FRANKIE LAINE – "A Woman In Love"

“A Woman In Love” boasts gale force orchestration, as if to prove that the days of the Big Number weren’t over yet. Laine meets it head on – if he was any more hammy he?d have a curly pink tail. “Your EYES! Are the EYES! Of a WUMMAN! In LOVE!” Or one in mortal fear of her life – Laine and Anne Shelton should have teamed up. Or married. The orchestra unleashes a tsunami of swing – Frankie responds by spraying emphases like bullets – the listener cowers and counts the two-and-a-half minutes down.

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ANNE SHELTON – "Lay Down Your Arms"

JOHNNIE RAY – "Just Walking In The Rain"

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24 April 2009 22:41

I thought this was going to be the awesome Barbra Streisand song.

wichita lineman

25 April 2009 01:19

Could be seen as ham, but spitting bullets was this guy’s speciality, possibly to best effect on downer material (Cool Water, Blowing Wild). I surely don’t think this is intentional ham-on-the-bone, though – I’d have thought it’s more likely that Frankie is playing with the material, with much highkicking gusto: “Ker-razily gaze ever moh-wah!” etcet. Big, bigger, brassier!

AndyPandy

25 April 2009 19:07

I believe ‘Cool Water’ was a Number 1 in one of the UK charts – its included in a torrent of all the Number Ones – pity it wasn’t included here as I think its air of downtempo near menace has got to be worth a 7 or 8 to me

wichita lineman

25 April 2009 23:51

His voice was built for menace which is maybe why it sounds off kilter on A Woman In Love. Cool Water and Blowing Wild spent five weeks apiece at no.2; both have the sound of a man who has crossed deserts, a tortured stoic, a lion with a thorn in his toe. Kind of the anti-Guy Mitchell.

Yes, I’m sure Cool Water was a no.1 on some chart, breaking up Rose Marie’s 11 week run. Does anyone know if the Melody Maker charts are available anywhere?

rosie

23 January 2010 16:07

A bit oblique, this one, but it’s farewell Jean Simmons. To whom Marlon Brando sang this song in the film of Guys and Dolls.

rosie

23 January 2010 16:08

After disgracefully getting the poor girl drunk in Havana, of course.

wichita lineman

25 January 2010 01:44

Not too oblique, Rosie. Jean and Marlon were credited as the artists on the Guys & Dolls EP which spent a single week in the Record Mirror chart at no.19. Don’t have one but I’m guessing Woman In Love is on it! To my shame, I hadn’t realised Jean was still alive.

rosie

25 January 2010 11:53

wichita @ 7: Jean’s finest hour being, IMHO, her role as a sultry temptress in the comparatively neglected but wonderful Powell and Pressburger outing, Black Narcissus

Mark M

25 January 2010 14:12

7/8: She was in a film that came out last year, as it happens. Not one that anyone saw, however (it was directly by the Marquess of Cholmondeley. Really).

Is Black Narcissus neglected? It’s certainly an established part of the canon as far as academia is concerned, it gets shown on TV every now and then and it’s even available on Blu-ray. Anyway, it’s a terrific film and Jean Simmons is a sad loss.

wichita lineman

6 November 2010 01:44

I do love Frankie but, jeez, this kept Hound Dog c/w Don’t Be Cruel at no.2 for 3 weeks. Step aside Ultravox.

Mutley

6 November 2010 12:38

Yes, but what do you expect. This was a time when Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally could be held at number 3 by a double armlock of Tab Hunter and Pat Boone (Feb ’57).

rosie

6 November 2010 13:18

And we all know Hound Dog/Long Tall Sally even if the weren’t the top-selling singles in any one week. Over all time I’ll bet each of them have outsold Frankie, Tab and Pat combined, many times over. So where’s the problem?

crag

13 April 2011 12:14

DESERT ISLAND DISC WATCH

Jack Solomon, boxing promoter(1957)

Englebert Humperdink, singer (2004).

Gareth Parker

9 June 2021 21:40

I like the perkiness of this track from Frankie. 6/10.

Number1sblogguy

28 March 2024 05:29

Another one I enjoy a little better than Tom’s review. It does already sound old-fashioned – after one or two slightly more youthful recent number ones – but Frankie grabs this one by the scruff of the neck and doesn’t let go. Best moment is when the swinging Big Band comes in. 5/10

wpDiscuz

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FRANKIE LAINE – "A Woman In Love"

ANNE SHELTON – "Lay Down Your Arms"

JOHNNIE RAY – "Just Walking In The Rain"

Latest comments on Popular