The Best of Robert Goulet [Curb] in Bloomington, MN

Curb Records
' 1990 release
The Best of Robert Goulet
is nothing more or less than a reissue of
Robert Goulet
's album
After All Is Said and Done
, originally released on the independent
Artists of America
label in 1976, except that the tracks have been re-sequenced and the collection has been given a new, and of course extremely deceptive, title. Record executive and producer
Mike Curb
offered
Goulet
the chance to return to record-making after several years without a contract, and
responded by making the kind of album he used to make for
Columbia Records
in the '60s. There were big dramatic
ballads
, like
"After All Is Said and Done"
and
"Something to Believe In,"
given full-scale
orchestral
choral
arrangements; low-key
country-pop
efforts like
John Stewart
's
"July You're a Woman"
"Someone to Give My Love To"
; remakes of then-recent
easy listening
hits like
"You and Me Against the World"
"The Way We Were"
; and a complement of
show tunes
, including
"I Won't Send Roses"
from
Mack & Mabel
"The Green Years of Love"
Johnny Appleseed
. Naturally,
tipped his hat to Broadway songwriters
Alan Jay Lerner
Frederick Loewe
, who gave him his big break in
Camelot
by recording the title song from their final collaboration, the
movie musical
The Little Prince
. For the most part,
Curb
did not attempt to contemporize or otherwise adapt
to the sound of
pop
circa 1976; rather, he seemed to intend to present
as he was with the best and most appropriate material he could find. The result was an album that the singer's existing fans could enjoy, but that did nothing to expand his appeal to new audiences. Fourteen years later, it remains a respectable effort, except that anyone buying it with the expectation that it is some kind of hits compilation will feel cheated, and rightly so. ~ William Ruhlmann