Recommend me some music by Gershwin, Berlin, Rogers and Hammersetin, etc

That aren't showtunes?

Well...you know. Showtunes, I guess, has a serious negative connotation with me. Can't help thinking of Andrew Lloyd Weber, Sondheim, etc. Yucky yuck yuck yuck. But OK, older showtunes are fine, if you wanna call 'em that. I was just thinking of them as 'standards' but yeah

Any of the Ella Fitzgerald songbooks that she recorded for Verve is classic stuff...Gerswin, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hart are the best...enjoy!

Thanks dude! yeah I have those. "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and "S'Wonderful are personal favorites. But those are the only versions I know!

o yeah the long version of bewitched is one of my favourite things in this world

OK, I can't stand Lloyd Webber or Sondheim either.

My favourite musical is Guys and Dolls, so I'd recommend the theatrical version with Stubby Kaye and Vivian Blaine in it (don't get the film soundtrack - Sinatra sings as Sinatra and Brando is competent but not great). Adelaide's Lament and Sue Me are my favourites, the latter being an incredible representation of an argument between lovers which, now I come to think of it, should probably become the second definite on my Desert Island Discs list. Up there with Dolly Parton! What a compliment.

Those still come under the showtunes banner, but they're GOOD showtunes.

Also check out some of Sinatra's mid-50s albums - Swing Easy and Songs for Young Lovers are on a 2fer1 CD, and it's all amazing. Definitive version of My Funny Valentine, if you ask me.

If you already have the Ella Fitzgerald songbooks (which are pretty definitive), the other thing to get is the two Ella & Louis records (which are widely available on one CD, sometimes with a few tracks from their Porgy & Bess stuck in). They are jazz, of course, but some of the best, most accessible music ever recorded, and a lot looser and boppier than the Songbooks.

Rogers & Hammerstein -- jeepers, get the Broadway original cast recordings. Millions of people loved them, why not you? Less fussy than the operatic re-dos of about 10 years ago. In terms of musical interest, all the biggies follow pretty much the same format and have almost interchangeable songs (except the lyrics are tailored to the show). Carousel (which has aged less well than others, thanks to it's pro-abuse storyline, and which was butchered a bit in its OCR)is probably the best musically by a hair, but Oklahoma, South Pacific (home of the Dizzee Rascal sample), The King and I, The Sound of Music are all aces.

Re: etc. showtunes. I heartily third Guys & Dolls (not the film version, with Sinatra singing the non-singing part and Brando whispering the singing part). Also: Camelot (Lerner & Loewe), West Side Story (Bernstein & -- yes -- Sondheim), Kiss Me Kate (very late Cole Porter), Annie Get Your Gun (Irving Berlin -- it's worth trying to find an Ethel Merman recording to hear the source of much of what you hate). Also, it's worth checking out the Lotte Lenya recordings of Kurt Weill songs.

Under no circumstances by any recording featuring Kiri Te Kanawa.

For a different take (and one that might be good for those who typically avoid musical theatre like the plague), I'd highly recommend Caetano Veloso's "A Foreign Sound" from last year, in which he covers a smattering of American standards:

"So In Love" and "Love for Sale" (Porter)
"Always" and "Blue Skies" (Berlin)
"The Man I Love" and "Summertime" (Gershwin)
"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (Kern)
"Manhattan" (Rodgers & Hart)

And some baffling not-so-standards like Nirvana's "Come As You Are" and Dylan's "It's Alright Ma."

But his versions of "I Only Have Eyes for You" and the Talking Heads' "(Nothing But) Flowers" are really exquisite.

ain't nuthin' wrong with no sondheim!

Many standards are "showtunes", but most everyone has forgotten what musicals they are from.

I'd start with these:

http://vosges-patte-en-57.blog-center.com/images/vosges-patte-en-57/album%20berlin.jpg
http://www.americanvision.org/images/kenny_rogers_album.jpg

I was thinking about working in some kind of "Hammer Time" joke as well.

Any compilation of Fred Astaire's '30s recordings will give you very straightforward and appealing versions of Gershwin, Kern, Porter, and Berlin. Astaire was understated (and underrated) as a singer; his renditions are light on their feet, as you'd expect. He puts a nice (understated) ache into "Night and Day," and he's perfect for "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," not hamming it, not fazed.

Rodgers and Hart: Elvis Presley's "Blue Moon" from the Sun Sessions is gorgeous, sweet, and playful. The Marcels' "Blue Moon" may be the most lunatic doo-wop performance ever, and it's still beautiful.

Cole Porter: There's a great little version from 1930 of "Love for Sale" by Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians; it's on one of those various-artists Porter anthologies.

Berlin: With a leap and a whirl and a cheerful "Hi," the Drifters (Clyde McPhatter on lead) take "White Christmas" over the hills, through the trees, up the jungle gym, and over the big top, thereby revitalizing the old chestnut.

Hoagy Carmichael: If you can get past the fact that it's a genre number virtually in blackface, Carmichael's own version of "Hong Kong Blues" is quietly haunting. Best way to hear it is to rent the video or DVD of To Have and Have Not.

Thanks, Frank, that Fred Astaire stuff sounds perfect. Is there a specific recording / collection you'd recommend?