Jackie Gleason - "Opiate d'Amour" (1960) - Capitol Records
Hello Friends,
Back in an earlier post, we compared a Jackie Gleason record to taking Nyquil. That was nothing! As the title implies, this LP is literally like being on some strong, strong opiates! This is mood music for heavy eyelids. Sleepy and sedate, but in the best possible ways!
As the liner notes state,
Whoa! They ain't kidding! Pass the morphine!
As the liner notes state,
Into this intensely romantic album, Jackie Gleason has decanted a tranquilizing potion as dreamily hypnotic as a warm breeze caressing a field of poppies.
Here the songs flow into one another, calmly and uninterrupted, like a lazy river. Each album side is a medley of sorts with no pauses between songs. Not sure if this is the first time something like this was being done on a non-classical LP? Anyone?
The songs feature more of those lush & laid back string arrangements punctuated by brass sections that sound as if they're playing inside a fog! Side One is an ethereal sixteen minutes of some of the best "mood" music you're ever likely to hear! However, if this keeps up we're probably gonna nod off before this record's even done!
Side Two opens with "Melancholy Serenade"-- a Gleason original that is also more famously known as the theme to "The Jackie Gleason Show". This lithely segues into the Jerome Kern standard, "Yesterdays" which in turn floats into another... zzz... zzz... zzz... zzz... zzz... zzz...
RATING: 4 poppy fields out of 5
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