''Wild Is Love'' is a 1960

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

by the American singer and pianist

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

, arranged by

Nelson Riddle Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many vocalists at Capitol Records, including ...

. The album chronicles a narrator's attempts to pick up various women before he finds love at the conclusion of the album. The album formed the basis for an unsuccessful musical, ''I'm With You'', that starred Cole and was intended as a potential Broadway vehicle for him. A television special also called ''Wild Is Love'' resulted from the album, and was shown in Canada in late 1961. The television special was not shown in the United States until 1964 due to the brief presence of physical contact between the

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

Cole and a performer of Canadian European descent, Larry Kert, that was seen as offensive by commercial sponsors. The album was released at the advent of the

sexual revolution The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the late 1950s to the early 1 ...

, Cole's biographer Daniel Mark Epstein would subsequently write of the album that "The lyrics tell the story of a man's search for romantic love-its excitements and frustrations, joys and sorrows-with a forward, blunt emphasis on carnal lust, and an edge of cynicism that would have been wholly offensive only a few years earlier". ''Wild Is Love'' was one of six albums nominated for the

Grammy Award for Album of the Year The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is an award presented by the The Recording Academy, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the r ...

at the 3rd Annual Grammy Awards in 1961, where it lost to

Bob Newhart George Robert Newhart (September 5, 1929 – July 18, 2024) was an American comedian and actor. Newhart was known for his deadpan and stammering delivery style. Beginning his career as a stand-up comedian, he transitioned his career to acting in ...

's '' The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart''. The string background to Cole's narration on the album was written by Ralph Carmichael, and marked the start of Carmichael's association with Cole as his work with Riddle waned. Cole had felt some rivalry with his fellow

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

artist

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

whose albums increasingly dominated Riddle's creative output. One of Nat's most successful recordings, it reached #4 on Billboards Top LP chart.

Track listing

# Introduction – 0:44 # "Wild Is Love" – 2:03 # "Hundreds and Thousands of Girls" – 2:38 # "It's a Beautiful Evening" – 3:15 # "Tell Her in the Morning" – 3:01 # "Are You Disenchanted?" – 3:26 # "Pick-Up" – 2:42 # "Beggar for the Blues" – 3:31 # "World of No Return" – 2:50 # "In Love Again" – 2:48 # "Stay with It" – 2:17 # "Wouldn't You Know (Her Name Is Mary)" – 2:28 # "He Who Hesitates" – 3:21 # "Wild Is Love (Finale)" – 0:46 All songs written by Ray Rasch and Dotty Wayne.

Personnel

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

–

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

, conductor * Ralph Carmichael - background string arrangements on Cole's narration ;String Section *

Violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

s: Victor Arno (4, 6, 9–10, 12–13), James Getzoff (4, 6, 9–10, 12–13), Benny Gill (4, 6, 9–10, 12–13), Carl LaMagna (4, 6, 9–10, 12–13), Joe Livoti (4, 6, 9–10, 12–13), Dan Lube (2-3, 5, 7–8, 11, 14), Mischa Russell (2-3, 5, 7–8, 11, 14), Marshall Sosson (2-3, 5, 7–8, 11, 14), Jerry Vinci (4, 6, 9–10, 12–13), Victor Bay, Alex Beller, Jack Gasselin, Nat Ross *

Viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

s: Cecil Figelski (4, 6, 9–10, 12–13), Paul Robyn, Barbara Simons *

Cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

s: Eleanor Slatkin (4, 6, 9–10, 12–13), Ossip Giskin (2-3, 5, 7–8, 11, 14), Victor Gottlieb (4, 6, 9–10, 12–13), Ray Kramer (2-3, 5, 7–8, 11, 14), David Pratt (4, 6, 9–10, 12–13), Joseph Saxon (2-3, 5, 7–8, 11, 14) ;Other Orchestra Members * Harry Klee - reeds (4, 6, 9–10, 12–13), additional saxophone (2-3, 5, 7–8, 11, 14) * Lou Levy -

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

* Lee Young -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

On 2–3, 5, 7–8, 11, 14 * Alto Saxophones:

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

* Tenor Saxophones:

Plas Johnson Plas John Johnson Jr. () (born July 21, 1931) is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most widely known as the tenor saxophone soloist on Henry Mancini’s " The Pink Panther Theme". He also performs on alto and bar ...

* Additional Saxophones: Joe Koch, Buck Skalak *

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

s: Pete Candoli, Conrad Gozzo, Shorty Sherock, Irving Bush, Cappy Lewis *

Valve trombone The valve trombone is a brass instrument in the trombone family that has a set of valves to vary the pitch instead of (or in addition to) a slide. Although it has been built in sizes from alto to contrabass, it is the tenor valve trombone pitched ...

: Juan Tizol * Additional Trombones: Tommy Pederson, Tommy Shepard, Russ Brown *

Tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

: Red Callender *

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

: Emil Richards On 4, 6, 9–10, 12-13 * Reeds: Paul Horn, Ronnie Lang, Champ Webb * French Horns: John Graas, Willard Culley, Arthur Maebe, Jim McGee *

Harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

: Verlye Brilhart * Percussion: Frank Flynn

References

{{Authority control 1960 albums Nat King Cole albums Albums arranged by Nelson Riddle Albums arranged by Ralph Carmichael Albums conducted by Nelson Riddle Albums recorded at Capitol Studios Capitol Records albums 1960s concept albums