LaVern (album)

Editors at AllMusic rated this release 3 out of 5 stars.[2] A 1998 repackaging of this with 1958's LaVern Baker received 4.5 out of 5 stars, with critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine writing that "both records are excellent" and recommending it to listeners because it collects hard-to-find tracks, but complains that "a couple of cuts fall a little flat" and "the remastering and packaging aren't quite up to the standard of the music itself".[3] In the 2004 edition of The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, the two-album compilation was rated 4.5 out of 5 stars and the editors write that this material features Baker as a "gut-bucket R&B singer" that combines blues and pop music.[1]

1. "Lots and Lots of Love" (LaVern Baker) – 2:26
2. "Of Course I Do" (Chuck Willis) – 2:51
3. "You’ll Be Crying" (Vincent Corso) – 2:58
4. "Miracles" (Jerry Samuels) – 2:46
5. "I’m in a Crying Mood" (Fletcher Henderson and Willmette Ward) – 2:50
6. "Mine All Mine" (Bessie Smith) – 2:14
7. "Harbor Lights" (Gordon Kennedy, Jimmy Kennedy, and Hugh Williams) – 2:20
8. "I’ll Never Be Free" (Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss) – 2:20
9. "Romance in the Dark" (Lillian "Lil" Green) – 3:00
10. "Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool" (Lionel Hampton) – 2:09
11. "How Long Will It Be" – 2:42
12. "Fool That I Am" (Floyd Hunt) – 2:20

• LaVern Baker – vocals
• Paul Ackerman – liner notes
• Tom Dowd – engineering
• Ray Ellis – arrangement and conducting on second half of album
• Ahmet Ertegun – supervision
• Marvin Israel – cover design
• Jerry Schatzberg – photography
• Jerry Wexler – supervision
• Unnamed session musicians playing bass guitar, drums, guitar, piano, and saxophone

• List of 1956 albums

• LaVern at Discogs (list of releases)
• LaVern at MusicBrainz (list of releases)