A Columbia album and an RCA album on one disc? This unusual arrangement is possible because Steve Lawrence owns his master tapes and can do with them as he pleases. As a result, his label, GL Music, paired the 1963 Columbia album Winners! with On a Clear Day, a non-charting RCA Victor album from 1970. Winners! boasts the number one hit "Go Away, Little Girl," a contemporary song bordering on teen idol pop that isn't representative of the rest of the album. Apart from the incongruous pop-folk of "Cotton Fields," the prevailing sound is that of the traditional pop era as Lawrence sings songs old and new with strings and a big band. Winners! blends seamlessly into On a Clear Day, despite having been recorded several years earlier. On a Clear Day finds Lawrence applying his Frank Sinatra-influenced pipes to 11 songs from Broadway using a team of arrangers that includes Don Costa. "Mama, A Rainbow," a showstopper from the musical Minnie's Boys on which Lawrence delivers a soaring vocal performance, became a Top 40 easy listening hit. The disc was mastered from the original tapes, features brief liner notes by Lawrence himself, and is available through Lawrence's website at a premium price.
© Greg Adams /TiVo