Love Songs: Neil Sedaka

Album Review

Neil Sedaka's entry in RCA/Legacy's Love Songs series is a nice little collection of hits and obscurities from the first stage of Sedaka's career. The 14 tracks date from 1958 to 1964 and include two of his biggest hits: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" and the buoyant "Oh! Carol." The rest of the tunes are a mix of sweet ballads written by Sedaka and his partner Howard Greenfield like "I Must Be Dreaming," "I Found My World in You," and "You Mean Everything to Me" and show tunes like a swinging take on Rodgers & Hammerstein's "We Kiss in a Shadow," a subdued "All the Way," and a soaring skip through "I'll Be Seeing You." Best of all is "One-Way Ticket (To the Blues)," a peppy novelty tune with an imaginative arrangement and a great vocal from Neil. It's not much of a love song; quite a few songs here aren't either. No matter, this still is a nice collection from a truly under-rated artist.