Singer Frank Dain’s romantic new album, I’ve Had a Love, aptly released on February 14, is the perfect soundtrack for anyone who has “loved and lost” and wants to spend some alone time wallowing in cherished memories. An astutely-curated collection of 16 amorous songs from the Broadway, Hollywood, and pop-music worlds, Dain’s recording allows one to revisit feelings of passion and togetherness, yet with no bittersweet sting. And that’s because of his remarkably comforting voice. His vocals feel like strong, steady hands holding onto your heart, and guiding you along this love-filled journey.
Dain’s voice is not beautiful. It’s husky, breathy, sometimes gravelly, and often unadornedly conversational. Yet there’s a remarkable honesty to his sound. I don’t know the man, but from the personality of his voice one imagines him to be wise, kind, and truthful. One feels safe in his vocal presence, and happy to linger there while he extracts deep, yet straightforwardly presented, emotions from the true-love lyrics of these affecting songs.
It’s impossible to resist the emotionality of such romantic standards as “Embraceable You” (George and Ira Gershwin), “The Twelfth of Never” (Jerry Livingston/Paul Francis Webster), “Hello, Young Lovers” (Richard Rogers/Oscar Hammerstein II), or “It’s a New World” (Harold Arlen/Ira Gershwin)—that paean to fresh love introduced by Judy Garland in the 1954 film A Star is Born. Dain sings them all with endearing warmth.
Yet my three favorite selections are Dain’s renditions of a swinging version of “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart) from the 1939 Broadway show Too Many Girls; “Unusual Way” (Maury Yeston), a song from the 1982 Broadway musical Nine that Dain sings with a vulnerability that moved me almost to tears; and “Lazy Afternoon” (John Latouche/Jerome Moross). Judging from how lovingly Dain’s voice caresses the lusciously-long sustained notes of the “Lazy Afternoon” melody, I’m inclined to think this may be one of his favorites as well, as it’s clear he adores singing it.
The album’s most emotionally rich tracks come at the beginning and the end. Both leisurely paced, “But Beautiful” (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke), a song from 1947’s Road to Rio film, and “I’ll Be Easy to Find” (Bart Howard), open the album with slowly-delivered, wide-open expressiveness, signaling the long trail of impassioned music to come. And the sadly sentimental “Some Other Time” (Leonard Bernstein/Betty Comden and Adolph Green), from Broadway’s 1944 musical On the Town, closes the album with the heart-rending suggestion that, though it’s time for us to part, perhaps “we’ll catch up” in the future.
Dain’s vocals are supported throughout by musical director and pianist Kathleen Landis’s ambitious, multi-instrumental arrangements. It seems her clever strategy was, for each song, to choose and feature a musical instrument whose particular tone color matches that of the song’s overall mood. I really enjoyed this approach, as it entertainingly provokes our ears to appreciate how an instrument’s distinct timbre can underline the dramatic qualities of a lyric and tune. The album abounds with fine examples of this. Bouncing, guitar phrases (played by Peter Calo) set the tone of “Let’s Fall in Love” (Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler), a playful number from the eponymous 1933 film. Gary Schreiner’s lulling harmonica conjures a Southern country sensibility for “Sleepy Man” (Robert Waldman/Alfred Uhry), a folksy, heart-warmer from the Eudora Welty novella-inspired musical The Robber Bridegroom. And Schreiner’s plaintive accordion passages establish the haunting tone of “Whistling Away the Dark” (Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer) which, despite Dain’s moving interpretation, will be—in my ear— forever associated with Julie Andrews’s impeccable voicing of it on the big screen in Darling Lili (1970). The bold incorporation of Jack Bashkow’s slick saxophone drives the bluesy feel of “No One Ever Tells You” (Hub Atwood/Carroll Coates). Yet most magical to me is how satisfyingly the tiny marimba-like sounds of Landis—on a Fender Rhodes piano—partner with Dain’s burly voice to set the tender tone of “A Certain Smile” (Sammy Fain/Paul Francis Webster), the 1958 movie’s title song.
Regrettably, the effective spotlighting of solo instruments notwithstanding, the album’s orchestrations suffer from a lack of blending or cohesion. I’m not sure if it’s because of how they were recorded, but one gets little sense of an instrumental ensemble. While Dain’s voice always stands out, the musical statements made by the accompanying instruments are fragmented. We’re too aware of what each individual musician is doing, as opposed to hearing how their diverse sounds coalesce. And if I have one additional quibble with Dain’s album, it’s my wish that it had been more “cleanly” recorded. One sometimes hears unwanted hissing, rattles, and reverberations that muddy the sound of the otherwise enchanting music.
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Produced by Kurt Peterson and Kathleen Landis; Claire-Frances Sullivan, associate producer; Arrangements and Musical Direction by Kathleen Landis. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by David Kowalski/Teaneck Studios.
Lisa Jo Sagolla is the author of "The Girl Who Fell Down: A Biography of Joan McCracken" and "Rock ‘n’ Roll Dances of the 1950s." A choreographer, critic, and historian, she has written for Back Stage, American Theatre, Film Journal International, and numerous other popular publications, encyclopedias, and scholarly journals. An adjunct professor at Columbia University and Rutgers, she is currently researching a book on the influence of Pennsylvania’s Bucks County on America’s musical theatre.
