Storybook

by Linda Eder

Overview

In the early '90s while enjoying the success of her star-making performances on the musical concept album Jekyll & Hyde and the Broadway-bound stage version, Linda Eder recorded two albums for Angel Records. The first was The Scarlet Pimpernel, another musical concept album by Jekyll & Hyde composer Frank Wildhorn, while the second was the solo disc And So Much More, also produced and mostly composed by Wildhorn. Songs from these two albums are revisited on Storybook along with some minor treasures unearthed from the Angel vaults. Among these unreleased gems are "Vole Mon Ange" and "If He Never Said Hello," both from Svengali, a non-Broadway musical by Wildhorn that starred Eder. In the aria "Vole Mon Ange," Eder's voice reaches with gusto into Sarah Brighman's operatic territory while the sweet contemporary ballad "If He Never Said Hello" sounds like it was lifted directly from one of Barbra Streisand's latter-day efforts. Whether intended or not, Eder has always had to deal with comparisons to Streisand's voice and phrasing, but she unabashedly invites the criticism with this eerily similar performance. More successful is Wildhorn and Jack Murphy's ode to big-band swing, "One Bad Habit." Backed by a hot band, Eder excitedly wraps her chords around an intense melody that reaches an exhaustive climax thanks to numerous key changes. On "Let Him Fly," an immense show-stopping ballad, Eder's voice soars higher and higher, keeping pace with the orchestra, until she sounds perilously close to crashing on the final note. These newly discovered recordings are far more interesting than the previously released material included on the disc such as her pedestrian walks through the standards "All the Way," "Smile," and "The Man That Got Away." However, it is through these early renditions that a listener can appreciate how over the years Eder's voice and her interpretive skills have matured and improved. While not an essential purchase, Storybook does hold a few treats for fans and documents Eder's early days of recording when her Broadway debut was just around the corner and her star was on the rise. ~ Aaron Latham

Product Details

Release Date:	09/02/2003
Label:	Angel Records
UPC:	0724355750723

Tracks

1. One Bad Habit
2. Is This Anyway to Fall in Love?
3. 'Til You Come Back to Me
4. Where Are You Now?
5. The Man That Got Away
6. If He Never Said Hello
7. Smile
8. When I Look in Your Eyes
9. All the Way
10. Storybook
11. I Don't Remember
12. When I Look at You
13. Bridge over Troubled Water
14. Let Him Fly
15. Vole Mon Ange

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Linda Eder   Primary Artist
Chris Botti   Guest Artist,Trumpet
Jeff Beal   Soloist,Flugelhorn
Jay Berliner   Soloist,Guitar
Matt Bissonette   Bass
Dan Wilensky   Saxophone
Kim Scharnberg   Conductor
Jeremy Roberts   Piano,Conductor,Keyboards,Synthesizer
Mark Walker   Drums
Robert Peterson   Violin,Soloist
David Carpenter   Bass
David Finck   Bass
Tony Kadleck   Trumpet
Bernd Schoenhart   Guitar
Mike Migliore   Saxophone
Gregg Bissonette   Drums
Larry Steelman   Piano
Frank Zuback   Trumpet
Walter Dunbar   Trumpet
Gustavo A. Lorrea   Violin
Bogumila Zgraja   Violin
Barbara Corcillo   Cello
Roy Williams Quintet   Trumpet
Valerie Von Pechy Whitcup   Harp
Bob Millikan   Trumpet
David Mann   Sax (Alto)
Ted Nash   Saxophone
Andy Snitzer   Saxophone
Ed Maina   Flute,Soloist,Woodwind,Saxophone
Bernie Dresel   Drums
Alfredo Oliva   Violin

Technical Credits

Frank Wildhorn   Composer,Producer,Rhythm Arrangements
John Turner   Composer
Ira Gershwin   Composer
Charlie Chaplin   Composer
Leslie Bricusse   Composer
Peter Graves   Music Contractor
Linda Eder   Producer
James Van Heusen   Composer
Bruce Lundvall   Liner Notes
Kim Scharnberg   Arranger,Orchestration,Rhythm Arrangements
Sammy Cahn   Composer
Jeremy Smith   Engineer
Jeremy Roberts   Mixing,Arranger,Producer,Programming,Orchestration,String Arrangements
Karl Richardson   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Mike Krowiak   Mixing,Engineer
Brad Aaron   Engineer
Gayle Scott   Production Coordination
Evan Adler   Production Coordination
Benjamin Trokan   Assistant Engineer
Brian Feinstein   Coordination
Gregory Boyd   Composer
James Phillips   Composer
Carla Leighton   Design,Art Direction
Jack Murphy   Composer
Steve Robillard   Assistant Engineer
Nick Cheng   Coordination
Gordon H. Jee   Creative Director
Davis Factor   Cover Photo
Ian Ralfini   Liner Notes,Executive Producer
Paul Simon   Composer
Harold Arlen   Composer