Lawrence Tibbett
He was handsome, hot, had a rich, distinctive voice and was a vulgar SOB, but you had to love baritone Lawrence Tibbett's audacity in falsifying a composer's intentions while he made the music as exciting and flashy as possible. This two-disc collection take from the Stanford University Archives covers his famous roles in Carmen and Barber of Seville, plus his forays into pop tunes and even his rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner." It's an interesting time capsule since Tibbett touch on so many media--even movies. But even though most of these recordings predate his vocal decline in the 1940s, it's mostly for fans only. --David Patrick Stearns
- Delos Records
