Recorded in November 1961, but not released until 1964,
Nat King Cole's
Let's Face the Music!, a swinging album of rhythm tunes, is notable in his catalog for two reasons: it marked another reunion (the last, as it turned out) with arranger/conductor
Billy May, and it is the only instance of an LP on which
Cole was heard playing the Hammond organ. That is not to say that this was an instrumental collection. On the contrary,
Cole sang on every track; it's just that on "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street," "Cold, Cold Heart," "Moon Love," "Too Little, Too Late," and "Let's Face the Music and Dance" he also sat down at the organ in between vocal sections and reeled off some lively solos. They were, not, however, the real high points of the set, which was dominated by
May's typically punchy neo-swing horn charts, augmented with string passages. Choosing a majority of standards dating back to 1924 with half the songs bearing '30s copyrights ("Day In -- Day Out," "Bidin' My Time," "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," "Moon Love," "Ebony Rhapsody," "Let's Face the Music and Dance"),
Cole kept up with
May's arrangements easily, but he never brought the kind of aggressive edge heard in
Frank Sinatra's work with the conductor. Up- or medium tempo,
Cole maintained his cool and his smooth delivery, always sounding unhurried, articulate, and correct, whether he was singing of romantic joy or sorrow. This evenhandedness sometimes drained the material of its potential force. It is in one sense a shame that Capitol Records, by waiting more than two years to issue this collection, denied
Cole the opportunity of introducing
Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's rueful, slangy "The Rules of the Road" (which appeared on albums by
Tony Bennett and
Lena Horne in 1962), but there is also a rough justice to it, since he turned out not to be an ideal interpreter of a song so world-weary and laced with show business references. ("These are the jokes," wrote Leigh in one line, evoking a standup comic on a bad night.) Still,
Cole fans had reason to welcome his versions of some classic songs he had not addressed before and to be thankful that Capitol finally let them out of the vault. ~ William Ruhlmann