A comprehensive collection of his Coral work
Bruce R. Gilson | Wheaton, MD United States | 04/01/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Jasmine Records has recently put out a large number of collections of music by artists of the early 1950s, and this is one. Johnny Desmond was, as many of the singers of this era, originally a big band singer who turned to the solo singing profession when the big bands lost their popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s; some of these, like Helen O'Connell, never made much headway, while others, like Frank Sinatra, became big stars. Desmond was somewhere in the middle: he had a few hits, but never became a major star. This CD does contain the two biggest hits in the era it covers: "Woman" and "Play Me Hearts and Flowers." Altogether it contains 56 tracks, covering 55 songs (one song, "I Only Know I Love You," appears twice, in a shorter and a longer version, both in pretty much identical arrangements). Strangely, only 54 tracks have Desmond on them: he did a Christmas EP with Eileen Barton which Jasmine decided to include in this set, though two tracks are Desmond solos and two are Barton solos. But Barton's voice is pleasant (see my review of Barton's Jasmine set!) so that doesn't detract from this collection.
The collection derives from Desmond's years recording for Coral Records, which were from 1952 to 1958; Jasmine does not give actual dates for most of the tracks, but I presume that, since the company generally relies on the European 50-year limit for performance rights, the recordings here are all from between 1952 and 1956.
It would appear that someone at Jasmine likes the recording of "Pine Tree, Pine Over Me" by Desmond, Barton, and the McGuire Sisters. Jasmine has, in recent months, put out 2-CD sets of Barton and the McGuires as well as this one, and ALL THREE contain that track!
Besides the two Barton solos, two Desmond/Barton duets and two Desmond/Barton/McGuire Sisters tracks (one of which is "Pine Tree...") are found in this collection. So this CD set gives a little more exposure to the generally unrecognized talent of Eileen Barton.
One interesting point: Another version of Desmond's hit "Woman" was done by Jose Ferrer and backed by his wife, Rosemary Clooney, doing "Man." While Desmond's version was not backed by anyone's version of "Man," someone at Coral must have liked that idea and apparently came up with a similar pair of songs for Desmond and Barton, "A Husband" and "A Wife": these are not solos but feature both, with Desmond having the major role on one and Barton on the other, and both are in this collection.
As it happens, a few months earlier another collection of Desmond, which I have earlier reviewed, was issued by ASV/Living Era; Jasmine and ASV/Living Era seem to be the two biggest source of collections of songs by artists of this era. So if you like his voice, you can purchase both CDs without too much duplication. ASV's set is more professionally done, with better artwork and better information in the liner notes, while Jasmine gives better value in terms of the cost per track. But there is actually very little overlap between the two: "Woman" is about the only title in common.
Besides "Woman" and "Play Me Hearts and Flowers," which were authentic hits for Desmond, there are a few songs which were hits for other artists: "Yellow Rose of Texas," "Learnin' the Blues," "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie," and "Sixteen Tons." There is also a track of Desmond singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the only complete recording I've heard of "Miss America" (I'd never heard more than the first few bars!). But the vast majority of songs in the collection are little-known ones. (Apparently Desmond did a certain amount of songwriting, rare for singers back then. And he is the writer or co-writer of a few songs in the collection. None of these are well-known songs, however. One, "Oh! My Darling," is set to the melody of the well-known French-Canadian folk-song "Alouette," however, so the tune at least will be familiar.)
All in all, not a bad collection."
Track Listings (28) - Disc #1