When first building The Steve Allen Show for its New York audience, Steve Allen saw the new evening format as modern vaudeville. The variety of vaudeville required more than just jokes, interviews and jazzy themes, so he auditioned a "family" of singers that would perform throughout the week. Steve Lawrence, "a rabbi's son from Brooklyn," was one of the first such singers on The Steve Allen Show. Starting at 18, he continued with the show as it became Tonight Starring Steve Allen and would remain until the end of its run in 1957. Steve Lawrence released his debut album About "That" Girl in 1956 on Coral Records.
Steve Lawrence's debut opens with "Where or When." We find out that the "When" is 7AM and the beginning of a surprising and ambitious concept album that collects a series of romantic standards chronicling the day of a mind absorbed in love from waking to "the wee small hours of the morning." Every other song starts with clock chimes and an original verse that connects the overall narrative, leading naturally into the next song. Although these touches might come off as a little cheesy, they transcend the thematic album and nearly match the overbearing influences of Frank Sinatra (who had been building themed concept albums since he first started recording albums) in the realm of the narrative concept album: something I never expected to hear from a TV crooner's first try in 1956.
Note: In a sad bit of coincidence, I started listening to Steve Lawrence for this blog the same day he died from complications due to Alzheimer's disease. RIP Steve Lawrence.
Here is the discography surrounding Steve Lawrence's debut album:
All My Love Belongs to You (1952 single)
How Many Stars Have to Shine (1952 single)
Poinciana (1952 single)
Sudden Fear (1952 single)
If Not for You (1953 single)
King for a Day (1953 single)
To the Birds (1953 single)
I Need (1954 single)
Too Little Time (1954 single)
To the Birds (1954 EP)
Tell Me What to Do (To Make You Mine) (1954 single)
Make Yourself Comfortable (1954 single)
Adelaide (1955 single)
The Chicken and the Hawk (Up Up and Away) (1955 single)
How Do I Break Away from You (Without Breaking My Heart) (1955 single)
Open Up the Gates of Mercy (1955 single)
Besame Mucho (1955 single with Eydie Gorme)
Knickerbocker Mambo (1955 single with Eydie Gorme)
Never Mind (1956 single)
About "That" Girl
"If I Had You" by Steve Lawrence
"Poinciana" by Steve Lawrence
"Picnic" by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme (with Steve Allen and Skitch Henderson and His Orchestra)
Pass the Headphones!!
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