Customer Reviews

The Best of the RCA Victor Recordings

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Fantastic! This long-overdue collection showcases the smooth, expressive voice of a talented performer largely unknown except for kitschy (but fun)Italian-American novelty songs. The liner notes provide poignant biographical details of a survivor determined to love life and inspire others to do the same. Bravo, Luigi!

Quite a lot of songs are offered in this collection and it serves as a decent chronology of his career. Not sure if it's because of the songs are in mono, but there seems to be a lack of energy overall. Of course, the songs are from a different era of song. But, except for a couple of the Italian songs, they also lack emotion, and "listenability." For me, I hear more emotion and energy in his vocals from songs on his albums: Pizza Lovers and Sings for You. Some of the songs of those are on this compilation, too. Finally, some of the songs border on the novelty: just some odd lyrics, but, seeing how a number of the songs did pretty well on the charts back then, maybe, again, it's just a different era that one hears in the songs. Sixty years ago, songs and vocal arrangements were a lot different. And, we're talking before Elvis hit the charts, too.

Overall, Lou Monte has a nice voice. If you like his music, this compilation is a good start. This with the other two albums listed above will cover most of his songs, save for some novelty songs he did in the 1960s.