BEST EVER FILM TV COLLECTION!!!!
Bill Busse | Fairmont, MN United States | 01/09/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Although the titles are not listed in this Amazon offering let me tell you this is the best film, TV, radio collection of theme material ever put on CD. Everything from Doris Day's HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD to Patti Page's SOUND OF MUSIC.
I've waited years for the CD release of the awesome Lawrence Welk Coral LP TV WESTERN THEME SONGS. It's here in it's entirety: The Ballad of Paladin, The Restless Gun, Wagon Treain, Broken Arrow, Sugarfoot, Tales of Wells Fargo, Legend of Wyatt Earp, Maverick, Cheyenne, Gunsmoke and Twenty Mule Team (Death Valley Days).
This also marks the first release on CD of Patti Page's LITTLE DONKEY.
Four cds with 108 selections. Artists include Perry Como, Four Aces, Margaret Whiting, Tony Bennett, Adnrews Sisters, Patti Page, Ames Brothers, Dick Jacobs, Al HIbbler, Percy Faith, Vic Damone, Dick Haymes, Gogi Grant, Tony Martin, Jimmy Wakely, Amos n Andy, Mel Torme, Debbie Reynolds, Johnny Mercer, Curt Massey, Bing Crosby, Jane Wyman, Bill Hayes, Nat Cole, Sarah Vaughn, George Cates, Nelson Eddy, King Sisters, Frankie Laine, Eddie Fisher, Dimitri Tiomkin, Mitch Miller, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Frankie Carle , Nelson Riddle, Lawrence Welk and Doris Day.
If you are a fan of TV and movie music or any of these artists, this is the set to get!"
Large, somewhat uneven collection of hollywood-inspired tune
Zub | Forks Twp., PA | 04/13/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This collection gathers up four CD's worth of themes from movies, TV and radio mainly from the 1950's. Many big names and familiar tunes appear here but not always the recordings you may remember. There are some major hit records such as Doris Day's "Secret Love" and "Que Sera Sera", Debbie Reynolds' chart-topping "Tammy", Nat King Cole's "Mona Lisa", the Four Aces' "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" and "Unchained Melody" from Al Hibbler. Alternate versions of familiar songs include "Gigi" by Vic Damone, Patti Page doing "The Sound of Music" and "True Love" from Margaret Whiting. Collectors of rare singles do get a few nuggets by way of "Wringle Wrangle" by Bill Hayes, "Do I Love You" from Tony Martin and Bing Crosby's "How Lovely Is Christmas".
Presented not in chronological order but for variety's sake states the liner notes but this is not necessarily an improvement. And then, somewhat at odds with the variety idea, are twelve Lawrence Welk television themes strung together at the end of disc two. While the focus here is on performances from the `50's, a number of recordings from the `40's is thrown into the mix resulting in a somewhat incongruous feel given the styles represented.
Jasmine Records of the U.K., the producing label here, is one of many overseas companies taking advantage of the 50-year expiration of copyrights on recorded music in Europe. The benefit of not having to secure licensing permission is offset by not having access to the master recordings, should they exist. Consequently, the sound quality varies not only due to age of the recordings but as a result of using mostly commercial sources such as 78 rpm records. Less than master recording quality notwithstanding, Jasmine does a respectable job of cleaning up the vinyl sources used to yield a fairly listenable experience. And although the packaging states "mono", a number of tracks do appear in stereo - namely track one on disc one, tracks 17-28 (the Lawrence Welk album tracks) on disc two, tracks four and 23 on disc three and track two on disc four. Within the liner notes booklet's 16 pages are a detailed track listing and some background on the included artists and performances.
While not of the standards of the premier reissue houses such as Ace, Bear or Varese Sarabande, this new collection of Hollywood-connected music does begin to fill the ever-enlarging void left by the big music companies' run for the CD-reissue exit.
As at the time of this review the track listings for this piece are not supplied by Amazon, they are listed below.
Disc 1:
Hooray for Hollywood - Doris Day
Three Coins in the Fountain - Four Aces
The Whippoorwill - Keely Smith
Land of the Pharoahs - Dimitri Tiomkin
Every Time I Meet You - Perry Como
Sing You Sinners - Margaret Whiting
Moonglow and Theme from "Picnic" - George Cates
Stranger in Paradise - Tony Bennett
The Glory of Love - Andrews Sisters
Duel in the Sun - Dimitri Tiomkin
The Long, Hot Summer - Dick Haymes
Around the World - Ames Brothers
Song from "Moulin Rouge" - Percy Faith
Strange Are the Ways of Love - Gogi Grant
The California Story - Curt Massey
San Diego Waltz - Curt Massey & Martha Tilton
The Proud Ones - Dimitri Tiomkin
Secret Love - Doris Day
A Gal in Calico - Tony Martin
Strange Lady in Town - Dimitri Tiomkin
Just Because - Jimmy Wakely
Last Night My Heart Crossed the Ocean - Jo Stafford
The Lord's Prayer - Amos 'n' Andy
Little Bitty Baby - Jeff Alexander Choir
Anywhere I Wander - Mel Torme
Tammy - Debbie Reynolds
A Bullet Is Waiting - Dimitri Tiomkin
Disc 2:
An Affair to Remember - Nat King Cole
The Sound of Music - Patti Page
A Man on Fire - Ames Brothers
East of Eden - Dick Jacobs
Band of Angels - Sarah Vaughan
Unchained Melody - Al Hibbler
Ruby - Percy Faith
The Second Star to the Right - Doris Day & Four Lads
Through a Long and Sleepless Night - Vic Damone
I Want to Go Back to Michigan - Andrews Sisters
Silk Stockings - Perry Como
High Noon - Dimitri Tiomkin
Holiday of Love - King Sisters
Over the River - King Sisters
Show Me the Way - Jimmy Wakely
Rawhide - Frankie Laine
Ballad of Paladin - Lawrence Welk
The Restless Gun - Lawrence Welk
Wagon Train - Lawrence Welk
Broken Arrow - Lawrence Welk
Sugarfoot - Lawrence Welk
Tales of Wells Fargo - Lawrence Welk
The Legend of Wyatt Earp - Lawrence Welk
Maverick - Lawrence Welk
Cheyenne - Lawrence Welk
Gunsmoke - Lawrence Welk
Twenty Mule Team - Lawrence Welk
My Calico Gal - Lawrence Welk
Disc 3:
The Man with the Golden Arm - Dick Jacobs
Fascination - Ames Brothers
Whatever Will Be Will Be (Que Sera Sera) - Doris Day
Gigi - Vic Damone
Indiscretion - Patti Page
The High and the Mighty - Dimitri Tiomkin
Written on the Wind - Four Aces
Hot Spell - Margaret Whiting
On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe - Johnny Mercer & Pied Pipers
Nightfall - George Cates
Frosty the Snowman - Curt Massey
Blue Christmas - Curt Massey
Parade of the Wooden Soldiers - Andrews Sisters
Theme from "The Bad and the Beautiful" - Percy Faith
Just for You - Bing Crosby
Checkin' My Heart - Jane Wyman
Zing a Little Zong - Bing Crosby & Jane Wyman
Wringle Wrangle - Bill Hayes
Lost Horizon - Dimitri Tiomkin
Mona Lisa - Nat King Cole
It Might as Well Be Spring - Margaret Whiting
Sayonara - Ames Brothers
The Touch of Your Hand - Sarah Vaughan
Nemo's Theme - George Cates
Two Little New Little Blue Little Eyes - Perry Como
Your Mother and Mine - Doris Day & Four Lads
The Lord's Prayer - Nelson Eddy
Disc 4:
My Own True Love - Margaret Whiting
As Long as There's Music - Eddie Fisher
In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening - Satisfiers & Frankie Carle
Do I Love You - Tony Martin
Friendly Persuasion - Four Aces
Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah - Johnny Mercer & Pied Pipers
White Christmas - Vic Damone
There Are Such Things - Andrews Sisters
I Confess - Dimitri Tiomkin
The Rose Tattoo - Perry Como
Stay - Ames Brothers
March from the River Kwai and Colonel Bogey - Mitch Miller
River of No Return - Tennessee Ernie Ford
Return to Paradise - Percy Faith
How Lovely Is Christmas - Bing Crosby
Little Donkey - Patti Page
A Very Precious Love - Dick Haymes
While the City Sleeps - George Cates
War and Peace - Vic Damone
To Each His Own - Tony Martin
Laura - Frankie Carle
Mule Train - Frankie Laine
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - Andrews Sisters
Because You're Mine - Nat King Cole
True Love - Margaret Whiting
Love Is a Many-Spendored Thing - Four Aces"
UNSPOOLED MELODIES
Barry McCanna | Normandy, France | 02/04/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This 4-CD set contains 108 examples of what Jasmine describes as "dynamic themes of films, radio and television". Whilst some of the selections are drawn from 1940s productions, the emphasis is on the following decade. Don't expect to hear the original vocalists, because many of the songs are cover versions. For example, Mel Torme sings "Anywhere I Wander" in place of Danny Kaye, and Vic Damone replaces Maurice Chevalier in singing "Gigi". Against that there are some truly memorable orchestral film themes, of which nine are by Dimitri Tiomkin, Twelve tracks of the second disc are devoted to the 1950s album of Lawrence Welk playing the theme tunes from popular television westerns of the time.
"