The Best Of The Platters: The 20th Century Masters (Millennium Collection) [Original recording remastered]

20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection (Series), The Platters | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 17, 1999)
• Original Release Date: August 17, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B00000JWNC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,083 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #13 in Music > Pop > Oldies > Doo Wop
  • #71 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century
  • #74 in Music > Pop > Vocal Pop > Classic

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A vocal talent of astonishing range and emotion, Tony Williams led the Platters through nearly two dozen Top 40 pop hits, starting in 1955. The Platters drew inspiration from predecessors such as the Mills Brothers, yet had a style all their own that came to be treasured by the first generation of rock & roll and doo-wop fans. This set features the group's Top 10 smashes "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "The Great Pretender," "Only You," "(You've Got) The Magic Touch," and several others. Shy of the two-disc Magic Touch: An Anthology, this is about as good a Platters best-of as you can find right now--and at a budget price, no less. --Daniel Durchholz

Product Description

The 20th Century Masters series is the best-selling single-artist line in music history and is being re-released by Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) in its ground-breaking, environmentally-friendly packaging format. A first for the music industry, the standard package (both sleeve and tray) will be completely paper-recyclable, continuing the company's long-standing commitment to being "green."

To further reduce the amount of paper in the Eco-Pack, the CD booklet will no longer be offered. Official liner notes are easily accessible on the Internet at http://www.ilovethatsong.com/green.

UMe is the first North American music company to replace the traditional jewel case with recycled paperboard sleeves and the plastic tray with trays made from PaperFoam®, a new packaging technology from Shorewood Packaging, a business of International Paper, that is paper-recyclable and biodegradable. Shorewood Packaging is the first North American packaging supplier to produce disc trays from PaperFoam®. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sensational music, short measure, March 16, 2001

By 

"pspa" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best Of The Platters: The 20th Century Masters (Millennium Collection) (Audio CD)

The greatest group of the 50s, the Platters combined a tremendous lead singer whose talents bordered on the operatic, great harmonizing, and tremendous musicality to produce some of the best songs ever recorded, most of which are captured here including the immortal The Great Pretender and the wonderful (and controversial at its time, in fact Cole Porter's estate sued to block it) Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. The crescendo at the end of that song has got to be one of the most creative and thrilling moments of all pop music. My only complaint, and it is with this series as a whole, is that with all the room on a CD only 11 songs are included. There are other Platters CDs with up to 20 songs and this one would have been all that much better had some other tunes been included.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Contains the seven biggest hits, but not all the favorites., May 8, 2005

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Best Of The Platters: The 20th Century Masters (Millennium Collection) (Audio CD)

Now thought of as a "doo wop" group because of the beat and the finger-snapping rhythms, the Platters, in the 1950s, set the scene for rock and roll, ushering in a new music which incorporated gospel and soul sounds never before part of the mainstream. The first all-black group to become universally popular, they influenced pop music for fifteen years and opened doors to the many black doo-wop groups which succeeded them into the 1960s.

Of the several "Best of the Platters" albums now available, this collection contains most of their biggest hits, including "Only You," their first #1 hit on the R and B chart, which then became #5 on the pop chart, when it crossed over; "The Great Pretender," their next hit, which was #1 on the pop charts; and "Magic Touch," "My Prayer" (another #1 pop hit), "Twilight Time," "I'm Sorry," and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes."

It does not include several other memorable Platters songs, such as "On My Word of Honor," "You'll Never Know," "If I Didn't Care," or "To Each His Own." These songs, along with the previously mentioned favorites, are all available on one album if you search on Amazon for B000200Q2U, "The Very Best of the Platters."

The wonderful Tony Williams sets the pace as tenor soloist, with a voice ranging from a soft whisper to a soaring vibrato. The harmonies are mellow, the timing is superb, and the arrangements are terrific. The back-up voices are strong, and the album has been remastered to remove background "fuzz." Trend setters whose influence was felt for fifteen years, the Platters are an indelible part of the high school memories of a whole generation from the 1950s and 1960s. Mary Whipple

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the one you are looking for!!!, October 2, 2000

By 

"jednj" (Belle Mead, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best Of The Platters: The 20th Century Masters (Millennium Collection) (Audio CD)

If you are seeking GENUINE PLATTERS this is the one. The top 6 best known all time Platters' tunes are here, along with 5 other great though lesser known cuts. This is the ORIGINAL music, and it is delightful.