Customer Reviews

The Capitol Recordings

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This set has got it all. If you are a hard core Louis Prima fan, this is the set for you! The set isn't just about Louis: It includes 2 CDs with Keely Smith and 2 with Sam Butera. Keely's solo stuff consists mostly of ballads, but there are a few real swingers, especially the 2 duets with Frank Sinatra. Sam Butera's discs are great, too. Sam is a fine vocalist, too and he is just as much fun as Louis, especially in the tracks 'Bugs' and 'French Poodle'. If you're just after an overview of Louis' career, then the 1 CD Capitol Collectors Series CD or the 2 CD Louis Prima/Keely Smith set from the Wild, Cool & Swingin' series are the way to go. This set is for the completist. For me, the set was well worth the price!

Released September 1994 in Germany, Bear Family's "The Capitol Recordings" offers up a massive 198 studio and live tracks remastered across 8 CDs - 17 of which are previously unreleased.

The 12" x 12" box houses a 40-page album-sized booklet with comprehensive Billy Vera liner notes, studio photos of all the key musicians and singers, publicity stills from the movies "Hey Boy! Hey Girl!" and "Twist All Night", a two-page album-covers spread in colour - and a fully detailed Discography at the rear by RICHARD WEIZE and LARRY ZWISOHN. It was produced by VOYLE GILMORE and long-time tape engineer ADAM SKEAPING did the mastering. The sound quality is everything you would expect from people who love what they're doing - fabulous and full - especially on the 1960's Stereo versions.

In detail, Bear Family BCD 15776 HI breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 Louis Prima, 27 Tracks, 79:19 minutes

Previously unreleased track - "Much Too Young To Loose My Mind" (23)

Disc 2 Louis Prima, 23 Tracks, 66:35 minutes

Previously unreleased tracks - "The Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" (2), "Natural Guy" (3) and "Oh, Marie (Alternate)" (23)

Disc 3 Louis Prima, 26 Tracks, 78:58 minutes

Previously unreleased track - "John Ping Pong" (14)

Disc 4 Louis Prima, 18 Tracks, 68:42 minutes

Previously unreleased track - "Judy (Live At The Sahara)" (9)

Disc 5 Keely Smith, 27 Tracks, 77:13 minutes

Previously unreleased tracks - "I Would Do Most Anything For You" (2), "Rock-A-Doodle-Doo" (4), "All The Things You Are" (15) and "Just As Much" (24)

Disc 6 Keely Smith, 27 Tracks, 73:38 minutes

Disc 7 Sam Butera, 25 Tracks, 57:37 minutes

Previously unreleased tracks - "Seven Out" (5), "The Love Nest" (8), "Put Your Mind At Ease" (9),"Hold Out For Love" (11) and "Dig That Crazy Chick" (14)

Disc 8 Sam Butera, 25 Tracks, 60:32 minutes

Previously unreleased tracks - "Bugs" (1) and "Ol' Man River (Alternate)" (25)

You get all tracks for 23 x 7" Extended Plays ("Don't Let A Memory" by Keely Smith is an exclusive track to that format), 24 x 7" singles (32 sides are non-album) and a whopping 15 full albums worth - with the 1961 set of "Hits Of Louis & Keely" being the only duplication. For those who want exact details, I've provided 7", EP and LP discographies separately that reference the track placing in the box (see Blogger links below). Keely's exclusive 7" duet with Frank Sinatra on "How Are Ya Fixed For Love" and "Nothing In Common" are both also here. All the hits too and more - "Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody", "A Banana Split For My Baby" and "Sentimental Journey" (lyrics above).

Fans of Keely Smith and Sam Butera should note that their 5 albums are all here and in STEREO (the mono mixes are only available now on original vinyl LPs) while the later Prima LPs also featured Keely's vocal replacement GIA MAIONE. In fact it's shocking to hear how good the Smith and Butera solo records are - warm and witty and just as effortlessly cool as King Louis.

In 2010, over one hundred and fifty dollars might seem like a lot of Spondulicks to spend on a box set from 1994, but if you want the best and the deepest on these criminally forgotten geniuses of swing, jazz and fun, then this is the place to go. And as with so many of these sumptuous Bear Family's box sets, "The Capitol Recordings" is a thing of beauty to behold and listen to - showing deep respect to entertainers almost too beautiful for this world...

Bear Family - Grade-A as ever. Recommended.

PS: I've also reviewed other Bear Family box sets - Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Nellie Lutcher, Julia Lee, Freddie King, Ella Mae Morse, Roy Orbison and Louis Jordan

Being Louis Prima's greatest (and probably youngest) fan, I would have to say that this is the best collection to ever be released. Though his recording career spanned 40 decades, these are probably the most quality recordings made from 1956-1962. What is so great about this box set is that it not only focuses on Prima's works himself, but also dedicates plenty of attention to what was a crucial part of Prima's success: Keely Smith (whose arrangements with Nelson Riddle, Billy May, and Frank Sinatra shine as brightly as her voice) and Sam Butera & The Witnesses. Sam has 2 of his own CD's, as well does Keely. Perhaps the only downside to this collection is that it gives very little bio of the band members, with the exception of how Sam and Louis came to be. Yet the CD's are an audio biography in themselves, displaying each band members capability at one point or another. This representation of the unit's Capitol Recordings is near immaculate.... now if only Jasmine Records would produce a similar anthology or their Dot Record Label recordings........

"Scuba Diver" (disc 3, track 19) begins at 2:52 on track 18, "Little Girl Blues" and "Them There Eyes/Honeysuckle Rose" (disc 4, track 10) begins at 3:12 on

track 9, "Judy."

Hopefully, Bear Family Records will correct these defects and issue replacements to buyers.

If you would like to get more of an idea what this set is like, sample the new Wild, Cool and Swingin' collection. I have posted a follow up to my review due to the amount of responses and questions I have received from my reviews, however I have had a change in email address. I am always happy to answer questions :-)

I don't need all this. All I really want is vol. 1, which was originally titled "The Wildest". Why won't these lunkheads reissue this recording, his best? Arrrggghhh!