If I wanted to get great renditions of Cole Porter songs all in one place, or over a few CDs, what would you recommend?

mark s, can you recommend any good recordings of Cole Porter from the 20's and 30's that capture the spirit of that time.

jazzbo, I think I mostly want to stay away from current pop renditions, but will look into the first two compilations you mention.

Seconded on both.

having said that, i'd be astonished if there WEREN'T collections of 78s on CD which related to particularly broadway shows: i just don't know how good they'd be

i'm talking lots without being at all helpful, sorry

i'll also second the ella recommendations - mark's first response sums it up perfectly.

i'm not wild about those v/a "complete songbook" comps - even if the 50's/60's interpretations have become the definitive take on cp, there's something grating in the Sophisticated Genius lovesong angle - everything is so forcefully "classy". (i guess because it's totally wilfully INcomplete - you wind up with fred astaire AND ella doing "night and day" but none of the odder "what a nice municipal park"/"when me mowgli love"-type numbers). they do contain some great versions though from d.washington, sarah vaughn, blossom dearie etc.

Overinterpreted
on nearly all the songbooks I find Ella pretty transparent. Mark's comments seem to hit it on the head. Unlike, say, Billie Holiday there's no "biography" in there.

I don't know if it's still in print or what, but there's a 4-disc set called "From This Moment On" that has a variety of people singing Porter's songs from the 20s on to about the 80s. It includes a few of the Fitzgerald recordings as well as a few of Porter singing the songs himself (and I rather like his versions). There are a lot of terrific tracks on here -- maybe 1/4 of it is wonderful, the rest pretty good and only a few bum tracks. It sounds like what you're looking for (if it's in your budget and it's available).

Rockist Scientist: the Indiana Historical Society released two box sets in the early '90s, entitled You're the Top: Cole Porter in the '30s and You're Sensational: Cole Porter in the '20s, 40's & '50s. Unfortunately despite outward appearances the sets do not always contain the original recordings of the songs in question, and recordings from several decades are jumbled together; the songs are organized chronically by the year of their composition. Still the recordings chosen are often ace and the notes are voluminous.

I think your best bet would be one of the compilations on the nostlagia specialty labels. My choices would be the two volumes of The Ultimate Cole Porter on Pearl--'30s-vintage original cast recordings from Anything Goes... some Astaire and Gertie Lawrence as well.

The Naxos comp mentioned above looks a bit dubious from a listening standpoint, despite the presence of the heavenly Lee Wiley.

I feel like I'm cheating on Billie Holiday, but I guess she's used to that.

gaz (crosspost), I don't know. I thought I read somewhere that the box set that brings all the songbooks together didn't have quite as good a sound quality as more recent issues of individual songbooks. I think maybe I read it on rec.music.bluenote. But I don't know how old that information was. I'm no audiophile, but I have been frusrated enough with poor CD reissues that I would rather get the best (as long as it is not outrageously expensive). Some of these Latin CD reissues, especially on the Vaya label--but pretty much all of the 70's era major Latin labels, are really poorly done, in a way that is noticeable. I dread the thought that I may be replacing them all with real remastered CDs one of these days. But then again, I also dread the thought that they will never be properly reissued.

i had a dream the other night where i was studying the writing styles of porter and other great american songwriters. i remember deciding, with utter certitude and great clarity, that gershwin was better than porter. upon waking i realized this was hardly a revelation. which is not to diminish porter.

i think it's because i was watching "silk stockings" that night.

RS - Glad you liked the Ella. if you're gonna get more of the Songbooks start with either the Gershwin or the Rodgers & Hart. The Gershwin is amazing but is HUGE so might be a little overwhelming, when I first got it took me forever to get through the whole thing. however, if you want to lose yourself in it, would perhaps be ideal.

forgive my ignorance, but what Cole Porter song is being played in this Clickhole video?

anyone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpX-QGgJqwU

full disclosure I had to use my phone app. this is a joek I guess.

ha, well I appreciate the effort, and it is the same song, though it apparently has nothing to do with Cole Porter.

right

Y Kant U B-have?

I finally dug out Red Hot and Blue album and normally I am pretty jaded but I quite like it, Annie Lennox in particular but I am still working my way through it.

Any other suggestions of post-1980 versions would be welcome.

The full film is here. It’s remarkable how little seen this was. Also a fascinating time capsule IMO

https://vimeo.com/46642017