Merman sings Merman/Ethel's Ridin' High

In the early 1970s, Ethel Merman, then in her 60s and having retired from the musical stage after 40 years on the boards, went to London and made three albums for the London and Decca labels, two of which, Merman Sings Merman and Ethel's Ridin' High, have been combined on this CD reissue. (This is not the first time that has happened, either. Eclipse Records has a disc called Merman Sings Merman ... and More [844 086-2] that contains the same material.) On Merman Sings Merman, Merman did what she had done more than once before: re-record some of her best-known stage songs in the recording studio. She betrayed some vocal deterioration, particularly with regard to her vibrato, but she was still able to hit her notes and hold them, particularly the long notes in "I Got Rhythm," the song that had made her a star back in 1930 in Girl Crazy.