|
Tiny Tim was much better and more versatile than is generally known which becomes clear when the CDs discussed here are played.
The best of these is TINY TIM PRISONER OF LOVE, a tribute to Russ Columbo, featuring Clang. On this album, Tiny sings in a baritone range songs made famous by Russ Columbo such as "Time on My Hands", "More Than You Know", "Prisoner of Love" , "Save The Last Dance For Me",and "Auf Wiedersehen, My Dear". Most of these sound better than the Russ Columbo versions. This Cd is very hard to find but the songs (and the whole CD) can be downloaded from the Apple iTunes music store.
GOD BLESS TINY TIM (the complete Reprise studio masters and more is a 3-CD set which has many choice tracks including two great country songs: "Then I'd Be Satisfied With Life" by George M Cohan which can be heard on the music section of this site performed by yours truly with his ukulele and "Have You Seen My Little Sue". (You should know that late in his career Tiny toured wth a country band as can be seen on the DVD TINY TIM THE LAST HURRAH.) There is a great jazz cover of Cab Calloway's "Frisco Flo" number. These three are probably the best ever recordings of these songs and have Tiny singing in a pleasant baritone range.
Tiny deserves great credit for his bringing back many notable songs from the early days of popular music some of which are in the public domain in the US such as "I'm A Lonesome Little Raindrop" made popular by that broadway star and uke player Frank Crummit. Tiny's version in his high falsetto is in this collection.
The recording of the famous song from the movie CASABLANCA, "As Time Goes By", in this set in which Tiny plays and sings the little-known verse as well as the chorus is favorably discussed at length in the book STARDUST MELODIES, by Will Friedwald to which the reader is directed for lots more info about twelve of the greatest standards. Tiny sings the song in a pleasant baritone voice.
The title of this CD is TINY TIM LIVE IN LONDON and has 1.2 hours of material from a live concert. You have to put the CD in your computer to get a list of the tracks, several of which contain more than one song. Track #6 runs for 22 minutes and has a lot of 1920's songs, some of which may be in the public domain in the US. Track #7 has Christmas songs. Track #8 is Tiny imitating Elvis on "Heartbreak Hotel" and Track #9 has several 1950's rock (or rhythm and blues) songs including great versions of "Blueberry Hill" and "Great Balls of Fire". Tiny sings mostly as a baritone on this CD. Track #15, one of the best has "I'm Confessin' That I Love You" and " I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do" as well as the title song of the track "Just A Gigalo".
Other notable songs include "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" complete with the seldom-heard verse, "When Your Old Wedding Ring Was New" and "Somewhere My Love". This CD demonstrates why Tiny was such a favorite with live audiences and has little of the high falsetto range that many find irritating.
Tiny Tim's version of "Livin' In The Sunlight Lovin' in the Moonlight" can be heard on multiple video cartoons and clips on youtube.com, often without giving him credit. They are worth a look.
Latest News!!! Check out the new book about Tiny Tim by Noel Tarling: Tiny Tim Tiptoe Through a Lifetime.
|
