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Prelude to a Kiss is a 1958 concept album by Mel Tormé. The album charts the course of a relationship, each track is interspersed with dialogue.

AllMusic Review by John Bush:
Originally issued in 1958, Prelude to a Kiss was a concept album built around a brief fling between our hero Mel Tormé 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 naiveté 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.” Tormé 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 (http://www.allmusic.com/album/prelude-to-a-kiss-mw0000250628).

Track listing:
“Something to Live For” (Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn)
“I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” (George Bassman, Ned Washington)
“I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You” (Bing Crosby, Washington, Victor Young)
“I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me” (Clarence Gaskill, Jimmy McHugh)
“Prelude to a Kiss” (Ellington, Mack Gordon, Irving Mills)
“I’ve Got the World on a String” (Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler)
“Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” (Arlen, Koehler)
“I Surrender Dear” (Harry Barris, Gordon Clifford)
“I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart” (Ellington, Mills, Nemo)
“Don’t Worry ’bout Me” (Rube Bloom, Koehler)
“One Morning in May” (Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish)
“I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” (Dorothy Fields, McHugh)

Personnel:
Mel Torme – Vocals
Marty Paich – Arranger Conductor

Released: 1958
Recorded: November 1957
Length: 33:15
Label: Tops Records