Nat King Cole | 
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| Artist: Nat King Cole
Label: Capitol
Category: Music
List Price: $63.98
Buy Used: $14.98
You Save: $49.00 (77%)
New (25) Used (26) Collectible (1) from $14.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 48008
Format: Collector's Edition, Original Recording Reissued
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 12.3 x 5.9 x 1.5
MPN: 99777
UPC: 077779977727
EAN: 0077779977727
ASIN: B000008EFU
Release Date: October 26, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | Straighten up and Fly Right - Nat King Cole, Cole, Nat King | | • | Jumpin' at Capitol - Nat King Cole, Robinson, Nadine | | • | Sweet Lorraine - Nat King Cole, Burwell, Carter | | • | Embraceable You - Nat King Cole, Gershwin, George | | • | It's Only a Paper Moon - Nat King Cole, Arlen, Harold | | • | What Is This Thing Called Love? - Nat King Cole, Porter, Cole | | • | You Can Depend on Me - Nat King Cole, Carpenter, Charles | | • | I'm Thru With Love - Nat King Cole, Kahn, Gus | | • | Sweet Georgia Brown - Nat King Cole, Bernie, Ben | | • | The Frim Fram Sauce - Nat King Cole, Evans, Ray [1] | | • | Route 66 - Nat King Cole, Troup, Bobby | | • | Baby, Baby All the Time - Nat King Cole, Troup, Bobby | | • | You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love) - Nat King Cole, Columbo, Russ | | • | The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole, Torme, Mel | | • | (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons - Nat King Cole, Best, William | | • | When I Take My Sugar to Tea - Nat King Cole, Connor, Pierre Norm | | • | Too Marvelous for Words - Nat King Cole, Mercer, Johnny | | • | Blues in My Shower - Nat King Cole, Cole, Nat King | | • | Kee-Mo Ky-Mo (The Magic Song) - Nat King Cole, Alfred, Roy | | • | Save the Bones for Henry Jones - Nat King Cole, Barker, Danny | | • | Nature Boy - Nat King Cole, Ahbez, Eden | | • | Lost April - Nat King Cole, DeLange, Eddie | | • | A Portrait of Jennie - Nat King Cole, Robinson, J. Russel | | • | Bop-Kick - Nat King Cole, Cole, Nat King |
Disc 2
| • | Lush Life - Nat King Cole, Strayhorn, Billy | | • | My Baby Just Cares for Me - Nat King Cole, Donaldson, Walter | | • | Can I Come in for a Second? - Nat King Cole, Cahn, Sammy | | • | I'll Never Say "Never Again" Again - Nat King Cole, Woods, Harry | | • | Mona Lisa - Nat King Cole, Evans, Ray | | • | Ev'ry Day - Nat King Cole, Fain, Sammy | | • | Orange Colored Sky - Nat King Cole, DeLugg, Milton | | • | Jet - Nat King Cole, Benjamin, Bennie | | • | Too Young - Nat King Cole, Dee, Sylvia | | • | Red Sails in the Sunset - Nat King Cole, Williams, Hugh | | • | Unforgettable - Nat King Cole, Gordon, Irving | | • | Walkin' My Baby Back Home - Nat King Cole, Ahlert, Fred E. | | • | The Ruby and the Pearl - Nat King Cole, Evans, Ray | | • | Somewhere Along the Way - Nat King Cole, Adams, Kurt | | • | You Stepped Out of a Dream - Nat King Cole, Brown, Nacio Herb | | • | Funny (Not Much) - Nat King Cole, Neil, Marcia | | • | Pretend - Nat King Cole, Belloc, Dan | | • | Angel Eyes - Nat King Cole, Dennis, Matt | | • | Lover, Come Back to Me - Nat King Cole, Romberg, Sigmund | | • | That's All - Nat King Cole, Brandt, Alan | | • | If Love Is Good to Me - Nat King Cole, Evans, Ray [1] | | • | Blue Gardenia - Nat King Cole, Lee, Lester | | • | Love Is Here to Stay - Nat King Cole, Gershwin, George | | • | This Can't Be Love - Nat King Cole, Rodgers, Richard | | • | Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup - Nat King Cole, Sosenko, Anna |
Disc 3
| • | Answer Me, My Love - Nat King Cole, Sigman, Carl | | • | Smile - Nat King Cole, Chaplin, Charles | | • | My One Sin (In Life) - Nat King Cole, Mascheroni | | • | Open Up the Doghouse (Two Cats Are Comin' In) - Nat King Cole, Alfred, Roy | | • | If I Give My Heart to You - Nat King Cole, Brewster, Jimmy | | • | A Blossom Fell - Nat King Cole, Barnes, Howard | | • | If I May - Nat King Cole, Singleton, Charlie | | • | It Could Happen to You - Nat King Cole, Burke, Johnny | | • | Autumn Leaves - Nat King Cole, Kosma, Joseph | | • | There Will Never Be Another You - Nat King Cole, Gordon, Mack | | • | Let's Fall in Love - Nat King Cole, Arlen, Harold | | • | Night Lights - Nat King Cole, Gallop, Sammy | | • | To the Ends of the Earth - Nat King Cole, Sherman, Joe | | • | Candy - Nat King Cole, David, Mack | | • | Ballerina - Nat King Cole, Russell, Bob | | • | Caravan - Nat King Cole, Ellington, Duke | | • | Stardust - Nat King Cole, Carmichael, Hoagy | | • | When I Fall in Love - Nat King Cole, Heyman, Edward | | • | When Sunny Gets Blue - Nat King Cole, Fisher, Marvin | | • | Send for Me - Nat King Cole, Jones, Ollie | | • | Don't Get Around Much Anymore - Nat King Cole, Ellington, Duke | | • | I Should Care - Nat King Cole, Cahn, Sammy | | • | The Party's Over - Nat King Cole, Comden, Betty | | • | St. Louis Blues - Nat King Cole, Handy, W.C. | | • | Looking Back - Nat King Cole, Benton, Brook | | • | The Very Thought of You - Nat King Cole, Noble, Ray |
Disc 4
| • | But Beautiful - Nat King Cole, Burke, Johnny | | • | Avalon - Nat King Cole, DeSylva, Buddy | | • | The Late, Late Show - Nat King Cole, Alfred, Roy | | • | To Whom It May Concern - Nat King Cole, Cole, Nat King | | • | Non Dimenticar - Nat King Cole, Dobbins, Shelley | | • | Standing in the Need of Prayer - Nat King Cole, Cole, Nat King | | • | The Best Thing for You - Nat King Cole, Berlin, Irving | | • | Perfidia - Nat King Cole, Dominguez, Alberto | | • | Wild Is Love - Nat King Cole, Rasch, Ray | | • | Thou Swell - Nat King Cole, Rodgers, Richard | | • | Where or When - Nat King Cole, Hart, Lorenz | | • | Mr. Cole Won't Rock & Roll - Nat King Cole, Sherman, James | | • | I Remember You - Nat King Cole, Mercer, Johnny | | • | A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square - Nat King Cole, Maschwitz, Eric | | • | The Touch of Your Lips - Nat King Cole, Noble, Ray | | • | On the Street Where You Live - Nat King Cole, Lerner, Alan Jay | | • | I Don't Want to See Tomorrow - Nat King Cole, Wayne, Bernie |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
Not A "Best Of" As Hits Go - But Among His Best Insofar As The Music Goes April 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
One reviewer deducts 1 star from this magnificent box set because it omits a couple of his hit singles that he thinks should have been included. Now, no one out there is more critical than me of those releases that blare "GREATEST HITS OF" and "BEST OF" - and then fail to deliver. The only problem is, this one makes no such claim. It's titled, simply, "Nat King Cole" and what you get here is pure vintage Nat Cole.
The sound quality is excellent and inside is a 56-page booklet containing background notes under the sub-titles The Man (9 pages) by the British-born jazz pianist, composer, producer, music journalist Leonard Feather, and The Music (21 pages) by Mr. Will Friedwald, the noted author of Jazz Singing: America's Great Voices. There is also a list of the contents showing composers, recording dates, Capitol Master numbers, and orchestral back-up. All this is liberally sprinkled with great vintage photos of Nat (and The Trio), some with stars such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Mercer, Maria Cole, Nelson Riddle, a very young Natalie Cole, and George Shearing.
Unfortunately, ostensibly because the majority of the songs contained herein were never hit singles for Nat, they do not show chart details for the 37 included that WERE hits (disc 1 - tracks 1, 5, 10, 11, 13, 14 (The Christmas Song actually charted 5 times to 1954), 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22: disc 2 - 5, 7 to 14, 16, 17, 19, 21 and 25: disc 3 - 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 12, 13, 15, 17 (Stardust became a hit single even though it was only released as part of a 5-tracl E.P.), 20 and 25{ disc 4 - 5, 21, 23 and 24.
For the record, counting his time as part of The King Cole Trio beginning in 1943, to his untimely death on February 16, 1965 at age 47, he had chalked up 136 hit singles - all for Johnny Mercer's Capitol label - and added five more posthumously, including that 1991 overdubbed duet with daughter Natalie on Unforgettable. From the inception of the R&B charts in 1942 (then called The Harlem Hit Parade) he placed 47 there, had two make what passed for the Country charts in 1944, and following the advent of the Adult Contemporary (Easy Listening) charts in late 1961, placed another 17 there.
One of the very best Nat "King" Cole box-sets on the market and worth every nickel.
Nat King Cole... hours of enjoyment from one of the mellowest singers out there September 17, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Wow, this box set is fantastic. I had forgotten how utterly flawless Nat Cole's voice was until I listened to a couple greatest hits records I forget were in my collection... and then days later this arrived in the mail from Amazon, a birthday present from a friend. Well let me tell you, when I like an artist I like to get box sets so I can completely immerse myself in their music and this is a great route to go if that's what you're looking for with the late great Nate.
Although this set is 99% geared toward those people who are mostly familiar with Nat's pop music career, there are a couple of nice pieces of him playing the piano. He really was very good. I'm surprised how many people these days don't seem to realize that his jazz piano was his original claim to fame back when he was shy about his singing voice! These piano features include a nice version of "What is This Thing Called Love" and a peppy version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" (although who in the world would ever play that slowly anyway?).
Another reviewer noted the odd omission of "Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer" which I must admit is really strange, but I already own that song on a record by the same name, so I actually didn't even realize that and it wasn't a huge loss in the big scheme of things. It also doesn't have "Almost Like Being in Love", which I thought was a fairly popular recording by him as well.
Listening to this album reminds me that he had some of the absolute best orchestral backing arrangements of any singer ever. Period. The classics-- "Nature Boy", "Unforgettable", "Too Young", "Somewhere Along the Way"-- sometimes I think we forget how beautiful these arrangements are. And then there are "Answer Me My Love", "When I Fall in Love", and Charlie Chaplin's "Smile"... honestly among the most beautiful popular recordings ever, in my opinion. His voice and the orchestra-- WOW. To me, though, the most obvious is his literally *hair-raisingly* gorgeous rendition of Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust", which is not only MY personal favorite recording of the most popular and most 'covered' song ever... but it was also the favorite version of Mitchell Parish, so that should tell you something! (and not just about my taste, *ahem*) ;)
"Mr. Cole Won't Rock and Roll" is a very amusing parody of his own past recordings and a lot of the popular (though generally fairly brainless) rock-n-roll songs that were in vogue at the time. I laugh each time I listen to it, and I imagine that if you were into music in the '50s (or you pretend you were around then, like I do), you will recognize most or all of the songs he is poking fun at... sometimes he has modified his own songs and sometimes he has referenced RnR songs of the day-- or sometimes both at the same time.
There's also a fun duet, "Save the Bones for Henry Jones", which made me say... 'oops, why don't I own any albums of Johnny Mercer singing?' so keep in mind this just might make you want to buy other things. :) There's also a duet with Dean Martin, "Open Up the Dog House".
All that to say, if you really like Nat's music, this is a great great set and may even be all you ever need. (I may end up buying some of his jazz trio recordings in the future, but that's a different story...)
I can't recommend this highly enough as it really is an outstanding collection.
 Indelible music but the box set has some flaws October 28, 2005
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
If you doubt his importance in the Capitol Records stable, consider their "stack of records" shaped office building was nicknamed "The House that Nat Built", thanks to his long run of successful singles on the pop and R&B charts. How well you think this box set summarizes his career probably depends on whether you're looking for a comprehensive take on his career from the jazzier Trio sides all the way through the late 60s...or if you mostly want the string-laden pop hits.
PROS:
With anyone who had as many Top 40 hit singles as Cole did in his career (79), inevitably you have to make some decisions as to WHICH ones make it. Otherwise you'd spend 3 of these discs on the "hits" and have about 25 (50 cuts max...box sets of more than 5 CDs have a limited market) left to get in artistically important rarities, album tracks and live material. What they settled on is 18 Top 10 hits, 10 Top 20s, and 7 lower charters. (just under half the single hits)
There was SOME attempt made to represent Nat's jazz work (his cover of Duke Ellington's "Caravan","Bop-Kick" and others), foreign language forays ("Non Dimenticar","Azure-Te") and even a gospel number ("Standin' in the Need of Prayer").
CONS:
The only huge misstep is M.I.A. #6 smash "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer". That one really should be on here. #9 charter "Frosty the Snowman" isn't here either, but you can forgive them the desire to not delve too deeply into seasonal material. (Cole's classic take on Torme's "The Christmas Song" is here and that's enough). Those are the only Top 10s that missed the set. Other than that you might quibble with their choices (I wish "You Don't Learn That in School" were here) but only "Kee-Mo-Ky-Mo" makes me cringe.
The jazz Trio work is a bit underrepresented here. (Around 13 cuts) There also isn't a whole lot of examples of Cole "working" a crowd here either.(Though "Mr. Cole Won't Rock and Roll" is a nice novelty medley, gently poking fun at "Tutti Frutti","Why Do Fools Fall in Love?","Rock around the Clock" and other early rock standards). As rarities go, they should have gotten the licensing to some of the Eddie Cole's Solid Swingers material (Nat's first recordings with his older brother) and Grammy winner "Midnight Flyer" ought to have made the cut.
BOTTOM LINE:
If you think his best stuff was the Trio stuff, you'll probably be happier with COOL COLE (ASIN B00005RT8F), a 4CD set of tunes from 1940-1950 that contains SOME of the "ballad days" material but places most of its emphasis on Nat's jazzier stuff. (If you have REALLY deep pockets opt for THE COMPLETE CAPITOL RECORDINGS OF THE NAT KING COLE TRIO (ASIN B000002TNU), which will set you back 2 G's or more.) As far as a comprehensive look at Nat's career, this one will probably satisfy MOST fans and has more to recommend it than the other Capitol boxset THE CLASSIC SINGLES. (That set suffers from a lack of completeness on what its title would lead you to believe was a counterpart to its COMPLETE CAPITOL SINGLES released on Frank Sinatra.)
A perfect collection of Cole - NOW RELEASE EVERYTHING!!!! December 29, 2004
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
That Nat hasn't received the deluxe complete box set is a travesty. Everything that he and his trio recorded for Capitol WAS released in a large box set (which I own, and is out-of-print), but it is HIGH TIME for Blue Note and Capitol to roll out complete sets, similar to Frank Sinatra with his Columbia / Capitol (Concepts) / Reprise treasure chests. Fans have had ENOUGH of the compilations - let's have EVERYTHING chronologically issued. Nat deserves nothing less. Until then, this is a very, very fine collection of Nat's smooth genius. It belongs in yours.
He is the smoothest jazz has to offer December 5, 2002
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
Here is a true artist & entertainer. Most people nowadays could only hope to possess as much talent as Nat "King" Cole had. This box set is worth every cent. He is so eloquent and smooth.
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