Search - Vera Lynn :: Singles Collection

WAVING THE FLAG IN CELEBRATION OF VERA'S 90TH BIRTHDAY

A. POLLOCK | PLYMOUTH, DEVON United Kingdom | 04/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Deservedly named the Forces Sweetheart during World War II, British vocal icon Vera Lynn was the essential radio link for servicemen abroad when her radio messages and songs were broadcast to the various war zones. She also toured and entertained front-line troops and raised morale at home during the desolate days of the Blitz and continued to raise spirits when peacetime finally arrived thanks to a high profile career which finally shuttered in 1995. Vera was also the very first British singer to top the US Charts with AUF WEIDERSEHN in the early 50's.In short, she's a National Treasure and recently celebrated her 90th birthday on March 20th 2007!



Whilst there's a catalogue of past recordings available, there's also a paucity of new releases to celebrate the above significant event.Three cheers and thanks should therefore be awarded EMI for waving the flag and issuing this double-disc collection of songs recorded during the years 1960-1977 following the termination of Vera's long-term contract with Decca Records. With vocal power in perfect full throttle, her voice quality and style was undoubtedly at its zenith during this period and she even diversified her range of material with Lennon & McCartney's THE FOOL ON THE HILL and GOODNIGHT; Jacques Brel's IF WE ONLY HAVE LOVE and songs (MY MOTHER'S EYES, WHO'S SORRY NOW?) recorded in Nashville for a country album! Heartfelt ballads were always Vera's strong point with the strongly emoted DON'T YOU REMEMBER? GIVE ME YOUR HAND and IT HURTS TO SAY GOODBYE examples of new songs obviously aimed at the Charts, but of course standards also feature with AGAIN, I'LL BE SEEING YOU and THAT OLD FEELING occasionally updated via an underlying beat. Well-loved British classics, sacred songs and festive numbers WHISPERING HOPE, LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY, DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR? THE HOLY CITY, THE VILLAGE OF ST.BERNADETTE and ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT ideally suit Vera's straight-as-an arrow approach and her favoured popular continental numbers with adapted English lyrics include ACCORDEON, ADIOS MY LOVE and LONGING. Naturally Vera returns to wartime memories for splendid remakes of THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER and A NIGHTINGALE SANG IN BERKELEY SQUARE.



Technically, EMI has unearthed previously unreleased stereo takes while rare tracks released only in Holland and singles extracted from Vera's albums add further substance. With forty-five delicious tracks to savour this is recommended listening and a fine souvenir of a distinguished iconic British vocalist.

"

Magical dame vera lynn

N. Dutton | 09/03/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"a musical treat from the great dame vera lynn, so much beautiful music from a national treasure"

The sixties and seventies

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 05/13/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Vera Lynn, who celebrated her ninetieth birthday in 2007, established her reputation in the early forties, doing what she could to inspire British troops in their many battles, by singing great songs such as We'll meet again. She consolidated that reputation in the fifties with a string of international hits that included a British number one (My son my son) and an American number one (Auf wiederseh'n sweetheart), in the process becoming the first British artist to top the American charts. None of those hits can be found here, because this compilation focuses on Vera's later recordings for EMI in the sixties and seventies. There are, in fact, no British hits here (though it seems that Vera had some hits in various European countries with these singles) because Vera's last British hit came in 1957.



The tracks here include all the A-sides and B-sides of Vera's British and Dutch singles (yes, there were some Netherlands exclusive releases) from the period covered, together with a few tracks never previously released anywhere. The liner notes point out that some of the tracks are released here in stereo instead of mono. Apparently, the mono masters for the early singles (the first ten tracks here) could not be found, so there was no choice but to use the stereo masters. It is suggested that the mono singles may themselves have been mastered from the stereo recordings. Where mono masters were available, they have been used. The booklet includes informative liner notes and several pictures of Vera, all taken during her time with EMI.



As well as releasing all the singles featured in this collection, Vera recorded thirteen albums for EMI, the first twelve of which were recorded in London. Many of the singles were released to promote the albums, some of which had themes (Hits of the blitz, for example) and the singles necessarily reflect those themes. So you'll find Christmas songs (White Christmas, Do you hear what I hear?), contemporary pop (Goodnight, Fool on the hill - both Beatles songs, though Vera didn`t record an entire album of Beatles songs, which is a shame) and re-recordings of forties classics (White cliffs of Dover, A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square).



For her final EMI album, Vera headed for Nashville to record an album produced by Owen Bradley, famous for his work with Patsy Cline. Two singles were released from the album so it is represented by four tracks, but Vera didn't stray far from her normal repertoire for these songs (Who's sorry now, My mother's eyes, Dancing with tears in my eyes, Too many rivers). Only the last of the four could truly be called a country song but the production definitely has a country feel to it. Vera's performances on these songs are, as always, impeccable. I remember seeing the original album in the shops when I first started collecting records and giving it a miss. On the basis of the four tracks here, that was clearly a mistake.



There are so many great tracks here, although I've only mentioned a few of them. This may not represent the most successful period of Vera's recording career, but that is only because of changing fashions. Record buyers may have preferred music by younger artists, but the quality of the music here is well up to the standard of Vera's earlier recordings."