When
Mel Tormé signed with Columbia in the mid-'60s, the jazz singer was talked into recording current pop tunes. The resulting music is so bad as to be laughable. Even fans of lounge music will find
Tormé's treatments of a variety of teen songs (he was over 40 at the time) to be quite awkward and embarrassing. Imagine hearing
Mel Tormé trying to sound hip on "Walk on By," "If I Had a Hammer," "Strangers in the Night," "Secret Agent Man," "Molly Marlene" (which is about a go-go girl), and "Dominique's Discotheque," all of which have dated pop rhythms and background singers. One of the obvious low points of his career. ~ Scott Yanow