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| De-Lovely | 
 enlarge | Artists: Various Artists, Cole Porter
Label: Sony
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy Used: $3.55
You Save: $10.43 (75%)
New (33) Used (32) Collectible (1) from $3.55
Avg. Customer Rating:  133 reviews
Sales Rank: 3878
Format: Soundtrack
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 5 x 0.3
MPN: 90640
UPC: 827969064023
EAN: 0827969064023
ASIN: B00023GGHQ
Release Date: June 15, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | It's De-Lovely - Robbie Williams | | • | Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love) - Alanis Morissette | | • | Begin The Beguine - Sheryl Crow | | • | Let's Misbehave - Elvis Costello | | • | Be A Clown - Kevin Kline, Peter Polycarpou and Chorus | | • | Night And Day - John Barrowman and Kevin Kline | | • | True Love - Ashley Judd and Tayler Hamilton | | • | What Is This Thing Called Love? - Lemar | | • | I Love You - Mick Hucknall | | • | Just One Of Those Things - Diana Krall | | • | Anything Goes - Caroline O'Connor and Chorus | | • | Experiment - Kevin Kline | | • | Love For Sale - Vivian Green | | • | So In Love - Lara Fabian and Mario Frangoulis | | • | Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye - Natalie Cole | | • | Blow, Gabriel, Blow - Jonathan Pryce, Kevin Kline, Cast and Chorus | | • | In the Still Of The Night - Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd | | • | You're The Top - Cole Porter |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
At first glance, the approach picked for De-Lovely will be familiar to those who already own Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter. On both albums, contemporary pop stars cover classics by Porter. But many of the interpretations on Red Hot + Blue were modernized, whereas the approach on De-Lovely is more traditional---it's the soundtrack to a biopic about Porter, after all, so a classic (though not quite period) sound prevails. What's surprising is how well many of the singers handle the songs without the crutch of a contemporary pop retooling. Who would have thought that Alanis Morissette had such a natural affinity for "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)," for instance? She fares equally well in her screen cameo, whereas Diana Krall sounds superb on "Just One of Those Things" but looks horribly uncomfortable in the film. Other good surprises include Robbie Williams's "It's De-Lovely" and Kevin Kline as Porter, coming across as a more tuneful Rex Harrison. Elvis Costello, meanwhile, confirms he's a better songwriter than singer, and as Linda Porter, Ashley Judd is hesitant at best. In a nice touch, a recording of Cole Porter himself performing "You're the Top" provides the album's coda. --Elisabeth Vincentelli
Album Description
European version of 19-track soundtrack includes the bonus track 'Easy To Love' - Kevin Kline. Columbia.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 128 more reviews...
 A new generation of singers gets to tackle Cole Porter January 4, 2005
47 out of 51 found this review helpful
One of the more interesting aspects of the "De-Lovely," the musical biography of Cole Porter, is that despite the appearance of major recording stars such as Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette to sing the songs it is the songs that you remember much more than the singers. This soundtrack collection does a nice job of presenting pretty much everything we heard in Irwin Winkler's 2004 film and if nothing here is a definitive version of a classic Cole Porter tune, then that is okay because the idea here is to introduce a new generation of fans to those songs while the rest of us take a nice musical walk down memory lane.
My favorite track is when Kline's Porter instructs John Barrowman's character on how to sing "Night and Day." My only serious complaint about the movie is that Kline really has to restrain his performances so that they are more in keeping with Porter's own singing abilities (which are amply demonstrated on the final track, "You're the Top"). If somebody wanted to let Kline record a collection of Cole Porter songs that would sound good to me; with Porter's witty lyrics having a performer who brings the sensibilities of an actor more than those of a singer, that would make sense to me. In a similar vein, I like Ashley Judd's sweet little duet with Tayler Hamilton on "True Love," so do not be surprised if you like the actors more than the singers on this one.
The spirited renditions of "Anyting Goes," "Be a Clown" and "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" by the cast lose a little something reduced to just the audio dimension, but that is standard with any good production number from a movie. Elvis Costello's "Let's Misbehave" is okay, and the same is true for Crow's "Begin the Beguine" and Morissette's "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)." I kept waiting for one of the big names on the album to really blow me away with one of these songs, and it just never happened. Robbie Williams doing the title track is pretty good, as is Natalie Cole on "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye," and I like Diana Krall's "It Was Just One of Those Things" more each time I hear it. But if after listening to the soundtrack for "De-Lovely" I am compelled to check out more recordings of Cole Porter tunes, I know I am not going to be alone. Fortunately, I know of a couple of definite directions in which to go (think Bobby Short).
 ANYTHING GOES! August 3, 2004
42 out of 64 found this review helpful
Instead of being enhanced by the gorgeous music (which is what drew me to the film in the first place) the movie's few good moments are destroyed by the constant mangling of Cole Porter's brilliant tunes with their sly and charmingly suggestive lyrics; whoever chose these artists to sing these songs must be tone deaf and needs a course in what really good singing is all about! Alanis Morissette couldn't get a taker if she tried with her dreadful "Let's Do It" and hasn't a clue what she's singing about! Diana Krall, whose work I usually love, turns in a lackluster "Just One Of Those Things"; be grateful that listening to the CD you don't have to endure the sneer that she wears during her performance in the movie. But the biggest thumbs down goes to Sheryl Crow for her massacre of the beautiful Porter classic, "Begin The Beguine", with its totally unrecognizable melody. For the definitive slowed down version, treat yourself to the real thing, Barbara Lea's exquisite performance on her "The Melody Lingers On" CD -- you'll finally understand what the song is about! A few mediocre performances round out this dreary CD but Natalie Cole saves the soundtrack from total disaster with a lovely "Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye". If you really enjoy Cole Porter's music, this isn't the CD for you.
 cole porter would have loved this soundtrack July 8, 2004
32 out of 39 found this review helpful
The man who wrote "Anything Goes" and lived by that credo would have loved this record. With apologies to the small group of elitists who have to have their Cole Porter their way, done only by certain artists they deem acceptable, Porter would have enjoyed the fact that pop artists of THIS day wanted to record his songs and perform them on camera in the movie as characters in his life.
I grew up in a house where Cole Porter was embraced along with a number of the other accomplished songwriters of his day. My kids get exposed to those great songs by CDs I share with them. But that's simply not the case in lots of households these days. Cole Porter has been dead for forty years, and slowly but surely the number of people who know or remember dwindles.
It is a great power of films that they can feature music and songs that you seldom hear on the radio or in other walks of life. Sleepless in Seattle brought the romantic songs of the '40s and '50s to those who love them AND to a whole new generation. Forrest Gump did it for the rock songs of the '50s,'60s and '70s. Look at the different kinds of music that Quentin Tarantino has introduced to his audiences. Look at what Baz Luhrmann did for music through the ages with Moulin Rouge. Look at how Chicago made showtunes a new part of young peoples' lives in this decade. Now De-Lovely is here to breathe new life into the appreciation of Cole Porter.
Robbie Williams is a natural with his uplifting, infectious "De-Lovely," and the camera loves him. Alanis Morrisette is a revelation with her spirited, joyful "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)," and the camera loves her too. Of course Natalie Cole and Diana Krall use their history of performing Porter songs to great benefit, but that doesn't make their outstanding renditions better than "the upstarts." Not when those "upstarts" give performances such as the ones by Elvis Costello on "Let's Misbehave" or Vivian Green on "Love For Sale."
Since when is it bad to be different? The most revealing Kevin Kline/Cole Porter performance in the movie is on the obscure Porter tune, "Experiment," in which Cole wrote: "Experiment/Be curious/Tho' interfering friends may frown,/Get furious/At each attempt to hold you down/If this advice you only employ/The future can offer you infinite joy and merriment/Experiment/And you'll see."
The most adventurous experiment on this soundtrack is Sheryl Crow's version of "Begin the Beguine." When I first heard the performance on the soundtrack, I was taken aback by the transformation of the song to a minor key lament. But when I saw the way the song performance was used in the movie to underscore and enhance the deep emotion of a heartbreaking scene, it made perfect sense. Begin the Beguine is now a high point of the soundtrack for me.
Let's remember that De-Lovely is a soundtrack album and the songs are recorded according to the needs of the film. We all complain when a soundtrack album does not contain all the important music from the movie. Well, in this case, the movie's music is the album which brings back all the memories of a brilliant man's life of song. The interweaving mix of show tunes and pop performances shows how much great songs performed in different styles are capable of living side by side.
It took real courage to make this film because period piece biopics generally have a tough time at the box office. It took a real passion for Cole Porter's songs to make this album an outstanding collection. Rather than the derision of some reviewers whose expectations were violated, we should all celebrate one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century, who is now more alive and well in the 21st century because filmmakers and performers expressed their love for him through De-Lovely, the movie and the soundtrack.
Run, don't walk away from this one! July 30, 2004
29 out of 60 found this review helpful
If you love the music of Cole Porter, you'll be aghast at the "stunt casting" used to assemble performers for this soundtrack. If you are unfamiliar with the Porter songbook, for God's sake start with Lee Wiley or Ella Fitzgerald's interpretations, not here!
Performances range from merely okay (Natalie Cole) to outright disastrous (Elvis Costello). A version of "Begin The Beguine" transposed into an inappropriate key by Sheryl Crow does not "transform" the song so much as "disfigure" it.
Far from making these already immortal songs "accessible" for a "new generation," this soundtrack trashes some of the greatest popular songs ever composed. What a shameful wasted opportunity, when there is in fact a "new generation" of jazz- and cabaret-inspired singers who could have done a much, much better job.
De-Lovely is De-Lousy! An Abomination! June 30, 2004
23 out of 35 found this review helpful
I can't for the life of me understand why the film version of Cole Porter's life needed a soundtrack filled with some of the worst versions of his great songs that you've ever heard. Someone hoped that by using pop/rock/contemporary vocalists to interpret the great Cole Porter's lyrics it would attract a younger audience. On the other hand this movie is sure to drive away anyone who remembers when these songs were sung properly!
Alanis Morissette and Sheryl Crow are totally out of their element and ruin "Let's Do It" (Let's don't!!) and "Begin The Beguine". Elvis Costello's version of "Let's Misbehave", must be heard to understand how horrible it truly is. And wait until you get a load of Ashley Judd doing "True Love". She takes this lovely song and single handedly (well, that's not completely true, it's a duet with someone called Tayler Hamilton, but nevertheless) destroys it! The only reason to buy this CD would be for Diana Krall's version of "Just One Of Those Things" and Natalie Cole performing "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye". I held out hope for this bio pic, but as usual, Hollywood didn't let me down. The film may be pretty to look at. But one listen to this CD suggests we'd all be better off saving our money if we're actually interested in hearing justice done to Cole Porter's music. "De-Lovely" is De-Lousy!
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