Search - Nat King Cole;Frankie Vaughan;Frank Sinatra;Doris Day;and others :: Music! Music! Music! Favourite Songs of the 50's

Music! Music! Music!
Favourite Songs of the 50s If it wasn t rock n roll in the 50s, it was great ballads and tunes! If it wasn t rebellious, it was cheeky and witty or romantic. So we ve chosen a selection of numbers from the great records of the day: Doris Day, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and other stars singing songs like Whatever will be, will be , Unforgettable and Memories are made of this. It s true that the fifties gave birth to rock and roll. When Bill Haley's Rock Around The Clock (see CCL CDG1196) became popular in the middle of the decade, the world learned to swing to a whole new sound. But rock and roll wasn't the only music of the fifties. Other artists with other songs had listeners mainly via the radio, or the dance halls humming along to their lilting melodies for much of the decade. The feel-good innocence of a lot of this fifties music reflects in part the post-War optimism in America, where, unlike in Europe, the war had exercised little of the inevitable economic and physical hardships which had hit the struggling lands of the Old World very hard, continuing to do so well into the fifties. Even in Europe though, the young people of the time - an emerging force called teenagers - hadn't all struggled through the war years and, for many of them, their natural voice became rock and roll. It satisfied their need to rebel, their desire to change and be different. But they had older brothers and sisters, parents even, who preferred the sultry sounds and witty lyrics of songs like those on this album, and they kept these singers and their work at the commercial forefront of popular music, despite the continuing inroads of rock and roll. Many of these songs were in fact number 1 hits in the USA and in the UK, fitting nicely in between Chuck Berry, Bill Haley, Little Richard and Elvis himself. These songs had a unique and distinctive musical style which grew out of the rich and luxurious sounds of the dance bands and crooners of the war years and the half-decade immediately after. Track 1, Unforgettable is typical: a major artist, Nat King Cole, close-miced and with a lovely voice accompanied by a large and elaborate instrumental backing. Quite a contrast with the brittle distortions of Presley s or Little Richard s electric guitars! Technically similar but with a different effect, Clooney s Mambo Italiano (track 2) is rich-sounding and eccentric, heavily featuring a harpsichord melody! As the album progresses we become ever more aware of the great skill of the musicians represented: the stars, of course, were Sinatra, or Vaughan, both here in fine youthful form, but the fine detail in the backing vocals, instrumentals and orchestrations is a constant delight. Doris Day is irresistible, Dean Martin spell-binding, and by the end of the album anybody listening cannot help but be cheered and touched by the skill and personalities of these famous stars and their songs.