Harold Sings Arlen (With Friend)

Harold Sings Arlen (With Friend)
Studio album by Harold Arlen
Released	1966
Recorded	1966
Genre	Traditional pop, jazz
Label	Columbia OL 2920[1]
Producer	Thomas Z. Shepard

Harold Sings Arlen (With Friend) is a 1966 vocal album by the composer Harold Arlen with arrangements by Peter Matz. Arlen is accompanied on two songs by Barbra Streisand.^[2] This was Arlen's only album on which he performed as a singer.^[3]

Chris Colfer and Lea Michele performed Matz's arrangement of "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" from the album in a 2011 episode of Glee.^[4]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]

The initial Billboard review from April 16, 1966 said that Arlen "...has a way with a vocal that's quite winning" and that "his manner is soft but persuasive". The album was one of Billboards 'Pop Special Merit Picks' for the week.^[5]

William Ruhlmann reviewed the album for Allmusic and wrote that Arlen "proves he can carry a tune" on the album but "Arlen's modest singing voice doesn't quite justify the treatment" of a fully orchestrated album though he sings the lyrics with "feeling and understanding".^[2]

Streisand's vocal on "House of Flowers" has been particularly praised; Arlen's biographer Edward Jablonski described it as a "classic" and Billboard wrote that it was a "knockout".^[3]

Track listing

All songs composed by Harold Arlen, with lyricists indicated

1. "Blues in the Night" (Johnny Mercer) – 3:55
2. "Little Biscuit" (E.Y. "Yip" Harburg) – 3:54
3. "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" (Harburg) – 1:54
4. "A Sleepin' Bee" (Truman Capote) – 3:39
5. "In the Shade of the New Apple Tree" (Harburg) – 4:02
6. "Hit the Road to Dreamland" (Mercer) – 2:35
7. "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" (Mercer) – 2:37
8. "My Shining Hour" (Mercer) – 3:21
9. "Today I Love Everybody" (Dorothy Fields) – 2:08
10. "House of Flowers" (Capote) – 2:43
11. "For Every Man There's a Woman" (Leo Robin) – 2:25
12. "That's a Fine Kind O' Freedom" (Martin Charnin) – 2:39

Personnel

• Harold Arlen – vocals
• Barbra Streisand – vocals on "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" and "House of Flowers"
• Peter Matz – arranger
• Thomas Z. Shepard – production

References

1. "Harold Arlen – Harold Sings Arlen (With Friend) (Vinyl, LP)". discogs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
2. Harold Sings Arlen (With Friend) at AllMusic
3. Edward Jablonski (September 1998). Harold Arlen: Rhythm, Rainbows, and Blues. University Press of New England. ISBN 978-1-55553-366-3.
4. Danielle Birkett; Dominic McHugh (4 December 2018). The Wizard of Oz: Musical Adaptations from Baum to MGM and Beyond. Oxford University Press. p. 226. ISBN 978-0-19-066317-9.
5. "Special Merit Picks: Pop Special Merit". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 16 April 1966. p. 42.