We Get Letters

AMG Review of We Get Letters

John Bush
All Music Guide

The most distinctive LP of Perry Como's career (and also the best), We Get Letters is ostensibly an album of requests, including songs Como sang on his television show for audience members. Instead of the usual large orchestra with strings and vocal chorus for accompaniment though, only a small section of Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra appears (usually just a four-piece of piano, drums, bass, and guitar with occasional trumpet solos). Como's relaxed manner and gentle crooning mesh perfectly with the small group's intimacy, and the number of standards -- "It's Easy to Remember," "They Can't Take That Away from Me," "S'posin," "Deed I Do," "I Had the Craziest Dream" -- makes We Get Letters a near-perfect vocal collection. Perry Como had numerous single successes throughout his career, but he never recorded a better full-length than this.