Oscar Peterson - In Tune - 1973

The other night I was looking through records and came across this record. I don't think I had ever listened to it before. Sad I know, but there have been times where I buy a bunch of records and then I never get a chance to listen to them all until much later. This was one of those cases. The reason the album made it from just being browsed to being put on the turn table was the first track "Sesame Street." Could it be the actual song from "Sesame Street?" I had to know. And if it was, was it some cool jazzy version. So I put it on and it was even better than anything I could have expected. It was jazzy, but it had these crazy harmonized voices singing the song. There were parts where they hit these minor chords that were a surprising delight. After just 30 seconds or so I had to call my wife into the room to listen to it as well. It was a hit.

We listened to the rest of the record, which had the very 70's harmonized voices. Some songs were a bit bland and dentist office like, but others had more soul to them. Overall the record was quite good and so I digitized it.

So here is my run down track by track.

01 "Sesame Street" - Best track on the record and a must listen. It's like no version you've heard before.
02 "It Never Entered My Mind" - An uneven song that is good when Oscar is playing, but the vocals are a bit cheeseball.
03 "Children's Game" - Reminds me of an 70's Italian soundtrack. That's good in my book.
04 "The Gentle Rain" - I like this one quite a bit. Moody and I like the rain theme.
05 "A Child Is Born" - Very slow and mellow. Not a stand out, but OK.
06 "The Shadow Of You Smile" - A little too cheeseball. Carpenters-esque vocals without the magic of Karen Carpenter.
07 "Catherine" - I think this is my second favorite on the record. Has a sanitized bluesy quality that is interesting and weird that I like.
08 "Once Upon A Summertime" - Okay again. Would be better if Karen Carpenter had sung it.
09 "Here's That Rainy Day" - Third favorite song. I could see this song making it onto a rain mix some day. Great piano work from Oscar on this track especially in the middle section. Very cool harmonies and the lyrics are solid as well. More minor key goodness. Give it a listen.

So that's the run down.

Enjoy !

Oscar Peterson - Tune In.zip