CD of the Month

Disc 1

  1. SPANISH EYES
  2. THE NEARNESS OF YOU
  3. HELLO DOLLY
  4. PORTRAIT OF MY LOVE
  5. MY LOVE AND DEVOTION
  6. LAURA
  7. WALK AWAY
  8. BORN FREE
  9. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
  10. IT'S A BREEZE
  11. ETHEL BABY
  12. CHEEK TO CHEEK
  13. WEDNESDAY'S CHILD
  14. AS LONG AS I'M SINGING
  15. MY KIND OF GIRL
  16. HOW DO YOU DO
  17. MAMA PACKED A PICNIC TEA
  18. YESTERDAY
Disc 2
  1. SWEET LORRAINE
  2. MICHELLE
  3. RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD
  4. FIRST OF MAY
  5. THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES
  6. LEAVING ON A JET PLANE
  7. YOU AND ME AGAINST THE WORLD
  8. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
  9. AS LONG AS SHE NEEDS ME
  10. YESTERDAY WHEN I WAS YOUNG
  11. UNCHAINED MELODY
  12. LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING
  13. FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE
  14. I'M GLAD I'M NOT YOUNG ANYMORE
  15. I'VE GROWN ACCUSTOMED TO HER FACE
  16. DIANA
  17. STARDUST
  18. FOR ALL WE KNOW

This CD set is a truly historic release for Matt's fans, as it includes brilliant renditions of two well-known songs that have been unreleased for over 30 years. One is "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" and the other is "Yesterday When I Was Young". The fact that these two gems were still in the vaults gives us all hope that more will become available on future CD releases.

The set also includes four songs that were released but are new to CD, which is rare among Monro compilations. Michele Monro, his daughter, wrote the liner notes, and this release is the perfect follow-up to her 2002 box set "The Singer's Singer"

"Yesterday When I Was Young" is a lost treasure from its era. There were so many versions; some may wonder why this discovery is such a big deal. Well for one, the song was practically written for him… a deeply melodic European ballad with an adapted English lyric, and Matt takes it to incredible heights by drawing out the tempo and twisting the melody to keep it fresh. He extends each note even more than usual, allowing us to bask in his artistry. Then the ending has a clever key change that allows a further revision of the melody and gives us another classic Monro scoop. True, he keeps us wanting more by omitting a couple of verses, but that's a show business rule, right?

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Review written by David Durrett, Jacksonville, Florida

Audio CD: April 19th 2004
Label: EMI
Discs: 2
ASIN: B0001N6M58
Catalogue No: 5775942
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