Susan Rose
Mellow Midnight (Vada-Star Records 750527)

First of all: Vada-Star Records? That's clearly not a mark of any quality. Surely Susan Rose wasn't going around saying "Hey, I've got an album coming out on Vada-Star Records!!!!," was she?

Who knows. This is what I can tell you about "the Rose that blossoms at night" (gleaned from the excessively excessive liner notes by "poet, teacher, photographer, and freelance writer" John D. Engle, Jr. (he wrote Modern Odysseyand Laugh Lightly, both of which are surely on your shelf):

"Susan Rose has made music into a river that has flowed half-way 'round the world. She delighted audiences at the Disneyland Hotel and other large hotels and private country clubs. Then she worked for the Holiday Inn chain before coming to Washington, DC, where she entertained well-known politicians at Conrad's, the Mayflower Hotel, and the Cafe Lounge."

Starting to see a pattern? Susan also performed at such hotbeds of music as the Host of America Hotel chain, the Colonial Inn, the Sheraton Airport Inn, the Marriott Hotel, and the Flaming Pit. Keep in mind that "because of her large wardrobe of show gowns and her variety of hairstyles, Susan's fans can never be sure how she will appear on any evening, but they can always be sure that she will be lovely."

Yeah, right. I would love to meet even one person who could have ever legitimately been called a fan of Susan Rose. I'm sure I could meet hundreds of fans of scotch and soda, or fans of house wine, or fans of the vodka gimlet, who happened to stumble across Susan's unobtrusive self-indulgence over the years, but truthfully: does anyone become a fan of a lounge singer? Except, possibly, for example, a "poet, teacher, photographer, and freelance writer?"

As for the music, it's decent enough for what it is, with lots of reverb, Susan's keyboards and "adventurous" voice, bass, drums, guitar, flute, etc. It's like opening a time capsule from 1975 and being disappointed to find that the real 1975 was quite a bit less charming than the 1975 you want to imagine.

Calling her a jazzy Bette Midler would only encourage the delusion. She's really more like if Linda Lavin never ended up making it. Covers of "Feel Like Makin' Love," "I'm a Woman," "Loverman," and "Round Midnight" are as expected, and only an Annette Peacock-like "Eleanor Rigby" got a smirk out of me.

Recommended only for those occasions when you simply must have your house sound like a hotel lounge. And who are we kidding, does Vada-Star really expect us to believe they released 750,527 albums?

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Review by La Fée