All Alone Am I (album)

Background and content

"All Alone Am I" is a song from 1962 popularized by the American singer Brenda Lee. The song was originally composed by the Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis and recorded in Greek by Tzeni Karezi for the soundtrack of the film To nisi ton genneon (The Island of the Brave); the original song in Greek is titled "Μην τον ρωτάς τον ουρανό" ("Min ton rotas ton ourano", translation: "Don't ask the sky"). Later, a new version of the song with English lyrics was produced by Owen Bradley and appeared as the title track on one of Lee's albums. The song is written in the key of F major, but begins on the sub-dominant B-flat Major 7th chord. All Alone Am I was recorded in four separate sessions at the Bradley Film and Recording Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The first session began August 9, 1962 and the final session took place December 12, 1962, all of which were produced by Owen Bradley. All Alone Am I contained twelve tracks and many of which were cover versions of previously recorded pop music standards. It included cover versions of Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", Cole Porter's "It's All Right with Me", and Les Paul's "Lover". Many of the album's tracks were Pop music standards, which tried to reinforce the impression, "that her album market was viewed as being a more mature audience than the more youthful one responsible for buying a high percentage of her smash 45s," according to Richie Unterbeger of Allmusic. Unterberger gave the album three out of five stars, calling it "one of the less imaginative and interesting of her early albums." Unterberger later stated, "Although All Alone Am I featured a classic 1962 hit single as its title track, like some of Brenda Lee's other early albums, it was unduly weighted toward adult pop standards." The album was originally released on an LP record, containing six songs on the "A-side" of the record and six on the "B-side" of the record. The album has never been reissued on a compact disc in the United States, but has been reissued as such in the United Kingdom. In addition, the album is also available on extended play in the United States and Brazil.

Release

All Alone Am I spawned its title track as the first single. Released in September 1962, the single reached No.3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Lee's first single to chart on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, reaching No.1 in late-1962. In addition, the single also reached No.7 on the singles chart in the United Kingdom in late-February 1963, becoming only her second single since 1960 (the first was Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, a U.K. No.6 in December 1962) to be released both in the U.S. and overseas to succeed in peaking in the Top 10 of a country other than the United States (although it should be noted that Lee had had two Top 5 singles in the U.K. in 1962 with Speak to Me Pretty and Here Comes That Feeling, neither of which had been single A-sides in the U.S.).

The All Alone Am I album itself was officially released on February 18, 1963 on Decca Records. The album would later peak at No.25 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and reach No.8 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming one of Lee's final entries on the UK album chart and her highest peaking entry on the chart as well.

Track listing

1. "All Alone Am I" (Arthur Altman, Manos Hadjidakis) – 2:45
2. "By Myself" (Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz) – 2:11
3. "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (George Cory, Douglass Cross) – 2:48
4. "It's All Right with Me" (Cole Porter) – 2:40
5. "My Coloring Book" (Fred Ebb, John Kander) – 3:50
6. "My Prayer" (Georges Boulanger, Jimmy Kennedy) – 2:45

1. "Lover" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) – 2:16
2. "All by Myself" (Irving Berlin) – 2:36
3. "What Kind of Fool Am I" (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley) - 2:16
4. "Come Rain or Come Shine" (Harold Arlen, Tommy Dorsey) – 2:32
5. "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" (Ray Noble) – 2:37
6. "Fly Me to the Moon" (Bart Howard) - 2:22

Personnel

Sales chart positions