," "People") with plenty of obscure early-'50s items like "Mother Nature and Father Time" and "Faith Can Move Mountains." The focus is overwhelmingly on romantic ballads, many of them hardly worthy of Cole's attention ("Too Young to Go Steady" and "That Sunday, That Summer"). None of that mattered to America's greatest ballad singer, though; Cole lavished artistic attention on even the most ephemeral period songs, in similar fashion to Billie Holiday and Fats ... read more

Tracks:

1. Lush Life [Strayhorn]
2. Jet [Benjamin/Revel/Weis]
3. Somewhere Along the Way [Adams/Gallop]
4. Because You're Mine [Brodszky/Cahn]
5. Faith Can Move Mountains [Wood/Raleigh]
6. Pretend [Belloc/Douglas/LaVe]
7. Mother Nature and Father Time [Twomey/Wise/Wiseman]
8. Can't I? [Lovett]
9. Tenderly [Gross/Lawrence]
10. Smile [Chaplin/Parsons/Tur]
11. A Blossom Fell [Barnes/Cornelius/Jo]
12. Dreams Can Tell a Lie [Barnes/Cornelius/Jo]
13. Too Young to Go Steady [McHugh/Adamson]
14. Love Me as Though There Were No Tomorrow [McHugh/Adamson]
15. To the Ends of the Earth [Sherman/Sherman]
16. Time and the River [Schroeder/Gold]
17. That's You [Gallop/Conn/Riddle]
18. That Sunday, That Summer [Weiss/Sherman]
19. Look No Further [No Strings and Todd's Vocals] [Rodgers]
20. People [From Funny Girl] [Styne/Merrill]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.