Originally issued in 1958, Prelude to a Kiss was a concept album built around a brief fling between our hero Mel Torme and a woman whose voice is heard in short dialogue segments preceding each song. The songs follow the theme of each conversation and gradually build on that theme, from the innocent affection and naivete of "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" and "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me," to head-over-heels romance on "I've Got the World on a String" and "I Surrender Dear." Torme is in possibly the best voice of his career, effortlessly breezy and refined (a tone which suits the theme perfectly). The only quibble with the original recording was that the spoken parts soon became tiresome, but after countless reissues and repackagings, Simitar Records issued Prelude to a Kiss on CD with separate track markers, which makes it possible to program the dialogue parts out of the LP. ~ John Bush