This is 1950s teen idol heartthrob
Tab Hunter's first long-player and was issued concurrent to his success as Joe Hardy in the 1958 cinematic adaptation of Damn Yankees. On this self-titled disc -- which ironically bears the subheading "Hits You Like a Thunderbolt!" on the rear album jacket --
Hunter warbles and croons (barely) through a dozen easy listening pop standards and ballads. Even though the seminal era of rock & roll was currently reinventing popular music, as the melodies on this disc suggest, there was still an obvious market for pretty boys with nominal talent. In fact, it was
Hunter's persona alone that scored him a recording deal, even though the Warner Bros. studios had yet to formally establish their record label. The soon-to-be multimedia conglomerate scooped the actor away from the competing Dot Records, with the legal assertion that his 1953 contract was germane to all media endeavors, not strictly cinema. Even the top-flight team of musical director Marty Wilson and producer
George Avakian are unable to evoke very much in the way of remarkable or memorable performances. It's not that these cover versions are poorly executed; they simply lack any immediately discernible qualities to separate them from the likes of
Pat Boone,
Fabian, or
Jerry Vale.
Hunter's unemotional reworkings of "Time After Time," "Let's Pretend There's a Moon," and "But Beautiful" are heavily augmented by rich, robust, and at times overbearing orchestration and dated choral enhancements. This is immediately evident on the opener, "I Love You, Yes I Do," which was much better suited to soulful readings by
James Brown or
the Platters. There are a few sides that are cool for kitsch sake, such as squeaky clean "My Baby Just Cares for Me," which actually contains the lines "
Tab Hunter is not her style/And even Brando's smile/Is something she can't see." Likewise, the dated
Hi Lo-esque background harmonies add to the antiquated sound, especially during the introduction of "After You've Gone" or the "doo-ba-doo-ba-doo-ba-doo" chorus that runs through "Funny" as if through a sieve. In 2003, Collectors' Choice Music brought
Tab Hunter kicking and screaming into the digital domain.