The One about Fred Astaire’s “The Early Years at RKO” (2013)

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DISC 1:

1. Music Makes Me
2. Flying Down to Rio
3. Night and Day
4. No Strings
5. Isn’t This a Lovely Day
6. Top Hat, White Tie and Tails
7. Cheek to Cheek
8. The Piccolino
9. We Saw the Sea
10. Let Yourself Go
11. I’d Rather Lead a Band
12. I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket
13. Let’s Face the Music and Dance
14. Pick Yourself Up
15. The Way You Look tonight
16. A Fine Romance
17. Bojangles of Harlem
18. Never Gonna Dance

BONUS TRACKS:

20. Waltz in Swing Time

DISC 2:

1. (I’ve Got) Beginner’s Luck
2. Slap That Bass
3. They All Laughed
4. Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
5. They Can’t Take That Away From Me
6. Shall We Dance
7. I Can’t Be Bothered Now
8. Things Are Looking Up
9. A Foggy Day
10. Nice Work If You Can Get It
11. I Used to Be Color Blind
12. The Yam
13. Change Partners

BONUS TRACKS:

14. They Can’t Take That Away From Me

15. The Yam Steps (As Explained by Fred Astaire)

16. The Yam (As Explained by Fred Astaire)

17. I Used to Be Color Blind

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When I was a teenager in high school at the time who listened to popular music at the time but I always had a special place in my heart for the classics.

And for any classic film fan, you can’t help but be enamored by Fred Astaire for his style, elegance and as he can dance, he can also sing.

Back in 1986, my first Fred Astaire album was “Fred Astaire: The Irving Berlin Songbook”.  Yes, that was the year when a lot of my classmates in high school were into the latest and greatest of rock n’ roll and hip hop and whatever was seen on MTV, but for me, I was a teenager that would surprise the local record store owner by purchasing classics.

But I treasured that first cassette purchase featuring the music of Fred Astaire.  It was my first introduction to how Astaire only worked with the best arrangers in the business at the time.  It was my introduction that while there were other jazz singers that had better vocals, it was his delivery, his timing and the way he would have fun with the lyrics that caught my attention.  I would listen to Fred Astaire so often, that I eventually worn out the cassette and of course, the following year, like many people around the world, I was deeply saddened by Astaire’s death.

But decades later, I still enjoy Fred Astaire, from watching his magnificent films with Ginger Rogers and listening to a few other albums that were released, in 2013, I was surprised by the announcement that an album featuring his work with RKO would be released.

Titled “Fred Astaire – The Early Years at RKO”, Sony Masterworks would feature many of his wonderful classic songs from films such as “Flying to Rio”, “The Gay Divorcee”, “Top Hat”, “Follow the Fleet”, “Swing Time”, “Shall We Dance”, “A Damsel in Distress”, “Carefree” and a few other bonus tracks included to make fans happy.

The album would feature 37 tracks which include music by Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Vincent Youmans and Jerome Kern.  Songs which include collaborations with bandleaders such as Leo Reisman, Ray Noble and Johnny Green.  But the album would also included two cover songs as sung by his dance and acting partner for many years, Ginger Rogers and the digital release of the album would include a digital booklet with a written piece by Michael Feinstein.

From the first track “Music Makes Me”, you can’t help but imagine Fred Astaire tap dancing during the song.  But of course, the song was used for the 1933 RKO musical “Flying Down to Rio”, a classic film best known as the first pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (and interesting enough, the only film where Ginger Rogers received top billing over Fred Astaire as she was a screen veteran at the time).

While “Night and Day” is the only song from the 1934 film “The Gay Divorcee”, what is interesting is that Cole Porter had made many songs for the stage version of “The Gay Divorcee” but “Night and Day” was the only song that made it into the film.  But the song was considered somewhat a surprise for its time because instead of the 32-bar choruses of the time, Cole Porter featured 48 bars divided into 6 sections of 8 bars and it was an example of Cole Porter willing to take risks with his music, may it be song structure or harmonic structure.

The album would feature five tracks from the 1935 film “Top Hat”, the most popular film featuring Astaire and Rogers.  The song features Astaire’s popular songs from the film such as “No Strings”, “Isn’t This a Lovely Day”, “Top Hate, White Tie and Tails”, “Cheek to Cheek” and “The Piccolino”.  These songs also created quite a stir for its time as “Top Hat, White Tie and Tails” would feature a bridge that is five measures long which was uncommon at the time.  Meanwhile, “Cheek to Cheek” is regarded as a highlight in the musical oeuvre of Irving Berlin as it is considered musically complex due to its length at 72 measures and its structure.  But it’s a song that Astaire will be forever identified with.

With the popularity of “Top Hat”, Astaire/Rogers followed up with another successful film in 1936 titled “Follow the Fleet” which features a number of classic songs such as “We Saw the Sea”, “Let Yourself go”, “I’d Rather Lead a Band”, “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket” and “Let’s Face the Music and Dance”. While “We Saw the Sea” is a song that is memorable from the film,  “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket” was a popular song that showcased the music of Johnny Green and his Orchestra but I loved the performance of Astaire for this song.  Smooth vocals, wonderful balance with the music!  And of course, “Let’s Face the Music” which many will remember the dance scene between Astaire and Rogers in the film.

That same year, 1936, Astaire/Rogers released “Swing Time” which is regarded as their best dance musical and “The Early Years at RKO” would feature five tracks: “Pick Yourself Up”, “The Way You Look Tonight”, “A Fine Romance”, “Bojangles of Harlem” and “Never Gonna Dance”.  And while the film is well-regarded for its dance numbers, Astaire’s “The Way You Look Tonight” won an Academy Award for “Best Original Song” and would become Fred Astaire a #1 song in the charts and would become his most successful song that he had released. The songs would also feature a few of Jerome Kern’s hit songs such as the polka-style “Pick Yourself Up”, the quickstep  “A Fine Romance” and the wonderful ballad “Never Gonna Dance”.

The first disc would feature alternate takes of Jerome Kern and Astaire’s “A Fine Romance” and “Waltz in Swing Time”.

The following year, “Shall We Dance” was created in 1937 and the film would feature music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin, which was a major move by RKO.  With the film become the second Gershwin musical, the songs featured on this album are “(I’ve Got) Beginner’s Luck”, “Slap That Bass”, “They All Laughed”, “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off”, “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” and “Shall We Dance”.  While I do prefer the Astaire/Rogers version of “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off”, the song is famous and showcasing Ira Gershwin’s humorous lyrics.  Featuring wonderful music and lyrics by the Gershwin brothers, the song “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” is the only song that Astaire would use once again in another film, once in “Shall We Dance” and again for “The Barkleys of Broadway”.

In 1937, Fred Astaire would work on a film with Joan Fontaine, George Burns and Gracie Allen titled “A Damsel in Distress” and considered a risk as it would be the first Astaire RKO film without Ginger Rogers and replace her with a 19-year-old Joan Fontaine (who could not dance) and unfortunately, the film didn’t do well in the box office.  Also, during the production of this film, George Gershwin died of a brain tumor.  So, this would be the final collaboration between the Gershwin brothers for a Hollywood film.

Featured in “The Early Years at RKO” are the songs “I Can’t Be Bothered Now”, “Things Are Looking Up”, “A Foggy Day” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It”.  With the latter being remade by many artists, including the Andrew Sisters, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra to name a few.

In 1938, Astaire and Rogers reunited for “Carefree” and the screwball comedy is known for the two having the longest kiss ever in a film that they had taken part in.

The film would feature songs by Irving Berlin and the songs featured on this album are “I Used to Be Color Blind”, “The Yam” and Change Partners”.  It’s important to note that “The Yam” is a song that Fred Astaire supposedly refused to sing because he felt it was too silly, so Ginger Rogers sung the song (which is featured on this album) but Astaire would record him singing the song and both versions are featured on this album.  While “Change Partners” would eventually be a popular track from the film, the song reached #1 on Billboard’s Record Buying Guide and would later be recorded by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams and Harry Connick, Jr.  And “I Used to Be Color Blind” is a tender love ballad that is memorable for its use in the film.

The second disc would conclude with bonus tracks featuring an alternate take of “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” and dance steps for “The Yam” explained by Fred Astaire and ending with Ginger Rogers solo version of “The Yam” and “I Used to Be Color Blind”.

Overall, each of these songs are important tracks in the career of Fred Astaire.  His partnership with Ginger Rogers and the films created during those RKO years were his most memorable years and “The Early Years at RKO” would feature songs that people best identify with Fred Astaire.  These songs are classic, these songs are musically and many are lyrically brilliant and his music was able to capture an era during a time when musicians were trying to showcase themselves and were willing to experiment with structure, no matter how unusual it may have been at the time. And of course, as the music were used in these films, Astaire and Rogers would feature the most memorable dance routines in Hollywood history.

And for Fred Astaire, these are songs that we will remember him because these songs are not just fantastic to listen to but for fans of Astaire films, his films provide us a mental image of how the songs were used in the context of the film.

“The Early Years at RKO” features wonderful collaborations between Astaire with the Gerswhin brothers, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Jerome Kern. Songs that are considered not only as classics but masterpieces and for those who loved these RKO Astaire/Rogers films, these Fred Astaire songs will forever be eternal.

“Fred Astaire – The Early Years at RKO” is a magnificent album and is highly recommended!