Various artists
Whatever the failings of Nora Ephron's movie hit Sleepless in Seat-lie, it performs al least one invaluable service: sending audiences in droves to buy the film's soundtrack. Ephron's When Harry Met Sally. .., a movie carpeted wall-to-wall with Sinatra devotee Harry Connick Jr., in 1989, introduced the MTV generation to the glories of Gershwin. Now the Sleepless soundtrack, which rocketed into the Top 10 within two weeks of its release, is acquainting them with such composers as Hoagy Carmichael and classic recordings including Nat King Cole's "Stardust," Gene Autry's "Back in the Saddle Again" and Mr. James Durante's inimitably gravel-voiced tribute to the fine art of "Makin' Whoopee."
While one could do very nicely without Celine Dion and Clive Griffin's overblown pop rendition of "When I Fall in Love," it is, after all, a simple matter to turn back to Durante's peerless "Make Someone Happy." Does the choral backup give the Comden-Green-style anthem a high corn content? You bet. Wanna make something of it, Mrs. Calabash? (Epic)
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