Bobbi mentioned to me that she'd mentioned to you the Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hard CD which I'd loaned her...and that you're curious about it, being a musical theatre fan.

When I saw this CD listed in the Collector's Choice catalog, I dithered and finally ordered it. At first, I found it a little too "sweet" to play straight through, but enjoyable enough if put in 'random shuffle' rotation with three or four other CDs in my CD changer. Now, however, I find it's quite nice even straight through.

Although it was startling to come upon this as a concept collection, if you think about it, hearing a pop group like the Supremes do a bunch of show tunes is hardly surprising.

To name a few off-hand, consider "Till There Was Your" (from the Music Man), on one of the early Beatles albums. Or Jay and the Americans (who briefly lived in my home town... until a burning down their house during a party, if I recall correctly), singing, for example, "Some Enchanted Evening" (South Pacific, I think). Or the much more recent sampling of "Hard Luck Life" from Annie, on a rap song.

Anyway, if you like eclectic/unexpected covers of The Great American Songbook, here's some other CDs I recommend (and a few I dis-recommend), with some URLs

* RECOMMENDED:

Red Hot And Blue, The Songs of Cole Porter. From an AIDS fundraiser.
Sinead O’Conner sings "You Do Something To Me." Also, the Neville Brothers, Tom Waits, Debbie Harry & Iggy Pop, David Byrne ("Don't Fence Me In"), Annie Lennox, U2 ("Night and Day"), KD Lang. Recommended

The Glory Of Gershwin
Includes: Summertime - Peter Gabriel, Nice Work If You Can Get It – Sting, Someone To Watch Over Me/Our Love Is Here To Stay - Elton John , But Not For Me - Elvis Costello, The Man I Love - Kate Bush, How Long Has This Been Going On - Jon Bon Jovi , Embraceable You - Oleta Adams, My Man's Gone Now - Sinead O'Connor , I Got Rhythm - Robert Palmer, Somebody Loves Me - Meat Loaf,

plus a closing Rhapsody in Blue with classical harmonicist Larry Adler. (not to be confused with John Sebastian Sr., father of Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian Jr., who was also a classical harmonica player -- I've still got a DGG LP of him)

The Songs Of West Side Story
There's a few non-gems on this, but the gems more than make up for it, e.g.: Prologue/ Jet Song - Brian Setzer, Tonight - Kenny Loggins and Wynonna, America - Natalie Cole, Patti Labelle And Sheila E, I Feel Pretty - Little Richard, Gee, Officer Krupke - Salt-N-Pepa, Def Jef, Lisa 'left Eye' Lopes, etc.. The CD is worth it just for the last two I've listed.

Linda Ronstadt, What's New/Lush Life/For Sentimental Reasons
If you like Nelson Riddle's lush orchestrations, you'll love this double-CD of what was originally three LPs.

* MAYBES:

ELVIS COSTELLO WITH BURT BACHARACH: Painted From Memory
I'd borrow this one before planning to buy it.

* GOOD INTENTION, BAD EXECUTION:

Rod Stewart sings the Great American Songbook, Volumes I and II.
I borrowed these from the library, courtesy of inter-library loan, and even that ended up being a bit much.