In 1965,
Lena Horne
signed to
United Artists Records
, for which she recorded four albums in two years:
Feelin' Good
,
Lena in Hollywood
Soul
, and the
Christmas
collection
Merry From Lena
. This brief, budget-priced compilation is drawn from the first two of those albums. Of course, it does not live up to its title. Nor does it correspond to the description in
Don Ovens
' short, unreliable biography ("This collection features much of the music that was popular during
Lena
's movie days" is a false statement). What it does contain are
Horne
's interpretations of some of the well-remembered Hollywood and Broadway songs of the 1950s and '60s, such as
"Moon River,"
"Who Can I Turn To,"
and
"Never on Sunday."
The mid-'60s were a difficult time for her as a performer, with musical tastes changing radically as she approached the age of 50 still wanting to sing songs like
Cole Porter
's
"I Love Paris."
On her
UA
recordings, she demonstrated that she still had something to contribute musically, and this sliver of that work is credible, even if it is hardly the "best of
." ~ William Ruhlmann