The Best of Miss Peggy Lee (CD - 1998)

Digitally remastered by Bob Norberg (Capitol Recording Studios, Hollywood, California).

This release includes a bonus DVD entitled FEVER: THE MUSIC OF PEGGY LEE.

THE BEST OF MISS PEGGY LEE is a companion disc to the 4-CD box set MISS PEGGY LEE.

Personnel: Peggy Lee (vocals); The Brazilians (background vocals).

Audio Remixer: Bob Norberg.

Liner Note Author: Jim Pierson.

Recording information: 07/30/1945-01/29/1969.

Any compilation that properly anthologizes the chart history of Miss Peggy Lee is forced to sprint through 24 years, including a pair of decades that were the most culturally tumultuous of the 20th century. Such is the peril of attempting to summarize Lee's career by way of her hits, though for introductory purposes this disc is an excellent one (and her strong musical personality serves well to unify the material anyway). Beginning with "Waiting for the Train to Come In," her 1946 solo chart debut with Benny Goodman, The Best of Miss Peggy Lee picks up nearly all of her big hits, all of which number among her best performances. Lee excelled at sounding sunny ("It's a Good Day") or sultry ("I Don't Know Enough About You") or sizzling ("Fever," "Big Spender"), she often wrote her own material, and always illustrated that both novelties and standards were putty in the hands of the best song sculptor ever heard in the world of vocal jazz. Though it's a shame the compilers couldn't find room for early hits such as "'Deed I Do" and "Don't Smoke in Bed" or well-chosen later material like "Let's Love" (the song Paul McCartney wrote for her), The Best of Miss Peggy Lee provides an efficient summary of the most commanding performing personality in vocal jazz. ~ John Bush

Culled from the Grammy-winning deluxe box set MISS PEGGY LEE, this re-mastered collection is perhaps the most compact overview of Peggy Lee's early and late Capitol periods. Her late-'40s hits, done in collaboration with guitarist/husband Dave Barbour, have never sounded better, and include here essential Peggy Lee originals like the sly "I Don't Know Enough About You," "It's a Good Day," and the politically incorrect (even for the time) "Manana." Since Lee spent the first half of the '50s at Decca, her return to Capitol in 1957 unveiled a seasoned pro in a completely different (improved) recording environment. These are the years of "Fever" and "Alright, Okay, You Win." It's interesting that as the singer commanded more deluxe studio treatment, she and her producers opted for a "big beat" R&B feeling. Nevertheless, Peggy Lee's musical instincts never hurt her commercially as her 1969 swan song, the Lieber-and-Stoller-produced "Is That All There Is?," proved all too well. minimize