This is the third and final collection to feature the team of
Nat King Cole and
Gordon Jenkins (arranger). Their earlier collaborations yielded the uniformly superior chart-topper
Love Is the Thing (1957) and follow-up
The Very Thought of You (1958). As the moniker suggests, there is a perceptible poignancy and longing weaved throughout
Jenkins' arrangements. The opener "Where Did Everyone Go?" possesses a solitude accentuated by responsive instrumentation that supports, yet never intrudes.
Cole's practically conversational delivery of pop standards -- such as
Irving Berlin's "Say It Isn't So" or
Johnny Mercer's "When the World Was Young" -- become musical soliloquies with the score as a sonic subtext. His rich and cozy baritone carries the ache of "Am I Blue?" and the slinky "I Keep Goin' Back to Joe's" into an understated, almost plaintive blues. Here he perfectly demonstrates a boundless capacity as a melodic interpreter of song. "No, I Don't Want Her" finds
Cole's voice gilded with an intimacy that virtually takes the listener into the singer's confidence. As he had done on his previous outings with
Cole,
Jenkins supplies one selection. Suitably "That's All There Is, There Isn't Any More" is the last track on the album and certainly provides a lovely contrast to
Judy Garland's arguably more familiar reading. ~ Lindsay Planer