Fifty dance hits of the thirties and forties
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 04/20/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"For those of us raised on the music of the second half of the twentieth century, the music contained on this CD does not sound like music to dance to - more like easy listening music to relax to - but Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians were one of the leading dance bands of their day.They had 218 hits of their own on the American charts, of which 50 can be found here. They also had other hits as the backing group to Hildegarde, Kate Smith and Bing Crosby. The band featured Carmen Lombardo (Guy's brother) on vocals up to 1941, but most of the recordings here are from the period after 1941. Carmen sometimes sang with the band after 1941 and there are a few earlier tracks here, so you get a chance to hear him on some tracks here. The band sometimes re-recorded their earlier hits and Jasmine have sometimes included those rather than the originals, possibly because Guy recorded for several record labels. The recordings on this collection were all made for Decca, for whom Guy recorded in 1934 and 1935, then from 1938 to the end of his hit-making career in the fifties.Even if you are new to Guy's music, fans of the music of that era may recognise some of the songs, including The trolley song, Shoo-fly pie and apple pan dowdy, Five feet two eyes of blue, Swinging on a star, Blues in the night, For me and my gal, Red sails in the sunset, By the light of the silvery moon, After the ball, St Louis blues, Little Dutch mill, The band played on, South of the border, Easter parade and The moon of Manakoora. In those days, it was customary for several versions to be in the charts simultaneously, so some of these songs also charted for Jo Stafford, Dinah Shore, Bing Crosby and others. Sometimes Guy ended up with the biggest hit, sometimes not. When it comes to whose version was best, it's all a matter of personal preference. In any case, all of them are brilliant in different ways.People may not dance to this kind of music these days, but Guy and his orchestra made some very high quality music. This collection contains 50 of their finest recordings. This would make a great start to any collection of Guy's music, but I recommend the ASV collection The band played on 25 number one hits, which I've already reviewed, as an even better starting point. There is very little overlap, as this collection avoids most of the number ones, which occurred mainly in the early part of his career."
Classic Big Band sound from a Master.
Fast Eddy | Oregon, USA | 05/01/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you enjoy the Big Band Sound from the 40's and 50's, you will love this 2-CD set."
