Customer Reviews

1946

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This album has a historical value; most of pieces are pre-war recordings with typical 1930's orchestration. His artistry flourished and became the most popular in mid-1950, when he disbanded his orchestra and decided to perform as a soloist. As an extremely talented popular pianist Mr. Cavallaro was famous of his ornate pianistics. All recordings presented on this album are mono and despite thorough remastering show their age. More of his 1950's albums sound quite contemporary and their release would be much appreciated.

I discovered Cavallaro on my grandma's old albums. This one is Absolutely delicious! This CD will send you back in time to those days right after the war. Beautifuly conducted and brilliantly played. Cavallaro has here one of his finest moments. Just listen to the first track and you'll be amazed by his virtuosity. A true gem! Unbeatable on love making! (laughs)

The first thing any serious collector of hit singles will notice about the CDs available covering Carmen Cavallaro is that not one contains all seven of his hits, registered from 1945 to 1952 for the Decca label. You will find the odd one here and there, such as his first, Chopin's Polonaise (a # 3 in July 1945), but even there you can't always be certain that that is the original hit version since the liner notes are either silent on the subject, or there are no liner notes.

This volume from Hindsight does give you two pages of such notes, written by Ron Pataky, but while it provides an interesting insight into the demands of musical radio in the 1940s, that's what you have to keep in mind: these are previously-unreleased sides of "original for radio only recordings" done in 1946.

To quote Carmen from the liner notes "Although these were recorded in a studio, they were all arrangements we had used on The Shaeffer Parade (his nationally-aired radio show of the mid-40s), and as such played at radio speed rather than the tempo one would play for dancing. On radio, after all, you were always fighting he clock. You played accordingly." It's for that reason, and the sense that you're listening to a 33 1/3 played at 45 rpm (not quite that bad, but you get the point) that some may not like this particular release.

The classically-trained Carmen, born on May 6, 1913 in NYC, started his professional career with the bands of Al Kavelin & His Cascading Chords, Rudy Vallee, and Abe Lyman And His California Orchestra, before forming his own in the mid-1940s. Following the above-mentioned Chopin's Polonaise, b/w Voodoo Moon [Enlloro] on Decca 18677, he linked up with Bing Crosby to take I Can't Begin To Tell You to # 1 late in 1945, where it stayed for six weeks b/w I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me on Decca 23457.

His next hit wouldn't come until late in 1947 when, again in conjunction with Bing, they had the two-sided hit How Soon (Will I Be Seeing You?) and You Do, which reached # 6 and # 8 respectively on Decca 24101 (the B-side from the film Mother Wore Tights). Almost another two full years would then pass before he returned to the charts with There's Yes! Yes! In Your Eyes, a # 29 in September 1949 b/w Twenty-Four Hours Of Sunshine on Decca 24678 (vocals by the ensemble).

In the spring of 1950 he tried his hand at the much-recorded (Put Another Nickel In) Music! Music! Music! which, with vocals by Bob Lido, The Cavaliers, and the ensemble, finished at a respectable # 5 b/w O'Katharina on Decca 24881, back of the # 1 by Teresa Brewer, but tied for second spot with the Freddy Martin rendition. His final hit was the instrumental Meet Mr. Callaghan which peaked at # 28 in September 1952 b/w Runnin' Wild Boogie on Decca 9-28373.

Carmen, who provided the soundtrack for the 1956 film The Eddie Duchin Story, passed away at age 76 on December 10, 1989.

Perhaps not the best Carmen Cavallaro collection available (the sound could be improved in spots), but as Ron Pataky says in his notes ".... these 18 cuts represent a vital contribution to the history of musical radio in its heyday ...."

Old tunes, dubbed in mono