Keely Smith - The Intimate Keely Smith [Remastered Expanded Edition] (2016)

You can’t get any more popular in American entertainment than Keely Smith was in the early ‘60s. Having blown the doors out in Las Vegas, winning a Grammy, having hit after hit and lighting up television screens playing straight “man” to husband Louis Prima, she’d navigated the tricky waters of a professional and personal divorce, striking out on her own and starting her own record label, Keely Records, in partnership with close friend and mentor Frank Sinatra, under the auspices of his Reprise label. A groundbreaking businesswoman, as well as recording artist, Keely recorded 5 classic albums for Reprise. Because she’d seen enough show business shenanigans to last a lifetime, a generation before it became standard practice to do so, she retained the rights to her masters. Those albums have NEVER come out legitimately on CD anywhere in the world. Now, Real Gone Music, in concert with Keely & her family, is very proud to announce that the label is going to answer the pleas of pop fans worldwide and release ALL of Keely’s Reprise albums on CD for the first time in deluxe packages featuring bonus tracks, rare photos, and new liner notes by Steve Hochman. Produced by Keely’s husband-to-be & Reprise hitmaker Jimmy Bowen, 1964’s The Intimate Keely Smith is, as the steamy cover and saucy title suggest, a sexy, swinging affair and the quintessential Keely Smith recording from her Reprise period. A concept album, the project was the long form representation of her legendary “mood spot” concert segment, a staple of Keely’s live shows. Key album tracks include a rendition of Sinatra’s “Time After Time” and a version of Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child”…this album presents Keely really taking wing as an artist. And the bonus tracks? Well, Keely’s strong rapport and long history with Frank Sinatra are well known. As one of the foundational artists at Reprise, which was at full creative flower, Keely was part of some really great projects outside of her own releases. With the blessing of Frank Sinatra Enterprises, we’ve included her duet with Frank, “Twin Soliloquies,” from the The Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre Presents South Pacific album, plus rare the non-LP single of the King-Goffin-Spector track “No One Ever Tells You,” arranged by Jack Nitszche and also produced by Bowen.