Harold Sings Arlen (With Friend)
Harold Sings Arlen (With Friend) is a 1966 vocal album by the composer Harold Arlen with arrangements by Peter Matz. Arlen is accompanied on two songs by Barbara Streisand. This was Arlen's only album on which he performed as a singer. Chris Colfer and Lea Michele performed Matz's arrangement of "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" from the album in a 2011 episode of "Glee". Reception. The initial "Billboard" review from April 16, 1966 said that Arlen "...has a way with a vocal that's quite winning" and that "his manner is soft  but persuasive". The album was one of "Billboards" 'Pop Special Merit Picks' for the week. William Ruhlmann reviewed the album for Allmusic and wrote that Arlen "proves he can carry a tune" on the album but "Arlen's modest singing voice doesn't quite justify the treatment" of a fully orchestrated album though he sings the lyrics with "feeling and understanding". Streisand's vocal on "House of Flowers" has been particularly praised; Arlen's biographer Edward Jablonski described it as a "classic" and "Billboard" wrote that it was a "knockout".