Best of Mercury Years [Original recording remastered]

Tony Martin | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 20, 1996)
• Original Release Date: August 20, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B000001ENW
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #243,299 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

TONY IN GREAT FORM

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars tony martin in great performances, December 13, 1999

By 

bryan d catmull (melbourne australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best of Mercury Years (Audio CD)

this cd runs over 76 minutes, and showcases tony martins great song selections for mercury, a pity the digital remastering by polygram is so poor compared to the recent (2) cd release of rca tracks by( collectors choice) which is superb, if only they had done this collection!

4.0 out of 5 stars His "Best" At Mercury Translted Into Two Hits, September 7, 2007

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best of Mercury Years (Audio CD)

This is one of a series known as The Mercury Years, the others being Eddy Howard, Ralph Marterie, The Crew Cuts, The Diamonds, The Gaylords, Vic Damone, The Penguins, The Danleers, and The Del-Vikings. Most contain 25 selections.

Like the one for The Penguins, however, who never even had a hit single while with Mercury, Tony Martin was almost as non-productive while with that label, registering just two of his 38 hits singles for Mercury. Both came in 1946 when To Each His Own, with The Starlighters, went to # 4 in late summer, and Rumors Are Flying hit the # 9 spot late that fall. The 25 selections here, therefore, seem a bit much.

After posting one hit for the Decca subsidiary Brunswick in 1938, then five on the main Decca label from 1939 to 1942, he returned to the charts after the war with the above two for Mercury, and then switched to RCA Victor where he would chalk up 30 more, th last coming in 1957.

Completist collectors will like this for the two Mercury sides, and for those who are simply fans of Tony the selections are pleasant and the liner notes extremely interesting. Now all we need is a compilation covering his Decca years and one for the RCA years which include ALL his hits there.

3.0 out of 5 stars Tony's Great But the Remastering Falls Short, June 6, 2006

By 

Penumbra (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Best of Mercury Years (Audio CD)

Tony Martin is a magnificent singer. The 25 songs on this CD are mostly covers of romantic, slower tempo ballads like "Stardust" and "As Time Goes By." There is nothing to fault in Tony's gorgeous performances. However, the remastering leaves a lot to be desired. The tracks sound tired and scratchy.

If you're just starting a Tony Martin collection, you would probably prefer "The Best of Tony Martin on RCA." That one contains two disks with a nice mix of Tony's ballads and uptempo numbers (including more of his big hits), with brilliant sound quality.

If you already have the RCA set, then this CD, "Tony Martin The Mercury Years" would make a nice companion. I believe the only overlap between the two is "As You Desire Me." It's a shame that so much of the dynamic singing is lost in the poor quality of the recording.